Clyde Garry Thurmond. October 11, 1944- April 17, 2002.
Garry’s first professional band was the Warrior River Boys (guitar). For the Stanley Brothers he worked in the summer of 1962, then for a year in 1964 and 1965 he was singer/guitarist with Bill Monroe and again in 1980. During this time he reorganized the Warrior River Boys but ill health caused him to turn the band over to mandolinist David Davis.
When Garry’s health improved in 1998, he joined Steve Helton to found the Flint River Boys which included Etheridge Scott and Wayne Jerrolds. Fiddlers Charlie Cline and Bill Sage joined later. Cline saw his role with the group as mentor, a connection to the “old days” and how bluegrass was to be played correctly.
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Bill Sage. Died July 21, 2002.
Bill fiddled with the Wildwood Valley Boys, Bill Monroe, Del McCoury, the Warrior River Boys and others. His powerful fiddle was made in England by Adrian Farmer.
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Alan Lomax. January 15, 1915-July 19, 2002. Born in Austin, Texas
This folklorist and his father, John Lomax, toted their battery-powered disc-recording device through the south and southwest in the spring of 1933 to record local musicians of all types: fiddlers, banjo pickers, blues singers, church services, and prison convicts. These recordings are in the Library of Congress Archive of American Folk Song.
In 1941, John Lomax produced the album “Smoky Mountain Ballads” for Victor Records with artists Uncle Dave Macon, Gid Tanner, the Dixon Brothers, Arthur Smith, the Carter Family and the Monroe Brothers—all southerners—bringing their music to audiences worldwide, give these southerners status as folk singers they had never had before.
Alan produced a similar album “Mountain Frolic” for Decca’s Brunswick label later that decade. These two recordings are in print today as “Anthology of American Folk Music” on Folkways.
In 1941 Alan recorded Wade Mainer’s Sons of the Mountaineers at WWNC, Asheville, North Carolina. About this time he recorded Muddy Waters, the Mississippi bluesman.
In 1959 Alan brought bluegrass to New York City’s Carnegie Hall by booking Baltimore’s Earl Taylor and the Stoney Mountain Boys on April 13th. He introduced the term “folk music with overdrive,” considering bluegrass as the next evolutionary generation of folk music. Also this year he acquired a two-track stereo tape deck, using it in a manner similar to his 1933 recordings.
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Benny Williams. March 28, 1931-October 11, 2007. Born in Bledsoe County, Tennessee.
This multi-instrumentalist was best known for his fiddle playing. His first professional job was with Mac Wiseman on the Old Virginia Barn Dance, followed by membership in Reno and Smiley, the Stanley Brothers, Flatt and Scruggs, Bill Monroe, and Lonzo and Oscar.
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Jimmie Rodgers. Died September 4, 2007.
This musician was in the York Brothers¸ and he played with the Bailes Brothers, Webb Pierce, and Fiddlin’ Arthur Smith.
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William C. “Bill” Sullivan. Died September 23, 2007.
He was a luthier and founder of First Quality Instruments.
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Caroline Flickinger. Died March 16, 2007.
She was the mother of Gloria Belle; she taught her how to play guitar. And performed with Gloria on the Cas Walker Show.
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Roy “The Little Bitty Buddy” Self. Died August 15, 2007.
Roy was a DJ in the Virginia-Maryland area and played bass with many bands including those of
Bill Harrell, Mac Wiseman, Buzz Busby, Bill Clifton, the Country Gentlemen, the Stringdusters, and Jimmy Arnold.
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Horace Scruggs. Died July 20, 2007.
He was the oldest brother of Earl Scruggs. This guitarist played in River Bend, New River, and Flint Hill.
Earl wrote in his book, Earl Scruggs And The 5-String Banjo, of their learning to play together.
“My brother, Horace, and I used to spend many happy hours picking away on the banjo and guitar. The combination of the two worked out very well. We would pick on rainy days when we couldn’t work on the farm, and especially on winter nights after we had studied our school lessons.”
Horace’s friend Dr. Bobby Jones, who performed with him in the band Flint Hill, wrote a tribute to Scruggs when he was named recipient of the 2006 Heritage Bridge Award. “Although Horace never made his living as a musician, he certainly had the opportunity. Being Earl’s brother, he was in jam sessions through the years with folks like Bobby Osborne, Marty Stuart, Del McCoury or John Hartford. At one back stage session, no less a critic than Bill Monroe singled him out for his rhythm playing, proclaiming ‘that’s the way it needs to be.’ In spite of his more famous connections, though, Horace was always equally at home playing with his less-well known Cleveland County friends who loved to pick bluegrass music (at least if they kept good time). Little Roy Lewis always asks Horace to join him on the stage when he plays shows in the area. A lot of folks wondered why Horace never went on the road. Once I asked him, and his reply was simply, “Well, I always had a job to do.”
