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Tag Archives: Bernie Adams

Whirlwind News 05.10.1927

30 Saturday Oct 2021

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek, Logan, Twelve Pole Creek, Whirlwind

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Bernie Adams, Big Harts Creek, Bulwark, Bulwark School, Daniel McCloud, farming, genealogy, history, Logan, Logan Banner, Logan County, Lora Martin, Lucy McCloud, singing school, Twelve Pole Creek, West Virginia, Whirlwind, Wilburn Mullins

An unnamed correspondent from Whirlwind on Big Harts Creek in Logan County, West Virginia, offered the following items, which the Logan Banner printed on May 10, 1927:

Mrs. Alla Mullins was the guest of Daniel McCloud Monday.

Daniel McCloud made a business trip to Twelve Pole Monday.

All the farmers are getting very busy in this vicinity.

Wilburn Mullins was calling on friends at Daniel McCloud’s Sunday.

Lucy McCloud visited her aunt Lora Martin Sunday.

Bernie Adams has just returned from a business trip to Logan.

Daniel McCloud is teaching a singing school at the Bulwark school house. All report a nice time.

Daily Acts: Florence and her straw hat; Lucy and her pink dress; Lenville carrying milk; Roy making whistles.

Whirlwind News 04.12.1927

09 Thursday Sep 2021

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek, Whirlwind

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Appalachia, Bernie Adams, Big Harts Creek, Burl Mullins, Daniel McCloud, Dixie Adams, education, genealogy, history, Hoover Fork, Howard Adams, Jackson McCloud, James Carter, Logan Banner, Logan County, Lucy McCloud, Monaville, Shade Smith, West Virginia, Whirlwind, whooping cough, Will Adams

An unnamed correspondent from Whirlwind on Big Harts Creek in Logan County, West Virginia, offered the following items, which the Logan Banner printed on April 12, 1927:

Sunday school is progressing nicely at Trace.

A large crowd attended the last days of Howard Adams’ school Friday. All reported a fine time.

James Carter of Monaville was visiting home folks of Hoover Sunday.

Wonder if Daniel McCloud got all the news Sunday evening.

Howard Adams went up Hoover whistling “Hard Times.” His mustache caught on fire.

Wonder what Burl Mullins was interested in Saturday evening that he forgot to shave.

There are several sick children in our town with whooping cough at present.

Jackson McCloud is making his home at Daniel McCloud’s.

We are all listening for the wedding bells to ring on Hoover. Look out Burl, you will be sure to hear them.

Shade Smith of Whirlwind was calling on friends at Daniel McCloud’s Sunday.

Burnie Adams is very ill with whooping cough at this writing.

Wonder why Will Adams was stepping so high Saturday? He must have been afraid of getting his sox muddy.

Wonder why Lucy McCloud looks so down hearted these days? Cheer up Lucy, you have made a bad mistake.

The funniest thing we heard last week was Mrs. Dixie Adams making Howard change beds.

Daily happenings: Daniel losing his cane; Earl and his potatoes; Lucy lost her ___; May got disappointed; Alice and her job; Uncle Jack chewing his tobacco; Tilda going to see __; Charlie and his black eye; Clyde going to the store.

Whirlwind News 08.24.1926

10 Monday Feb 2020

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek, Coal, Queens Ridge, Whirlwind

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Anna Adams, Appalachia, Bernie Adams, Carl Adams, Charlie Mullins, Clinton Adams, coal, Edgar McCloud, Frank Bradshaw, genealogy, George McCloud Jr., Harts Creek, history, Hoover, Hoover Fork, Howard Adams, Logan County, Lucy McCloud, Margaret Wiley, Mary Honaker, May Robinson, Mildred Adams, Mt. Gay, Mud Fork, Pearly McCloud, Peter Mullins, Queens Ridge, Roy Browning, Sol Adams, teacher, Trace Fork, West Virginia, Whirlwind

An unknown correspondent from Whirlwind on Big Harts Creek in Logan County, West Virginia, offered the following news, which the Logan Banner printed on August 24, 1926:

We are having plenty of rain at this writing.

Howard Adams is going to teach our school on Hoover. We are expecting a good school.

Miss Lucy McCloud visited her grandmother, Mrs. Margaret Wiley of Queen’s Ridge, last Tuesday.

Mrs. Anna Adams of Trace Fork is very ill at present.

Mr. and Mrs. Roy Browning of Mud Fork are visiting Mrs. Browning’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Peter Mullins of Hart’s Creek.

Miss Pearly McCloud made a flying trip to Sol Adams’ Wednesday.

Charlie Mullins and Edgar McCloud have completed their coal tipple.

Carl Adams and Geo. McCloud Jr., are coal mining on the left hand fork of Hoover.

Miss Mildred Adams has returned from Mt. Gay where she has been visiting her sister, Mrs. Frank Bradshaw.

Mrs. Mary Honaker was the guest of Miss May Robinson last Sunday.

Clinton Adams was taking his vacation last week.

Wonder what makes Bernie Adams look so downhearted? Ask Tilda. She knows.

Howard Adams was seen coming up the creek with a broom. Wonder what’s going to happen?

Daily happenings: Edgar and his new slippers; Carl and his white hogs; Herb and his lantern; Pearl and her blue dress; Howard and his talking machine; Charlie and his kodak; Bernie and his cob pipe.

Whirlwind News 08.24.1926

13 Wednesday Jun 2018

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek, Coal, Queens Ridge, Whirlwind

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Anna Adams, Appalachia, Bernie Adams, Carl Adams, Charlie Mullins, Clinton Adams, coal, Edgar McCloud, Frank Bradshaw, genealogy, George McCloud Jr., Harts Creek, history, Hoover School, Howard Adams, Logan Banner, Logan County, Lucy McCloud, Margaret Wiley, Mary Honaker, May Robinson, Mildred Adams, Mt. Gay, Mud Fork, Pearly McCloud, Peter Mullins, Queens Ridge, Roy Browning, Sol Adams, Trace Fork, West Virginia, Whirlwind

An unknown correspondent from Whirlwind in Logan County, West Virginia, offered the following items, which the Logan Banner printed on August 24, 1926:

We are having plenty of rain at this writing.

