This is an attempt to communicate my impressions of an unusual singer heard half a century ago, and I appeal to all of you for any information you may have about her.

Every so often in my life I have come across an unknown traditional singer so powerful and authentic that I'm astonished s/he's not widely celebrated.

This thread is a tribute to one such singer/banjo picker, Marian Stafford. I know her only through a tape friends played me in 1959. Much of what I say about her is uncertain, based on what I think I remember they told me at the time.

Please, anyone, if you have further information about Marian, or can correct any of what I say here, jump in! (Disambiguation: she wasn't the late actress and Playboy model of the same name.)

Marian Stafford, I was told, was a woman apparently of southern mountain upbringing who came to the well-known performer and picker Billy Faier (in Detroit, I think) and asked for banjo lessons. After hearing her sing and play, he told her she needed no teaching, and should not try to improve on her fine 2-finger picking style. He also taped her extraordinary singing and picking of the following songs:

Will the Circle Be Unbroken (an unusual version, as many of hers were)
Sit Down Servant
Walking the Light
Willie Moore
Rambling Boy
Butcher Boy
Dog Blue
Move, Members Move
Charity
Roll, Jordan, Roll
John Saw the Number
Holy Unto the Lord
This World's Not My Home
Sad Lover
Prickle Holly Bush
Grave of Lover
Molly Bawn

Her style sounded authentic Southern traditional. The closest simile I can give was that she sounded like a younger, lighter-voiced Ola Belle Reed. However, because her singing was so distinctive and her songs were in such unusual versions, she seemed to spring from no identifiable tradition, apart from her obvious roots in old-time gospel singing. She was truly an original.

She sounded, on the tape, like a woman in her late 20s or early 30s. I was told she was terminally ill, I think with cancer, and because she didn't expect to live long, allowed herself to be taped -- the implication was that otherwise she would have refused, as she was self-conscious about her singing and playing and, terrific as she was, did not believe she was very good.

I assume she is long deceased, given her state of health then, but I don't know that for a fact.

I would love to know more. Is Marian Stafford truly unheard-of? Or can anyone add to what I've said here?

And the obvious question arises: does anyone know any way Faier's tapes might get issued on CD so everyone can hear this great singer from the past?

Bob