Storytelling with Connie Regan-Blake & Barbara Freeman

• An evening of storytelling with Connie Regan-Blake and Barbara Freeman. In the 1970s, the cousins were both working at the Chattanooga Public Library, Freeman as children’s librarian and Regan-Blake as a full-time storyteller for a special outreach program called MORE. In 1973, they attended the first National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tenn. There they met Ray and Rosa Hicks of Beech Mountain, N.C., who became lasting friends and mentors. They realized they had a special gift for telling stories, and left their careers at the library to perform nationally and internationally as the Folktellers. Regan-Blake and Freeman pioneered “tandem telling,” a type of duet storytelling performance. In addition to performances, the Folktellers have produced three albums and a play, “Mountain Sweet Talk.”

• September 06, 2018

Notes

• –  Barbara Freeman established the traveling storytelling team the Folktellers with her cousin, Connie Regan-Blake, in 1973. Freeman and Regan-Blake eventually moved on to solo careers, and both are internationally recognized storytellers.
• –  Storyteller and author Connie Regan-Blake established the traveling storytelling team the Folktellers with her cousin, Barbara Freeman, in 1973. She was a founding member of the National Storytelling Network or NSN (formerly the National Association for the Preservation and the Perpetuation of Storytelling or NAPPS). Regan-Blake served as the group’s artistic director from 1975 until 1983. She was awarded the Circle of Excellence in 1996 by the National Storytelling Network. The Folktellers also toured across the country, performing at folk festivals, including the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington D.C. Regan-Blake and Freeman eventually moved on to solo careers, and both are internationally recognized storytellers.

Oral History: Storyteller Barbara Freeman

Oral history with storyteller, Barbara Freeman, conducted by Stephen Winick and Valda Morris. Storyteller Barbara Freeman established the travelling storytelling team The Folktellers with her cousin, Connie Regan-Blake, in 1973. The Folktellers also toured across the country, performing at folk festivals, including the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington D.C. Regan-Blake and Freeman eventually moved on to solo careers, and both are internationally recognized storytellers….

• Contributor: Winick, Stephen D. – Freeman, Barbara – American Folklife Center – Archive of Folk Culture (Library of Congress)
• Date: 2018