When Haley was about thirty years old, he married a blind musician named Martha Ella, from Morehead, Kentucky. “She had been educated as a piano teacher at the Louisville School for the Blind,” according to Parkersburg Landing. “They were married in 1914 and settled in Ashland, which was to be their homebase for the rest of their lives. Mrs. Haley learned to accompany Ed on the mandolin and the two traveled widely together. They would play to incoming arrivals in Ashland or take day trips to Portsmouth or Charleston. Once or twice a year Ed returned to Logan County for an extended stay since he kept many friends in the area and was always assured of a place to stay.”

     I tried to imagine Haley and his wife, two blind musicians, making their way between towns during the Roaring Twenties and gloomy Depression. I could picture them walking in the darkness, feeling for those familiar spots to stop and play the music.

     “It was an event of major importance when the Haleys came to visit an isolated mountain town,” according to Parkersburg Landing. “Someone would invariably offer them lodging and to take them where they needed to play. Virtually every evening a dance would be scheduled at someone’s house. Ed had great endurance and would often play continuously all night, without even pausing between sets. If someone gave him a dollar to play a special tune, he might play it for ten minutes or more. Before the depression, Ed made as much as twenty dollars a day. Tips grew leaner as times got harder but the Haleys managed to put all of their six children through school and to maintain a stable home in Ashland.”

     The fact Haley traveled so frequently partially explains why he was able to play so many different fiddle styles and had such a large repertoire of tunes. “He traveled extensively in West Virginia and eastern Kentucky, ranging north to Parkersburg, east to White Sulphur Springs and south to Harlan County,” according to Parkersburg Landing. “Within this region, there existed a large variety of local styles and Ed seems to have adapted his playing to the preferences of each locale. Informants from different regions offer surprisingly different responses as to what were ‘Ed Haley’s tunes.'”