![]() Both he and his cousin, Stanley Hicks, received the National Heritage Fellowship Award from the National Endowment for the Arts.īurton offers the viewer "behind-the-scenes" anecdotes that enhance the original footage. Over the ensuing years, Ray was featured in documentaries, profiled by the New Yorker magazine, and recognized by the Smithsonian Institution. When asked if he "discovered" Ray Hicks, Burton explained that while he did not "discover" Hicks, he did introduce him to Jimmy Neil Smith, the founder of the National Storytelling Festival. In fact, upon entering the International Storytelling Center the first large photograph one notices is Ray Hicks telling a story to festival-goers. Hicks died in 2003, but he remains an iconic figure in the storytelling revival movement. Known primarily for his storytelling, particularly for a group of stories known as Jack Tales, Hicks was the first storyteller invited to what eventually became known as the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough. His distinctive way of speaking is a particularly interesting aspect of "A Film about Ray Hicks." Because of that speaking style, Robert McNeil featured Hicks in the PBS series "The Story of English." Standing nearly seven feet tall, Ray Hicks spoke a dialect of English that retained much of the vocabulary and phrasing of earlier immigrants to the region. And I think Ray and Buna and Bertha and Stanley and Hattie - they're some of the most interesting people up there, or were, on the Beech." ![]() ![]() Two of their films, "A Film about Ray Hicks" and "Buna & Bertha," have been packaged along with earlier footage recorded by Burton and his ETSU Department of English colleague, the late Professor Ambrose Manning, into a newly released DVD entitled "Ray Hicks and Other Beech Mountain Folks." Each film and the additional footage are introduced by Burton in an informative, entertaining hour-long presentation.Īccording to Burton, "There are just a lot of interesting stories and from a lot of interesting people around Beech Mountain. In the mid-1970s, Burton, who has since retired, and Schrader turned their attention to Appalachian storyteller Ray Hicks and his family and friends. Burton and the late Professor Jack Schrader began filming in Southern Appalachia in the 1960s. ![]() JOHNSON CITY, TN – The town of Beech Mountain in North Carolina has changed dramatically since East Tennessee State University faculty members Dr. ![]()
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