Boyden Carpenter

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

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
InstrumentsGuitar
Years active1930s–1940s

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]

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References
  1. Bob Carlin: String Bands in the North Carolina Piedmont, McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, Jefferson, N.C., 2004, https://books.google.com/books?id=2xfOMgDFHNwC&pg=PA138&lpg=PA138&dq=hillbilly+kid+boyden&source=bl&ots=krQhcJPMJx&sig=c1E7c0Mbrzi7IpBqIjC7DFWJZUM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=9sTRT6f6A-yJ6gHb3fz9Ag&ved=0CEoQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=hillbilly%20kid%20boyden&f=false.
  2. Dick Spottswood: Banjo on the Mountain: Wade Mainer's First Hundred Years, American Made Music Series, The University Press of Mississippi, Jackson, Miss., pp. 7, 54, 55, https://books.google.com/books?id=gJOB905mzdQC&pg=PA131&lpg=PA131&dq=hillbilly+kid+boyden&source=bl&ots=5Jvv8sjzO7&sig=iBa64wlWti3jBgExzfHY9BxGjfc&hl=en&sa=X&ei=9sTRT6f6A-yJ6gHb3fz9Ag&ved=0CFMQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=hillbilly%20kid%20boyden&f=false.
  3. W. L. Eury Appalachian Collection, Guide to Collection 333. Boyden Carpenter Photograph, c. 1930, Belk Library Special Collections, Appalachian Collection, Closed Collection, Small Collections, http://www.library.appstate.edu/appcoll/ead2002/temp/coll333.htm/%5B%5D, accessed June 9, 2012.
  4. US Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Feature Detail Report for: Pipers Gap, http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=132:3:3889338600353731::NO:3:P3_FID,P3_TITLE:1472430%2CPipers%20Gap, accessed June 9, 2012.
  5. 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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