Leland Ledgerwood Collection, 1880-1998

ArchivalResource

Leland Ledgerwood Collection, 1880-1998

Leland Ledgerwood Collection, 1880-1998

http://www2.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/l/Ledgerwood,Leland.html

Leland Ledgerwood's father, William Lafayette Ledgerwood, was born in Grainger County, Tenn., in 1889. He left Tennessee to work in the coal mines of Virginia, but soon moved to Ohio, where he married Gladys Jane Allen in 1915. In 1916, Ledgerwood formed the string band Ledgerwood's Tennessee Fiddlers with his wife, brother Fred, Bill James, and Gerald Flynn. The group performed in and around Warren, Ohio, during the late 1920s. The band eventually included some of Gladys and William Ledgerwood's children, as well as West Virginia fiddler Mack McGraw, who played with the band from the early 1930s to 1937. The band continued to perform throughout northeastern Ohio until the late 1930s or early 1940s. Both William and Gladys Ledgerwood died in Warren in 1962. Fred Ledgerwood died in Warren in 1965. Materials, primarily 1890-1953 and centering around the life and career of country musician William Ledgerwood, include Ledgerwood family genealogical records and photographs; business correspondence and publicity clippings related to Ledgerwood's Tennessee Fiddlers; and sound recordings, chiefly of country music. Photographs are largely from William Ledgerwood's childhood and youth in Grainger County, Tenn., and Rutledge, Tenn. Also included are photographs of the original Ledgerwood's Tennessee Fiddlers in Warren, Ohio. Band business and publicity materials include correspondence and clippings from newspapers either reviewing or advertising the band's appearances. Sound recordings are primarily home-recorded acetate discs and reel-to-reel tapes, some recorded after the band had stopped performing publicly. The recordings preserve a wide array of traditional country songs performed mainly by members of Ledgerwood's Tennessee Fiddlers. Included are recordings of William Ledgerwood, Gladys Ledgerwood, and Fred Ledgerwood, as well as other musicians who worked with the band, including Mack McGraw. Also included are three cassette recordings of interviews with Leland Ledgerwood.

71; 1.0

eng,

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Folklife Collection.