|
||
|
|
|
|
| Carthy Sisco Lee Stripling Jim Ketterman Jim Evans Glenn Berry Harry Johnson Jeff Anderson Marilyn Scott Gil Kiesecker Floyd Engstrom Stuart Williams Vivian Williams Author: Brid NowlanPhotographer: Doug PlummerAbout the projectExhibit ScheduleWA State Old Time Fiddlers Association Home PageArchivesHome
|
Carthy was born
in 1921 in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas. As a small child he often fell asleep to the
sound of his father’s banjo and neighbor Delton Hitson’s fiddle at local square
dances. Carthy’s first musical instrument was a "cornstalk fiddle" made
from a "a length and a half" of a cornstalk, using the stalk "joints"
as demarcations. A slice along the groove in the stalk provided imitation strings.
"You put a wedge under the top joint, then you pretend that it’s strings. You
use a smaller one for the bow and do exactly the same thing for that. Then you can saw
across that and hum the tune and that’s all the music there is to it." At age seven, Carthy picked up the banjo, learning fiddle tunes from his father. A few years later he switched to the fiddle and was soon playing for the local square dances. Carthy moved to Washington State in the late nineteen-thirties and settled here after World War II. While he was busy working and raising a family, he played very little. But now he will jam for long hours with whoever drops by and is inspiring a new generation with his wonderfully infectious, southern-style fiddling. His first CD is in production.
|
|||