Howard Adams is going to teach our school on Hoover. We are expecting a good school.

Miss Lucy McCloud visited her grandmother, Mrs. Margaret Wiley of Queen’s Ridge, last Tuesday.

Mrs. Anna Adams of Trace Fork is very ill at present.

Mr. and Mrs. Roy Browning of Mud Fork are visiting Mrs. Browning’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Peter Mullins of Hart’s Creek.

Miss Pearly McCloud made a flying trip to Sol Adams’ Wednesday.

Charlie Mullins and Edgar McCloud have completed their coal tipple.

Carl Adams and Geo. McCloud Jr., are coal mining on the left hand Fork of Hoover.

Miss Mildred Adams has returned from Mt. Gay where she has been visiting her sister, Mrs. Frank Bradshaw.

Mrs. Mary Honaker was the guest of Miss May Robinson last Sunday.

Clinton Adams was taking his vacation last week.

Wonder what makes Bernie Adams look so downhearted? Ask Tilda. She knows.

Howard Adams was seen coming up the creek with a broom. Wonder what’s going to happen?

Daily happenings: Edgar and his new slippers; Carl and his white hogs; Herb and his lantern; Pearl and her blue dress; Howard and his talking machine; Charlie and his kodak; Bernie and his cob pipe.

Whirlwind News 05.10.1927

23 Thursday Nov 2017

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek, Whirlwind

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Alla Mullins, Appalachia, Bernie Adams, Bulwark School, Daniel McCloud, genealogy, Harts Creek, history, Logan Banner, Logan County, Lora Martin, Lucy McCloud, Twelve Pole Creek, West Virginia, Whirlwind, Wilburn Mullins

An unknown correspondent from Whirlwind in Logan County, West Virginia, offered the following items, which the Logan Banner printed on May 10, 1927:

Mrs. Alla Mullins was the guest of Daniel McCloud Monday.

Daniel McCloud made a business trip to Twelve Pole Monday.

All the farmers are getting very busy in this vicinity.

Wilburn Mullins was calling on friends at Daniel McCloud’s Sunday.

Lucy McCloud visited her aunt Lora Martin Sunday.

Bernie Adams has just returned from a business trip to Logan.

Daniel McCloud is teaching a singing school at the Bulwark school house. All report a nice time.

Daily Acts: Florence and her straw hat; Lucy and her pink dress; Lenville carrying milk; Roy making whistles.

Whirlwind News 04.12.1927

22 Wednesday Nov 2017

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek, Whirlwind

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Appalachia, Bernie Adams, Burl Mullins, Daniel McCloud, Dixie Adams, genealogy, Harts Creek, history, Hoover Fork, Howard Adams, Jackson McCloud, James Carter, Logan Banner, Logan County, Lucy McCloud, Monaville, Shade Smith, West Virginia, Whirlwind, whooping cough, Will Adams

An unknown correspondent from Whirlwind in Logan County, West Virginia, offered the following items, which the Logan Banner printed on April 12, 1927:

Sunday school is progressing nicely at Trace.

A large crowd attended the last day of Howard Adams’ school Friday. All reported a fine time.

James Carter of Monaville was visiting home folks of Hoover Sunday.

Wonder if Daniel McCloud got all the news Sunday evening.

Howard Adams went up Hoover whistling “Hard Times.” His mustache caught on fire.

Wonder what Burl Mullins was interested in Saturday evening that he forgot to shave.

There are several sick children in our town with whooping cough at present.

Jackson McCloud is making his home at Daniel McCloud’s.

We are all listening for the wedding bells to ring on Hoover. Look out Burl, you will be sure to hear them.

Shade Smith of Whirlwind was calling on friends at Daniel McCloud’s Sunday.

Bernie Adams is very ill with whooping cough at this writing.

Wonder why Will Adams was stepping so high Saturday? He must have been afraid of getting his socks muddy.

Wonder why Lucy McCloud looks so down hearted these days? Cheer up, Lucy. You have made a bad mistake.

The funniest thing we heard last week was Mrs. Dixie Adams making Howard change beds.

Daily Happenings: Daniel losing his cane; Earl and his potatoes; Rush going to Bible school; Lucy lost her sugar; May got disappointed; Alice loving her job; Uncle Jack chewing his tobacco; Tilda going to see Clinton; Charlie got his black eye; Clyde going to the store.

Whirlwind News 04.05.1927

09 Saturday Sep 2017

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek, Holden, Whirlwind

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Appalachia, Bernie Adams, Boyd Carter, Buck Fork, Charley Mullins, Chick Dingess, Cumberland Mountains, Ewell Mullins, Florence Adams, Fred Carter, genealogy, guitar, Harmon Carter, Harts Creek, Hendersonville, history, Holden, Hoover Fork, Horatio Adams, Howard Adams, Hubert Adams, Ireland Mullins, James Thompson, Jesse Carter, Julia Tomblin, Kentucky, Lewis Maynard, Logan Banner, Logan County, Mae Robinson, Millard Thompson, music, Peter Carter, Peter Mullins, Peter Tomblin, Sallie Bunn, Trace Fork, Twelve Pole Creek, West Virginia, Whirlwind, whooping cough

An unknown correspondent from Whirlwind in Logan County, West Virginia, offered the following items, which the Logan Banner printed on April 5, 1927:

The Bible school on Trace Fork is progressing nicely and is conducted by Rev. Ratio Adams and Peter Mullins.

