Watch The World's Best Screamers Yell Louder Than Your Mom
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Hollering is a long-standing American tradition.
Seriously, though. In the days before phones were invented and people lived in spread-out rural communities, they needed a way to communicate with their neighbors. So people turned to the art of the holler—effectively learning how to yell loudly and distinctively—to gain the attention of other nearby folks in their community.
Now, we don't have much need for hollering anymore, but the vocal art form is still practiced and celebrated by a niche population. Hollering and yodeling contests are still somewhat popular at county and state fairs, and there's even a National Hollerin' Contest that celebrates this quirky slice of Americana.
The National Hollerin' Contest takes place every year in Spivey's Corner, North Carolina.
The first National Hollerin' Contest was held in 1969. Contestants would take turns at a microphone in front of a surprisingly large crowd, doing their best version of a classic holler. The contest used to occur on the third Saturday of June, but now it's part of the Hollerin' Heritage Festival and occurs on the second Saturday in September.
Some of the contestants are quite entertaining to watch and hear.
Each holler is unique. You can hear this guy's impressive short-form holler on YouTube.
Tony Peacock was the 2014 champion.
In this video, Peacock takes home the champ's trophy for the third time, so you might call him a virtuoso of hollerin'. He demonstrates a number of different types of hollers you can watch and hear on YouTube.
Contestants in the National Hollerin' Contest use a wide variety of hollers in hopes of winning.
In pre-telephone days, there were "expressive hollers," which were often songs and melody and were used merely as a means of enjoyment. There were "functional hollers," which farmers used to call in their livestock and families and to say "good morning" to their neighbors. There were also "distress hollers," which were used to alert others of an emergency. Each holler was distinctive, and participants attempt to duplicate all of these during the annual Hollerin' Contest. Hollerin' is actually considered a sophisticated vocal art form, and you can hear all of these types of hollers and more on this hollerin' database.
Hollerin' has gotten a lot of media attention over the years, with contest winners appearing on "The Tonight Show" and "The Late Show."
The Hollerin' Heritage Festival even has a category for ambitious teens to try their hollerin' skills.
It's a pretty awesome art form, and definitely one that should be preserved. Luckily, there are plenty of kids out there like this one keeping up the awesome American heritage. Keep it up!