Lilly May Ledford

Subject: Lilly May Ledford
From: Guy Wolff
Date: 19 Sep 00 - 06:48 PM

Hi Gang, Has everyone who plays frailing banjo heard this lady's playing??? Some one just lent me a cd of her in her old age frailing up a storm!!!I like her very much .. Dose anyone know if her Band "The coon creek girls" 1937 to 1939 have some reesued material???I hear she played a white lady, All the best

Subject: RE: Lilly May Ledford
From: Jeri
Date: 19 Sep 00 - 07:01 PM

Guy, click here.

I heard one of the Coon Creek Girls - the fiddle player (sorry, I forget her name) - at a small festival in Indiana around '92. She was still a pretty hot fiddler! I bought an album which is somewhere in my house, and which I've never been able to listen to because it was warped. It's been mashed between other albums and should be fine once I find it!

Subject: RE: Lilly May Ledford
From: Gern
Date: 20 Sep 00 - 09:59 AM

Lily May Ledford was an inspiration to many of today's prominent clawhamer banjo players, including Dr. Ralph himself (Lilly May's "Little Birdie" is still one of Ralph's featured old-time selections.) Their broadcasts from Renfro Valley got a lot of mountain folks to break out the banjos. I don't recall the fiddle players name either, except that Lily May played some herself. At one point, all band members had flowery names: there was Lily May and Rosie Ledford, Daisy Lange and Violet Koehler. There are a couple of excellent books on the history of Renfro Valley that tell about these important women: ON THE AIR WITH JOHN LAIR by Ann Lair Henderson and IT ALL HAPPENED AT RENFRO VALLEY by Pete Stamper.

Subject: RE: Lilly May Ledford
From: Guy Wolff
Date: 20 Sep 00 - 03:19 PM

Thanks Jeri and Germ for the help.. I'm going to call Sandy Patton to hear if he knows if the Coon Creek girls have A record of their own from the late 30's . All the best, Guy

Subject: RE: Lilly May Ledford
From: Dale Rose
Date: 20 Sep 00 - 08:47 PM

They DID, and I used to have it, but gave it away. I still do have the tape from it. It was Early Radio Favorites, Old Homestead OHS 142 (1982). Since it was an Old Homestead, I suspect that it is still available ~~ somewhere.

From the Folk Music Index ~~ I am not going to try to put breaks in the proper places, it will be readable without them anyway. Most of the songs listed are from the above mentioned album.

Coon Creek Girls Appearance as principal performer 1.Banjo Pickin' Girl, Early Radio Favorites, Old Homestead OHS 142 (1982), cut # 10 2.Banjo Pickin' Girl, Banjo Pickin' Girl, Rounder 1029 (1978), cut # 16 3.Banjo Pickin' Girl, Going Down The Valley; Vocal & Instrumental Music from the South, New World NW 236 (1977), cut # 17 4.Boil 'Em Cabbage Down, Early Radio Favorites, Old Homestead OHS 142 (1982), cut # 15 5.Cindy, Early Radio Favorites, Old Homestead OHS 142 (1982), cut # 1 6.Flower Blooming in the Wildwood, Early Radio Favorites, Old Homestead OHS 142 (1982), cut # 5 7.How Many Biscuits Can You Eat, Early Radio Favorites, Old Homestead OHS 142 (1982), cut # 3 8.Little Birdie, Early Radio Favorites, Old Homestead OHS 142 (1982), cut # 11 9.Lula Lee, Early Radio Favorites, Old Homestead OHS 142 (1982), cut # 14 10.Lulu Walls, Early Radio Favorites, Old Homestead OHS 142 (1982), cut # 12 11.Naomi/Naomie Wise, Early Radio Favorites, Old Homestead OHS 142 (1982), cut # 7 12.Old Apple Tree, Early Radio Favorites, Old Homestead OHS 142 (1982), cut # 13 13.Old Uncle Dudy, Early Radio Favorites, Old Homestead OHS 142 (1982), cut # 6 14.Pretty Polly, Early Radio Favorites, Old Homestead OHS 142 (1982), cut # 4 15.Soldier and the Lady, Early Radio Favorites, Old Homestead OHS 142 (1982), cut # 2 16.Sowing On A Mountain, Early Radio Favorites, Old Homestead OHS 142 (1982), cut # 9 17.Sowing on the Mountain, Banjo Pickin' Girl, Rounder 1029 (1978), cut # 15 18.Sweet Bird, Early Radio Favorites, Old Homestead OHS 142 (1982), cut # 8

Side Performer Appearance 1.Roots N' Blues - The Retrospective (1925-50), Columbia Legacy 47911/47912-15

Subject: RE: Lilly May Ledford
From: Dale Rose
Date: 20 Sep 00 - 09:36 PM

While looking for something else, I just now noticed that I have Banjo Pickin' Girl by the Coon Creek Girls already encoded. Play it, Lilly! Anyone who wants the Real Audio (about 600kb), leave your email here, or send it to me by way of private message. You'll need to do it by tomorrow night, though, or wait until next week. I will be gone up to Illinois for several days.

Subject: RE: Lilly May Ledford
From: Guy Wolff
Date: 22 Sep 00 - 10:37 PM

Dear Dale thanks for all the help.. What an inspiration Lilly is !!! Yours Guy

Subject: RE: Lilly May Ledford
From: Stewie
Date: 25 Sep 00 - 08:22 PM

I was browsing through the old-time listings at the Elderly Instruments site and noticed that they have the Coon Creek Girls 'Early Radio Favorites', mentioned above by Dale, available on cassette. They also have a CD of Lilly May Ledford covering material from 1960s to 1980s.

Elderly Instruments

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lilly May Ledford
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 25 Sep 00 - 11:09 PM

You've already been given all of the information I might give you, Guy, except that Rounder recently released a CD of the "ballad opera" of The Martins and the Coys, based on the feud story and produced by Alan Lomax with Will Geer, Woody Guthrie, Burl Ives, Pete Seeger, Hally Wood, Fiddlin' Arthur Smith, and Lily May Ledford. At the end of the CD, as a bonus, are six additional selections, including four by Lily May Ledford: "East Virginia Blues," "Sugar Babe (with Pete Seeger)," "Gypsy Davy," and "The Girls in this Neighborhood." The last two are with Rosalie and Bella Allen. I thought the "opera" was awful (personal tastes will differ, of course), but the Lily May Ledford cuts were fine.

I owe you an E-pistle, Guy, I know. Hang in there; I'll get to it eventually!

Sandy