Love's Labor Logged

February is an auspicious month to reflect on the process and status of the ongoing documentary project in honor of Frances and John Reedy.  We first ventured forth on this production journey on August 20, 2009 right before our Appalachian Sound Archives Fellowship at Berea College commenced.  Throughout our fall fellowship, we kept a detailed log of our activities and time spent, and at the end of that commitment we had logged 243 total hours of research, digitization, and documentation.

After the fellowship ended, we decided it made sense to continue logging our labor hours spent on the various ongoing production components of the documentary.  From January 10, 2010 until the current moment (February 22, 2011), we have logged 390 additional hours for a total of 633!

We also began exploring online tools to collect and view data and help us understand the reach and impact of our blog and its multi-media content.  On February 1, 2010, I installed Google Analytics on our blog so that we could document and access statistics about our audience (e.g., where you're from, what pages you visit, how long you stay, and you got here, etc.).  I also installed some other relevant tools, such as Feedburner and Webmaster Tools, that offer slightly different or more detailed usage information and/or distribution resources.  About a month later, we posted a report on our statistical findings up to that point.

It’s fascinating what we’ve since learned about how the blog is accessed, the broad geography of our audience, and various tendrils of research that continue to spread and connect.  We have also been pleasantly surprised by the unique interactions that have occurred as a result of our overall online presence and process.  So we again acknowledge our small but growing and ever-eclectic audience and friends who remind us that the work that we’re doing is important not only to us but people all over the world!

Since we first began documenting our site's usage about a year ago, Analytics has recorded 1776 visits from 1226 individual visitors from 45 countries (including the U.S.):

1. United States

2. United Kingdom

3. Canada

4. Germany

5. France

6. Netherlands

7. Australia

8. Sweden

9. Brazil

10. Italy

11. Egypt

12. Russia

13. Belgium

14. Indonesia

15. New Zealand

16. Spain

17. Philippines

18. Austria

19. Ireland

20. Argentina

21. Mexico

22. India

23. Japan

24. Denmark

25. Ukraine

26. Poland

27. South Korea

28. Romania

29. Jamaica

30. Barbados

31. Czech Republic

32. Slovakia

33. Finland

34. Israel

35. Lithuania

36. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

37. Algeria

38. Bolivia

39. Albania

40. Puerto Rico

41. Serbia

42. Kenya

43. Norway

44. Greece

45. South Africa

...and 49 states and U.S. Territories!

1. Kentucky

2. Ohio

3. California

4. Maryland

5. Texas

6. New York

7. North Carolina

8. Virginia

9. Tennessee

10. Georgia

11. Florida

12. Illinois

13. Wisconsin

14. Michigan

15. New Jersey

16. Missouri

17. Pennsylvania

18. Minnesota

19. Indiana

20. Arizona

21. Massachusetts

22. Washington

23. South Carolina

24. District of Columbia

25. Oklahoma

26. West Virginia

27. Colorado

28. Arkansas

29. Maine

30. Oregon

31. Utah

32. Connecticut

33. Mississippi

34. Alabama

35. Louisiana

36. Iowa

37. Rhode Island

38. Vermont

39. New Mexico

40. Kansas

41. Delaware

42. New Hampshire

43. Hawaii

44. Nevada

45. (not set)

46. Montana

47. South Dakota

48. Alaska

49. Wyoming

Since May 2010, Blogger now includes its own rudimentary view of some basic usage statistics.  It’s been convenient to have an instant snapshot of stats and interesting to compare the data that is collected by Blogger and by Analytics.  Both are Google products, as are Feedburner and Webmaster, but apparently there are some subtle differences in how and what they gather and display.  I definitely appreciate the quick view of Blogger Stats rather than twiddle my thumbs while Analytics loads on a dial-up connection.

