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Frank Proffitt

Biography

This great NEW YORK old-time music artist and clawhammer banjo specialist was the foundation from the folk chestnut “Tom Dooley” in addition to some 50 other conventional songs and banjo numbers. Listeners who cringe in the reference to “Tom Dooley” should toss their Kingston Trio discs around the fire to check out the Frank Proffitt edition, referred to as “Tom Dula” so that they can spellcheck the evocative highlight from the Northwest Carolinian. This designer is actually in another world compared to the ultra-clean folky picture from the ’60s revival organizations; whoever has noticed Proffitt sing about maggots “such as a bowlful of grain shifting,” crawling with the skull from the “Missing Bride-to-be” will nod their minds in shocked, as well as perhaps somewhat disgusted, contract. Few supporters of traditional music will be disgusted by the actual fact the fact that Kingston Trio as well as the big brands behind the group dropped a pricey lawsuit because Proffitt’s family members had set up a state to the Dooley/Dula tune copyright. Assuming it had been “simply” a normal number, several music business wild birds — some vultures, some probably well-meaning small sparrows — stated authorship because of this ditty before the last legal reckoning, or “reck’nung” as Proffitt could have place it. This includes many giant record brands, several obscure Western european arrangers who included the tune in Muzak series, as well as the not-so-obscure musicologist Alan Lomax, who didn’t confine his series towards the limited traditional folk music marketplace. Despite the fact that Lomax never emerged in just a mile of experiencing anything regarding writing this tune, it appears acknowledged to him on hemorrhoids of greatest-hits compilations. Talking about which, classic Frank Proffitt could have sensed like he previously conquered the music globe merely to judge with the place this tune provides nabbed. It turns up on series of Irish folk, music from the American Western world, strike parade rock, nation & traditional western, and love music. It’s been included in the Nashville Brass, the Nashville Guitars, the Nashville Dobros, as well as the Nashville Harmonicas, merely to show that with this tune, you’ll be able to develop a list without also departing one locality. Sure, the tune could also have made lists of the very most scorned bits of music ever by enough time the general public got totally fed up with it, yet many new cover variations were documented in the past due ’90s. Everything results in Dula doolah that finished up like a well-deserved Proffitt income. One can think of all the cash changing hands, a graphic which was perhaps with this great traditional performer’s brain when he find the hymn “Hands of Victory” to become performed to him on his deathbed. For better or worse, nevertheless, it had been “Tom Dooley” that experienced the biggest effect on the life of the Appalachian who experienced had his talk about of hard knocks. Once the track was striking the pop music graphs, he had remaining the area to get work and experienced ditched his acoustic guitar and music completely. Because of the strike record, he resumed performing in the urging of his dad, Wiley Proffitt, and his aunt, Nancy Prather. He traveled to celebrations in the united states, singing in the 1964 World’s Good. Like a few of his hill music peers, Proffitt was also an experienced banjo machine and traditional players are especially keen on his fretless model. Spurning the enhancements of contemporary banjo-making, Proffitt continued the first American customs of utilizing components such as for example walnut and groundhog conceal, the latter definitely adding authenticity to shows of ditties such as for example “Groundhog.” He continued to be focused on the ideals of old-time banjo music before end, at one stage voicing this great opinion about the flashy specialized playing of bluegrass star Earl Scruggs: “Let me figure out how to play like this, and then not really get it done.” His banjo business, the family members farm purchased using the Kingston Trio’s cash, and the artwork of executing old-time music itself was passed on the line to 1 of his sons, Frank Proffitt Jr., who released the record Kickin’ Up Dirt in the Cloudlands label.

Quick Facts


Full Name Frank Proffitt
Date Of Birth June 1, 1913
Died November 24, 1965, Vilas, North Carolina, United States
Profession Farmer, Singer
Music Songs Dan Doo, Bolamkin, Ground Hog, Beaver Dam Road, Sourwood Mountain, Gyps of David, Ninety and Nine, I'll Never Get Drunk No More, Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down, Poor Ellen Smith, Baby-O, Old Abe, Julie Jenkins, Song of a Lost Hunter, Trifling Woman, Cluck Old Hen, Wild Bill Jones, Morning Fair, Poor Man, Bonnie James Campbell, Pretty Crowing Chicken, Going 'Cross the Mountain, I'm Going Back to North Carolina, Lord Randall, Poor Soldier, Handsome Molly, Going Across the Mountain, Ruben Train, Song of a Lost Hunter or Love Henry, Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss, Mule Skinner Blues, Blackberry Wine
Albums Frank Proffitt Sings Folk Songs, Frank Proffitt of Reese, Nc, Songs and Ballads of North Carolina, Frank Proffitt Memorial Album, Traditional Songs & Ballads of Appalachia (Original Album), Essential Folk Masters

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