Contest for Old-Time Fiddlers, Banjoists, and Guitarists in Huntington (1931)
13 Saturday Feb 2021
Posted Huntington, Music
in13 Saturday Feb 2021
Posted Huntington, Music
in23 Wednesday Dec 2020
Posted Huntington, Music
in20 Saturday Jun 2020
Posted Big Sandy Valley, Hatfield-McCoy Feud, Music
inTags
Appalachia, banjo, Beech Creek, Early Mahon, genealogy, history, Mingo County, music, photos, Plyant Mahon, Vicie Mahon, Wall Hatfield, West Virginia
Early Mahon (1884-1969), son of Plyant and Vicie (Hatfield) Mahon. Plyant Mahon was a participant of the Hatfield-McCoy Feud. Early was the grandson of Valentine “Wall” Hatfield. The family holds the original photo.
21 Saturday Sep 2019
Tags
A Prairie Home Companion, Appalachia, Appalachian Heritage Day, banjo, bluegrass, Bobby Osborne, Branson, Braxton County, Buddy Griffin, Charlie Sizemore, Cincinnati, David O'Dell, fiddler, fiddling, Glenville State College, Goins Brothers, guitar, Jackie Whitley, Jeff Roberts, Jim and Jesse McReynolds, Katie Laur Band, Landon Williams, Larry Sparks, Logan, Mac Wiseman, mandolin, Missouri, music, Nicholas County, photos, Robert C. Byrd, Rocky Top X-Press, Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College, The Hard Times, Vandalia Award, Vetco Records, West Virginia, West Virginia All-Star Bluegrass Band, Wheeling, WWVA Jamboree
Bluegrass fiddle workshop, AHD, SWVCTC, Logan, WV. Photo by Jackie Whitley. 24 August 2019
Bluegrass fiddle workshop, AHD, SWVCTC, Logan, WV. Photo by Jackie Whitley. 24 August 2019
Bluegrass fiddle workshop, AHD, SWVCTC, Logan, WV. Photo by Jackie Whitley. 24 August 2019
Bluegrass fiddle workshop, AHD, SWVCTC, Logan, WV. Photo by David O’Dell. 24 August 2019
A native of Nicholas and Braxton counties, Buddy Griffin is a master musician on several instruments and a dedicated teacher and mentor. Raised in a musical family, Buddy began performing at an early age, excelling at banjo, fiddle, guitar, and mandolin. In 1973, he was hired in the staff band on the WWVA Jamboree in Wheeling, where he came into contact with Landon Williams, who lured him to Cincinnati to play in his band, The Hard Times. He and banjoist Jeff Roberts joined the Katie Laur Band in 1975. Buddy also played with the Goins Brothers. He later worked as an engineer at Vetco Records in Cincinnati and played in Charlie Sizemore’s band. He recorded with Mac Wiseman and has worked with Jim and Jesse, Larry Sparks, the Heckels, Sen. Robert C. Byrd, and Jesse McReynolds. He played in Branson, MO, for several years. In 1997, he returned to West Virginia and taught music at Glenville State College, where he was instrumental in developing the world’s first degree program in bluegrass music. He is a studio musician and has performed on various radio shows, including NPR’s “A Prairie Home Companion.” In 2011, he was awarded the Vandalia Award, West Virginia’s highest folklife honor. In 2016, he played fiddle with Bobby Osborne and the Rocky Top X-Press. He often performs with the West Virginia All-Star Bluegrass Band.
23 Tuesday Jul 2019
Posted Music
inTags
banjo, banjo contests, Betty Vornbrock, fiddle contests, fiddlers, fiddling, folk festivals, Glenville, history, Lincoln County, music, Paul Gartner, Phyllis Kirk, The Country Store and Museum, The Pioneer Stage, West Virginia, West Virginia State Folk Festival
Straight ahead…the WV State Folk Festival! Glenville, WV. 21 July 2019
Here we are early in the day. 21 June 2019
Highlight: The Country Store and Museum. 21 June 2019 https://www.wvstatefolkfestival.com/country-store-and-museum
Inside of The Country Store and Museum are many great things! 21 June 2019
Black Diamond Strings in The Country Store and Museum. 21 June 2019
Here’s Betty Vornbrock winning the fiddle contest. 21 June 2019
Paul Gartner, the winner of the banjo contest, lives in Lincoln County, WV. Photo by Mom. 21 June 2019
Out and about on the grounds. 21 June 2019
Out and about on the grounds. 21 June 2019
12 Wednesday Aug 2015
Posted John Hartford, Music
in26 Friday Jun 2015
Posted John Hartford
inTags
banjo, bluegrass music, Brandon Kirk, country music, fiddle, fiddler, history, John Hartford, life, Madison, Marie Hartford, music, Tennessee, writers, writing
Let me try to describe John’s hands. They were very small in every way. He had frail hands as a gentleman might have, with little hair on them. I don’t recall that his fingers were unusually long. His knuckles were slightly larger than his actual fingers, maybe because his fingers were so thin. He kept his fingernails clean and filed smooth with a file. I remember he often filed his nails while on the bus during road trips; sometimes he filed his nails when conversations barely held his interest, half-listening. He absolutely never bit his fingernails. He seldom used his hands for any type of physical work because he didn’t want to risk hurting them; they were, he said, what paid the bills. The skin on his hands was somewhat loose and pale. When you shook his hand, it was very soft, although I’m sure he had slight callouses on the ends of his left hand fingers from playing the fiddle nearly every waking minute of the day. When I first met John at Morrow Library, he shook my hand and insisted that I call him John, not Mr. Hartford. When I later visited his home in Nashville during the summer for weeks or a month, before I had moved to Nashville, he would always shake my hand before I left for West Virginia. I recall at the end of my first trip how he stood in his driveway between his house and the guest house and remarked that we shouldn’t say goodbye because we would see each other again. John did not particularly like goodbyes; he preferred until next times. At the end of his life, upon commencement of his chemotherapy, he would shake very few people’s hand. Due to the chemotherapy, he was particularly concerned about germs. At that time, we shared a laptop and I always took care to clean the keys with alcohol before passing the laptop to him for manuscript review. I did this because I did not want to pass germs and make him ill; he never asked me to do it. Actually, I recall times he told me that it wasn’t necessary, but I did it anyway. Almost always, if he met