Blogger Stats and Analytics both show basic search terms when people find us through a search engine.  Quite a few folks have accessed the site by directly searching the blog title, Frances and John's full name, the Stone Mountain Hillbillies, and "Somebody Touched Me."  We continue to attract visitors who are searching other artists whose work is included on our discographies of the Reedy’s personal record collection. * 

One recent and significant connection was a comment posted by Leon Turner, one of the artists included on the discography!  He "recorded Thats the reason Jan. 1962 at King Records studios in Cincinnati, Ohio it was produced by Bobby Bare, I was not aware it was ever released on the king label..."  I emailed him in response, and he replied and added, "if my memory serves me right I think I engineered some recordings on the Reedys, I did all recordings for Jack Lynch label for a year and a half."  We're so excited to make another unexpected and fruitful discovery.  Thanks to Mr. Turner for reaching out to us!

Both Blogger Stats and Analytics also collect and display referring sites, or URL’s of sites from which visitors accessed a link to our project blog.  We still have a steady presence of regional and genre vinyl aficionados via 45rpmrecords.com, The Ohio Valley Sound, and Dead Wax.  We've received regular traffic from the Appalachian Sound Archives Fellowship page on the Berea College website as well as a few visits from fellow fellows' sites (Anna Gevalt and Marianne Worthington).  We have also recently received a boost in overall visits from a new link on Mellow's Log Cabin: Country Music, Rockabilly & Hillbilly. 

One of the most surprising and unexpected spikes in visits resulted from a random reply I made to a post on an oral history list-serve that I belong to.  It's amusingly obvious on the graph of overall visits documented on Analytics for the past year:

The Analytics graphing feature includes the option of adding notations (the little callout boxes at the bottom of the above figure) so we can document when we make new posts or send out email campaigns and keep track of resulting visits.

Another awesome aspect of the overall blog is being able to post photos, videos, and audio related to the project and view information about their usage as well.  YouTube includes an Insight feature that uses similar timeline graphs to show total views of individual videos.  "Holidays with Frances" was originally uploaded on February 19, 2007, and we posted it to our inaugural blog post on August 20, 2009.  It has received a total of 254 views since it was uploaded, and 102 of those were after we started the blog.

Our "Fellowship Presentation: Frances Reedy Oral History" video was uploaded on January 6 and posted to the blog on January 9, 2010, and it has received total 211 views.  "Little Sparrow," the most recent Reedy video we uploaded on October 8 and posted on October 9, 2010, has been viewed 93 times.  Other videos related to the Reedy documentary have garnered interest and viewers as well: "Harry Rice Oral History" (uploaded12/9/09: 77 views); "David Lundy Oral History" (uploaded 5/11/10: 177 views); and "Lundy Recording Studio" (uploaded 5/11/10: 428 views).  According to Analytics, the tour of the recording studio has generated a lot of visits through search engines from people who looking for Lundy Studio specifically. 

Until recently, we received more comments posted directly to the videos rather than on our blog posts.  Some of this encouraging feedback has been from friends who support our work.  In response to "Holidays with Frances," comments included "This was very beautifully made" and "... I like the music. ... Great tribute vid."

Some serendipitous superlatives have surfaced from strangers as well.  For example, in response to the Frances Reedy Oral History, someone said, "I ran across this video and was so glad to have found it. I remember the Reedy family as a young girl living in a little community called Dayhoit, Kentucky about five miles out of Harlan, I remember the radio program and listening to their music.  This was wonderful to view this video. Wonderful memories of The Reedys."  Another person commented on the "Little Sparrow" video: "This is wonderful. Thank you so much for posting & sharing with everyone."

I also received a brief message through my YouTube account from another user who said, "I enjoyed the videos ... Thank you so much for the videos of Aunt Frances ... awesome job!"  I don't know who this person is, but it seems like this might be an actual relative.  We still hope to find this person as well as other folks to talk to about the Reedys and our project, so keep letting us know what you think and how to get in touch with you if you have more information to offer.

In the past year or so, we finally started receiving some actual comments on the blog.  Some of these well-wishers were local people we hang out with at the annual Clear Creek Festival. "Congrats on your grant!" and "I will have to wait for my next trip to the coffee shop to hear the Lundy Recording piece. Best regards to you both!"

Other comments have been posted by folks in direct response to particular aspects of the project.  For example, when we posted the news that we found an additional stash of vinyl recordings last summer, someone commented "I like this post, thanks."  Through a similar comment, "You have a nice blog. I added you to my blog list. Regards," we established a new cyber-relationship with Mellow and his log cabin that has resulted in regular vinyl-loving visitors.