Hubert Adams of Holden was visiting relatives on Hoover recently.

Howard Adams and Charley Mullins were visiting Peter Tomblin of Twelve Pole Saturday.

James Thompson and Miss Julia Tomblin were united in marriage on Buck Fork recently. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson are planning a honeymoon trip to the Cumberland Mountains and points in Eastern Kentucky.

Millard Thompson was visiting friends on Harts Creek Monday.

Ezra Farley made a flying trip to Lewis Maynard’s Sunday.

The home of Boyd Carter at Hendersonville was destroyed by fire Monday afternoon.

Chick Dingess was a visitor to Jesse Carter last Sunday.

Ireland Mullins was calling on Miss Sallie Bunn of Hoover Sunday.

Harmon Carter of Buck Fork was calling on Miss Mae Robinson Sunday.

Things seen daily: Philip going to see Aunt Minnie; Howard going to Mollie’s; Florence and her pipe; Bernie and his guitar; Clinton and his whooping cough; Mollie and her forty four; Peter and Fred Carter making toothpicks; Wilburn and his boots; Ewell watching for a car to come up Trace.

Whirlwind News 11.02.1926

04 Tuesday Jul 2017

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek, Whirlwind

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Albert Gore, Alice McCloud, Appalachia, Bernie Adams, Clinton Adams, Daniel McCloud, Eddie Adams, Edgar McCloud, Fred Adams, genealogy, Harts Creek, history, Hoover Church, Hoover Fork, Hoover School, Howard Adams, Ireland Mullins, Logan Banner, Logan County, Lucy McCloud, Mattie Robinson, Micco, Norman Adams, teacher, Tilda Carter, West Virginia, Whirlwind, Wilburn Mullins

An unknown correspondent from Whirlwind in Logan County, West Virginia, offered the following items, which the Logan Banner printed on November 2, 1926:

We are having plenty of rain at present.

Albert Gore was the evening guest of Mattie Robinson Friday.

Mrs. Eddie Adams is ill at this writing, we are sorry to say.

Lucy McCloud was calling at the post office Saturday. Did he forget to write this time, Lucy?

Fred Adams don’t visit the Left Fork of Hoover any more. Cheer up, Fred. Sallie is at home yet.

Norman Adams was the guest of his mother Friday night.

Wilburn Mullins visits Daniel McCloud’s often these days. Wonder why? Ask Frank. He knows.

Clinton Adams never visits the Left Fork of Hoover no more. Come on back, Clinton. The sun is shining now.

Ireland Mullins was visiting on Hoover Thursday. He must have been wanting some fried chicken.

Alice McCloud is back on Hoover after a few weeks of absence.

Edgar McCloud, Fred Adams, and Bernie Adams attended church on Hoover Saturday night.

Ireland Mullins wore a ten cent smile Thursday night. Wonder what seemed to be the cause? Ask Lucy. She knows.

Wonder why Frank Adams doesn’t enjoy walking up the road any more?

Bernie Adams looks so sad since Tilda Carter left Hoover to spend a few weeks in Micco with her sister.

Howard Adams seems to enjoy teaching school in Hoover.

Daily Happenings: Wilburn going to Daniel’s; May going up the road; Lucy and her slippers; Mildred and her bobbed hair; Carl and his chestnuts.

Bernie Adams grave (2015)

26 Sunday Jul 2015

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek, Cemeteries, Whirlwind

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Appalachia, Bernie Adams, cemeteries, guitarist, Harts Creek, history, Hoover Fork, John M. Adams Family Cemetery, Kathy Adams, Logan County, music, photos, U.S. South, West Virginia

Thanks to Kathy Adams and her family, I located the Bernie Adams grave earlier this year. 28 March 2015

Thanks to Kathy Adams and her family, I located the Bernie Adams grave on Harts Creek earlier this year. 28 March 2015

John M. Adams Family Cemetery (2015)

26 Sunday Jul 2015

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek, Cemeteries, Whirlwind

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Bernie Adams, cemeteries, Charlie "Poos" Adams, Dicie B. Vance, genealogy, Halie Martin, Harts Creek, history, Hoover Fork, Jane Adams, John M. Adams Family Cemetery, John Morgan Adams

The John Morgan Adams Family Cemetery, which I visited on 28 March 2015, is located on Hoover Fork of Harts Creek in Logan County, WV. It is situated 0.6 miles up main Hoover from the mouth of McCloud Branch. It is located on the right going upstream. This cemetery is covered in growth and small trees, nearly forgotten.

Row 1

Halie Martin (January 1926-21 May 1947); d/o Isaac J. and Margaret (Baisden) Workman; m. Linville Martin

Row 2

Jane Adams (02 May 1865-29 September 1945); d/o James W. and Virginia Jane (Dalton) Workman; m. John Morgan Adams

John M. Adams (30 March 1869-29 March 1921); s/o Solomon H. and Dicie (Mullins) Adams

Dicie B. Vance (26 June 1895-21 August 1931); d/o John M. and Jane (Dalton) Adams; m. William Vance

Bernie Adams (1907-1962); s/o John M. and Jane (Dalton) Adams

Charlie Adams (1903-1989); s/o John M. and Jane (Dalton) Adams

John’s epilogue 2

31 Sunday Aug 2014

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Ed Haley, John Hartford, Music

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Arthur Smith, banjo, Ben Walker, Benny Martin, Bernie Adams, Billy Adkins, blind, Brandon Kirk, Buddy Emmons, Clayton McMichen, Doug Owsley, Durham, Ed Haley, fiddlers, fiddling, Green McCoy, Haley-McCoy grave, Harts, history, Imogene Haley, Indiana, Jeffersonville, John Hartford, Johnny Hager, Lawrence Haley, Mark O'Connor, Matt Combs, Melvin Kirk, Michael Cleveland, Milt Haley, Mona Haley, music, Nashville, North Carolina, Smithsonian, Snake Chapman, Tennessee, Texas Shorty, Ugee Postalwait, Webster Springs, West Virginia, Wilson Douglas, writing