Bobby Jones continued, “When their father died, Junie, Horace, and Earl took on the responsibility of managing the family farm. Music was important, but survival was imperative, and Horace and his brothers kept the farm going, but continued to play after they had the chores completed. Horace married Maida at age nineteen, and soon after served in WWII. For a while, responsibilities precluded playing much, but after the war the music resumed.
“Horace became a bit of a country renaissance man. His lessons learned on the family farm, combined with his war time experiences, yielded expertise in a variety of disciplines, and fueled the home grown ingenuity that was typical of what Tom Brokaw called “our greatest generation.” Horace not only plays the best bluegrass rhythm guitar around, but can build furniture, repair clocks, rebuild Volkswagen cars, knows how to use dynamite to set pecan trees, and built his own home without the benefit of contractors, electricians or the likes of such. He was the go-to man for Gardner Webb University for years, doing everything from maintaining the steam plant to driving the bus for the ball teams and the choral ensemble, and served Crawley Hospital with similar versatility. Throughout it all, he continued to play with all the local pickers, folks like Leonard Causby, Hubert Green, the Brooks and Ramsey brothers, and Dan Padgett. And who could forget the late Jerry Edmunson, another fine banjo man from these parts? Horace was equally comfortable playing in a Nashville jam session, but never wanting to stray far, and enjoying first rate music right here in Cleveland County, he never left home. I’m sure Horace shares the spirit of this award with all the musicians in the county he has played with through the years. In spite of the fact they all could not be individually named, there were many who contributed to the preservation of traditional music he has enjoyed so much.
“Nearing retirement, and at an age when many would not want to be bothered by young musicians, Horace again answered the call. “We hear you can play bluegrass music, can we come down to the house and pick?” Horace passed it on, and served as mentor to musicians half his age, making sure everyone played in time, and reminding them to stay close to the roots of the music. He anchored several bands in the area, including River Bend, New River, and finally, Flint Hill, which was named for his home community, and in honor of Horace. He was featured on two CDs, “Rock Candy Days,” and “Heartbreak Highway.”
“Like George P. Hay of the Grand Ole Opry, Horace made sure everyone would “keep it close to the ground, boys.” If you strayed too far from tradition, Horace would give you a look that let you know that it sounded too much like rock ‘n’ roll. He became the patriarch of the Cleveland County bluegrass scene. I only have to hear his son Elam, or mine, Rob, play a guitar G-run to know of Horace’s permanent influence.
“As a young man, I often wondered why Horace never hit the road. As I get older, home seems to mean even more than ever, and I think I understand. Like he said, he always had a job to do. Perhaps part of that may have been to be here at home. I’m sure musicians often dream of a bigger stage, and the opportunity to belong to the world. The musicians of Cleveland County are thankful that Horace dreamed of home, though. Instead of belonging to the world, Horace chose to belong to us, and we are thankful for all the years he has played music and lived and worked here in Cleveland County.” Dr. Bobby Jones
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Ray Goins. January 3, 1936-July 2, 2007. Born in Bramwell, West Virginia.
From the internet at www.answers.com by Eugene Chadbourne, Rovi, we find this eulogy about Ray.
“This banjoist was a member of the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers, a classic Appalachian string band whose music spanned the gap between old-time music and bluegrass, a distance that can seem minute or measurable in country miles, depending on one’s point of view. He has said that his professional career and the common usage of the term bluegrass began around the same time, so listeners can draw their own conclusions. As for a time line, this artist put in a solid 50 years of performing before finally calling it quits, much of the activity based around the tri-state area of Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana.
“His talents included covering the bass fiddle and doing comedy routines as a member of Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys, which is where many country and bluegrass performers of the next generation such as Del McCoury recall first seeing him. In his later years, he fronted the Goins Brothers band with his younger brother, the guitarist and singer Melvin Goins. This group released several albums of straight-ahead bluegrass in the best brother-band tradition, but the brothers’ recording collaborations had actually begun years earlier. In the ’70s, they produced an album out of the Cincinnati area, coming up with a classic bluegrass gospel effort, entitled ‘He Showed Me the Way,’ that was reissued decades later on Crosscut. The banjoist has also been happy to pick in a sideman capacity for his brother when he began fronting his own band named Windy Mountain.
