Boyden Carpenter
Birth nameHildred Boyden Summit
Also known as"The Original Hill Billy Kid"
Born(1909-02-26)February 26, 1909
OriginFries, Virginia, US
DiedMay 25, 1995(1995-05-25) (aged 86)
GenresBluegrass, Bluegrass gospel, Hillbilly
Occupation(s)Bluegrass artist
Instrument(s)Guitar
Years active1930s–1940s

Boyden Carpenter (1909–1995) was a hillbilly and bluegrass artist active in the 1930s and 1940s in the United States.[1][2][3]

Personal

Carpenter was born February 26, 1909, in Fries, Grayson County, Virginia, and was raised in Pipers Gap, Carroll County, Virginia[4] and Sparta and Cherry Lane in Alleghany County, North Carolina.[1][2][3] He died May 25, 1995, at Cherryville, Gaston County, North Carolina.[3] Carpenter was his adopted surname—he was born to John W. and Mary E. Summit but was using his stepfather's surname by 1930.[5]

Musical career

In 1930, Carpenter was working in Winston-Salem, Forsyth County, North Carolina, as a musician in an orchestra.[5] Billing himself as "The Hill Billy Kid," he began playing with several bands, including Wade Mainer's Sons of The Mountaineers, Bill Monroe's Monroe Brothers, and the Crazy Water Crystals-sponsored[6] "Crazy Water Barn Dance" show band in Charlotte, North Carolina.[1][3][7]

He had his greatest musical success in the mid-1930s working at WPTF radio station in Raleigh, North Carolina, touring with the "Grandfather of Bluegrass, Wade Mainer and his Sons of the Mountaineers band and Bill Monroe's Monroe Brothers,[1] and playing with Ernest Thompson.[8]

The William Leonard Eury Appalachian Collection at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, preserves a photograph of Carpenter with his guitar and "The 'Hill Billy' from Alleghany County" guitar case found in a book titled Boyden Carpenter: The Old Gospel Singer.[3] A 1930s booklet entitled Boyden Carpenter: The Original "Hillbilly Kid", which relates his life story and lyrics to his songs, also survives.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Bob Carlin (2004). String Bands in the North Carolina Piedmont. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. ISBN 9780786480364.
  2. ^ a b Dick Spottswood (2010). Banjo on the Mountain: Wade Mainer's First Hundred Years. Jackson, Mississippi: American Made Music Series, University Press of Mississippi. pp. 7, 54, 55. ISBN 9781604735918.
  3. ^ a b c d e W. L. Eury Appalachian Collection, Guide to Collection 333. Boyden Carpenter Photograph, c. 1930. Appalachian State University Library.
  4. ^ "Feature Detail Report for: Pipers Gap". US Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved June 9, 2012.
  5. ^ a b United States of America, Bureau of the Census: Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930, Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1930, T626.
  6. ^ Famous Mineral Water Company: Crazy From The Start!, http://www.famouswater.com/story.aspx Archived May 29, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, accessed June 9, 2012.
  7. ^ Sjef Hermans: Tell Me Where Have All The Hoboes Gone; To Hobo Songs in American Roots Music, http://www.champagnecharlie.nl/nieuws2011/hobo_verhaal.pdf Archived April 13, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, 2011, accessed June 9, 2012.
  8. ^ Carolina Music Ways: 1920s – 1930s: Northwest Piedmont Stringband Musicians in the Dawn of Hillbilly Recordings, http://www.carolinamusicways.org/history_1920s.html Archived January 24, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, accessed June 9, 2012.
  9. ^ Worthopedia: Boyden Carpenter Hillbilly Kid Cherry Lane NC Booklet, http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/boyden-carpenter-hillbilly-kid-cherry-170451473, accessed June 9, 2012.
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