Grayson & Whitter
Gilliam Banmon Grayson (November 11, 1887 – August 16, 1930) was an American Old-time fiddle player and singer. Mostly blind from infancy, Grayson is chiefly remembered for a series of sides recorded with guitarist Henry Whitter (born April 6, 1892 near Fries, Grayson County, Virginia - died November 17, 1941 Morganton, North Carolina) an early old-time recording artist, firstly as a solo singer, guitarist and harmonica player, and later between 1927 and 1930 in partnership with the fiddler G.B. Grayson that would later influence numerous country, bluegrass, and rock musicians. Grayson wrote much of his own material, but was also instrumental in adapting several traditional Appalachian ballads to fiddle and guitar formats. His music has been recorded or performed by musicians such as Bob Dylan, Doc Watson, Mick Jagger, the Kingston Trio, and dozens of bluegrass artists, including the Stanley Brothers and Mac Wiseman.
G.B. Grayson was born in rural Ashe County, North Carolina in 1887 to Benjamin and Martha Roark Grayson. According to his sister, when G.B. was six weeks old, his sight was damaged when he stared out the window at bright snow for several hours. While he was mostly blind his entire life, he could identify some people from their size and could tell time using a watch with large numbers. When G.B. was two years old, his family moved a few miles west to Johnson County, Tennessee, where he would live for the rest of his life.
While G.B.'s family was poor, the Graysons were a fairly prominent family in the mountains along the northern Tennessee-North Carolina border. G.B.'s uncle, James Grayson (1833–1901), was a Union Army officer who helped organize an anti-Confederate uprising in Carter County, Tennessee at the outbreak of the American Civil War and later aided in the capture of legendary North Carolina fugitive Tom Dula. G.B. and Whitter were the first to record the folk song Tom Dooley— based on the capture of Dula— in 1929.
G.B. learned to play music at a young age, and was an accomplished fiddler by his early teens. As he was unable to work due to his near-blindness, he began playing at various small venues and dances around Johnson County to make money. Banjoist Clarence Ashley— who also lived in Johnson County— recalled travelling with Grayson to the West Virginia coal mines as early as 1918 to collect money by playing outside coal company pay shacks.
In 1927, Grayson met Whitter— who had already had some success as a recording artist— at a fiddler's convention in Mountain City, Tennessee. The two recorded eight sides for Gennett Records in October of that year, but their greatest success came with a subsequent Victor session which produced the double-sided "Train 45"/"Handsome Molly", which sold over 50,000 copies in five years.[1] A follow-up session in 1929 brought less success, but Grayson had saved up enough money to buy a new house. On August 16, 1930, Grayson was killed in an automobile accident outside Damascus, Virginia.
Grayson played the fiddle in an "archaic" style, holding it against his shoulder rather than his chin. Most of the songs he wrote were based loosely on other well-known songs of the day. "Train 45" was derived from the banjo tune "Reuben," and "Joking Henry" was probably influenced by the folk song "Frankie and Johnnie." He wrote "Going Down the Lee Highway" as he and Whitter drove along U.S. Route 11 in Johnson County in 1929. He learned "Nine Pound Hammer" from fellow fiddler Charlie Bowman (who had picked it up from an African-American musician), and his version of "Short Life of Trouble" resembles Clarence Ashley's recording during the same period. Grayson and Whitter's traditional recordings include "Rose Connally" and "Ommie Wise."
Although their partnership was short-lived, the recordings of Grayson and Whitter are among the most emulated and covered of early Old-time and country music. The Kingston Trio had a Number 1 hit with a version of "Tom Dooley" in 1958. In the early 1960s, musicologist Ralph Rinzler played Grayson's recording of "Ommie Wise" at Clarence Ashley's house in Shouns to help convince Ashley, Doc Watson, and several of their bandmates to take up the more traditional style of music rather than the more modern electric music. "Train 45" and "Nine Pound Hammer" have become staples at Bluegrass festivals. "Handsome Molly" has been recorded by both Bob Dylan and Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger. Ralph Stanley has recorded Grayson's song "Little Maggie, with a dram glass in her hand" multiple times.
Henry Whitter learned to play the guitar from an early age, and later on, the fiddle, banjo, harmonica and piano. His love of music made him dream of a career as an artist and he spent much time listening to cylinder recordings of Uncle Josh. He found work in a cotton mill called "Fries Washington Mill", but through the years 1923-1926 he frequently took time off to record. He claimed that his first session was in March 1923 in New York City for Okeh Records, which would have made him the first truly country singer to record, a few months before Fiddlin' John Carson. However, this claim is not supported by the Okeh files. What is certain is that Whitter did record for Okeh from December 1923 to 1926.
In his first session, he recorded nine songs, including "Wreck On the Southern Old 97" coupled with "Lonesome Road Blues". The recording was released in January 1924 and was quite successful. The light opera singer and country musician Vernon Dalhart heard "Wreck On the Southern Old 97" and decided to record it. (That particular recording coupled with "The Prisoner's Song", went on to become the first million-selling record in country music in 1924.) Other songs in Whitter's repertoire would become standards, such as The New River Train and Put My Little Shoes Away. He was the first to record the harmonica tunes Lost John and Fox Chase. He also recorded cover versions of hits by other performer's such as Uncle Dave Macon's Keep My Skillet Good And Greasy and Kelly Harrell's I Wish I Was Single Again. Although a limited musician, he supplied what record-buyers wanted and sold very well. However, by 1926 there were more skilled musicians in the market, which may explain why Okeh ceased to record Whitter.
In 1927 he recorded for Victor Records at the famous Bristol Sessions, and a later field recording in Memphis, Tennessee. Also in 1927, Whitter met the blind fiddler G. B. Grayson (1887-1930) at a fiddlers' convention in Mountain City, Tennessee. Together they formed the successful duo Grayson & Whitter, recording for Gennett Records and Victor. Their output included songs that later became bluegrass standards such as Banks of the Ohio, Nine Pound Hammer, Handsome Molly and Little Maggie. Grayson died in an automobile accident outside Damascus, Virginia in 1930. Whitter did not record again. Whitter died of diabetes in Morgantoen, NC in 1941. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
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