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FRC 734 - Bill Hensley - Wayne County, WV Banjo Player & Ballad Singer

by Bill Hensley

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Sugar Hill 01:28
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Fox Chase 03:02
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John Henry 04:07
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Old Ruben 02:13
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Pretty Polly 03:16
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Shady Grove 01:09
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Single Girl 02:20
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Silver Chain 01:15
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about

Bill Hensley (1923-1984) was a remarkable banjo player and ballad singer from Wayne County, West Virginia. He grew up in a musical family, listening as his dad sat on their front porch playing banjo and
entertaining passersby on the road across the river. Bill’s hard-driving banjo style employs flurries of pull-offs and a wide range of unusual tunings. He put his own stamp on song lyrics, too, often adding a surprise twist to a ballad’s ending. (His House Carpenter’s ship collides with an iceberg, and his Pretty
Polly concludes with the original verse: ‘Polly, pretty Polly, has gone to her rest, poor little Willie is in hell now I guess.’) In 1973, Bill moved to Tucson, Arizona, where he met and mentored Southwest folklorist and banjo player Big Jim Griffith. This release provides a window into Bill’s unique artistry and musicianship through a diverse selection
of ballads, songs and instrumentals recorded by Jim Griffith between 1981 and 1984. -- Roman Barten-Sherman

credits

released September 1, 2022

Bill Hensley, banjo, jaw harp, bows harp, vocals Tracks 1-32
Bill Hensley Jr. vocals Track 32

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all rights reserved

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Field Recorders' Collective

The Field Recorders’ Collective is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation and distribution of noncommercial recordings of traditional American music, material that is unavailable to the general public.

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