"When my brother Johnny and I were young Dad would wake us up at 5 o'clock in the morning and make us pick for an hour before school. I couldn't hardly see at that time of the morning, so I really resented practicing. At age 16, I became interested in rock 'n' roll, it nearly broke Dad's heart. ... As I grew older, I became interested in traditional Appalachian music and have spent a lot of time developing my own style of picking. To be real honest, I really thank Dad for making us learn to play. I feel I've now come full circle." - Phil Sexton, late son of banjo picker Lee Sexton

Joe Begley steps to Guy Carawan

The community surrounding the C.B. Caudill Store is rich in the artistic and cultural endeavors traditional to the Appalachian region of Kentucky and the store has always been a place where this culture found expression - from the display and sale of local crafts, to informal music gatherings, to local "politicking" and organizing efforts to improve economic and environmental conditions.

The Sexton family of musicians, including the late Morgan Sexton, a National Heritage Fellowship recipient, and his nephew Lee, a drop-thumb banjo player and singer, are from the immediate area. Legendary musician Roscoe Halcomb lived not far from Blackey as did several other musicians recorded by John Cohen in 1959 for his seminal album "Mountain Music of Kentucky."

In the old school house at Carcassonne, residents still gather to dance a traditional form of square dancing they have preserved since settlement days. Members of the Indian Bottom Association of the Old Regular Baptist Church (founded in 1810) sing and worship in much the same manner as recorded by Alan Lomax in Blackey in 1959.

The C.B. Caudill Store displays quilts recently made by women from the Blackey Senior Citizens Center as well as a spinning wheel used by Gaynell Begley's great-grandmother. Despite the trips to the White House and contact with "the media elite" and progressives throughout the country, the Begleys have never turned away from the cultural heritage of their families and their neighbors. They have always encouraged cultural expression at the store - Austin Miller's banjo picking sessions at the gas station in between fillups are legendary.

Recognizing the need to both pass on traditions and give young people something to do, Joe and Gaynell helped to organize concerts and dances at the Blackey Community Center (since burned down) and hosted traveling folk festivals such as Anne Romaine's Southern Folk Revival tour, which brought Sarah Gunning, Hazel Dickens and Nimrod Workman to perform in Blackey. Joe was an excellent flatfoot dancer and until recently rarely passed up an opportunity to cut a shine on the dance floor. The Begleys know intrinsically that the effort to maintain a rich and enduring public life in the Blackey area requires preserving and strengthening not only the physical community but the shared sense of common history, cultural identity and overlapping social relationships that is the essence of community.

Traditional Music Workshops at the CB Caudill Store & History Center