“The brothers grew up working the fields of their family’s farm, which is also where they encountered music in the form of radio broadcasts of country music. The lunch break would usually be spent with ears glued to the family’s battery-powered radio. It was a pleasure that caused their father much pain, but not because he didn’t approve of them listening to music. According to interviews with Melvin Goins, their father just wanted to make sure the batteries would still be charged up when it was time for the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday night. The brothers’ favorite program was Farm and Fun Time from station WCYB out of Bristol, TN, one of the true classic radio programs of old-time and early country music. The brothers’ first attempts at playing their own music were carefully plotted affairs of secrecy, taking place in secluded spots in the woods with only their hunting dogs as an audience. From here, it was a slow climb to the possible wage of about five bucks a day playing professionally. Both Goins brothers have stated repeatedly that they played mainly for the love of it, not for large profits, and would often miss dinner because they were listening to music. All of these things were possible with such limited income to be had from the round of gigs at square dances, box socials, pie suppers, and eventually, drive-in theaters, a harbinger of the rock & roll era where at least a band could take 50 percent of the gate. They also performed on their own radio program broadcast out of Bluefield. In the mid-’90s, Ray Goins retired from touring due to health problems. Both Goins brothers were inducted into Bill Monroe‘s Bean Blossom Hall of Fame in fall 2001. Ray Goins also received Morehead State University’s Appalachian Treasure Award”. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, Rovi
From the IBMA website we find this article about the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers in which Ray Goins was an integral part: “One of the earliest bluegrass groups, The Lonesome Pine Fiddlers, left a legacy of some of the finest examples of intense, raw-edged music ever recorded, including original songs like “I’m Left Alone,” “Nobody Cares (Not Even You),” “Twenty-One Years,” “My Brown Eyed Darling” and “Dirty Dishes Blues.”
“Founded in West Virginia in 1937 by Ezra Cline, the initial band included his cousins “Curly” Ray and Ireland “Lazy Ned” along with Gordon Jennings. Over the years the group weathered a number of personnel changes, performing a variety of music ranging from old-time to bluegrass and country.
“After a hiatus during World War II where Ned was killed in action, the band resumed their daily broadcasts on WHIS, and multi-instrumentalist Charlie Cline joined the band full-time. In 1949 fiddler Ray Morgan, Bob Osborne (guitar) and Larry Richardson (banjo) joined the group, and their style shifted to full-fledged bluegrass. They recorded four records for the Cozy label in 1950, including “Pain in My Heart,” which has since become a bluegrass standard recorded by many artists including Flatt & Scruggs.
“A number of respected musicians performed with the band through the mid-‘60s, including Paul Williams and Ray & Melvin Goins. In addition to being the first bluegrass band signed to the RCA Victor label in the 1950s, The Lonesome Pine Fiddlers later recorded for the Starday label. They played radio station WJR in Detroit and WLSI in Pikeville, Kentucky in the 1950s, and they hosted television programs in Huntington, West Virginia and Bristol, Virginia from the late 1950s through the early 1960s. By the mid-‘60s the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers disbanded, and their former members over the years have pursued distinguished careers with other bands including Bill Monroe & his Blue Grass Boys, The Stanley Brothers, Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys, Jimmy Martin & the Sunny Mountain Boys, The Osborne Brothers and The Goins Brothers.
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Larry Richardson. August 9, 1927-June 17, 2007. Born in Galax, Virginia.
Larry’s huge career in bluegrass music included the inclusion of his banjo playing in “the first bluegrass LP” “American Banjo, Tunes and Songs in Scruggs Style” in 1956. In 1958 the band Larry & Happy (Happy Smith, clawhammer banjo) recorded their second session for Blue Ridge Records. He band became the Blue Ridge Boys. Another partner was Red Barker, recording on the County label. Still another partner was Clinton Bullins around 1968.
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At age ten she won the Illinois State Fair contest. Her study was music. Her biggest influence in bluegrass was Tony Rice. “He portrayed himself to be in the songs he chose to sing; that’s who I daydreamed about as a girl—that person. I felt like I had a real picture of who Tony was as a man—is a man—from those records, a really introspective, thoughtful person who at the same time was a rounder. I used to daydream about who that person was while I listened, and not in a schoolgirl crush at all—as an idea, thinking, ‘That’s who I want. I want that sweet person who sings those song.” Bluegrass Unlimited magazine August 2007. Article by Thomas Goldsmith.
Alison later played fiddle and singing with The Tony Rice Unit.