Clearly, we continue to connect with interesting folks along the way, but we would still love to know more about the rest of you who seek us out or stumble upon our work.  We always welcome comments on our posts as well as more direct contact if we can share important information with one another.  Also, you can receive immediate updates when we post new material by signing up for email subscription feature and/or by "following" through an existing Google account.  And feel free to spread the word by forwarding updates and/or posting our news headline feature on your site.

We love surprises along the way, and we also value our ability to document the time we spend working on different aspects of the project.  Sometimes our time and resources are limited and intermittent, but we still work diligently and passionately on this labor of love.  We are grateful for the many amazing connections we've made and lessons we've learned as a result of this work.  The invitation still stands, for those we've communicated with and those of you who silent supporters, for keeping up-to-date and in touch as we remain reminiscent and remember the Reedys.

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* Note: There are multiple versions and updates of two different discographies on the blog.  One discography lists all recordings (commercial and non-commercial) by Frances and John Reedy.  The other discography is a list of vinyl recordings by other artists collected by Frances.  We hope to repost comprehensive discographies as a updatable blog pages in the near future; but in the meantime, the most current and complete discography posts are:

1. Reedy Discography (V.2)
2. Discography of Personal Collection (V.2)
3. Addendum to Discography of Personal Collection

Family Research Fellowship Finale

We returned to Frankfort last week for our last two days of research at the Kentucky Historical Society to complete our full week of the Family Research Fellowship on Frances and John's family and musical legacy.  We actually spent the night on Friday this time, which made the second day far less stressful.

Timi continued genealogical research in Harlan Mountain Roots as well as other publications like Kentucky Kinfolk, a publication of the Knox County Genealogical Society, and Gateway: The Journal of the Bell County Historical Society.  She found references to her mamaw's grandparents who she grew up with and several of her uncles.  Ultimately, Timi would like to return to the KHS with her uncle Tim when the library reopens in the spring because he has additional genealogical knowledge that would be beneficial while researching.

I continued my scan through the Harlan Daily Enterprise in the microfilm room.  There was another set of ads in 1942 for the New Harlan Theatre that Frances mentioned in her oral history interview.  One is advertising the amateur auditions and one is for the actual amateur show.

Harlan Daily Enterprise, Sunday, January 11, 1942 (KHS Microfilm Box 98-0106)

Harlan Daily Enterprise, Sunday, January 11, 1942 (KHS Microfilm Box 98-0106)

Harlan Daily Enterprise, Sun. Jan. 2, 1945 (KHS Microfilm Box 98-0107)

I found several more contextual pieces of Harlan history.  For example, there was a regular  schedule of WHLN news and a weekly Fuller's ad now focusing on its musical offerings.  

Harlan Daily Enterprise, Thursday, January 1, 1948 (KHS Microfilm Box 98-0107)

I finally found some direct mentions of John Reedy and the Stone Mountain Hillbillies in 1945.  One is the new radio schedule when WHLN joined Mutual Broadcasting's Good Coal Network, which includes a daily show by the Stone Mountain Hillbillies at 3:30 p.m.

Harlan Daily Enterprise, Sunday, March 18, 1945 (KHS Microfilm Box 98-107)

The other find is an announcement about an upcoming show featuring John Reedy and the Stone Mountain Hillbillies at the Bardo Theatre.

Harlan Daily Enterprise, Wednesday, August 22, 1945 (KHS Microfilm Box 98-108)

There was a period in March--April 1945 that all mentions of WHLN were primarily dry rally notices and countless preachers and citizen speakers urging the community to "vote yes" to vote Harlan County dry.  I didn't see a direct report of the vote's outcome, but later there was a notice in April announcing that alcohol-selling establishments had agreed to stop sales on Sunday.

The Reedys started appearing again on WHLN radio schedules with weekly shows in 1948.  They were first listed as "John Reedy" on Saturdays at 12:30 p.m.  Then they took off for several weeks in August, September, and October and came back on October 22 as the "Stone Mt. Hillwilliams" at 11:30 a.m.  Finally, they wrap up the year in December as the "Stone Mt. Hillbillys" at 9:45 a.m.  (This version of the ad below was printed on December 31, 1948, which was Frances' 26th birthday.)

