Always Been a Rambler - (Contributions to Southern Appalachian Studies) by Josh Beckworth (Paperback)

About the Book

"G.B. Grayson and Henry Whitter were artists in early country music. Although the duo sold thousands of records during the 1920s, the details of their lives remain unknown. Featuring never before published photographs and interviews, this book chronicles the romantic intrigues and tragic deaths that marked their lives and explores the Southern Appalachian culture that shaped their music"--

Book Synopsis

G.B. Grayson and Henry Whitter were two of the most influential artists in the early days of country music. Songs they popularized--"Tom Dooley," "Little Maggie," "Handsome Molly," and "Nine Pound Hammer"--are still staples of traditional music. Although the duo sold tens of thousands of records during the 1920s, the details of their lives remain largely unknown.

Featuring never before published photographs and interviews with friends and relatives, this book chronicles for the first time the romantic intrigues and tragic deaths that marked their lives and explores the Southern Appalachian culture that shaped their music.

Review Quotes

"My academic tenure has been guided by two beliefs: scholarship grounded in a personal connection to the subject yields the most passion and perspective; and music that springs directly from the soil closest at hand has the greatest power to affect us. Josh Beckworth's Always Been a Rambler hews to both of these principles, revealing insight informed by a personal subjective relationship tempered through objective research.... Always Been a Rambler is very much a music history that devotes equal measure to the music and the history, fully examining the ways one informs the other."-Ron Pen, The Journal of Southern History

About the Author

Josh Beckworth is a high school English teacher. He has received the W. Amos Abrams prize from the North Carolina Folklore Society and published in the North Carolina Folklore Journal. He lives in Crumpler, North Carolina.