YESIYAM 2011

YESIYAM is a booster club dedicated to promoting community interest and cultivating support for the Young

Appalachian Musician program. At a time when many school systems are cutting programs, YAM is reconnecting

children with their musical heritage by teaching them to play in the traditional way of the Southern Appalachians,

by ear. The program has experienced phenomenal growth and your contribution will help ensure the continuity of

the excellent instruction the children have come to expect.

YESIYAM members will receive the Young Appalachian Musician News, a quarterly newsletter featuring Young

Appalachian Musicians in our community and announcing upcoming events. Donor levels and membership

benefits are listed below. Additional benefits will be announced as they become available.

The annual Papa John Foster Memorial Music Festival hosted by Preserving Our Southern Appalachian Music,

Inc. (POSAM) is held each year in May. The festival features some of the very best bluegrass and old time

musicians in the Southern Appalachian Upcountry of the Carolinas and Georgia. The popular festival also

provides a stage for the Young Appalachian Musicians from every YAM member school.

YESIYAM ANNUAL DONATION LEVELS*

Individual/Family Membership $50

Four Papa John Foster Memorial Music Festival tickets

Discounts from participating businesses

Business Membership $125

Six Papa John Foster Memorial Music Festival tickets

Name published in POSAM event programs

Businesses offering discounts to members identified

in YAM Newsletter

Instrument Donor $250

Six Papa John Foster Memorial Music Festival tickets

Name published in POSAM event programs

Special recognition in YAM Newsletter

*Fiscal Year: July 1-June 30

Benefactor $1000

Eight Papa John Foster Memorial Music Festival tickets

Name published in POSAM event programs

Special recognition in YAM Newsletter

Advertisement published in POSAM event programs

Corporate Sponsor $1000 (and above)

Ten Papa John Foster Memorial Music Festival tickets

Corporate name published in POSAM event programs

Advertisement published in POSAM event programs

Recognition as a YAM sponsor in POSAM press

releases

Corporate logo displayed on POSAM printed materials

Plaque for display in corporate office

Contact Information

Name:______________________________________ Home Phone:_________________

Address:____________________________________ Cell Phone:___________________

City, State and Zip:_________________________ Work Phone:__________________

E-mail:_____________________________________

Please advise how you prefer to be contacted: & E-mail & Home phone & Cell phone

I prefer my newsletter to be: & sent to my address above & sent by E-mail

Please accept my donation of $______________

Checks should be payable to POSAM and returned with this application to:

Betty McDaniel,

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May 3, 2010

YAM Instructor Al Osteen Honored at Papa John Foster Memorial Music Festival

 Pickens-The Young Appalachian Musician program honored one of their

instructors at the third annual Papa John Foster Memorial Music Festival

this past Saturday. Banjo virtuoso Al Osteen, who has been a YAM

instructor for the past two years, has a teaching legacy spanning more

than 30-years and includes such notable musicians as two-time National

Banjo Champion Charles Wood, and Kristin Scott Benson, the 2008 and 2009

IBMA Banjo Player of the Year. Benson currently plays with the Grascals

who won the SPBGMA Best Bluegrass Band (overall) in 2010.

 

Among those paying tribute to Osteen were 2009 festival honorees Dan and

Norma Hendricks, and 2008 honoree Lewis Crowe. Samantha Morgan, a

Pickens Middle School YAM, has been one of Osteen’s students since he

began teaching in the program. Accompanied by Bonnie and Jim Lark, Miss

Morgan sang and played a song she and her Mom rewrote especially for

Osteen. “We heard ‘Tennessee Banjo Man’ playing on the radio and changed

the words to describe him,” Morgan said. “That was the most touching

part of the tribute,” said Osteen. He was also presented with a pen and

ink drawing by local artist Mary Barron.

 

Osteen grew up in Anderson and began playing the banjo when he was only

12. He and Hanna High School classmate Martin Beckman attended many

music festivals in the 1960’s. Their road trips took the two far and

wide including Union Grove, NC. But it was a festival in Mountain Rest,

SC where they first heard Curtis and Bonnie Blackwell singing gospel.

Those high school kids were so impressed by their vocals they drove up

to Long Creek and began a door to door search for the Blackwell home.

When they found it they introduced themselves, unpacked their

instruments, and by the time he turned 17, Osteen was playing with

Curtis Blackwell as one of the original Dixie Bluegrass Boys.

 

At first glance Osteen, with a shock of gray hair, may appear to reflect

his celebrated 40-year plus history in Bluegrass music. But his

sparkling blue eyes belie his age with the bright glint of a mischievous

boy. Larry Jefferson was playing mandolin and singing tenor in a band on

a Lavonia radio station when he was recruited to join the original Dixie

Bluegrass Boys. “Al was a good bit younger than the rest of us,”

Jefferson said. “Sometimes on pay day he’d ride with me and my two young

boys to the bank. The teller would give us three suckers… two for my

boys and one for Al.”

 

Osteen’s career includes extensive playing time with Charlie Moore and

appearing on Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry with IBMA Hall of Honor members

Jim and Jesse McReynolds. He performed extended engagements at Six Flags

over Georgia and Underground Atlanta before returning to the Upstate in

the mid-1970’s to concentrate on instruction.

 

Pickens High School’s String Orchestra Instructor, Don Noonan, is

credited by Osteen with getting him involved with the YAM program. “Don

was taking lessons and mentioned it to me,” Osteen said. “The program is

a good thing. It preserves our heritage by reconnecting these kids with

their musical roots. And it teaches them to play, not from a book, but

by feeling the music.” Betty McDaniel, YAM Executive Director, is

excited a musician of such acclaim is part of the program. “For so many

children to have the opportunity to learn from a musician with Al’s

stage experience and instruction abilities is very special,” McDaniel said.

 

These days Al and his wife Rebecca make their home in the ‘Dark Corner’

of Greenville County. He teaches YAM students four days a week in

after-school sessions but also offers private lessons at Chuck Finley’s

office on Hampton Avenue in Pickens. Those interested in taking lessons

from this truly legendary talent may contact him at 864.895.6142.

 

Dean Watson, folk historian, banjoist, and recognized authority on South

Carolina upcountry folk music & storytelling, once said of Osteen, “He

can sit in with any kind of music from classical on down and find his

place.” And that is about as fine a tribute as a musician can receive.