Michael Reno Harrell shares storytelling legacy for FSU film project

Burke County’s premiere storyteller — Michael Reno Harrell — was presented with a golden opportunity last week and he proceeded to take full advantage of it.

Harrell was asked to be part of a documentary film project being produced by the Florida State University College of Motion Picture Arts on the importance of the Appalachian storytelling tradition.

“Asking a storyteller to talk about storytelling,” Reno laughed before the FSU production crew arrived at the filming site at the Burke Arts Council. “Not a very difficult decision to make.”

The documentary is the brainchild of FSU student Alexa Gelipe, who serves as both the interviewer and producer of the documentary.

“Storytelling is an area that I have long been interested in,” Gelipe said. “I think it’s a great area to explore, mainly because it’s all about human to human contact.”

In addition to the March 12 morning interview with Harrell — which stretched to well over an hour — the FSU crew also planned to video a performance of Harrell in Black Mountain on March 13, and also interview several other regional storytellers.

Harrell, 77 explained that storytelling has been a part of his life for as long as he can remember, harkening back to the days when older relatives took him on “Appalachian Fox Hunting” expeditions.

“The fox hunting I’m talking about had nothing to do with red jackets, fancy hats, and fast horses,” he recalled. “You loaded the dogs into a truck, you drove to the top of a mountain, you let the dogs out and built a fire.

“At that point, you started lying,” Harrell continued, “with the goal being to see who could tell the biggest tale, who could stretch the truth the furthest before it broke.”

It was at that campfire that Harrell told his first story at the urging of his older relatives — a tale about convincing his father to buy him a bicycle.

Harrell explained that he spent years as a singer-songwriter and he learned that audiences seemed to become more focused and attentive if before performing a song, he first told the story of how that song came to be written.

Exploring the history of storytelling, Harrell said the first national storytelling festival was held in Jonesborough, Tenn., back in 1973.

At that time, he added, nearly all storytellers focused on the recounting of old mountain legends and other folk tales. Almost no one shared the personal stories of the type that have made Harrell a legendary performer.

And yes, Harrell considers storytelling to be a form of entertainment, just as is singing, writing, painting, or any other form of artistic expression.

“I have never told folk tales,” he said. “All of my stories are personal, drawn from my own life and experience.”

“We (entertainers) deal in emotion,” Harrell continued. “What we try to do as artists is to make people feel something. I love it when someone comes up to me after a show and says, ‘You made me cry.’ I also love it when someone asks, ‘Did that really happen?’ and I say, ‘Well, it could have.’”

Noting that some famous performers, such as Carly Simon and Barbara Streisand suffer from horrific stage fright, Harrell laughingly said, “I’ve never been the least bit nervous about going onto a stage and having every eye on me.”

Harrell is 77 now, “pushing 78” as he puts it, but he has no plans to give up doing what he loves — singing his songs and telling his stories.

“As long as I have the memory, which is starting to slip a little bit, the voice, which is fine, and the audience, I’ll keep doing what I do.”

Harrell did caution, however, that storytellers like himself are getting older, as is the audience which enjoys storytellers.

He did add, however, that the art of storytelling will endure, perhaps in new forms and in new media, for as long as humans have stories to share.

When Gelipe finished her list of questions and the camera was turned off, the young students from Florida seemed unwilling to let go of the moment, continuing to talk, ask questions and laugh with Harrell.

Gelipe did say that she is unsure when the project will be completed, but she did say that Harrell and the Burke Arts Council will be receiving copies of the video and that it would likely be available on the internet.

The Paper will continue to follow this story and will report on where and how the completed video can be seen by Burke County residents.