Fri. Dec. 31, 1948 (Box 98-110)

Fri. Feb. 20, 1948 (Box 98-109)

Fri. Oct. 22, 1948 (Box 98-110)

In Frances' oral history, she talks about playing with various well-known musicians in Harlan and elsewhere.  for example, she specifically mentions Bill Monroe and Earnest Tubb playing in Harlan.  Having found the concert ads for both in the newspaper, we've likely pinpointed the dates of the events she referenced.

Harlan Daily Enterprise, Sunday, June 10, 1945 (KHS Microfilm Box 98-107)

Harlan Daily Enterprise, Monday, February 2, 1948 (KHS Microfilm Box 98-109)

I began my newspaper review in 1936 and ended it in 1948.  There were a couple of significant gaps in years in which there would likely have been some reference to the Reedys' radio or live shows: all of 1941, July 1942 through the and of 1944, and all of 1946 and 1947.  So at least we know to search for these missing issues of the newspaper at UK or in Harlan.  We've already made preliminary contact with some archivists in Harlan, so that's an interesting lead for follow-up!

We're also excited about returning to the Berea College Special Collections and Archives to follow some additional new leads as well as wrap up a couple of unfinished collections there.  So we'll spend some time there this winter while the KHS library is closed.  We're already thinking ahead to March when we can return for more research!  I know Timi wants to bring her uncle to look at the genealogical publications again.  And I would like to return to the microfilm newspapers, but I'd also like to resume browsing the oral history collections we began.

We are very grateful for the kindness and assistance of Kentucky Historical Society library staff throughout our multiple research visits.  We are especially thankful for the careful time and attention given by Jim Kastner, Library Services Administrator, and Sarah Milligan, Kentucky Oral History Commission (KOHC) Program Administrator, and of course, for the Family Research Fellowship funding that made our visits to Frankfort possible.  Happy Holidays to all KHS staff and to all regular readers and supporters of our project!

Family Fellowship Friday

We went back to Frankfort Friday to continue our research at the Kentucky Historical Society.  We had planned to go back again today, but the weather turned unexpectedly blizzardous.  So we will have to find another day this week, in addition to our plan to go next Saturday, to complete our full week of study for the Family Research Fellowship.

Timi mostly resumed looking through the collection of Harlan County Roots newsletters and also started looking through some Bell County materials since that's where some of her mamaw's family was from.  She recognized numerous ancestral surnames all throughout the various communities in Harlan County and felt like she was wandering in their midst by following their paths of marriage, offspring, and residence.

I began the day by browsing through the family history section and several shelves of state-specific materials that would pertain to the Reedys' own path of music and migration.  For example, I browsed the table of contents for the Journal of East Tennessee History and several issues of the Tennessee Historical Quarterly, which was a little cumbersome to read through them manually.  I looked at both publication websites to see if they might have an index or at least a link to all of their tables of contents, but sadly, they did not.  I'd hoped to find some material on the music scenes in Bristol and Johnson City, but most of the material seemed to focus on Andrew Jackson or the Civil War rather than more contemporary history.

The last time we were here, I was confused about not finding any issues of the Harlan Daily Enterprise.  Then yesterday I checked the list of Kentucky newspapers held in the microfilm room and discovered that they had copies on reels for roughly 1928 through 1968.  I began with 1936, the year Frances and John were married, but this was likely before they practiced and performed formally as a band.  There were always weekly ads for the New Harlan Theatre, which Frances mentioned in her oral history interview, but they mostly publicized feature films in the late 1930's.

According to the liner notes for "The Early Days of Bluegrass, Volume 1," Frances and John played on WHLN  for over 17 years, and their show was sponsored by Fuller’s Furniture.  One of the first Fuller's newspaper ads to appear in the Enterprise was in 1939 under the name of "Fuller's Bargain Store" in Evarts, Kentucky.  That was also the year that John wrote" Somebody Touched Me."