When Ed first went out into the neighborhood with his dad’s fiddle and armed with his melodies (as interpreted by his mother) I think he probably caused not a small sensation amongst family and neighbors and his ear being as great as it was I think he picked up an incredible amount of other music really fast. I think he played with a lot of ornaments when he was a teenager and up into maybe even his thirties. Snake Chapman and Ugee Postalwait have alluded to this. Snake said the dining room recordings just didn’t sound as old-timey as he remembered Ed playing and Ugee said she remembered him and her dad talking about the little melodies between the notes. Of course Ed had to have been through a lot of subtle changes in style since that time. I think in later years he stripped a lot of the ornaments out of his fiddling in order to appeal to the Arthur Smith-Clayton McMitchen crowd who loved the radio style that was so much in vogue at that time. This might have helped make a little more money on the street. People have always liked to hear someone play and sound just like what they hear on the radio or a record. But I think if someone had asked Ed if he had done that consciously that he would have denied it and if he was in a bad mood they might have even had a fight on their hands.

I keep having this idea of Ed imitating other instruments on the fiddle because I’ve tried it myself and wouldn’t it be something that some of these great parts was really an imitation of John Hager’s banjo playing. I’d love to know where that passage is or whether it even exists.

It’s obvious that when Ed had good firm second that wouldn’t slow down for anything, he really leaned back on the beat and got in that little pocket where so many great musicians like to be. Ella and Mona really held up a good solid beat, but I’ll bet Ed was hard on them — a real taskmaster. It’s all in that rhythm section. Wilson Douglas told me one time that Ed always told him to play it real lazy. Texas Shorty, Benny Martin, and Buddy Emmons refer to it as holding on to the note as long as you can before you start the next one. This is an important part of Ed’s feel and sound and it really comes through on the dining room recordings. I get it by playing as slow as I can against a beat I hope is not gonna move, and then I swing the notes with a dotted note feel — a real lilt if I can get it — and just drag on the beat as hard as I can ’cause I know it’s not gonna slow down. I’d love to know just when Ed figured that out or if it was always there. I always think of Ed in his younger years playing on top of the beat or even ahead of it like I did when I was young and full of piss and vinegar. Actually when you’re playing alone you do hafta pretty well stay on top of the beat to hold the time or at least set it, cause you are the beat but you have to keep from rushing which we will tend do when we get to hard passages in order to get them over with. We’ll not do that no more. Mark O’Connor told me one time that while he is playing a tune he’ll play on top of and behind the beat on purpose. He described playing behind it as letting the beat drag you along…almost like water skiing. Oh, to have known what Ed and John Hager or Bernie Adams sounded like together.

I think Ed worked on his fiddling probably daily most of his life so it is fair to say that it was changing all the time. This would explain the varying descriptions of his playing that have come down. I’m sure they’re probably all accurate. Lawrence, Ugee, and Mona always said Ed played with great smooth long bow strokes and Snake Chapman always was adamant about him playing with short single strokes and Slim Clere said the same thing — that he bowed out everything — no bow slurs. Of course, in the dining room sessions you can hear both ways. It’s amazing how well Ed did without the feedback of working with a tape recorder. What an incredible ear he had. As far as I know, the only time he probably heard himself played back was the recordings we have. I hope there are others out there but I’ve come to doubt it.

Brandon and I have always had a gut feeling that if we’d dug down into the hillside a little further at Milt and Green’s grave we might have found something. We only went down five feet and then we were defeated by the rain. What if we had gone down the requisite six feet? What if, like the probe, Owsley had misjudged the bottom of the grave shaft due to the mud and water? What if it hadn’t rained and muddied up the work area? If Melvin Kirk and Ben Walker went so far as to bury the men in a deep grave, why not assume they would have gone for the standard six feet grave traditionally dug? In the following weeks, old timers around Harts kept telling Brandon and Billy, “If they didn’t dig at least six feet, it’s no wonder they didn’t find anything.” We didn’t want to question the professionalism of experts like the Smithsonian forensic team or seem like we wanted to find Milt and Green so badly that we couldn’t accept the concept that they were gone…but what if? The explanation that Doug Owsley gave us about the coal seam and underground stream made a lot of sense. Needless to say we were really disappointed. I had started to rationalize that not finding anything might indicate that they were buried in the nude and just thrown in the hole with no box or winding sheet or anything.

I was in Durham, North Carolina, the other day and I saw a fiddler on the street and I automatically found myself thinking of Ed. I didn’t have to fill in or rearrange much in my imagination to see him there playing on the street — even though this man was standing up, and played nothing like him. Of course when Ed was younger he probably stood up to play all the time like in the Webster Springs picture…dapper and wearing his derby. I always seem to picture Ed sitting down. Another great thrill for me is a young blind fiddler from Jeffersonville, Indiana, named Michael Cleveland who when he plays I can see Ed at nineteen. He stands up so straight he almost looks like he’s gonna fall over backward the way Lawrence said his dad did. When he plays I can’t take my eyes off of him thinking of Ed. Now my friend Matt Combs, who has done a lot of the transcriptions for this book, sits with me and plays Ed’s notes off of the paper, and I play off the top of my head, so in that sense it’s like playing with him.

I guess it’s time to just leave this alone and get back to my study of the fiddle. Maybe get geared up for “Volume Two.” I spend long hours here at the dining room table with my tape recorder and I can hear Lawrence and feel Ed as I try and play my way back into the past. I find that the study of Ed’s music leads me to the study of all music and the way it’s played.

