2019

Dwight Diller

Dwight Diller is one of a small handful of native West Virginia musicians actively engaged in preserving the traditional music of his state. Dwight was born in 1946, and grew up having instilled in him the mountain culture of east central West Virginia. His ancestors were some of the earliest settlers of the region around Pocahontas County. Dwight’s early interest in the old stories and the old music, led him to seek out the old people in his home area who were the repositories of this tradition. According to Dwight, ”I can’t remember when I wasn’t interested in the stories being told by and about the old folks from my region.” Then on his own, with a powerful desire to connect with his heritage, he did what we used to do. He paid a visit to his neighbors.

The most well-known of Dwight’s neighbors that had kept the music alive were the Hammons’ [Burl, Maggie, Sherman, James], Lee Hammons [no relation] and Hamp Carpenter. Starting in 1968 when he first visited them, he spent countless hours absorbing everything he could.

Since that time, Dwight has continued to grow not just in his knowledge of the music and the culture, but also in wisdom and spirituality. At the age of 30 he became a Christian. This led to his spending 3 years in seminary and becoming a back-porch Mennonite minister, which he has been since 1984.

In 1970, Dwight introduced the Hammons’ to the Library of Congress. Within two years, after sifting through all of Dwight’s many, many hours of recorded material and using Dwight as the major consultant, the Library of Congress had issued a boxed two LP record set with a 40-page booklet. The then-infant Rounder Records also released “Shaking Down the Acorns”, which was recorded at two small autumn gatherings Dwight sponsored near his home in 1970 and again in 1971. Both the above recordings were combined and re-released in 1998 by Rounder Records on CDs with a booklet included. Augusta Heritage Center released some of Dwight’s personal recordings as “The Diller Collection” Vol. 1 [1996] that contained 35 fiddle tunes from Burl Hammons; Vol. 2 [1997] had 37 banjo tunes by 5 different Hammons’ and Hamp Carpenter.

The June 1996 issue of “Banjo Newsletter” featured a large interview with Dwight by Bates Littlehales. It was “one of the best articles they’ve published” said Gordon Banks. In it, Bates brought out the strong feelings Dwight has for his heritage as well as his music. The 1997 issue of “Sing Out” also had included an interview with Dwight. This article referred to him as the “guardian of traditional West Virginia mountain music”. In 2003 Dwight was chosen as one of the representatives of the Appalachian region at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington DC.

Now with decades of playing and almost as many years teaching the old music, Dwight has long since come into his own as an interpreter of his heritage. His music continues to mature as he teaches the old music, its context, how not to mistreat it. This continual teaching year after year brings about changes in his internal personal growth which keeps his music always fresh.  His music has the active ingredients that keep it in the spirit of the archaic feel without becoming a museum piece. It grows in depth like the traditional music of the 19th century central West Virginia mountains grew.