someone at an event, they would greet him with a handshake, which he had to decline. It was awkward and in a peculiar way I think he enjoyed it. I may be mistaken, but it seems as if he contemplated or did in fact wear gloves for a short time just for handshakes. On a few occasions, he complained about having shaken hands with stout men who nearly crushed his hand; he detested an unnecessarily firm handshake because he said it might affect his ability to play. Later, after I moved to Nashville and visited and stayed many days and nights in his home I observed and he said that one of his favorite things to do was to sit with Marie on the bedroom couch at night and hold her hand while the two of them watched television. These were, of course, private moments and I only intruded if I had a question about the manuscript or a related matter. John’s wrists were small. He never wore a watch on his wrist, preferring instead to keep a pocket watch – usually tucked in his overalls front pocket or in the pocket of his vest, which he nearly always wore. If I remember correctly, his watch was colored gold, not silver. When I think of his hands, I see them holding a fiddle and bow at the dining room table and on stage, I see them moving across a banjo, I see them holding a fork and knife at dinner, I see them placing tiles on a Scrabble board during our games together, I see them holding a glass of red wine late at night during our conversations, I see them holding a book or a magazine at the couch by the fireplace, I see them gripping the wheel of his Cadillac on our way to Piccadilly Cafeteria, I see them pushing PLAY and turning up the volume on his car stereo…
30 Thursday Apr 2015
Posted East Lynn, Lincoln County Feud, Music, Stiltner
inTags
Appalachia, banjo, Blood in West Virginia, Cain Adkins, culture, East Lynn, Gospel, guitar, Harts Creek, Lincoln County, Lincoln County Feud, music, Spicie Frye, Stiltner, The Adkins Family, U.S. South, Wayne County, West Fork, West Virginia
The Adkins Family, operating out of Wayne County, West Virginia, is one of the Tri-State’s most talented, well-known, and enduring Gospel groups. You can read more about their musical history here: http://theadkinsfamily.waynewv.com/ I’m proud to say their ancestors once lived on the West Fork of Harts Creek in Lincoln County. I met many of them while researching my book, “Blood in West Virginia: Brumfield v. McCoy,” which details some of their family’s rich history. I encourage you to follow their Facebook page. If you enjoy Gospel music, you will not be disappointed. This is one amazing group of musicians. https://www.facebook.com/TheAdkinsFamilyGroup
27 Monday Apr 2015
Posted Ferrellsburg, Music
in12 Sunday Apr 2015
Posted Big Harts Creek
inTags
Appalachia, banjo, Daisy Adams, farming, fiddle, guitar, Harts Creek, history, Howard Adams, Logan County, music, square dances, U.S. South, West Virginia
This history of early life in Logan County, West Virginia, was written by Howard and Daisy Adams. Howard (1906-1976) and Daisy (b.1915) were children of Major and Belle Dora Adams of Trace Fork of Harts Creek. Titled “The life of pioneers during the latter half of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the 19th century” and written in the late 1960s or early 1970s, their history marks the only known attempt by local people to reconstruct the story of pioneer life. This part of the history includes information regarding industry, clearing of land, farming, and square dances.
The chief industries in those days were farming, raising stock, and timbering. Farming began with axes, saws, and mattocks all swinging. A good piece of land was chosen and clearing it began by chopping and sawing down all the trees on it. The trees had to be trimmed up. That was cutting off all the branches as limbs and putting them in big heaps or piles. The logs of the trees had to be sawed in lengths so they could be rolled together in piles for hauling. All small bushes were grubbed up and put on the brush piles. Clearing land was done mostly during winter months as soon as the land was cleared of all trees and brush and it piled up. Then began the burning of brush and logs. This usually took two or three days and it was hard work. After the burning off was completed, a nice big field or new ground as it was called was now the farmer’s pride. Planting began by sowing seed beds and planting vegetables. Corn was planted in late April or early May. Usually it was hoed two times, once when about 8 to 12 inches high and again when it was about 24 to 30 inches high. People in those days swapped work or had “corn hoeing.” Everybody for several miles around came to help at the workings or corn hoeing. The women came along, too. They usually had quilting parties and also helped with the cooking. Boy, they sure had plenty to eat at the big workings. They had chicken and dumplings, beans, bacon, onions, and corn dodger and lots of other eats from the farm. Everybody gathered around after the day’s work was over.
As soon as supper was over and the dishes washed and put away the beds were moved out of the room called the big house. Then the young men and young women began dancing. Square dancing was a thrilling experience. Some one who knew how called out the reels. The dancers then performed the instruction of the caller. A string band consisting of a fiddle, banjo, and sometimes a guitar furnished the music for the dance. They had refreshments of wine or liquor most all the men took part in the drinking. The girls seldom ever drank. If anyone got drunk he was put out of the dancing or off the floor as they called it. Sometimes the boys would have fist fights over the girls which never amounted to much. After the dance was over, the beds were put back in the big house room and the neighbors all said good night and went home tired and sleepy. All these things happened as time moved along.
Writings from my travels and experiences. High and fine literature is wine, and mine is only water; but everybody likes water. Mark Twain
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Genealogy and History in North Carolina and Beyond
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