The time was 1965 and I was making my first documentary for television. I got sent to the mountains of North Carolina. Asheville. Buncombe County. Madison County. Wilkes County.

I was on the road following and filming the great collector of music Bascom Lamar Lunsford. He was taking me to film his best of the best, the folks he was going to choose to perform at his Mountain Dance and Folk FestivalIn Asheville, North Carolina, the first festival of that type in the USA.

I was 23 years old and making my first television special. I did my best following Bascom for six weeks of recording. The finished film ran on national primeitime television in 1966 and showed Americans for the first time, what these people were like, not just their wonderful musicianship, but their storytelling and poetry and dance and culture.

One day Bascom took me to Jesse "Lost John" Ray, who he said folks in that region called their greatest fiddler. I presented this clip on my channel before and many commentators debated whether or not he was. So I decided to make this video to explain why Bascom thought Lost John was so great.

After all these years, I still remember my experience as though it was yesterday and have a deep affection and admiration for the people of the mountains of North Carolina. They treated me beautifully and gave me the opportunity to record wonderful 16mm film.

I wish that I still had the outtakes but back in those days, I was too dumb to realize that I should keep them and didn't have the room in my small Queens New York apartment.

I loved mountain music – bluegrass music – country music back then, and I still do today. Especially when played by "real folks" like Lost John.

Some commentators surprisingly have felt that I am putting down this culture which is the polar opposite of how I feel and what I am saying with his clip. Their culture was the most rich culture I have ever personally witnessed and I feel very fortunate that I was with these people when I was just 23 years old.

Some commentators have asked what happened to Lost John and the others in my film. Unfortunately in most cases, I do not know.

Bascom Lamar Lunsford died several years after the film was made but he got the chance to see the very positive reviews on national television and to see his Asheville North Carolina mountain music and dance Festival grow even more popular.

I visited the great banjo picker singer Obray Ramsey after Bascom had passed on to ask him about Bascom in his last days and you can find that by searching his name on my YouTube channel. My 1965 film had increased Obray's underground popularity and he told me that he was pleased to have been a part of it. He also was one of the most charming storyteller singer banjo pickers I encountered in my long career filming different cultures.

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David Hoffman filmmaker