Harlan Daily Enterprise, Friday, October 20,1939 (KHS Microfilm Box 98-0103)

From Frances' personal memorabilia, we have a copy of a newspaper article" Reminiscing" about WHLN, Harlan's first radio station.  There is no date or newspaper title on it, but it seems likely that it was a local memoir published in a much later issue of the Enterprise.

"Of Harlan's First Radio Recalled," Unknown Newspaper Article *

This article notes that WHLN  first began in 1941, which is unfortunately one of the years that is completely missing from the KHS microfilm collection.  However, I found an ad from January 1942 inviting local acts to audition and play at the New Harlan Theatre, which Frances mentioned in her oral history interview.

Harlan Daily Enterprise, January 5, 1942 (KHS Microfilm Box 98-0106)

Earlier ads for the theatre mostly included feature films, but following the ones for amateur auditions, they began to include some headline acts and local performers for live radio broadcast on WHLN.  And this is where I was when the library closed!   I knew I was onto something, and I couldn't wait to return to the microfilm collection and discover the documentation of the Reedy's radio career.  "The Early Days of Bluegrass" liner notes recounts that "While in Harlan they'd advertise in the 'Harlan Enterprise' and print up a lot of 5x7 cards."  We definitely have copies of their promotional cards from Frances' memorabilia, and now it seems certain that will find the newspaper ads for their radio shows and other public performances in Harlan... when the weather cooperates and we can resume our research at the library.

So for now, we must sit snowed in, in suspenseful anticipation of what the Harlan Daily Enterprise holds when we return.  But there is still another important element of the WHLN story to share.  While the "Early Days of Bluegrass" liner notes erroneously refer to Frances and John as a "sister/ brother group," the overall historical and biographical information they provide is quite detailed and useful.  For example," they were hooked up with the Good Coal Network and played live 4 stations at a time, going from one to the other: Norton, Big Stone Gap, Harlan, etc."

Among Frances' copious collection of family and musical memorabilia, we have a copy of a well-worn recommendation letter for John Reedy from the President of the Good Coal Network of WHLN , WCPM, and WNVA.

John Reedy Recommendation Letter *

This letter was written in 1953 and shows obvious wear from repeated re-use.  Since John and Frances first migrated north to Dayton in the early 1950's, this letter was likely part of their passport into radio and recording studios in Ohio as well as Nashville.

A final piece of obscure radio history is this news clipping of a radio schedule for WCPM in Cumberland.  Penpal and grassroots music collector and researcher Matt Baker shared this with us last year, but he doesn't know the exact source.  (Stone Mountain Hillbillies at 4:00 p.m. every Monday through Friday!)

WCPM Radio Program Schedule, Unknown Newspaper *

* All documents noted with an asterisk are from Frances Reedy's personal memorabilia collection (except for Matt Baker's WCPM schedule) and are housed in the Berea College Special Collections and Archives.

Turkey-Birthday 2010

Even though we previously included the “Holidays With Frances” video on our inaugural blog post, it seemed appropriate to re-post it in memory of the last Thanksgiving that we spent with her in 2005, which was also the last time that Timi’s birthday fell on Thanksgiving.

Since today is Timi’s Thanksgiving birthday again, I wanted to make her a present that would honor Frances in a unique way.  So I made her a CD of “Frances Reedy’s Greatest Hits” (AKA “Timi’s 2010 Turkey-Birthday Playlist”) that features her mamaw’s vocals on all of the tracks.  Most of the songs are commercial recordings, but some are from the reel-to-reel tapes that were digitized or even audio tracks that were converted from video footage.

