FRC 745 - Luther Davis - Old-Time Galax Fiddling recorded by Tom Carter & Blanton Owen | Luther Davis

FRC 745 - Luther Davis - Old-Time Galax Fiddling recorded by Tom Carter & Blanton Owen

by Luther Davis

supported by

	/

Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Purchasable with gift card

$10 USD or more
Full Digital Discography

122

releases

Get all 122 Field Recorders' Collective releases available on Bandcamp and save 20%.

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of FRC 739 - Eunice Yeatts McAlexander, Survey of Traditional Music, Vol. 1: From British Tradition, Survey of Traditional Music, Vol. 2: A Musical Melting Pot, Survey of Traditional Music, Vol. 4: The Anglo-African Exchange, Survey of Traditional Music, Vol. 3: Songs of Melancholy and Sorrow, Survey of Traditional Music, Vol. 5: Grown on American Soil, FRC 749 - Robert "Strawberry" McCloud - Bloomington Breakdown, FRC 750 - Luther Davis & Hus Caudill - Old-Time Galax-Style Twin Fiddling recorded by Tom Carter & Blanton Owen, and 114 more. , and , .

Purchasable with gift card

$974.40 USD or more (20% OFF)

1.	Sheep Shell Corn by the Rattlin' of His Horn 01:59	buy track
2.	Shady Grove 01:38	buy track
3.	What'll I Do With the Baby 01:09	buy track
4.	Poor Johnny's Gone to the War 00:50	buy track
5.	Belle of Lexington 00:48	buy track
6.	Grasshopper Sitting on a Sweet Potato Vine 01:01	buy track
7.	Piney Wood Girl 01:21	buy track
8.	Talk about Piney Woods Girl and Mississippi Sawyer 02:01	buy track
9.	Mississippi Sawyer 00:46	buy track
10.	Round Town Girls 01:27	buy track
11.	Talk about Emmett Lundy 01:07	buy track
12.	West Virginia Farewell 01:15	buy track
13.	Walking in the Parlor 01:48	buy track
14.	Fanny Hill 00:57	buy track
15.	Old Dad 01:02	buy track
16.	Talk about the Lowe family 00:45	buy track
17.	Evening Rainbow Waltz 01:58	buy track
18.	Talk about learning the Evening Rainbow Waltz 01:29	buy track
19.	Jackson's March 01:21	buy track
20.	Talk about school breakings 04:48	buy track
21.	Sourwood Mountain 01:20	buy track
22.	Train on the Island 01:19	buy track
23.	Pretty Little Girl 01:18	buy track
24.	Talk about the Rector brothers 02:33	buy track
25.	Breaking Up Christmas 01:19	buy track
26.	Holly Ding 01:18	buy track
27.	Sally Ann 02:27	buy track
28.	Western Country 01:39	buy track
29.	Cousin Sally Brown 01:46	buy track
30.	Forked Deer 00:31	buy track
31.	Polly Put the Kettle On 00:49	buy track
32.	Black-Eyed Susie 01:40	buy track
33.	Down the Road 00:42	buy track
34.	Flying Indian (Waves on the Ocean) 01:30	buy track
35.	Sweet Bird 01:53	buy track
36.	Sail Away Ladies 01:26	buy track

about

These recordings were made in 1973 and 1974 as part of a year-long study of traditional music along the central Blue Ridge. I worked with my close friend Blanton Owen. We met Luther Davis (1887-1986) in the spring of 1973. He was 86 and living with his wife, Alverda (Verd), in the Delhart/Baywood section of Grayson County, Virginia, just west of Galax. Joe Caudill, an equally ancient fiddler from just over the North Carolina line in Alleghany County, had told us that we had to hear Luther Davis play, that Luther knew all the old tunes. And he certainly did. During the next year, Blanton and I visited Luther often, each time finding him remembering more and more of the tunes he knew as a young man growing up in the music. Luther and the Caudill boys, Joe and his older brother Hus, spent long hours listening to, learning from, and playing with older local fiddlers like Emmett Lundy (1864-1953), Sidney Caudill (1852-1936), and Isom Rector (1858-1926) and his brother Fielden (1857-1929). The cuts on this CD catch Luther just starting to play again after years working and raising a family. But the magic was still there, and what you hear here is the old style Galax fiddling at its very best. Thank you again, Luther Davis.

I must say that fieldwork is always a hit or miss proposition. You never know what’s on the other side of the door. A welcoming smile, a gruff refusal, good music, bad music. Every now and then you’re lucky and meet a Luther Davis. As those who knew him can attest, Luther was indeed one of a kind. A character, a wit, a performer, a charmer, a musician’s musician. But always unforgettable.

Tom Carter
For my friend Blanton Owen
Summer 2022

credits

released January 10, 2023

Recorded by Tom Carter and Blanton Owen. The Old Originals project was funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Special thanks to Ann Carter, Dan Patterson, Alan Jabbour, Andy Cahan, Alice Gerrard, John Schwab, Wes Freeman, and all the folks at the Field Recorders Collective.

license

about

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.

fieldrecorder.org

contact / help

Contact Field Recorders' Collective

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like FRC 745 - Luther Davis - Old-Time Galax Fiddling recorded by Tom Carter & Blanton Owen, you may also like:

While You Were Slumbering
by Joseph Decosimo

supported by 14 fans who also own “FRC 745 - Luther Davis - Old-Time Galax Fiddling recorded by Tom Carter & Blanton Owen”

love it the more i listen to it mromeril
go to album
the aluminum wonder
by Joseph Decosimo

supported by 14 fans who also own “FRC 745 - Luther Davis - Old-Time Galax Fiddling recorded by Tom Carter & Blanton Owen”

This rendition of Virgil Anderson's "Jenny Hang the Kettle On" is wonderful. It perfectly grabs the simplistic beauty of Virgil's version, but has such clarity. Amazing album! Payton Scott
go to album
The Rocky Creek Ramblers
by The Rocky Creek Ramblers

supported by 12 fans who also own “FRC 745 - Luther Davis - Old-Time Galax Fiddling recorded by Tom Carter & Blanton Owen”

Ken Landreth is one of my favorite banjo players of all time. This whole album is amazing! Makes me miss those hot sunny days in the Mt. Airy flatlands watching these guys shred. altacke
go to album
Camin Sobiran
by Aèdes

featured on Bandcamp Radio Jul 27, 2021
go to album
Paume de pierre
by Sage Alyte

The Belgian duo use violin, banjo, gongs and bird calls to create looping, gentle songs that mimic the ambience of the natural world. Bandcamp New & Notable Jan 28, 2021
go to album
Sorry I'm So Sensitive
by Bea Stewart

The second EP from Northern Irish singer-songwriter Bea Stewart runs from gentle folk to pillowy pop ballads, all perfectly executed. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 15, 2024
go to album
THE ONLIES
by The Onlies

supported by 12 fans who also own “FRC 745 - Luther Davis - Old-Time Galax Fiddling recorded by Tom Carter & Blanton Owen”

Great choice of music, expertly played and sung. Nicely produced. I hope to see The Onlies live, asap. This is an album I listen to over and over. Karamogo
go to album