Hazel Dickens embodied a fearless honesty expressed in her singing, songwriting, and support of coal miners and women. She never lost her West Virginia mountain vocal style despite her success as an artist and feminist icon. Her life began to change when she met Mike Seeger of the New Lost City Ramblers. Seeger introduced Hazel not only to the folk music scene but to Alice Gerrard. The two blended beautifully musically, and they began a then unheard of female bluegrass duo. Beginning in 1965, they recorded two seminal albums for Folkways with two more released by Rounder during the early 1970s. A fifth album, compiled from practice tapes, appeared in 2018. They also recorded with the mixed gender group, the Strange Creek Singers. During this time, Hazel’s songwriting began to develop alongside her sense of social justice. Gaining courage to sing her new material in jam sessions, her first expression of concern for women’s issues came with “Don’t Put Her Down, You Put Her There.” She was the subject of Mimi Pickering’s Appalshop film “It’s Hard to Tell the Singer from the Song”. The University of Illinois press in 2008 published “Working Girl Blues: The Life and Music of Hazel Dickens”, co-written by Hazel and historian Bill Malone. In 2001, she received the National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. In 2017 Hazel and Alice were inducted into the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame, fifteen years after they received the Folk Alliance Lifetime Achievement Award.
George Shuffler was born April 11, 1925 in Valdese, North Carolina to a large musical family. At age ten his father traded an old broken down car for a Kalamazoo guitar. At the age of 17, he was offered a job playing bass for the Bailey Brothers, and appeared with them on the Grand Ole Opry that same year. On December 28, 1950, Carter Stanley called and asked him to join the Stanley Brothers as bass player. Throughout the 1950s, Shuffler was primarily a bass player, but switched from the bass to guitar, and developed a style that changed the guitar from a side or rhythm instrument into a key component of bluegrass music. Shuffler perfected what would become his signature style of cross-picking. Shuffler worked with Don Reno and Bill Harrell until 1969, recording several albums with them on bass. In the early 1970s, he left the road to begin a new chapter of his musical career. For 22 years, he traveled and recorded with members of his family singing southern gospel music. He enjoyed recording “The Legacy Continues” with his protégé, the late James Alan Shelton, as well as “Mountain Treasures”, with his good friend and occasional musical partner, Asheville-based Laura Boosinger. In 1996 Shuffler was awarded the IBMA’s Distinguished Achievement Award. He was a 2007 recipient of the North Carolina Heritage award, and in 2011 he was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame. He was also inducted into Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Hall of Fame in 2013.
Born near Weaverville, North Carolina in 1898, Joseph Emmett Mainer learned to play the banjo when he was about nine years old. In 1923 J. E.’s brother Wade joined him in Concord and the two of them began playing around for dances and shows. They went to work for the Crazy Water Crystal Company broadcasting over WBT in Charlotte as J. E. Mainer's Crazy Mountaineers. The group soon played at many other radio stations. RCA Victor decided to record the group in 1935 for their Bluebird label. J. E. got Snuffy Jenkins in 1937 to play banjo for him. Some of the Mainer recordings with Snuffy Jenkins' three-finger picking sound tantalizingly close to what would later be called bluegrass. His recordings in 1946 resulted in several singles and two albums. An enduring original from these sessions was "Run Mountain”. In 1962, Chris Strachwitz of the Arhoolie label visited J. E. in Concord and subsequently cut a new album, “The Legendary Family from the Blue Ridge Mountains”. Beginning in 1967, J. E. cut a series of 20 albums for Uncle Jim O’Neal’s Rural Rhythm label, guested on the WWVA Jamboree and played numerous festivals. Two re-issues on Strachwitz’s Old Timey label of early material, along with J. E.’s album from 1946 and a pair of albums that J. E. put out helped keep his earlier material in print. J. E. Mainer stayed active in music until his death in 1971.
