B.F. Shelton

B.F. (Frank) Shelton is well known for four edges he documented for Victor Information at the popular Bristol Classes in Bristol, TN, on July 29, 1927. Three songs (“Darling Cora,” “Pretty Polly,” “Oh Molly Dear”) presented modal banjo tunings and an eerie, archaic audio only slightly much less dark and haunting compared to the even more popular tracks created by blues banjoist Dock Boggs in the same period. A fourth monitor from the program, “Chilly Penitentiary Blues,” might have been discovered by Shelton in jail. Given birth to in 1902 in Clay Region, KY, Shelton journeyed from Corbin, KY (where he produced his living like a barber) to Bristol for the classes, sang his four tunes (that have affected many following banjo players, including Pete Seeger), after that never recorded once again. Adept at harmonica and acoustic guitar aswell as banjo, Shelton passed away in 1963.