Betty McDaniel claims she isn’t much of a musician, but she’s helped countless kids in the Upstate discover a lifelong love of Appalachian music.
Photo by Milton Morris
Betty McDaniel
Age: 71.
Home turf: Pickens.
Claim to fame: Founder of Young Appalachian Musicians (YAM), a nonprofit teaching kids to play and appreciate traditional bluegrass and mountain music.
High honors: Her work was recognized in 2015 with the Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Award.
Words to live by: “I’ve always been big on passing on the traditions of the past.”
Co-op affiliation: Member of Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative.
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On the main stage at the 2018 South Carolina State Fiddling Championship, 10 middle school-aged kids—all of them picking banjos, strumming guitars or mandolins, and one plucking an upright bass—are jamming along to the traditional fiddle tune “Old Joe Clark.” Known collectively as the Sweet Potato Pie Kids, they are part of the Young Appalachian Musicians (YAM) program founded by Betty McDaniel, who watches proudly from the audience.
McDaniel launched the program with 32 kids at Holly Springs Elementary School in 2008. Modeled after the Junior Appalachian Musicians program, YAM now teaches more than 300 kids in 14 South Carolina schools how to play traditional old-time music.
“The odd thing about my dedication to mountain music is that I can barely play ‘Three Chords and a Capo’ on the guitar, and I definitely can’t sing,” she says. “And, since I grew up in Raleigh, I can’t claim it as my heritage. I did, however, come from a music-loving and appreciating family.”
Enthralled with mountain music and dance traditions, McDaniel directed a clogging team at Holly Springs Elementary School, where she taught for 37 years. When her knees began to give out, she focused her efforts on music.
Playing traditional music, she believes, makes kids better musicians and builds relationships across generations.
“I feel like a lot of them find a real home with traditional music,” McDaniel says. “They find something they can do with the rest of their lives.”
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Get More
Learn more about the Young Appalachian Musicians program at yamupstate.com.