DOCUMENTING THE CULTURE OF THE HIGH COUNTRY: Music & Storytelling

Hey, Jason, what is Kid Rock doing in Pineola, NC? Cathy Sheely knows better, and so do we, but lots of folks are dead-certain David Wiseman is Kid Rock. Over the years, he has learned to just smile—and when people ask for an autograph, he tries to accommodate. But here’s the trick: he never reveals the name he signs! David’s lineage goes back to the original Sweethearts of Country Music, the legendary duo Lulu Belle and Scotty Wiseman.

Have I told you lately that I love you?" Whoa buddy, get that starry look out of your eyes — I was talking about one of America’s bestselling songs! That simple question, whispered by Lulu in Scotty's ear while he lay in a hospital bed, turned into their biggest hit. It was so popular it was later recorded by a few "lesser-known" artists like Gene Autry, Bing Crosby, The Andrews Sisters, and Elvis Presley. Legend has it the song has been sung on half the front porches in America.

David shared how Lulu (from Boone, NC) was paired with Scotty (from Spruce Pine, NC) back in mid-1934 on Chicago's The National Barn Dance. They fell in love on the air and were married by December of that same year. Together, they made seven Hollywood pictures—sharing the screen in one with an up-and-coming actor named Roy Rogers. But after all that fame and fortune, they came right back home to Three Mile Road in Avery County. Lulu even went on to serve two terms in the North Carolina House of Representatives!

Preserving the Legacy

They say you never know where an interview is going to go. We originally came here to talk to David and Cathy about their band, but the traditional music they inherited touches the very soul of High Country culture. What could be more American than hitting it big, coming home to serve your neighbors, and leaving a musical legacy for the next generation? (Oh, and in case you thought I forgot—yes, Scotty did buy the rights to Good Old Mountain Dew and reworked it into a major hit!)

Click on one of the links to our YouTube channel and learn more about the Wisemans' musical family, including David's cousin and the fiddler in their band, Alan Johnson.

Oh, in case you thought I forgot — Yes, Scotty did buy the rights to Good Old Mountain Dew and remixed it into a major hit.

Watch our ride-about to meet the Wiseman family and hear The David Wiseman Band.

Climb into our backseat — subscribe and ride along with Alton & Jason every week.

When Ken Walters suggested Jason and I document the duties of Jerry Moody and his staff at the Avery County Cooperative Extension Office, it quickly brought back memories of my failed tomato crops — that is, if two tomato plants a year can be called a crop. “Ken,” I said sarcastically, “all the green bled out of my thumb many years ago. I don't think Jerry can help me.” That said, as we interviewed Jerry, we learned he is a man with many irons in the fire. In fact, he may be the busiest person in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

For more than a century, Avery County was known for apples, cabbages, potatoes, and ornamental shrubs. But during the 1960s, the county's agricultural economy began shifting, and Fraser Fir trees led the way. Today, North Carolina produces about 25 percent of the nation's annual Christmas trees, and Avery County farmers produce close to a million of those trees. But don't let the Christmas tree statistics fool you — the county still grows those other crops, and Jerry has a whole team of agents and technicians helping him coordinate the different programs they administer.

His staff operates a germplasm collection of heirloom apples so that a few years from now, if a person wants to grow a Red Sheep Nose or a Summer Banana apple, they can take a graft off one of the county's trees and grow their own. For Avery County children who do not have a safe environment for learning and playing in the summer, the extension office coordinates nine weeks of a 4-H Day Camp called WOW.

Have you ever heard the term agritourism? Well, it is a real thing here in Avery County. It lets a tourist experience some of the county's most spectacular high-elevation scenery during a hayride on a private farm. Whether it is a choose-and-cut Christmas tree farm or a U-pick apple orchard, it will be an experience you will not soon forget. You will probably be offered a glass of fresh apple cider — but if not, swing by the extension office's annual Apple Cider Pressing event and they will help you press your own. And if pressing apples is too sloppy for you, head over to Apple Hill Farm in Banner Elk and watch them shear an alpaca.

Are you old enough to remember when people touched produce before they purchased it? News flash, you still can. If you go to one of our tailgate markets you can squeeze produce to your hearts content. They start in early summer and rotate through every major Avery County once a week. But the biggest agritourism event of the year is the Avery County Fair, held every September at the fairgrounds in the Heritage Park Complex, adjacent to the Extension Office.