My
Favorite
Storyteller
Allow me to introduce you to my favorite storyteller,
Gary Carden.
(This is him on the
left.)
Mountain
Talk
Gary is a Master Storyteller and has probably forgot more about the art than I’ll ever know.
Now just in case you don’t understand MountainTalk, that’s meant to be a complement, click the link to find out more about the film Mountain Talk (Gary narrates.)
About Gary in his
own words:
“I was raised by my grandparents in a house filled with the past. I listened to Grady Cole and
Renfro Valley on the radio while my grandfather tuned musical instruments with
a tuning fork and sang hymns from a shape-note songbook.I grew up listening to a great deal of foolishness about ‘bad blood’ (mine), black Irish curses (my
grandfather’s) and the evils of being ‘left handed’ (I couldn’t play a musical
instrument.) I grew up with the cows, June apple trees, comic books, the Farmers’
Federation and Saturday movies. I told my first stories to my grandfather’s chickens
in a dark chicken-house when I was six years old. My audience wasn’t attentive
and tended to get hysterical during the dramatic parts. ”
The Prince of Dark Corners
One of Gary’s most recent plays to make it to film is “The Prince of Dark Corners” based on the true story of Lewis Redmond (played in an outstanding performance by Milton Higgins.) At the time of his capture in 1881, the outlaw, was described as “the most famous man in South Carolina.” Redmond was equally well-known in western North Carolina and north Georgia where local newspapers begged the court to “forget his faults in admiration of his undaunted courage and unmistakable dash.”
Due to rumors of a dramatic rescue, Redmond’s trial in Asheville, North Carolina was canceled and he was transferred to Greenville, South Carolina. People visiting the jail while he was awaiting trial in both locations gave him food, whiskey and cigars. Redmond acquired quite a collection of perfumed notes from women.
This film has aired on ETV and will air on Thursday, January 3rd on UNC-TV.
If you don’t get these channels or just want a copy of your own, click n the DVD to the right to purchase a copy from Gary. I’m sure you won’t be disappointed; the DVD includes bonus features too.
All this is just this tip of the iceberg,
so to speak . . .
Gary is forever busy, writing book and plays, making appearances, painting, and touring with his new drama group, The Tannery Whistle Players. The players have most recently been performing “The Raindrop Waltz” with great success and it looks like their upcoming year
is shaping up to be a busy one. Details we be posted on Gary’s site as they become available.
So drop into The TanneryWhistle
and pay Gary a visit and enjoy!
Tell him Ol’ John Brown sent you.
