Charlie Poole by Tracy Bigelow Grisman

A few years ago we (The Homegrown String Band) were playing at a bluegrass festival headlined by David Grisman. I found a beautiful water color like print of a famous photo of the Carter Family at his merchandise table. I couldn't resist. I bought the print, framed it, and hung it up in my music room right next to an 8X10 photo of Tommy Jarrell and Fred Cockerham given to me by the late Ray Alden. The painting was made by Tracy Bigelow Grisman; a talented artist and musician from Petaluma, California . She has a web site, called OldtimeyArt.com, where you can see and purchase her beautiful prints of old-time country and jazz musicians.

Last week I was rummaging through eBay, looking for banjo ephemera, and I came across an auction for an 11X14 print of Charlie Poole done by Tracy. I won the auction and Charlie is now hanging with the Carters in my music room. I hope the Carters don't mind hanging out with this hard drinking rounder from North Carolina; Maybelle put up with Johnny Cash so I guess she'll be OK with Charlie. While the Carter Family advertised their shows as wholesome and "morally good;" Charlie Poole was at the other end of the spectrum. This hard drinking millworker made his own whiskey and played with his band, the North Carolina Ramblers, at speakeasies, mining towns, and lumber camps around the Piedmont area. Like the Carters, Charlie was an innovator, blending traditional mountain music with the popular music of the day. His three finger banjo picking was a precursor to the bluegrass banjo style made popular by Earl Scruggs. The music of Carter Family and the North Carolina Ramblers laid the foundation for the bluegrass bands of the 1940s and 1950s—and the Homegrown String Band.


Charlie Poole Music
You Ain't Talkin' to Me: Charlie Poole and the Roots of Country Music

Carter Family Music
The Carter Family: 1927-1934

Read about the musical contributions of Charlie Poole and other Piedmont textile workers to the development of American roots music.
Linthead Stomp: The Creation of Country Music in the Piedmont South