Track	Song Title (Source)
1.	Sound Check; Frances Talking on Phone (Reel-to-reel)
2.	Driftwood (Twin City 1021)
3.	Cherokee Lady (Viola Records VR 225)
4.	Grandad's Fiddle (Viola Records)
5.	Moonlight and Music (Viola Records)
6.	Tiny Bitty Pieces (Jewel 1017)
7.	Little Sparrow (Christmas 1980 Home Video)
8.	Go Your Way Now And I'll Go Mine (Reel-to-reel)
9.	You Take One Step-He’ll Take Two (Reel-to-reel)
10.	Starday Hall of Fame Radio Intro to ‘Oh Death’ (Reel-to-reel)
11.	Oh, Death (John Reedy 502)
12.	Somebody's Been Praying for Me (John Reedy CP-6151)
13.	Prayer Is Worth More Than Silver or Gold
14.	We Can Please God (John Reedy CP-6151)
15.	My Warfare Soon Will Be Ended (Starday SEP 199)
16.	Stay a Little Longer (Christmas 1980 Home Video)
17.	Somebody Loves You Darlin' (Reel-to-reel)
18.	I’ll Fly High Up In the Kingdom (Starday SEP 199)
19.	Grandfather's Clock (1996 Oral History Video)
20.	John & Frances talking (Reel-to-reel)

I know that Timi is immeasurably grateful for the gift of her mamaw while growing up, and I’m likewise grateful to have known Frances during the last part of her life.  This playlist is actually a present for both of them: as a special Turkey-birthday compilation for Timi and as a complete “album” of songs that represents, validates, and channels Frances’ voice beyond simply being one of her husband’s “hillbillies.”

While I only knew her for a brief time compared to Timi, Frances and I shared a special bond that actually revolved around our birthdays.  Hers was on December 31, mine January 1, and my mom’s January 2; a Capricorn powerhouse in Sagittarius as far as Timi was concerned!  So I had found the footage from the 2005 Turkey-birthday, and I put together the “Holidays” video on December 31, 2006, which was Frances’ first birthday we celebrated without her. 

Happy Turkey-birthday, Timi; we love, miss, and are thankful for you still, Mamaw…

First Days of Family Research Fellowship

Timi researching in the KHS reading room

Several months ago, we were awarded a Family Research Fellowship from the Kentucky Historical Society (KHS).  We had originally planned to conduct a continuous week of research during October, but with the convergence of my two part-time jobs, we had to reconfigure our research schedule.  So we decided to spread out the full week we proposed across several weekends before the library closes its doors to the public for three months of in-house organization.  This weekend we spent two full days (Friday and Saturday) starting our first research shift at the KHS Martin F. Schmidt Research Library and Special Collections.

We were pleased to finally meet Jim Kastner, Library Services Administrator, who helped us coordinate our visit and gather research materials from our proposal.  We also had a wonderful conversation with Sarah Milligan, Kentucky Oral History Commission (KOHC) Program Administrator, who we met through our participation in the Community Scholars Program.  We caught up on some of the interesting discussions and presentations that she participated in while attending the Oral History Association Annual Meeting in Atlanta.  She retrieved the oral history materials that we planned to review as well as a couple of interviews from another collection that she thought might be helpful.

Both days at the library were extremely educational and productive and slightly overwhelming.  We quickly realized how short our scheduled time actually was and that we will likely return when the library reopens in March to conduct additional research beyond the formal fellowship period.  We began by exploring several collections and publications that we listed in our original fellowship proposal, some of which were more relevant than others.  For example, I was disappointed to discover a that the Bluegrass Music News publication was not about "Bluegrass music" at all but rather music education in the Bluegrass region.  The subtitle Official Publication of the Kentucky Music Educators Association should have been a clue from the beginning, but I think I just glossed over that detail in my eagerness to find relevant resources.  However, for the most part, we found several interesting facts and leads in the preliminary sources we selected.

Two of the collections that Sarah pulled for us were the Renfro Valley Barn Dance Oral History Project and the Sarah Gertrude Knott/John Lair Oral History Project.  Timi read through the Renfro Valley transcripts, and I began looking through the Knott/Lair interview logs.  Timi kept laughing out loud while she was reading the interview transcripts for Manual "Ol' Joe" Clark.  He was quite a character and apparently far more bold and brazen in his interview humor than his family-friendly comedy routines at Renfro Valley.  Timi recalls meeting him a few times when she was a kid, and her grandmother remembered him fondly in her stories about playing there.

She found Clark's and Jim Gaskin's interviews the most interesting and relevant because they referred to more of the lesser known artists who performed at Renfro Valley and talked about the roving tent shows and community gigs that they played around the region.  They both also offered an honest account of the way in which Lair controlled the ultimate level of fame and financial success for many artists.  While neither reference the Reedys directly, the information about the conditions of some of the more working-class musicians provides a substantial context for their experience performing at and for Renfro Valley.

