This past weekend we attended the 46th annual National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee.

Founded in 1779, Jonesborough was later designated the capitol of the State of Franklin but when Congress didn’t recognize the state, it reverted back to North Carolina. It became part of Tennessee when Tennessee became a state in 1796. So it has some history. This town of slightly more than 5,000 people draws 15,000 visitors to the festival which takes place on the first weekend of October.

We started out by meeting up at Stan’s Barbecue in Greenville, TN for lunch. Our group so far includes Ross, Gretchen, Rich, Al, Brenda, Sally, and me.

In addition to barbecue, the draw here is blackberry cobbler. This was my BIG serving of blackberry cobbler. Could not eat it all.

After lunch we drove 30 minutes to Jonesborough to register for the festival and check out the schedule for the next three days.

 With all the the people attending, it’s important to know which storyteller is appearing in what tent and when, and where we each want to go. The schedule is in one-hour segments with either one or two tellers during that time. That’s followed by half-hour breaks to move to a different tent, take a potty break, or search for snacks. This year there were 23 tellers and each of them appeared multiple times during the festival telling different stories. The typical day goes from 10 am to 10 pm with a midnight session plus an evening of ghost stories thrown in. We can’t do it all and have to be selective although two tellers – Bil Lepp and Donald Davis – are must-sees. Starting at 10 am Friday, there will be storytellers in each of five big circus-type tents. The one below is the College Tent.

If you want a good seat, you need to go early. For popular tellers, that means be there by 8:30.

We finish off this day by checking into our hotel – reservations are made a year in advance – then regrouping and heading off to dinner. We eat at Cootie Brown’s in nearby Johnson City and have nice enough weather to dine outdoors.

Still recovering from the large blackberry cobbler, many of us opt for a salad wedge for dinner.

Ready to get to the festival Friday morning, Al and Brenda eat breakfast at the hotel.

We start out the morning heading to the Courthouse Tent by cutting through a walkway lined with birdhouses

Many of the tellers have an Appalachian background. One of the first tellers in the Courthouse Tent was Donald Davis, Ross’ favorite. Davis’ stories are frequently about growing up in a small town with his parents and a little brother that “he didn’t need.” His ever present bow tie and seersucker suits make him stand out among tellers. The stories are always best if you can hear them in person and see the teller’s body language.

My favorite teller is Bil Lepp. A former minister, as was Davis, his stories are frequently about his high school adventures with buddy Skeeter. The tellers usually have new stories each year but will frequently repeat old favorites too. Some of Lepp’s include “Egg Babies,” “Diablo or How I Met My Wife,” and “Vampire Santa.” Some say that men and women have different senses of humor but everybody laughs with Bil Lepp. He has also recently written a children’s book, The Princess and the Pickup Truck.

Another favorite we heard was Tim Lowry.  One of his funniest stories told at a rapid pace was “Brer Rabbit for President.” Another session was titled “Every Inch the Gentleman” where he pricked the pomposity of the southern gentleman. Here he is in costume with Ross.

He told us that the term “painting the town red,” came from colonial gentlemen painting their shoe heels red and the paint would chip off in the streets. He also sang a bit of the Revolutionary War song, Soldier, Soldier Will You Marry Me.

Soldier, soldier, will you marry me,
With your knapsack, fife and drum?
“Oh, how can I marry
Such a pretty girl as you,
When I’ve got no coat to put on?”
So she ran away
To the village tailor’s shop,
As fast as she could run,
And she bought him a coat,
Oh, the best that she could buy,
And the soldier put it on.

Many more verses follow.

During the 30-minute breaks between tellers you can hurry off to find a snack or drink while someone saves your seat, then rush back to the tent to return the favor. A favorite treat stop was this stand behind the local library. Homemade goodies.

Another teller was Bill Harley who told a hilarious story about his strict 3rd grade teacher who never smiled and had a hand they called the “claw.

A new teller we liked was Andy Hedges from Texas. He is a cowboy poet who recited poetry and sang cowboy songs. We caught him outside the tent with Al and Brenda.

Another favorite we saw was Kevin Kling. His stories are funny, philosophical, and result in lessons for daily living. He often cites John O’Donohue.

We also saw Andy Offutt Irwin who tells stories about his Aunt Margarette – in her voice – who finished medical school when she was 90.

This year we went to the Midnight Caberet. It starts at 10:30 pm and goes to midnight. This year’s featured tellers were Sheila Kay Adams and Josh Goforth.

Both are natives of Madison County, North Carolina. He’s a great musician and funny and she is a legend.

She is a claw-hammer banjo player and is known for singing a capella traditional Appalachian ballads. These ballads date back to Scots/Irish settlers from the mid-17th century. I remember seeing the TV movie Songcatcher in 2000 in which she played the banjo. She was also the technical advisor and singing coach for that movie. She’s terrific and I love her music and stories.

We saw other storytellers and singers over the weekend. It’s an immersion of different ethnic stories and music but there are other things to try and squeeze in. One important stop is the Festival Marketplace. Sally outside the resource tent.

Here you can purchase CDs, DVDs, and books by your favorite tellers.

Other important diversions include a visit to the nearby quilt shop – across from registration- to purchase more fat quarters to add to my collection. I have not quilted anything yet. Working my way through the “acquisition” phase.

And then I have to take off an hour to make the short drive to a local yarn shop.

And then there are always shops to wander through in downtown Jonesborough.

We have also found a new restaurant for dinner in Johnson City called The Label. It’s a tad bit more upscale than Cootie’s. I had delicious shrimp and grits. Doug and Liz from New York are in this photo at The Label with Sally from Kentucky. Our group meets up once a year and tries to catch up on a year’s worth of living in a packed weekend.

The festival finishes on Sunday with Sacred Tellings and then we head home. We have been attending the festival for about nine years and we got started because of these ladies: Aunt Esther and Aunt Marilyn. Both have been to the festival for well over twenty years but at ages 98 and 92, decided to opt out this year. We missed them and their good counsel all the time.

One more stop on the way home was in Versailles, Kentucky at Coolmore Farm and Ashford Stud. This is where American Pharaoh and Justify – the last two triple crown winners – live for most of the year now.

We keep planning to get on one of the weekly farm tours but American Pharaoh is in South America through the end of this year. So maybe in January.

At the Midnight Cabaret, Sheila Kay Adams ended the session talking about how close her family of parents, aunts and uncles, and others had been, the influence they had on her, and then closed with the song Time Has Made a Change in Me.

Time has made a change since my childhood days;
Many of my friends have gone away,
Some I never more in this life will see
Time has made a change in me.

Chorus:
Time has made a change in the old home place;
Time has made a change in each smiling face,
And I know my friends can plainly see
Time has made a change in me.

In my childhood days, I was well and strong
I could climb the hillside all day long,
I am not today what I used to be
Time has made a change in me.

When I reach my home in that land somewhere,
With my friends who wait to meet me over there,
Free from pain and care I’ll forever be,
Time has made a change in me.