On a sunny October day in Jonesborough, Tennessee, the aroma of fried dough and sausages floats on the air as Tim Lowry steps onto a stage at the National Storytelling Festival. He’s wearing a seersucker suit and a brightly patterned bowtie.
A hush falls over the crowd—hundreds of people on folding chairs under a huge white tent. These attendees sit in near-perfect silence, waiting for the story to start.
Lowry has told many tales during his 25-year stint as a professional storyteller, but today’s are about his babysitter, Pam, who later became his drama teacher and encouraged him to pursue the stage. The stories rollick between the delightful and the absurd, what he calls “a Southern-fried circus.”
In his signature Carolina drawl, Lowry sets up one story: He’s just six years old, and his father hangs a new cabinet in their house. His mother places her prized collection of salt and pepper shakers on the shelves—at least 50 sets of shakers—and warns her kids never to touch them.
Spoiler alert: The cabinet falls off the wall during Pam’s watch. Lowry tells the story so well that the audience groans when it happens.
From biblical accounts to bedtime tales, it’s hard to beat a good story. Throughout history, people have shared their varied cultures through tales written and oral. Via stories, they’ve shared myriad bits of knowledge, traditions, customs, and values with future generations. And the Storytelling Festival features tales of all kinds—personal tales like Lowry’s, tall tales, totally made up tales, and old folk tales. In every tent and with each teller, the stories have the same effect. Listeners laugh and think deeply. They wait patiently for the endings as though under a spell.
God reveals Himself and His purposes through the unfolding of His creation-fall-redemption story. And the festival isn’t the only evidence that people are excited about stories. Arcadia Publishing and its imprint The History Press help preserve culture by publishing stories chiefly by local writers. The mission of The History Press is to explore and unearth “the story of America, one town or community at a time,” according to its website. Got a niche story about your small town? The History Press, which publishes hundreds of titles every year, might be interested
An Interview with Tim Lowry
Tim Lowry is a professional storyteller from Charleston. He’s worked around the country telling—and gathering—stories. WORLDteen interviewed Lowry as he prepared for the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesboro, Tennessee.
What is a storyteller?
I think of myself as a curator. I go out there and collect all kinds of stories. Some are things people have told me. Some are things I’ve read from books and research. Some are things I’ve heard from other storytellers.
Do you have a favorite story type?
(Laughs) I have the hardest time picking favorites. I don’t have a favorite color. I don’t have a favorite food. I just love variety, so I never could settle on one type of story. I like lots of different things.
What’s your motivation for storytelling?
[My reason is] best summed up by the prophet Isaiah: “The Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary, He awakens me morning by morning. He awakens my ear to hear as the learned.” (50:4) In a nutshell, that says, “Listen, learn, speak, repeat.”
What advice would you give readers who wants to tell stories?
The older I get, the more I value . . . the experience of being very close to a number of senior citizens. I mean, they have wonderful stories.
What makes a good story—or a good storyteller?
If you start to analyze a [storytelling] bomb, it always ends up being a failure of love. You either didn’t love your subject enough to be prepared, or you didn’t love the people enough to really invest . . . in that project. Part of loving your subject and loving people is being really honest with them. So that means you’re honest about the human condition. You know there are things that are hard, and there are things that are hilarious, and there are things that are horrific. That’s what people respond to. They’re like, “Yeah, that’s real stuff, right there.” Even if the story is fictitious, it has to be truthful.
—by Kim Stegall and Chelsea Boes
Why? When God wanted to teach His people, He told them stories. We have those stories collected for us in the Bible, and we recognize that every truly great story has elements of creation, fall, and redemption.
Recommended Reading: For an example of stellar storytelling, read The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien.
Click the "video" button at the top of the story to watch our WORLDteen Sidebar video and see the National Storytelling Festival in action!