Jim Gaskin was also interviewed in an additional collection that Sarah pulled for us, which was the Folklife of Kentucky River Oral History Project.  In fact, he is interviewed in several oral history projects at KHS, so we'll make sure to request his interviews from these additional collections when we return to the library in a couple of weeks.  We must also find out if he is still around, and if so, perhaps find a way to talk to him directly.

I mostly skimmed through the interview logs pertaining to Sarah Gertrude Knott as she was not directly relevant to our project.  In the folders about John Lair, I read through the interviews with three of his four daughters: Virginia, Nancy, and Barbara.  Some of them also referred to more obscure performers, but they mostly recount memories of the primary well-know players.  They were all born in the 1930's and 40's, so there may also be a possibility that some of them are still around as well.  They really loved their father and had many interesting tales about growing up in the middle of the Renfro Valley compound throughout its heyday.

One of Lair's daughters referenced Emory Martin, one of the performers affiliated with the tent shows, and she indicated that he may have kept a journal about them.  I'm not sure where we would find out more about this, but such documentation would be invaluable.  I've only begun looking through this collection, but there are already several leads to follow.  I'm looking forward to resuming my review of interview logs with Loyal Jones' folder when we return.

Another fruitful item on our original list of sources was the grassroots genealogy publication Harlan Mountain Roots.  Timi started looking through these because she would more easily recognize names and photos of her actual or possible ancestors from Harlan County.  She found a lot of references to family members or family names and wants to go back to some of the issues she's already reviewed and look at them again.  She learned so much more about the history of the community and was surprised to discover that the railroad did not come to Harlan until 1911, and prior to the subsequent coal boom, it was a community of subsistence farmers known as Mount Pleasant for its breathtaking beauty.  So Timi's grandparents were born and raised during Harlan's massive economic and population explosion.

Our original resource list included some books about Appalachian migration and regional music such as Bluegrass: A History; Invisible Minority, Urban Appalachians; and Kentucky Country: Folk and Country Music of Kentucky.  I browsed the music indexes for references to the Reedys, and like most historical accounts focuses on more mainstream artists.  They definitely provided other topical and contextual leads, but I later looked to see if they were at the Berea College library as well.  Rather than spend too much time reading and taking notes from these and several other relevant books I discovered by browsing, I decided to make a list of them and their call numbers at Hutchins Library so we can just check them out later.

In addition to the preset list of materials we planned to explore, I found several spontaneous and serendipitous sources by browsing and following leads.  For example, in the vertical files I found a collection of articles about miscellaneous Kentucky musicians, and there was a newspaper article from a 1990 edition of The State Journal about then-Frankfort resident Guthrie Meade who played the fiddle and maybe a couple of other instruments.  However, he's most famous for compiling a comprehensive discography of traditional and country music, including artists, composers, and recordings, which his wife donated to the University of North Carolina (UNC) after his death in 1991.  He also published a book version called Country Music Sources: A Biblio-Discography of Commercially Recorded Traditional Music, which I discovered is available in the Berea College Special Collections (Call # 781.621 M481c).  The book is obviously more accessible than his complete discography and correspondence, but we would like to figure out how we might be able to arrange a visit to the UNC Southern Folklife Collection to review the Meade (and other) materials firsthand. 

The Meade collection also led me to a really interesting online exhibit called Hillbilly Music: Source and Symbol.  "The materials used in the exhibit were arranged around a rough chronology outlined in Archie Green's "Hillbilly Music: Source and Symbol" a landmark article published in the Journal of American Folklore in 1965."  The site includes several images of old record labels, like Okeh and Vocalion, that are among the numerous vinyl recordings in Frances Reedy's personal record collection.  It also provides an important history of the early country music that Reedy's listened to as well as its evolution as "hillbilly music."