Dood Dalton and Bernie Adams

21 Thursday Aug 2014

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek, Ed Haley, Music

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Appalachia, Bernie Adams, culture, Dood Dalton, fiddle, fiddler, fiddling, genealogy, guitar, Harts Creek, history, life, music, photo, U.S. South, West Virginia

Dood Dalton and Bernie Adams, Harts Creek, WV

Dood Dalton and Bernie Adams, Harts Creek, WV

In Search of Ed Haley 329

28 Saturday Jun 2014

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek, Culture of Honor, Ed Haley, Lincoln County Feud, Spottswood, Timber

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accordion, Al Brumfield, Andy Mullins, banjo, Bernie Adams, Billy Adkins, Birdie, Blackberry Blossom, Brandon Kirk, Charles Conley Jr., Chinese Breakdown, Clifford Belcher, Crawley Creek Mountain, Down Yonder, Ed Belcher, Ed Haley, fiddle, fiddler, guitar, Harts, Harts Creek, history, Hollene Brumfield, Joe Adams, John Hartford, Johnny Hager, Logan, Logan County, Milt Haley, music, piano, Pop Goes the Weasel, Raggedy Ann, Soldiers Joy, Spanish Fandango, timbering, Trace Fork, West Virginia, Wirt Adams, writing

Satisfied that we’d taken up enough of Andy’s day, we drove up Trace Fork to see Wirt Adams, an older brother to Joe Adams. Wirt was busy installing a waterbed but took a break to talk with us. “Well, come on in boys, but I’ve only got a few minutes,” he seemed to say. Inside, however, after I had pulled out my fiddle and he had grabbed a mandolin, he seemed ready to hang out with us all day.

I told Wirt that I was trying to find out about Haley’s life. He said old-timers in the neighborhood used to tell stories about Ed playing for dances on Saturday nights with Johnny Hager, a banjo-picker and fiddler. Ed eventually left Harts Creek and got married but came back to stay with his cousins every summer.

Wirt said he sometimes bumped into him in local taverns:

“It was in the forties,” he said. “About ’47, ’48, ’49, ’50 — along there somewhere. We called it Belcher’s beer garden. It was a roadhouse over on Crawley Hill. Well, I just come in there from the mines and Ed was there and he heard somebody say that I was there and he said, ‘Come on over here Wirt and play one.’ I think the fella that’d been playing with him had got drunk and passed out. Well I played one or two with him and then Charley Conley and them boys come in and Charley says, ‘C’mon over here Wirt and get in with us.’ Ed said, ‘Don’t do that, you’re playing with me.’ I really wasn’t playing with him. I had my mine clothes on. I just come in there and picked up Bernie Adams’ old guitar. If you was playing they’d sit you a beer up there — no money in it. Mostly for fun, we thought. We’d gang up on Saturday night somewhere and play a little. Sometimes they’d dance.”

Wirt felt that Ed was “a good fiddler, one of the best in that time.”

I asked him about Ed’s bowing and he said, “It didn’t look like he moved it that far over the whole thing [meaning very little bow usage] but he played tunes where he did use the long stroke. But most of it was just a lot of movement but not no distance. Just hacking, I call it. Him and Johnny Hager were the only two fellas I know who done that.”

Brandon wondered about Ed’s tunes.

“Well, he played that ‘Blackberry Blossom’ — that was one of his favorites — and then he played ‘The Old Red Rooster’ and he played ‘Raggedy Ann’ and ‘Soldiers Joy’. He had one he called ‘somethin’ in the shucks’. I forget the name of it. Anyhow, it was one of the old tunes. And ‘Pop Goes the Weasel’, I’ve heard him play that.”

I asked if Ed played “Birdie” and he said, “Yeah. Now, that’s one of Charley’s favorites. ‘Chinese Breakdown’, that was one of Ed’s. ‘Down Yonder’.”

Wirt told us more about Johnny Hager and Ed Belcher.

“Johnny Hager was a banjo player but he could play the fiddle, too. He played the old ‘overhand’ [on the banjo]. He was a good second for somebody. Now Ed Belcher was a different thing altogether. He played all kinds of stuff. He played classical, he could play hillbilly. He played a piano, he played accordion, he played a banjo, he played a guitar. He was a good violin player. He tuned pianos for a living. Well, I’d call him a professional musician. They had talent shows in Logan. He’d sponsor that. He’d be like the MC and these kids would go in and play. He was a head musician. He was good. He could do ‘Spanish Fandango’ on the guitar and make it sound good. He could play all kinds of tunes. I never could play with him but then he could take the piano and make it talk, too. He was just an all-around musician.”

Brandon asked Wirt if he knew the story about how Ed came to be blind.

“Milt Haley was Ed’s dad,” Wirt said matter-of-factly. “They said his dad was kind of a mean fella and he took Ed out when he was a little kid — held him by the heels — and ducked him in the creek. He had some kind of a fever in wintertime. I’ve heard that, now. Ed never would talk about it. I never heard him mention his dad.”

Wirt had only heard “snippets” about Milt’s death.

“It was pretty wild times,” he said. “I understand the whole thing was over timberworks. These people, they’d have a splash dam on this creek and they’d get their logs and haul them in this bottom at the mouth of Trace — this was one of them. They had a splash dam and when the water got up they’d knock that dam out and that’d carry the logs down to Hart and they had a boom and them Brumfields owned the boom. They charged so much a log. Some way over that, there was some confusion. But I’ve seen Aunt Hollene. She was supposed to been riding behind old man Al Brumfield, her husband, and they shot at him and hit her.”

After Milt was caught, he made a last request.

“They said they asked him if he wanted anything and he wanted them to bring him a fiddle,” Wirt said. “He wanted to play a tune. Now this is hearsay but I’ve heard it several times. They said he played the fiddle and they hung him.”

