Tommy Jarrell

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Thomas Jefferson Jarrell (born March 1, 1901 in Surry County (North Carolina) , † January 28, 1985 ) was an American fiddle and banjo player and singer.

Jarrell grew up in the Blue Ridge Mountains region . Both his grandfather and his father were (until the time of Prohibition ) licensed whiskey distillers. He learned to play the banjo on an instrument that his grandfather had given him. His father Ben Jarrell (1880-1946) played fiddle with DaCosta Woltz's Southern Broadcasters Old-Time Music , and from him he took over the playing technique of Old-Time Music , and as a teenager he played with him and an uncle at dance events in the region . Other musical role models were Preston "Pet" McKinney and Zack Paine , two veterans of the Confederate Army .

After his marriage in 1921 he gave up music and began to work in road construction. When his wife died after 41 years, he retired and started playing the fiddle and banjo again. He recorded with County Records ; From 1968 albums appeared, for example in a trio with Fred Cockerham and Oscar Jenkins, but also under his name ( Come and Go with Me: Tommy Jarrell's Banjo Album from 1974 and Joke on the Puppy from 1976). He also taught his style of music. In 1981 he received the Brown Hudson Folklore Award from the North Carolina Folklore Society ; the following year he became a National Heritage Fellow of the National Endowment for the Arts .

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personal data
SURNAME Jarrell, Tommy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Jarrell, Thomas Jefferson
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American fiddle and banjo player and singer
DATE OF BIRTH March 1, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Surry County, North Carolina
DATE OF DEATH January 28, 1985