REAL cool, guys, for bringing Mark Bilyeu and BIG SMITH and their film, "Homemade Hillbilly Jam" to the fore here!
I first saw/heard Mark on www.yellowhousearts.org singing (a capella) a haunting old melody, "French Broad", he'd learned from (the late) J.W. Brazeal of Douglas/Webster County/Springfield, MO, who lived to be 98 years. (Mark says in the intro to this song, ...it's not what you think..it's about a River...)

I like the message in this film, Ann. Not only is there nothing wrong with "being a hillbilly and holding onto the music of your ancestors" and "holding on to the music of your ancestors is as important as keeping a hold on your land", but it is important because it is our legacy. Not something we can touch with our hands, but with our hearts and minds - to cherish.
And when it's all said and done, when all things pass away, it is those times spent with generations of our loved ones playing together just because we want to that will be our TRUE inheritance to pass along.

Ann, how will it be possible for us to see this film?

Not only is the French Broad a river - it is an ANCIENT river. Only the Nile is older. Here's an excerpt from a Buncombe County website:

"The French Broad is born in western North Carolina out of a temperate rain forest localized around Rosman, North Carolina. The warm moist air which consistently moves in a northeasternly direction from the Gulf of Mexico is pushed higher up into the cooler altitudes as it becomes trapped between mountain ranges and funnelled toward Rosman. When it nears Rosman, the air mass has cooled to the extent where it can no longer hold the moisture that it has carried and dumps it on the eastern slopes of the mountains soon after crossing into Transylvania county. The resulting rain begins the formation of the French Broad River. Flowing for 210 miles through western North Carolina northward into Tennessee, it joins the Holston River outside of Knoxville to create the famous Tennessee River. On the way, it boasts of two sizable tributaries: the Pigeon and Nolichucky Rivers.

Although at first glance it appears unprepossessing, the French Broad river has a score of fascinating distinctions. It is so old as to be practically devoid of fossils. Only the Nile and, ironically, the New river predate it. Interestingly, the New river crosses into North Carolina on the other side of the Eastern Continental divide. So North Carolina has the distinction of having both the second and third oldest rivers in the world within its borders. The French Broad is older than the mountains in which it now finds itself. It existed before a huge landmass crashed into the eastern shores of the main body of land that is now North America. When the collison took place, over thousands of years in duration and millions of years ago, the land slowly buckled and began the formation of the Appalachian Chain. As the mountains gained height, the river kept flowing, cutting into and through them as they rose. When the French Broad river was young, so was the world."

Wow, Jim. Thanks for the natural history!

Had no idea idea I had any connection to this grand and ancient living river, other than really loving that song. It was on the Holston Valley section of it in far north eastern Tennessee that I was born. In Woodie Guthrie's day, that bit was "harnessed" for the great hydro electric dam project.

But something tells me that nothing could tame a living ancient such as the French Broad; she could be fettered by neither leash nor chain.

JL--The film is currently making the rounds of the film fest circuit. If you go to the website, www.homemadehillbillyjam.com, and click on home, there's a really out of date list of dates. But, you can also sign up for the newsletter, which hopefully will offer details on upcoming showings (it's also coming out on DVD).

I've hiked and camped along the Pigeon River, a tributary of the French Broad. Pigeon River Wilderness is an awesome place. My family settled all through there in the mid-1700s.

Jim P. - had you taken pictures of that area or written anything to celebrate it?

"A Prairy Home Companion" - a very nice addition, with a quirky story line to boot!