Event #3: Lecture

Yesterday I attended a lecture in the Royall Room of the Alumni Center. The lecture was called "Twang: A Southern Note" and Robert Cantwell discussed "twang" through music and southern culture. It was very complicated and I was very impressed with his depth of knowledge about this certain topic. He discussed how the banjo was the original instrument in the history bluegrass that really represented twang. This sound produced by the banjo eventually developed into the bluegrass and country music we hear today. Some examples that he played for everyone included Merle Haggard and George Jones, who are both very famous and talented. These people were influenced greatly by Emmett Miller, a white man who sang blues like a black man and brought both races together. Cantwell said the music was a sign for negotiating differences in race, class, etc. and it encouraged fellowship. I thought it was interesting that he called Miller the Rosetta stone of country music.

More recently, the steel guitar became a key instrument in bluegrass and country music. He said it is the sound that most people associate with this music. The "twang" is still prevalent in it, but it has evolved greatly from the days of Hank Williams and Merle Haggard. Cantwell said that this sound has characterized the South since it's beginnings in the nineteenth century and still continues in the present bluegrass and country music of today. As his lecture continued, it became more and more complex and hard to follow for someone that was very inexperienced on this subject, but it was very interesting and inspiring to listen to. He had multiple colleagues in the audience that asked very in-depth questions at the end that obviously showed their shared interest and great intellect. Even though most of these conversations were way over my head, it was awesome to see the depth and detail that they showed on this particular subject.

As a student at UNC, I had never attended an academic lecture such as this because I normally never hear of them occurring. The lectures I had heard of never seemed very interesting to me, and I honestly thought the same of this lecture until I actually went and listened to what he had to say. It made me realize how truly intelligent and talented so many of the professors here at UNC are even though in class we might find them incredibly boring or unhelpful. He also was clearly not speaking for an audience of unaware students, but rather fellow specialists in his field.