Through my brief browsing of books, I found reference to an article on "Small Specialty Record Companies in the United States" that was published in the JEMF Quarterly published by the John Edwards Memorial Foundation.  I had never heard of the publication, so I ended up searching for a reference in Google Books and inadvertently discovered a reference to John Reedy and the Stone Mountain Hillbillies in a 1979 issue!  The image snippets of the pages were incomplete and hard to read, but fortunately there are hard copies of the JEMF Quarterly 784.4 J65q).  So we have several items to follow up on during our next trip to Hutchins Library. in the Berea College Special Collections.

Timi and I both learned, through separate sources, that the call letters for the radio station in Bristol, TN/VA when her grandparents might have played there were WCYB.  As noted in previous posts, their first commercial recording was a 78 of "Somebody Touched Me" on the Bristol "Twin City" label.  So I did an online search and found that there is a collection of WCYB Radio Tapes at the East Tennessee State University (ETSU) Center for Appalachian Studies and Services.  The Reedys are not listed among the artists on the recordings in the collection, but they would provide an interesting soundtrack for the time period and some of the artists they likely encountered. 

From previous internet searches, I was already familiar with the "Women in Bluegrass" newsletter published by banjoist Murphy Henry from 1994 to 2003.  I had even sent her a link to our project blog when we first began our Appalachian Sound Archives Fellowship.  So it was not really a surprise to find some references to her and the keynote address she gave at the IBMA tradeshow in 1998 that gave birth to her newsletter.  But most recently I discovered that she also maintains a blog that includes more recent updates and references to the topic of "women in Bluegrass," so I'm going to try and touch base with her again to see if she has any information or leads in terms of Frances' history or her female contemporaries.

While most of our research and related leads were useful, there were a couple of items that led to dead ends.  For example, I was very excited when I found the WHLN Radio Songbook in the KHS catalog because WHLN was the Harlan radio station where the Reedys played for 17½ years.  However, the book was simply a generic compilation of gospel songs that appeared to be a custom publication commissioned by and printed for a particular family.  So it included only common church hymns and none of the Reedys' gospel songs they likely performed on the station. 

Another seemingly promising but disappointing source was an index of names and subjects in the Harlan Enterprise, the community's local newspaper.  But  the index only covered a couple of years in the 1920's.  We had hopes that a comprehensive collection of the Harlan Enterprise would be available in the University of Kentucky (UK) archives, but a preliminary search of their library catalog did not result in much else.  My hope is that I'm not searching or understanding the results correctly so I plan to contact them directly to find out what they really have.  Meanwhile, there are a couple of other important resources at UK that we would like to explore sometime: the John Jacob Niles Center for American Music and the Louis B. Nunn Center for Oral History.

Overall, we spent an amazing and rewarding two days researching at the KHS library.  We obviously found a significant amount of information regardless of a few detours and dead-ends.  However, first days also reminded us how short our fellowship time really is and how we must make the most of the time that we have.  When we return after the Thanksgiving holiday, we still have several oral histories to go through.  We also plan to explore more of the county and state records they have as well as more genealogical resources.

I would be remiss if I didn't include a final note about our dining experiences during our two-day visit to Frankfort.  On Friday, we ate lunch at Clare Ann's, where we both had a bowl of tomato basil soup with our sandwiches.  Timi had the "Pretty Pesto Wrap" and I had the BBT, which was turkey, bacon, benedictine, sprouts and lettuce on homemade oatmeal walnut bread.  Yum! 

Then on Saturday, we ate lunch at Gibby's alongside lots of families and even a Girl Scout troop.  Timi had a bowl of chili and a three salad sampler with tuna salad, bacon romaine, and broccoli walnut.  I ordered the "Isaac Shelby" sandwich, which I could've eaten ten of!  Quoting the menu description is sufficient to convey why: "Two slices of Texas Toast bread grilled with garlic butter topped with Swiss & Provolone cheese, roast beef, sauteed mushrooms & red onions."  Need I say yum?!

At Gibby's we also ran into some former Berea folks who live outside of Frankfort now.  We enjoyed the unexpected encounter and chatting about our respective projects.  Next time we're in Frankfort, we hope to check out their very beautiful farm and retreat center in person.  At any rate, we know that we're going to eat at Gibby's again when we come back for our second round of research!