National Hollerin' Contest in Spivey's Corner, NC
Joshua Foer is a guest blogger on Boing Boing. Joshua is a freelance science journalist and the co-founder of the Atlas Obscura: A Compendium of the World's Wonders, Curiosities, and Esoterica, with Dylan Thuras.
Looking back at a few of my posts here on Boing Boing from the last couple days (the Chappe optical telegraph, the whistling language of La Gomera), I noticed that long-distance communication has been one of the major themes. Coincidentally, this past Saturday was the 41st annual National Hollerin' Contest in Spivey's Corner, North Carolina (population 49).
Hollerin' (no "g" at the end, just an apostrophe) is an ancient tradition native to the lowlands of eastern North Carolina, which needs to be distinguished from the other vocal pursuits to which it bears some superficial resemblance, including hollering, yodeling, hog calling, whooping, and hooting.In an age before telephones, the distinctive cries, which resemble something between an opera aria and a braying donkey, were the primary form of long-distance communication between North Carolina farms. With enough practice--and stamina--a good holler could be a true lifeline. You might holler first thing in the morning to let your neighbors know you were awake. You'd holler if you got lost, holler if you were celebrating, holler if dinner was ready, holler if you just wanted say, "What's up?!" There was a vocabulary of shrieks for every occasion, as well as a host of religious songs with throaty hollerin' translations.
The first time I competed in the National Hollerin' Contest, I was passing through Spivey's Corner on a road trip with a friend. We thought the idea was to stand up and yell something ridiculous at a ridiculously high volume. Somehow we seemed to miss the fact that several thousand people had gathered to watch the event and only twelve (mostly elderly) men had signed up to compete. We were the only ones from out of state.
I walked onto the stage and yelled the most random word I could think of, "GINGIVITIS!!" and then proceeded to bellow out an impromptu oration on the importance of dental hygiene. My friend and I felt certain we were shoe-ins for the title. But if the crowd's measured silence and disdainful glances weren't proof enough of how badly our performance had gone over, a full account of the disaster was given in the next morning's local newspaper. The lede began, "When it comes to hollerin', the amateurs are easier to spot than a Yankee at a pig pickin'."
A few years later, feeling guilty about my performance, I returned to Spivey's Corner for the 37th annual hollerin' contest to compete again, and offer the town an apology. This time, I enlisted Larry Jackson, one of the greatest hollerers in the history of hollerin', to teach me about the tradition and give me instruction in the ancient art. To make a long a story short I ended up finishing second.
To get a sense of what hollerin' is all about, check out this video of my mentor Larry Jackson from the 2007 contest:
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Holler is used for at least two definitions..
'Holler at you later' is common even among the learned..
Yelling, of course..
and in regards to small mountain valleys,
spelled hollow but always pronounced 'holler'.
One exception was 'Legend of Sleepy Hollow' which used the 'proper' pronunciation.
We get raised strange 'round these parts.
Speaking of more-or-less traditional hollerin', there's a singer called Brownbird Rudy Relic who bills himself as the "King of the Holler Blues." Dunno if it's a self-invented style, but he sure can holler like a pro.
Here's a video -- he really rips into it around 0:30.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8mLqOkkS9M
...and now I have just learnt that "lede" is a journalistic neologism. Fascinating.
Fans of Hollerin' may also enjoy Eephing. (Anyone know of any good Eephing videos on youtube?)
Back in the '80s I won a Hollerin' 45 from Rounder Records in a contest.
The 1976 LP Hollerin' — which was recorded at the '75 and'76 National Hollerin' Contests — is available on CD at Amazon.
Typical Northerner tourist, you entered a contest you knew nothing about -- no wonder you got the reaction you did. Watch and listen first, act second!
It's great you got Mr. Jackson to assist you, and you got 2nd place, but that's not something that just anybody could do.
The one and only time I went to the Hollerin' Contest ('99?), every single friggin' news media was there, and completely occupied the stage. Those of us in the crowd (in the rain) couldn't see a single contestant.
(Yes, I'm feeling grumpy today...)
Dude sounds like Minnie Pearl.