In Search of Ed Haley 328

26 Thursday Jun 2014

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek, Ed Haley, Lincoln County Feud, Music

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Andy Mullins, banjo, Bernie Adams, Bill Adkins, Bill Monroe, Billy Adkins, Black Sheep, blind, Bob Dingess, Brandon Kirk, Buck Fork, Claude Martin, Dingess, Dobie Mullins, Drunkard's Hell, Ed Haley, Floyd Mullins, George Baisden, George Mullins, Green McCoy, Grover Mullins, guitar, Harts Creek, history, Hollene Brumfield, John Hartford, Logan County, Maple Leaf on the Hill, measles, Michigan, Millard Thompson, Milt Haley, Mona Haley, moonshine, music, Naaman Adams, Roxie Mullins, Smokehouse Fork, Ticky George Hollow, Trace Fork, West Virginia, Williamson, Wilson Mullins, writing

From Naaman’s, we drove out of Trace and on up Harts Creek to see Andy Mullins, who Brandon had met a few months earlier at Bill Adkins’ wake. Andy had just relocated to Harts after years of living away in Michigan; he had constructed a new house in the head of Ticky George Hollow. Andy was a son to Roxie Mullins, the woman who inspired my fascination with Harts Creek. Andy, who we found sitting in his yard with his younger brother Dobie, was very friendly. He treated us as if we had known him for years.

“I was just catting when you fellas come up through there,” Andy said to us. “One of the girls lost a cat down there over the bank last night — a kitten. This morning I went down there and it was up in that rock cliff and I took its mother down there and it whooped the mother. And I took one of the kittens down there and it whooped the kitten. The old tomcat, he come down there and he whooped it. It went back up under that damn rock.”

I liked Andy right away.

We all took seats in lawn chairs in the front yard where Andy told about Ed Haley coming to see his parents every summer when he was a boy, usually with his wife. He described him as having a “big, fat belly” and weighing about 200 pounds.

“He wasn’t much taller than Dobie but he was fat,” Andy said. “I can remember his eyes more than the rest of him because his eyes was like they had a heavy puss over them or something. It was real thick-like. Not like they were clouded or anything.”

Even though Ed was blind, he could get around all over Harts Creek and even thread a needle.

Andy had heard that Milt caused Ed’s blindness.

“They said that Ed got a fever of some kind when he was a baby and Milt went out and cut a hole in the ice and stuck him under the ice in the creek to break the fever,” he said.

Andy knew very little about Milt.

“Just that Milt got killed, that was it, over shooting the old lady down at the shoal below Bob Dingess’ at the mouth of Smokehouse,” he said.

“All the old-timers that knows anything about his daddy is probably dead,” Dobie said.

Brandon said we’d heard rumors that Milt and Green were innocent of shooting Hollena Brumfield and Andy quickly answered, “That’s what my father-in-law told me.”

Changing the conversation back to Ed, Andy said, “Ed used to go up on Buck Fork to George Mullins’ to stay a lot and up to Grover Mullins’. He lived just above George’s place — the old chimney is the only thing still standing.”

He also went up in the head of Hoover to see George Baisden, a banjo-picker who’d hoboed with him in his younger days. The two of them had a lot of adventures, like the time Ed caught a train at Dingess and rode it over to Williamson to play for a dance or at a tavern. Just before they rolled into town, George pushed him off the train then jumped off himself. It made Ed so mad that George had to hide from him for the rest of the night.

I asked Andy if Ed ever told those kind of stories on himself and he said, “He told big tales, I’d call them, but I don’t remember what they were. Well, he set and talked with my grandmother and grandfather all the time he was here, and Mom. I never paid any attention to what they talked about really. I guess, man, I run these hills. I was like a goat. Hindsight is 20/20.”

Not long into our visit with Andy, he got out his guitar and showed me what he remembered about Bernie Adams’ guitar style. From there, he took off on Bill Monroe tunes, old lonesome songs, or honky-tonk music, remarking that he could only remember Ed’s tunes in “sketches.”

I asked, “Do you reckon Ed would sing anything like ‘Little Joe’?” and he said, “I don’t know. It’s awful old. I heard him sing ‘The Maple on the Hill’. He played and sang the ‘Black Sheep’.”

“He played loud, Ed did,” Dobie said.

“And sang louder,” Andy said immediately. “He’d rare back and sing, man.”

The tune he best remembered Ed singing was “The Drunkard’s Hell”.

I wanted to know the time frame of Andy’s memories.

“1944, ’45,” he said. “I was thirteen year old at that time. Now in ’46, we lived across the creek up here at Millard’s. Him and Mona Mae and Wilson — they wasn’t married at the time — went somewhere and got some homebrew and they all got pretty looped. That was up on Buck Fork some place. Ed got mad at Wilson and her about something that night and that’s the reason they didn’t play music — him and Claude Martin and Bernie Adams.”

I asked Andy about Ed’s drinking and he said, “Just whatever was there, Ed’d drink. He didn’t have to see it. He smelled it. Ed could sniff it out.”

Brandon wondered if Ed ever played at the old jockey grounds at the mouth of Buck Fork. Andy doubted it, although it sure seemed to me like the kind of place for him to go. There was moonshine everywhere and men playing maybe ten card games at once.

“They’d get drunk and run a horse right over top of you if you didn’t watch,” Andy said. “It was like a rodeo.”

The last jockey ground held at the mouth of Buck Fork was in 1948.

