The Roan Mountain Hilltoppers were featured in an earlier post highlighting the photographs of Bill and Joe Birchfield contained in AC.850: Jack Jeffers Photography Collection and AC.877: The Plow (Periodical) Collection. One of the most respected and revered groups in the history of Appalachian string bands, the Hilltoppers continue to gain worldwide attention for their style of old time dance music. In honor of Bill Birchfield, who recently passed away at age 69, we feature some rarely seen footage of the Hilltoppers from AC.862: Joseph R. Murphy Audiovisual Recordings and Papers. The Birchfields-- Joe on fiddle, Bill on guitar, Creed on banjo, and Janice on washtub bass-- were captured by Murphy's camera while playing at the Mountain City Fiddlers Convention, August 31, 1985. Murphy filmed the Hilltoppers in the midst of shooting his documentary Doc and Merle, a portrait of the family and music of Doc and Merle Watson.
You can watch the Hilltoppers at Mountain City Fiddlers Convention on our Digital Collections page: http://omeka.library.appstate.edu/files/original/f3ca61c351ab38968294151...
For the digital collections page with details on the recording: http://omeka.library.appstate.edu/items/show/38137
