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| Historic Bands / Musicians |
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“Uncle Norman”, Jimmie, and the Edmonds family
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“Uncle Norman”, Jimmie, and the Edmonds family |
“Uncle Norman”, Jimmie, and the Edmonds family
A beloved fiddler in Carroll County for many decades, Uncle Norman recorded with J.P. Nestor during Ralph Peer’s Bristol sessions for Victor in 1927. Nestor played banjo and was the vocalist, while Edmonds delivered some of the finest fiddling of the golden age of hillbilly recording.
They recorded four tunes, and two were issued on a single 78 RPM disc, ”Train on the Island” and “Black-Eyed Susie.” Their playing was the ancient fiddle and banjo dance music of old Virginia; created before the guitar or other instruments were adapted to the music.
Though represented only on this single disc, they are nevertheless legendary among fans and scholars of old-time music.
Uncle Nor...
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Black Roots |
Black Roots
The banjo came to Virginia in the hands of black people from Africa; the violin in the hands of white people from Europe. But soon there were black fiddlers, and in a few generations, white banjo players. So old-music is from many places, but forged in an American experience.
The music of the fiddle and banjo is the oldest music we have, other than Native American. It is the root of the root of country, rock, pop and all the rest. It was the dance music of colonial Virginia, and it is still the dance music of the Galax area.
Pictured here are some black musicians from along southwestern Virginia’s Crooked Road, keepers of older sounds.
The Foddrell family (to the right) is o...
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DaCosta Woltz and the Southern Broadcasters
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DaCosta Woltz and the Southern Broadcasters |
DaCosta Woltz and the Southern Broadcasters
A patent medicine manufacturer and salesman, Woltz served a term as mayor of Galax. During the 1920s period when the Galax barbershop -founded band, The Hill Billies, was receiving national attention due to radio broadcasts and vaudeville touring, Woltz organized this band, which had on banjo and fiddle two of the finest musicians in the region, Ben Jarrell and Frank Jenkins. Galax has always adored kid musicians, so he also added Price Goodson, the kid of the moment and later a respected Galax attorney.
They had done no broadcasting, but Woltz was a promoter par excellent, so he dubbed them after the fad of the moment. In early May 1927 his Model T chugged westward ...
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Ernest V. “Pop” Stoneman, and The Stonemans
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Ernest V. “Pop” Stoneman, and The Stonemans |
Ernest V. “Pop” Stoneman, and The Stonemans
With a career that stretches from 1924 until 2007, members of this historic Galax and Carroll County family have left a stunning array of recordings. Their name is literally on a history of country recording: Edison spools, 78 RPM discs, 45 RPM discs, LPs, 8-trak tapes, cassettes, CDs, DVDs – and whatever is to come.
Ernest Stoneman was a carpenter and one-time Fries mill hand. He was at first a solo artist, accompanying himself on autoharp, harmonica, and guitar. He continued as a carpenter, recording part-time, and did little touring. But recording pay was relatively good in the mid-1920s, and he soon brought many great local string band musicians to early sessions.
The Great D...
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Greenberry G. M. Leonard and Emmett Lundy
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Greenberry G. M. Leonard and Emmett Lundy |
Greenberry G. M. Leonard and Emmett Lundy
Longevity and luck has much to do with how well some traditional musicians are remembered. Born in 1808, and a resident of the Old Town township of Grayson County (the Post Office was Nuckollsville), Leonard was a legendary fiddler who passed many of his tunes to a much younger student, Emmett Lundy. Born in 1864, Lundy became well known for his fine playing, recorded commercial 78 RPM discs with Ernest Stoneman in the 1920s, and was recorded for the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress by Alan Lomax in the 1930s.
Lundy was 56 years younger than his mentor, and called Leonard “an old mountain boomer,” on recordings for the Library of Congress, but was gratefu...
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Henry Whitter |
Henry Whitter
Born in 1892 in Fries, Whitter grew up hearing the fiddle and banjo music of Grayson County. But he also liked the parlor music of the time, and the guitar. He had a good ear for a song, and a boundless enthusiasm for music.
No one invited him to come to New York and make recordings in 1923, but he did. His success was greeted with consternation at home. He was not noted locally as an outstanding musician, and this had not been done before. Even the recording company seemed baffled that he had talked them into doing it, so his recordings lay on the shelf for a few weeks.
But then, Atlanta store owner Polk Brockman insisted that recordings of John Carson (made after Whitter’s) be issued, ...
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The Bogtrotters |
The Bogtrotters
A beloved band during the 1930s, this group was recorded by Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress, and was for a generation a favorite at the Old Fiddler’s Convention.
The group was managed by Dr. W.P. Davis, who sometimes played autoharp, and neighbors Davy Crockett Ward and Alexander “Eck” Dunford were the fiddlers. The droll-voiced Dunford told humorous stories, and gave the group its self-deprecating name. (A “bogtrotter” was once a term for an Ulster Irish immigrant, and Dunford was of that ancestry.)
Dunford was earlier a glass-plate photographer, and became a fine oral historian of the area, as well as a beloved figure.
Fields Ward, Crockett's son, played the guitar and did most of the singing...
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The Hill-Billies |
The Hill-Billies
This band organized in a Galax barbershop gave its name to “hillbilly” music, and for a brief period caught the ear of the nation. It performed for a president, made the first country music movie at the dawn of “talkie” movies – and shortly thereafter disappeared almost without trace.
The Hill Billies came at an evanescent moment when Virginia mountain music leaped to national attention, and their brief career demonstrates how fleeting fame can be.
Music historians tend to know that the African banjo became American in colonial Virginia, and that the world’s first popular music fad, minstrelsy, claimed “Old Virginny” roots.
But how did the mountain folk music of Virginia move from residences and store por...
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Tommy Jarrell |
Tommy Jarrell
Reared a stone’s throw over the ridge from the Music Center in the tiny Round Peak community of Surry County, North Carolina, Tommy Jarrell (1901-1985) left an indelible imprint upon the music of his nation. It would be reasonable to say that Tommy is the most beloved of all American fiddlers among other fiddlers and string band musicians.
There are two reasons for this. First, he was a brilliant player ho kept and embellished an ancient style. Other players, whatever their style or level of accomplishment, tended to be stunned and fascinated by Tommy’s playing. Second, Tommy was openhearted and generous, eager to make new friends, keep old ones, and share whatever he had, especially musi...
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