In Search of Ed Haley 326

24 Tuesday Jun 2014

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek, Ed Haley, Lincoln County Feud

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Bernie Adams, Big Branch, Billy Adkins, Brandon Kirk, Cacklin Hen, crime, Dood Dalton, Ed Haley, fiddle, fiddler, fiddling, Green McCoy, guitar, Harts, Harts Creek, history, Hollene Brumfield, John Hartford, Logan, Luster Dalton, Milt Haley, Mona Haley, music, Rockhouse Fork, Stump Dalton, Wild Horse, writing

From Harts proper, we headed up Harts Creek to the home of Luster Dalton, a son of Ed’s friend, Dood Dalton. Luster was born in 1924 and used to play the fiddle on weekends for free drinks at local “dives” with his brother Stump and two cousins. I asked him if he learned much from Ed and he said, “Yeah, I learned a lot from the old man Ed. He was a real fiddle player, son.”

I wondered if anybody around Harts played like Ed.

“Not as good as he could, no,” Luster said. “I’d have to say no to that. That old man really knew how to handle that job, buddy.”

Luster tried to remember some of Ed’s tunes.

“Way back in them days, they had one they called ‘Cacklin’ Hen’ and ‘Wild Horse’ and such as that on down the line,” he said.

I got my fiddle out and pointed it toward Luster, who said, “They ain’t a bit of use in me to try that. I’ve had too many bones broke.”

I tried to get him to just show me anything — but he refused.

He chose instead to talk, starting with how Ed came to visit his father on Big Branch.

“He came about onest a year and would maybe stay a month,” Luster said. “He’d maybe stay a week at Dad’s and go to some other family and stay a week and go up Logan and stay a week or so with somebody. Him and his old woman both would come and a couple three of his kids. Mona was one of them’s name. About all of them I guess has been to my dad’s. I don’t see how they raised a bunch of kids — neither one of them could see. That’s something we got to think about. They was good people. And a fella by the name of Bernie Adams used to come with them — he was a guitar picker — and they’d sit up there and sing and pick up at my dad’s till twelve o’clock and go to bed and go to sleep, get up the next morning, go into ‘er again. I went in the army in 1940, I believe it was, and I know I’ve not heard from them since then.”

Luster didn’t know if Milt Haley was a fiddler but had heard the old-timers talk about how either him or Green McCoy had shot Hollena Brumfield through the jaw at the mouth of the Rockhouse Fork on Harts Creek.

“They were murdered in a little log house,” Luster said. “They took a pole axe and beat them to death and then chopped them up.”

In Search of Ed Haley 319

12 Thursday Jun 2014

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek, Ed Haley, Harts, Lincoln County Feud

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Al Brumfield, Ben Adams, Bernie Adams, Brandon Kirk, Cain Adkins, Caroline Brumfield, Cecil Brumfield, Dave Dingess, Ed Haley, fiddle, French Bryant, Harriet Brumfield, Harts Creek, Henderson Dingess, history, Hollene Brumfield, Hugh Dingess, John Hartford, John W Runyon, Lillian Ray, Logan, Milt Haley, Paris Brumfield, Sallie Dingess, Smokehouse Fork, Tom Martin, writing

A little later, Brandon visited Lillian Ray, a seventy-something-year-old daughter of Cecil Brumfield who lived in a beautiful two-story house on the Smokehouse Fork of Harts Creek. Lilly, he discovered, had a lot of the old Dingess family photographs. To Brandon’s surprise, there were several thick-paged Victorian velvet-covered albums full of tintypes and a few boxes of sepia images on decorative cardboard squares. Only a few were labeled, but he recognized some of the faces: Al Brumfield, Henderson and Sallie Dingess, Hugh Dingess, Mrs. Charley Brumfield, Mrs. John Brumfield, and Dave Dingess. No doubt, there were pictures in the album of Ben Adams and Hollena Brumfield in their youth.

Before leaving, Brandon asked Lilly about Ed Haley. She said she remembered him coming to her father’s house when he lived in the old Henderson Dingess homeplace. He would just show up, leading himself with a cane, and stay for two or three days. Lilly hated to see him come because he was so hateful to the Brumfield children — “always running his mouth.” She described him as a “little short man” who “drank a lot” and told how he and Bernie Adams once borrowed a fiddle from her father and then pawned it off in Logan. The fiddle originally belonged to Tom Martin.

Not long after visiting Lilly, Brandon sent me a letter updating me on his research along with pictures of people we’d only imagined. As they turned up, I wondered if I were to go into a room with Al, Paris, Milt, Green, French, Cain, Runyon — without knowing who any of them were — which ones would I take to strictly on a personality basis? Which ones would I have a gut reaction to think, “Well, he’s a pretty fair good old boy,” or, “Boy, I don’t know about that feller there. Something’s just not right.” I mean, you walk in the room and, “That’s Al Brumfield?” No way. “That’s Cain Adkins?” Nope, I can’t believe that.

In Search of Ed Haley 309

23 Friday May 2014

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek, Ed Haley, Music

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Andy Mullins, Ashland, banjo, Ben Adams, Bernie Adams, Bill Adkins, Brandon Kirk, Buck Fork, Claude Martin, Clyde Haley, Devil Anse Hatfield, Devil's Dream, Dingess, Drunkard's Hell, Ed Haley, Ella Haley, fiddling, George Baisden, George Mullins, Greasy George Adams, Harts, Harts Creek, Henderson Branch, history, Hoover Fork, John Frock Adams, Johnny Canub Adams, Kentucky, Lincoln County, Logan County, Mona Haley, music, Ralph Haley, Roxie Mullins, Sally Goodin, Soldiers Joy, Ticky George Adams, Trace Fork, Weddie Mullins, West Virginia, Wilson Mullins, writing

Throughout the winter 1996, Brandon kept busy interviewing folks around Harts for new Ed Haley-Milt Haley leads. In March, he wrote me about recent developments, including the death of Bill Adkins, Sr. — the old fiddler in Harts. At Bill’s wake, Brandon met Andy Mullins, who had recently moved back to Harts Creek after settling in Michigan in 1952. He was the son of Roxie Mullins.

