Elder Golden P. Harris
Golden Pierce Harris was born in Indian Valley (Floyd County) on May 5, 1897. This was an area rich in string band music and from an early age Golden played old-time dance music on the …
People
Meet the individuals who defined the sound of old time country music at the pinnacle of Appalachian ingenuity. These are the figures with the grit and fortitude for commercial success and those who maintained their connection to the deeper traditions of folk at the dawn of a new industry.
Alex “Uncle Eck” Dunford
BY CHARLES K. WOLFE— Although he appeared at the Bristol sessions as a member of Ernest Stoneman’s assembly of musicians, Alex Dunford (1878-1953) was a remarkable fiddler, singer, and comedian in his own right. A …
Fields Ward
BY MARTY McGEE— Old-time singer and guitarist Fields Mac Ward was born January 23, 1911, in Buck Mountain, Grayson County, Virginia. Fields was influenced by a musically rich family: Father Crockett (ca. early 1880s—mid—1960s) was …
The Hill Billies
BY MARTY McGEE— The Hill Billies, an early old-time string band, radio and vaudeville act, was organized in Galax, Virginia, in the mid-1920s. The bands’ original members were fiddler Alonzo Elvis “Tony” Alderman of Carroll …
Posey Rorer
BY KINNEY RORRER— When the highly influential Anthology of American Folk Music was released in 1952, the acclaimed producer Harry Smith selected what he considered the best representations of commercially recorded folk music that appeared …
Holland Puckett
BY MARTY McGEE— Holland Puckett was born July 15, 1899, on a farm in The Hollows, Patrick County, Virginia. He lived between Ararat, Virginia, and nearby Mount Airy, North Carolina. Puckett had strong ties to …
Wade Ward
BY MARTY McGEE— Benjamin “Uncle” Wade Ward, born on October 15, 1892, near the town of Independence in Grayson County, Virginia, was known for his frailing or clawhammer style of banjo playing. He also had …
Ernest V. “Pop” Stoneman
BY IVAN M. TRIBE Ernest V. Stoneman – born in Monarat, Virginia, [Carroll County] May 25, 1893; died June 14, 1968 – was the Patriarch of a legendary musical family. Ernest Van “Pop” Stoneman helped …
Henry Whitter and the Creation of Country Music
By JOSH BECKWORTH— Henry Whitter’s role in early country music has often been to serve as an easy punchline. The tale is often retold of Ernest Stoneman hearing Whitter’s early recordings for the first time …