Sideman and Regional Musician

DeWitt “Snuffy” Jenkins started entertaining at age five doing a clog dance for a sawmill group. He started playing a fiddle, but could not use the bow, so he plucked it like a mandolin. He could play almost any acoustic instrument, but switched early from guitar to banjo because the strings hurt his fingers. He played strictly by ear and never read music. He had seen pickers like Smith Hammett and Rex Brooks experimenting with using three fingers to try to play a more melodic rhythm. He tried it and mastered it quickly. He was the first known banjoist to play that style on the radio in 1934 on WBT in Charlotte on the Crazy Water Crystals barn dance. Ralph Stanley, Earl Scruggs and Don Reno all cited him as a major influence on their careers.

Published in 2012

DeWitt "Snuffy" Jenkins

Bobby Hicks is a Grammy Award winning bluegrass fiddler and professional musician with more than fifty years of experience. He still inspires awe in his audiences. His career as a fiddler has paired him with other country music and bluegrass greats such as Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys, Earl Scruggs, Tony Rice, J. D. Crowe, Ricky Skaggs and many more. Born in Newton, NC in 1933, Hicks took up the fiddle at the age of nine and created a style all his own. He was inducted into the “Fiddlers Hall of Fame” in 2002 and today Hicks is teaching as well as performing.

Published in 2010

Bobby Hicks

Eric Ellis grew up in North Wilkesboro North Carolina and is known as one of the best banjo players from the area. Although he works days for the NC DOT, he has developed one of the best known regional solo careers and has performed with entertainers like Bobby Hicks, Tony and Wyatt Rice and Jimmy Gaudreau. He can be heard on WKBC Radio on Friday mornings performing for the Main Street Music and Pawn Hometown Opry in North Wilkesboro.

Published in 2009

Eric Ellis

The musical life of David Johnson began with his exposure to the sounds and sights of live acoustic music in the mountains of his native Wilkes County almost from the moment of his birth. Nurtured by a family of musicians dating back many generations, David went from early performances as a square dance musician alongside of his father, Billie Johnson, playing banjo, guitar, fiddle and mandolin, to work in a country band with studio owner Marshal Craven as a steel guitar player in his early teens. This background coupled with a helping of Top 40 and rockabilly in high school led David to a two year stint as a sideman with Bill Hefner on a weekly television broadcast on WBTV in Charlotte, N.C. and employment in the budding area recording studios springing up in the southeastern states during the 1970s.

Published in 2008

David Johnson

Kenny Baker was born into a long line of old-time fiddlers on July 26, 1926 in Letcher County, Kentucky. He began playing the fiddle around age seven. During WWII he joined the United States Navy, returning home to Jenkins, Kentucky to work in the mines after his naval stint. During this time he was married and raised a family while playing music on weekends. He became Don Gibson's fiddler in 1953 and a Bluegrass Boy for the first time in 1957. In December of that year he made his first recordings with Bill Monroe's band. Later he returned to Monroe's band but left again in 1984 becoming the longest-tenured Bluegrass Boy. He recorded numerous albums during his lifetime and with his “long-bow” style, became a positive influence for younger fiddlers who wanted to follow in his footsteps. Kenny Baker ended his performing career in August 2008 and passed away on July 8, 2011 following a stroke.

Published in 2019

Kenny Baker

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