BY MARTY McGEE
Emmett W. Lundy of Delhart was reputed to be one of the finest oldtime fiddlers from the Galax, Virginia, area. Born during the Civil War, Lundy acquired much of his older repertoire from an elderly, reclusive fiddler named Geen Leonard, whose playing is legendary, even today, in Grayson County. Lundy also greatly influenced younger men, such as Crockett Ward, Eck Dunford, Charlie Higgins, Kahle Brewer and Da Costa Woltz, who played in string bands. Ward and Dunford, in fact, spent days at a time at Lundy’s home, and Brewer and Higgins credited Lundy with teaching them much of their music.
Lundy made only two commercial recordings, both in 1925 for OKeh when he accompanied his second cousin Ernest Stoneman to New York for a May recording session: “Long Eared Mule” and “Piney Woods Gal” were fiddle/harmonica duets with Stoneman. Reportedly not pleased with the fidelity of these recordings, Lundy did not record again until 16 years later, this time for the Library of Congress. He recorded over 30 pieces for the LOC, accompanied by his songs Kelly on guitar and Geedy on banjo.
Stuart Lundy, the twelfth of 15 children born to Emmett and Nancy Jennings Lundy, recorded an album with Kelly (the youngest of the 15 siblings) in 1990 called Last Time Together (Heritage HRC-086). Stuart, a fiddler, was born on April 7,1908, and died on March 15, 1978. Kelly, born in 1914, also worked with banjoist Larry Richardson and fiddler Otis Burris and was a frequent winner of the Galax Old Fiddlers’ Convention in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s.
Kelly Lundy, along with his sister Katy Lundy Golding and nephews Jerry, T.J. and Bobby Lundy, recorded as the Lundy Family and were featured on Back in Galax Again (Heritage HRC-C-105; released in 1992). T.J. was also a member of the Hotmud Family, which recorded Meat and Potatoes and Stuff Like That on Flying Fish (FF 251).