Rock & Reel: A Film About Monticello’s Black Fiddlers
7pm Saturday, January 9, 2027
Second Stage | Amherst
(194 2nd Street, Amherst, VA)
This film tells the story of three generations of musicians who transformed the soundscape of Virginia.
7pm Saturday, January 9, 2027
Second Stage | Amherst
(194 2nd Street, Amherst, VA)
This film tells the story of three generations of musicians who transformed the soundscape of Virginia.
Enslaved sons of Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson — Eston, Madison, and Beverly Hemings — were all accomplished fiddlers. Indigenous fiddler Jesse Scott, who married into the Hemings family, taught three of his sons and a grandson to play. The Scotts chose to navigate the difficult racial climate of Charlottesville, while their Hemings cousins moved away — Eston Hemings formed one of Ohio’s most famous string bands. In this documentary, the story of these nearly-forgotten fiddlers is brought to life by top Monticello historians.
The film also includes footage of Early Music Access Project musicians performing concerts of music once played by these remarkable fiddlers. Footage from the Affrolachian On-Time Music Gathering in Orange, Virginia traces an unbroken musical tradition that survives today through trailblazing Black old-time musicians. As EMAP musicians recreate these 19th-century sounds in concert, it becomes clear why the Scott family’s music “caused the old chateau to rock and reel to the cadence of the tripping feet.”
Produced and directed by David McCormick and Stephen Brouillette, with appearances by musicians Dominic Giardino, Benjamin Hunter, Carmen Johnson-Pájaro, Loren Ludwig, Rebecca Scout Nelson, and Sam Suggs, historians Andrew Davenport, Christine Devine, and Gayle Jessup White, and Affrolachian On-Time Music Gathering founder Dena Jennings.
Dena Jennings and David McCormick will be on hand after the film
for a Q&A session.
The film also includes footage of Early Music Access Project musicians performing concerts of music once played by these remarkable fiddlers. Footage from the Affrolachian On-Time Music Gathering in Orange, Virginia traces an unbroken musical tradition that survives today through trailblazing Black old-time musicians. As EMAP musicians recreate these 19th-century sounds in concert, it becomes clear why the Scott family’s music “caused the old chateau to rock and reel to the cadence of the tripping feet.”
Produced and directed by David McCormick and Stephen Brouillette, with appearances by musicians Dominic Giardino, Benjamin Hunter, Carmen Johnson-Pájaro, Loren Ludwig, Rebecca Scout Nelson, and Sam Suggs, historians Andrew Davenport, Christine Devine, and Gayle Jessup White, and Affrolachian On-Time Music Gathering founder Dena Jennings.
Dena Jennings and David McCormick will be on hand after the film
for a Q&A session.
Fiddler David McCormick is a multi-instrumentalist, scholar, and educator recognized for curating imaginative performances, creating educational opportunities for students of all ages, and guiding prominent arts organizations through the challenges of our time. In 2021, he took the helm of Early Music America as its sixth executive director, with the ambition of creating a more inclusive, equitable space for all who engage with historical performance. David is also artistic director of Early Music Access Project, Charlottesville. In 2020, David was awarded a fellowship with the Robert H. Smith International Center for Jefferson Studies to investigate the repertoire of free and enslaved Black musicians associated with Monticello, culminating in an ongoing series of live and virtual concerts, the “Expanding the Narrative” web series, an executive producer credit for the feature film Black Fiddlers, and lectures at The Juilliard School, Indiana University, and Case Western Reserve University. As part of Early Music Access Project, he plays folk tunes that his research leads him to believe were played by Hemings and Scott family musicians. These fiddlers were relatives of Sally Hemings who were black, indigenous and European musicians and popular for their playing at early 18th-Century dances, parties and dinners in Monticello and Charlottesville. |
Dena Jennings is a physician and artist in Central Virginia., and a Vice Chair of the Virginia Commission for the Arts, since 2019. On her mother’s side, Jennings can trace her ancestry in Appalachia back five generations. Twenty years after establishing her medical practice and ImaniWorks, a non-profit organization for conflict transformation and human rights advocacy, Dena entered a four-year arts apprenticeship. There, she learned to hand carve modern instruments made from gourds and other natural fibers in the style of traditional instruments from around the world. Along with her husband they own an herb farm and retreat center in Central Virginia. Dena has a workshop and studio there where she grows her own gourds and mills her own wood. She conducts instrument building workshops and hosts the Affrolachian On-Time Music Gathering at the farm. |
Tickets:
• $20 General Admission ADULTS
• $10 General Admission STUDENTS
• Limited FREE VCA-VDH WIC Passport tickets: Tickets are available to persons showing a WIC Card. For more information, call 434-989-3215 or click on link below:
https://www.amherstglebeartsresponse.org/passport.htmlVCA PASSPORT
How to Purchase:
Pay at the door, cash or checks only; doors open at 5:15pm.
Reserve a ticket with credit card, convenience fee applied, via Eventbrite by clicking on button below.
• $20 General Admission ADULTS
• $10 General Admission STUDENTS
• Limited FREE VCA-VDH WIC Passport tickets: Tickets are available to persons showing a WIC Card. For more information, call 434-989-3215 or click on link below:
https://www.amherstglebeartsresponse.org/passport.htmlVCA PASSPORT
How to Purchase:
Pay at the door, cash or checks only; doors open at 5:15pm.
Reserve a ticket with credit card, convenience fee applied, via Eventbrite by clicking on button below.
Tickets will go on sale November 1, 2026.
