1965 Bluegrass/Mountain Music TV Special. A Beautiful Time In American Music History

I grew up in the 1950s in blue-collar suburban Long Island. On Saturday night, I would listen to the Grand Ole Opry presented on WSM radio. The music was incredible. Sometimes they called it country music, sometimes bluegrass music, sometimes mountain music, sometimes old time music. I just knew that it was the best, happiest, wonderful to listen to music I ever heard. At 22 years old, I became a documentary filmmaker and made several films for nonprofit organizations near my home. A 16mm film camera with a wire that connected and audio recorder, a Nagra. I went to National Educational Television (NET) and pitched them on my making a documentary about a fellow who I had read about in Time Magazine – Bascom Lamar Lunsford, the founder of the Asheville Mountain music and dance Festival, 81 years old, a music collector and performer and songwriter loved in the region. The NET man in charge gave me $7000 to make a one hour television special. I had never done anything like that. I ha