Welby Toomey
Welby Toomey (born January 23, 1897 in Fayette County , Kentucky , † May 1, 1989 in Lexington , Kentucky) was an American old-time musician . Toomey was the first Kentucky musician to make recordings with vocals.
Life
Welby Toomey was the son of an English immigrant. His father came to the United States with Toomey's grandparents from London as a young boy , where the family settled on a farm near Winchester in Clark County , Kentucky. Toomey himself was born in Fayette County in 1897, but grew up in nearby Madison County .
Fiddlin 'Doc Roberts lived in Madison County . Dennis W. Taylor , a businessman and talent scout for the record label Gennett Records , introduced Toomey to the Gennett label. It was Taylor's first act as a talent scout and Taylor went to guitarist Edgar Boaz and Fiddlin 'Doc Roberts as musical accompaniment . The trio made their first recordings in Richmond , Indiana that fall and returned to the studios that same year. Toomey played a few more records by 1927, but had only mediocre success with them.
Toomey had married in 1925 and was starting a family. Therefore he gave up his activity as a musician in 1927 and worked from then on as a farmer and hairdresser. It wasn't until 1969 that Toomey was visited by the folklorists Norm Cohen and Archie Green, who had previously visited and interviewed Asa Martin in Irvine. They quickly located Toomey and interviewed him about his brief career in the record business.
Discography
Recordings have also been released on Silvertone Records , Supertone Records , Challenge Records , Champion Records and Herwin Records , often under pseudonyms.
| year | title | # | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gennett Records | |||
| Death of John Henry / Roving Gambler | 6005 | ||
| Little Brown Jug / In the Shadow of the Pine | 6025 | B-side from the Doc Roberts Trio | |
literature
- Norm Cohen: Long Steel Rail: The Railroad in American Folksong (2000), pp. 463-464; University of Illinois Press, ISBN 0-252-06881-5
Individual evidence
Web links
- Welby Toomey in the database of Find a Grave (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Toomey, Welby |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American old-time musician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 23, 1897 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Fayette County , Kentucky |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 1, 1989 |
| Place of death | Lexington , Kentucky |