JA-071D (PAP BREWER with Gary Brewer and the Kentucky Ramblers CD)
- Description
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Finley Jerome "Pap" Brewer, Sr. was born December 27, 1906 in the Justis Siding community located on the Watauga River in Watauga Conty, NC. Pap's father, James Sidney Brewer, played clawhammer style banjo, but Pap, like other Roan Mountain musicians of his generation such as Ivan Powell and Elick and Creed Birchfield, played a more modern two-finger index lead style with drop thumb rolls and pinches. Pap played with Henry "Red" Shell and his three daughters on WOPI in Bristol, Tennessee on several occassions, and got to play with the Carter Family when they performed in Roan Mountain. In the 1940s Pap played with his daughters Zelma, Marjorie and Janvea on WJHL's Barrel of Fun radio program at the Bonnie Kate Theatre in Elizabethton, TN. In the 1950s he performed with the Roan Mountain Gospel Players on WBEJ in Elizbethton, and the group continued playing through the 1970s at local barn dances. Pap and his daughter Nancy also played at the Galax Fiddlers Contests. He died in an automobile accident on September 4, 1993 at the age of 86. His son Finley J. Brewer Jr. and grandson Gary Brewer carry on Pap's musical legacy.
Recordings for JA0071 were made by Gary Brewer and Caroly H. Sturgill at Roan Mountain, TN in June, 1993; by Doug Dorshug at the Carter Family Fold in Hiltons, VA in August, 1993 and at Appalshop's annual Seedtime On The Cumberland Music Festival in Whitesburg, KY in June, 1993; and by Robert Jeffery at Pap's home and around the campfire in Roan Mountain, TN in June and July, 1981. The release was produced by Carolyn H. Sturgill and Gary Brewer, and mastered by David Glasser of Airshow in Springfield, VA. Musicians included Pap on banjo, fiddle and harp; Gary "Stretch" Brewer on guitar and banjo; The Kentucky Ramblers (Ronnie Stewart on fiddle, Dale "Punch" Taylor on bass, Bill Colwell on mandolin), Finley "Finnie" J. Brewer, Jr. on guitar; Nancy Brewer Johnson on guitar; Dean Johnson on bass; Jerry Johnson on banjo; Shelby Robinson on guitar; Rita Sluder on Guitar
This audio collection consists of DAT.
- Links
- Full Release on Bandcamp