Suzanne Stewart
Staff Writer
The third musician to be featured in the second season of Pocahontas County Opera House Story Sessions was Dwight Diller, who shared his wealth of knowledge of the Hammons Family as well as his talents on the banjo and fiddle.
Diller spent a lot of time with the Hammons family, learning about their history and their music for his documentary “Across the Yew Pines.”
Diller played many Hammons tunes and explained how the family members would put their own spin on the tunes or create new sounds with how they played.
“Here’s one that Lee Hammons played,” he said. “A bunch of people played Walking in the Parlor. For me, what Lee Hammons did with Walking in the Parlor is way up here [gesturing high above his head].
“Remember, he was born in 1883, and he quit playing in 1923, so he quit playing at forty-years-old,” he continued. “And then he started again in 1968, 69. So that’s like forty-some years that he didn’t play. I started going to visit him and this was the tune that he played, and it was perfect. You can go on YouTube and listen to him play Walking in the Parlor. He was ninety-years-old when he played that on there and it’s perfect, perfect, perfect.”
Diller admitted he couldn’t play the tune perfectly, but he did play Walking in the Parlor.
Sharing another Lee Hammons story, Diller said once when Lee was a teenager, he was at a square dance in Webster County.
“People were square dancing, and they gave this little boy a quarter to get up on stage and start dancing,” Diller said. “He got up there and started dancing. He said they had to give him another quarter to get him off the stage.
“That’s what you’ve got with me today,” he added, laughing. “You’re going to have to take up a collection to get me off the stage.”
Before playing one last tune on his banjo, Diller shared the story he associates with Dead Man’s Piece.
“There was an old man in the mountains here who died, and he wanted this tune played over his body all night long at the wake,” he said. “So, men took turns playing this tune all night long and that’s why he just called it the Dead Man’s Piece.”
Diller explained that while he is a banjo player and instructor, his heart really lies with his fiddle. For years, he tried and tried to play fiddle, but couldn’t get it right. That is until All Saints Day – November 1, 1970. He’s been playing ever since.
“Here’s one that came from Central West Virginia,” he said. “Saul Carpenter was captured by the Federal Troops and taken to Camp Chase, Ohio. There’s Ohio, where regular people live and then there’s Ohi, where hillbillies go to work. Camp Chase is up near Cincinnati, I think. Anyways, Saul Carpenter came home from the war, and he was able to play a fiddle tune to win a contest. There’s at least two different versions of it.”
Diller played one of the versions of Camp Chase.
He continued to share Hammons’ tunes and ended his session with a tune named by Maggie Hammons – Come Back Boys and Let’s Feed the Horses – which may have been a request from her to stop playing music and to help with the chores.
Diller played these tunes on the banjo: Cripple Creek, Waynesboro, Shelvin’ Rock, Greasy String, Wild Bill Jones, Sail Away Katie, Walking in the Parlor, John Lovers Gone, Come Along Home Cindy, Pretty Little Black Eyed Susie and Dead Man’s Piece.
Tunes he played on the fiddle: Greasy Coat, Patty on the Turnpike, Camp Chase, The Spring’s All Muddy, Yew Pine Mountain, Shakin’ Down the Acorns and Come Back Boys and Let’s Feed the Horses.
The video of Dwight Diller’s Story Session is available on the Pocahontas County Opera House Facebook and YouTube pages.
The next Story Session will be Sunday, July 24, at 7 p.m. and will feature Homer Hunter.