Jimmie Rodgers was born on September 8, 1897 in Geiger, Alabama. Jimmie traveled a lot looking for work on the railroad and any opportunity to entertain, earning as much as he could to support his family. In January of 1927, Jimmie headed to Asheville, North Carolina. Jimmie fell in with the local musicians and was part of several bands, one of which was able to secure a weekly thirty-minute spot on the local radio station WWNC. Ralph Peer with Victor Records was holding auditions in Bristol, Tennessee for new recording artists. Jimmie Rodgers headed to audition. On August 4, 1927, Jimmie Rodgers recorded his first record, “The Soldier’s Sweetheart” and “Sleep Baby Sleep.” Jimmie’s next recordings were in Camden and his first “Blue Yodel” otherwise known as “T for Texas” was recorded with “Away Out on the Mountain” skyrocketing him to stardom. As his fame grew, he cultivated dual images that permitted him to be “America’s Blue Yodeler” and “The Singing Brakeman” and a sharp-dressed dandy all at the same time. Jimmie Rodgers received many awards for his music including induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Alabama Hall of Fame, the Blues Hall of Fame, the Blue Ridge Music Hall of Fame, a United States Commemorative Stamp, the W. D. Handy Award, and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
Phil Jamison is nationally known as a dance caller, old-time musician, and flatfoot dancer. He has called dances, performed, and taught at music festivals and dance events throughout the U.S. and overseas since the early 1970s, including close to forty years as a member of the Green Grass Cloggers. For eighteen years (1992 – 2009), he served as the Dance Stage coordinator at MerleFest. Phil's flatfoot dancing was featured in the film, Songcatcher, for which he also served as Traditional Dance consultant. Over the last thirty years, Jamison has done extensive research in the area of Appalachian dance, and his recently-published book Hoedowns, Reels, and Frolics: Roots and Branches of Southern Appalachian Dance (University of Illinois Press, 2015) tells the story behind the square dances, step dances, reels, and other forms of dance practiced in southern Appalachia. Phil teaches mathematics as well as Appalachian music and dance at Warren Wilson College, in Asheville, North Carolina, where for twenty-five years, he coordinated the Old-Time Music and Dance Week at the Swannanoa Gathering.
Phil Jamison is nationally known as a dance caller, old-time musician, and flatfoot dancer. He has called dances, performed, and taught at music festivals and dance events throughout the U.S. and overseas since the early 1970s, including close to forty years as a member of the Green Grass Cloggers. For eighteen years (1992 – 2009), he served as the Dance Stage coordinator at Merlefest. Phil's flatfoot dancing was featured in the film, Songcatcher, for which he also served as Traditional Dance consultant. Over the last thirty years, Jamison has done extensive research in the area of Appalachian dance, and his recently-published book Hoedowns, Reels, and Frolics: Roots and Branches of Southern Appalachian Dance (University of Illinois Press, 2015) tells the story behind the square dances, step dances, reels, and other forms of dance practiced in southern Appalachia. Phil teaches mathematics as well as Appalachian music and dance at Warren Wilson College, in Asheville, North Carolina, where for twenty-five years, he coordinated the Old-Time Music and Dance Week at the Swannanoa Gathering.
Don Gibson was one of the most influential forces in the country music industry from the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Few people around the English speaking world fail to remember Don’s two best known compositions, “Sweet Dreams” which became one of Patsy Cline’s most indelible hits, and the Ray Charles classic single “I Can’t Stop Loving You”. His third unforgettable country classic, “Oh, Lonesome Me” was later a crossover to rock and rockabilly band playlists. Don’s own recordings of these songs and over 510 others were enormously accomplished and successful. Don once said “I consider myself a songwriter who sings rather than a singer who writes songs.” That perspective is affirmed by the staggering evidence of his cross genre appeal and relevance which continues to this very day. Don Gibson, the Sad Poet, was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1973, an honor he shares with the likes of Bob Dylan, Jimmy Buffet and Johnny Cash. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001.
While enrolled at Warren Wilson College in the mid-1970s, she met David Holt and began a lifelong friendship with her mentor. Laura began playing and performing with Holt and numerous other players around the Asheville area. In 1984 she took over David Holt’s chair in the Luke Smathers Band. She learned the mountain swing style that the Smathers brothers created after hearing swing music on the radio in their formative days. Laura has also played music with Josh Goforth, with whom she has toured extensively in the US and Scotland as well as David Holt and the Lightning Bolts and the Midnight Plowboys. Laura has recorded numerous solo albums and is instrumental in maintaining the tradition of shaped note singing from the Christian Harmony in workshops at MerleFest and Blue Ridge Old Time Music Week at Mars Hill University and annual singings across the region. Proficient in instruments including banjo, guitar, and autoharp, she also teaches multiple instruments and offers vocal coaching. She has vast experience teaching residencies in Southern Mountain Music to public school children of all ages. In her role as Executive Director of the Madison County Arts Council she helps administer the Junior Appalachian Musician program to elementary and middle school students in Madison County, NC.
