[John Morris fiddling]

Morris: It's history. It's just as important as a history book. Somebody went through a life struggle or some happiness. The result was a fiddle tune.

[fiddling finishes]

About enough of that [chuckle].

[background fiddle and banjo music]

I grew up on the farm that we're on now, outside of Ivydale, West Virginia. Music has been a part of my life ever since I can remember. My brother and I had a lot of music around, a lot of singing. Our dad liked that old country Jimmie Rodgers singing, and my mother could play the guitar in a Mother Maybelle Carter fashion. In the spring of '65, my brother and I, we done a show over at Normantown High School as The Morris Brothers. And that's where we started. Just country boys that played a little bit of music.

My brother got drafted in '68 during the Vietnam War. We had him a big going away party. All kinds of old-time music people showed up. We decided we'd just try to have a regular thing out of it. We wanted to have old people come and play music, and the young people come and join in with them. A dancer, at one time, he counted license plates from 35 states out here. From '69 to '73, it was people coming and playing. There was nothing but old-time music.

[background steel guitar music]

There's a story behind every tune. It's an oral tradition. The next generation, they come around. Says something for the durability of old time. It has the ability to pull you in.

[fiddle tuning and playing]

Brian Grant Young: Oh, I didn't get it two times.

Morris: That's all right. Don't worry about it. You'll get it.

Young: I learned about John at my high school when they showed a video about old-time music. I think it's amazing to have a living legend living in our county that I can go to and I can learn from. It makes me feel happy to listen to this stuff. It probably makes other people happy, too. They just might not have heard it yet.

[fiddle playing]

Morris: Music, it fills a gap in your life. The old fiddle players, they were giving people. Once somebody showed some interest, they were more than happy just to pour it out to you. There are lessons that you learned about life and about how to treat people, and all that goes with you. I just carried the bucket. They put the water in it.