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Algia Mae Hinton, whose mother taught her music during breaks from farm work.

To get at that thread, Clayton and McElroen took six research trips to Durham, the hub of the Carolina tobacco industry in the 1920s and 1930s, where they filmed and listened to music and reminiscences from such octogenarian musicians as John Dee Holeman, Algia Mae Hinton and Drink Small.

“Any time you can sit with somebody, whether it’s Drink or Algia, people who are in their 80s and hear just a sliver of what their journey has been, those are good days,” McElroen said.

Matthews went to meet some of those still alive, including 80-year-old Algia Mae Hinton who had, Matthews noted sweetly, had her hair done specially for the interview.

He cannot bear that Algia should dance before strangers, but what can he do?