In 1926, talent scout Frank Walker recorded a group of musicians from the Atlanta area that have since been declared “Country Music’s First Supergroup”. Walker took the ever popular Gid Tanner from Dacula, Riley Puckett from Alpharetta, Clayton McMichen from Altoona and Fate Norris from the Dalton area, and dubbed them “The Skillet Lickers”. Each member filled a very important role in the group. Gid Tanner was the “cut up” or the entertainer of the group. McMichen was the polished musician while Puckett was considered a singer’s singer. Norris kept the rhythm steady. Other musicians such as Lowe Stokes, Bert Layne, Ted Hawkins and Gordon Tanner contributed to their early success, as well. The Skillet Lickers seemed to have struck a nerve with rural Americans. They recorded songs that were already known, many of which were already in public domain. The Skillet Lickers performed and recorded those old songs with an all-new energy that no one, even to this day, could match. For five years, the Skillet Lickers proved to be one of Frank Walker and Columbia Records’ biggest success stories for their “rural” or “hillbilly” classification of music. Their success also had an influence on other legendary musicians like Jimmie Rodgers, Roy Acuff, Bob Wills, Merle Travis, Hank Williams and many others.
In 1924, Columbia Records Artist & Repertoire talent scout, Frank Walker, came to North Georgia asking himself, “who can I record from this area?”. Fiddlin’ John Carson’s recording of Little Old Log Cabin In The Lane with Okeh records was starting to sell in Atlanta and Frank wanted to get in front of the coming wave. Frank asked Gid Tanner, who was already a regional celebrity through live performances, if he would come to New York and record some songs. Gid replied that he would if he could bring along a blind guitar player by the name of Riley Puckett. Frank agreed and in March of 1924, Tanner and Puckett recorded numerous songs that proved to be successful.
Before this, there was no well-defined “country music” industry. Radio was still in its beginnings. WSB in Atlanta was only 2 years old. Nashville was just another city in the south. Record companies were recording orchestras and classical music as well as “big band” type songs. The music industry was still driven by sheet music and “tin pan alley” song pluggers.
Walker saw a new market, a market for a type of music he enjoyed. He wanted to record music that people already knew. He dubbed this brand of music as “familiar tunes old and new”. Once Gid Tanner and Riley Puckett’s recordings began to have success, he simply repeated the process, finding other popular artists in other areas to record and sell. This business model not only allowed him to discover some of Country music’s greatest pioneers, but also laid the foundation for the country music industry that is still intact today.
In 1926, Walker recorded a group of musicians from the Atlanta area that have since been declared “Country Music’s First Supergroup”. Walker took the ever popular Gid Tanner from Dacula, Riley Puckett from Alpharetta, Clayton McMichen from Altoona and Fate Norris from the Dalton area, and dubbed them “The Skillet Lickers”. Each member was already very popular in their respective hometowns as well as the entire region of North Georgia. Each member filled a very important role in the group. Gid Tanner was the “cut up” or the entertainer of the group. McMichen was the polished musician while Puckett was considered a singer’s singer. Norris, also an entertainer, never took much of a lead role, but kept the rhythm steady. Other musicians such as Lowe Stokes, Bert Layne, Ted Hawkins and Gordon Tanner contributed to their early success, as well. The Skillet Lickers seemed to have struck a nerve with rural Americans. They recorded songs that were already known, many of which were already in public domain. The Skillet Lickers performed and recorded those old songs with an all-new energy that no one, even to this day, could match.
For five years, the Skillet Lickers proved to be one of Frank Walker and Columbia Records’ biggest success stories for their “rural” or “hillbilly” classification of music. Their success also had an influence on other legendary musicians and superstars that would follow across all genres of Country music. People like Jimmie Rodgers, Roy Acuff, Bob Wills, Merle Travis, Hank Williams and many others were influenced and followed the path these men had cut before them.
Over 90 years later, the Skillet Licker name, music, and tradition has been handed down and continues to live on through four generations of Tanners. Gid’s grandson, Phil and great grandson Russ have kept the name, as well as the music, going for almost a century, and show no signs of slowing down.
Malcolm B “Mac” Wiseman dubbed “The Voice with a Heart” has recorded over 800 songs and was instrumental in the founding of the Country Music Association. He was born May 23, 1925, in Crimora, Va. As an infant he contracted polio and spent much of this childhood indoors listening to old country records on the family’s phonograph. After deciding to pursue a career in music, he attended the Shenandoah Conservatory of Music in Virginia with help from the National Foundation for infantile Paralysis, which would later become the March of Dimes. In 1946, Wiseman joined Molly O’ Day’s band, where he developed a love of classic country. In 1948, he joined Lester Flatt and Scruggs as a member of their Foggy Mountain Boys. In 1949, he joined Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys where he played the Grand Ole Opry for the first time. In 1949 he left the band for a solo career. In 1951, Mac released his first single, “Tis Sweet to be Remembered” which became a career-making song. He then went on to record other classics, including “Ballad of Davy Crockett.” Mac was inducted into the Bluegrass Hall of Fame in 1993. In 2014 he was inducted into Country Music of Hall of Fame in Nashville.