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Hollerers gather to make a loud noise at Spivey's Corner Kathleen Kearns If you hear the word "hollering" and think of pig-calling -- you know, a "Suuu-eeee!" of the "Hee Haw" variety -- you ain't heard nothing yet. It turns out there's a whole lot more to hollering than bringing in the pigs. There are good morning hollers, hollers to keep a work rhythm going, and hollers used by men driving logs down a river. There are courting hollers, hollered versions of hymns, and hollers that tell your neighbors you're getting ready to slaughter hogs. Hollering in all its glory is a homegrown art form of the rural South, and it's being kept alive through a 35-year-old contest in Spivey's Corner. You can hear it for yourself at this year's edition on June 21. Back in the 1970s, H.H. Oliver, an early champion, explained on tape how the hollering tradition was used by farm families. "When you had trouble, you had to get out and holler. I remember one time that there was a child that fell out of the porch and cut its head open and the lady got out and hollered." Oliver demonstrated by hollering three times, a loud, primal two-note call that would chill any red-blooded creature to the bone. He went on, "And my mama said, 'Well, we'd better go down and see what's the matter at Susan's.' So we tore out down there and the little fellow that fell out of the porch and cut his head open, my mother took some cobwebs and wiped on his face, and after a while he stopped bleeding. That's what they call a distress holler." Before telephones, calling across the fields was the quickest way for country people to communicate with their neighbors. Chapel Hill's own Tony Peacock, who was national champion in 1999, is part of a generation interested in learning about different hollers and preserving them as a tradition. "They're divided into four categories," Peacock explained in a surprisingly soft voice. "Communicative hollers like 'good morning' or 'hello'; distress hollers; functional farm, field and work hollers, which include calling animals, calling for water, and calling for dinner; and expressive hollers, which use old folk and hymn tunes." What you're aiming for, according to Peacock, is an echo that will carry the message across fields and woods. "A trademark Sampson County holler consisted of rapid shifts between falsetto and natural voice on a limited, gapped scale," he said. "For instance, 1-3-5. That gives you the echo. You want staccato, sharp sounds." The farmers who hollered for practical purposes would never have explained it that way, Peacock acknowledged. They just hollered. Peacock, who writes a Village Voice column for the Chapel Hill News, grew up in Clement, about 10 miles from Spivey's Corner. As a boy out fishing with his father, he once heard hollering's most famous practitioner, Leonard Emanuel, call across the river. Emanuel toured at one point with folk singer Mike Seeger. Now deceased, Emanuel is buried in Clement beneath a tombstone engraved with the hollering contest logo. Peacock attended his first contest in 1997 to hear his cousin Larry Jackson compete. Jackson, who is also from Clement but now lives in Salemburg, has won the men's division four times. Jackson's daughter, Heather Branch of Roseboro, has twice won the women's contest, and his niece, Jessica Hall, has been women's champion once and runner-up once. All four relatives will compete again this year. Branch, who learned to holler from her father, said she first got up on the contest stage when she was 10 or 11 but got stage fright and changed her mind about hollering. A couple years ago, she asked her dad what he wanted for Father's Day and he said, "I want you to be in the Hollerin' Contest." She won. "I did a distress holler," she recalled. "I did my pigs (hog-calling that incorporates the sound of a baby pig in distress). I did a dinner call. I did 'Amazing Grace.' My grandma loved that song, and every year I do it in memory of her." Peacock learned hollering mainly from a recording done at the contest in the mid-1970s, when local farmers in their 70s were the regular champions. "I did several good morning hollers the year that I won," he said. "I came up with my own signature sound inspired by the rhythms of some voices I heard growing up, tobacco auctioneers and primitive Baptist preachers. And my uncle helped me develop a corn shucking holler." Being a hollering champion has some perks, Peacock has discovered. He has been invited to holler and talk about hollering in schools and at special events. "Once people find out you holler, they'll ask you to holler," he said. ### If You Go The 35th annual National Hollerin' Contest will be held in Spivey's Corner on June 21, rain or shine. The event is a fund-raiser for the local Volunteer Fire Department. Gates open at 11 a.m. and admission is $3. The deadline to register to compete is 2 p.m., and the contests start at 3 with a Conch Shell Blowin' competition, followed by Fox Horn Blowin' and Whistlin'. At 4, the Junior Hollerin' contest will take place. At 5 is Ladies Callin', and at 6 is the main event, the Men's National Hollerin' Competition. The fire department will have food and drink for sale, and booths will feature arts and crafts and other exhibits. Coolers are not permitted. Umbrellas, lawn chairs and cool clothing are recommended. Spivey's Corner is about 80 miles southeast of Chapel Hill, between Dunn and Clinton. Take Interstate 40 east past Raleigh to exit 328A. Take I-95 South (toward Benson/Fayetteville) about 8 miles to exit 73 at Dunn. Take U.S. 421 South about 10 miles. Spivey's Corner is at the intersection of U.S. 421 and U.S. 13. Depending on the progress of renovations at the fire department, the contest will either be at the firehouse, which is right at that crossroads, or at Midway High School, which is 3 miles south of Spivey's Corner on U.S. 421. There will be signs at the crossroads. For information, call 910-567-2600.
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