Andy said, when he was a child, Ed Haley spent summers with his parents. Ed also stayed with George Mullins on Buck Fork, George Baisden (a banjo player) in the head of Hoover Fork, “old John Adams” on main Harts Creek, and Johnny Adams (Ticky George’s son) on Trace Fork. Ed had a big, fat belly. Sometimes, he came with his wife, a quiet woman who would eat dinner and then sing for an hour or so while playing the mandolin. Their daughter “Mona Mae” traveled with them, as did her husband, Wilson Mullins.

Andy didn’t remember much about Ed’s other children. He said Clyde stayed six months at a time on Harts Creek and “wouldn’t work a lick” and “couldn’t stay out of trouble.” He heard that Ralph used to hang upside down from a bridge in Ashland.

When Ed was young, Andy said, he supposedly played a lot of music with George Baisden. Later, he played with Bernie Adams and Claude Martin. Andy remembered that Ed didn’t saw the fiddle — he played smooth — and he was a good singer. His voice was like a bell. When he played music with Bernie and Claude, people gathered in and brought food and booze. Andy never saw Ed drunk, although he would get pretty high. Ed and Bernie were hateful. Somebody might request a tune and Ed would say, “What do you think I am, a steam engine?” — then play it five minutes later. Andy remembered Ed playing “Devil’s Dream”, “Drunkard’s Hell,” “Soldiers Joy” and “Sally Goodin”.

Andy was familiar with Ben Adams, who he said operated a mill-dam at Greasy George’s place on main Harts Creek. Ben used this dam to back the creek all the way up to Henderson Branch. Before turning it loose, he would go and tell people to get out of their homes. His nephew, “old John Adams” (a.k.a. “Long John” or “John Frock”), was the one who went to Dingess and killed the man who had shot Ed’s uncle, Weddie Mullins. Andy said the doctor had this man on a table working on him when John showed up and “wasted” him. John Frock let Ed cut his fingernails one time and he cut them up so badly that his fingers bled. (Mona had told me a similar story, except she thought that Ed had cut Devil Anse Hatfield’s nails.)

Bernie Adams and Ed Haley

13 Tuesday May 2014

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek, Ed Haley, Music, Whirlwind

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Barbara Mullins, Bernie Adams, culture, Ed Haley, fiddle, fiddler, genealogy, guitar, Harts Creek, history, life, Logan County, music, photos, Trace Fork, U.S. South, West Virginia

Bernie Adams and Ed Haley with Barbara Mullins, Trace Fork of Harts Creek, Logan County, WV, c.1941

Bernie Adams and Ed Haley with Barbara Mullins, Trace Fork of Harts Creek, Logan County, WV, c.1941

Ed Haley Fiddle

25 Tuesday Mar 2014

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek, Ed Haley, Music

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Bernie Adams, Ed Haley, fiddle, Harts Creek, history, Lincoln County, music, photos, Robert Adams, Roy Dempsey, West Virginia

Roy Dempsey Fiddle 1

Ed Haley fiddle, Roy Dempsey house, Harts, Lincoln County, WV, October 1995

In Search of Ed Haley 272

25 Tuesday Mar 2014

Posted by Brandon Ray Kirk in Big Harts Creek, Ed Haley, Music

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banjo, Bernie Adams, Bernie Hager, Billy Adkins, Boone County, Brandon Kirk, Ed Haley, fiddle, fiddler, Harts Creek, history, Hubert Baisden, Ike Hager, Irene Hager, John Hartford, Johnny Hager, Low Gap, music, Robert Adams, Roy Dempsey, West Virginia, writing

The next day, I followed a tip from Billy and Brandon and made the short drive to see Irene Hager and her son Ike at Low Gap in Boone County, West Virginia. Irene was the daughter of Hubert Baisden, a close friend to Johnny Hager, and was the widow of Bernie Hager, Johnny’s nephew. Irene said Johnny used to visit her father at nearby Big Branch when she was a girl. Johnny played the fiddle and banjo and talked frequently about his travels with Ed back in the ’20s and ’30s.

“Ed Haley was an ever day word with Johnny,” Ike said.

Ike said Johnny Hager was most known as a fiddler, not a banjo-picker. He said he “cradled” the fiddle in his arms, never put it under his chin and bowed a lot of long strokes. He was primarily a claw-hammer banjoist but “did have a finger style.” Irene said his favorite song was “Joshua’s Prayer”, while Ike remembered him loving “Will There Be Any Stars in My Crown”. He also played “Rosewood Casket”, “Nelly Gray”, “Ballad of Old Number Nine”, “John Hardy”, “In the Pines”, “Cripple Creek”, “Wreck of ’97”, “Mockingbird on the Hill”, and “Little Log Cabin”.

Ike said Johnny taught his father how to play the banjo.

“He wanted a banjo player in the family to play around the houses and the homes with him,” Ike said. “My dad was musically inclined — he could chord a guitar and follow him along on the fiddle and banjo — so he talked Dad into getting a banjo. Dad traded six or seven hens and walked several mile with them hens upside down for this old banjo and Johnny taught him how to play. He picked up on playing pretty fast. I know they used to go over on Big Ugly and play in a school somewhere. Now they was some more boys that played with them. They was Wilcoxes, down on Mud River.”

That evening, I met up with Brandon at Billy Adkins’ house in Harts. Billy said a local man named Roy Dempsey told him earlier that day about having a genuine Ed Haley fiddle. I didn’t have too much time — I was leaving for Nashville later that night — but I wanted to see Roy. Brandon and I drove a little ways up Harts Creek to the Dempsey place, situated on a hill near the mouth of Big Branch. Roy showed us the fiddle, which he said Ed had given to Bernie Adams. Bernie later gave it to Roy’s father-in-law, Robert Adams. It was the first “Ed Haley fiddle” I’d seen on Harts Creek.

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