Asheville, NC · square dance calling · old-time

Phil Jamison

1 upcoming festival

Dance caller, flatfoot dancer and old-time musician — over forty years a Green Grass Clogger, dance consultant on the film Songcatcher, and author of Hoedowns, Reels, and Frolics.

Phil Jamison is a dance caller, flatfoot dancer, old-time musician and dance historian based in western North Carolina. He taught for many years at Warren Wilson College near Asheville, where he was involved in the school's traditional music and dance programs, and he has long been a fixture at old-time gatherings as a caller for square dances and as a performer of Appalachian percussive dance.

His research traces the mixed European, African American and Native American roots of southern square dancing and clogging, arguing against the idea of these forms as purely transplanted British traditions. Alongside calling, he plays fiddle and other old-time instruments, and much of his work has centered on documenting figures, tunes and dance styles gathered directly from older Appalachian dancers and callers.

square dance callingold-time