During the spring of 1969, I met Garland Lambert and Luther Chandler and we just kind of hit it off. Luther was a good mandolin player, and Garland sang and played guitar. I think it was at Star, North Carolina, where we first got together. Over the next several months, I played with them at various fiddlers conventions' throughout North Carolina.
"Henry" (I think, but can't remember his last name), Luther Chandler, Doug Hutchens, and Garland Lambert at the fiddlers convention at Star, North Carolina, in 1968 or 69.
One year, we even got on one of the recordings (about 1970) that Bobby Patterson used to do of the Galax fiddlers' convention. I had entered the Mayo Mountain Boys. Wayburn Johnson played fiddle and we did “Cotton Eyed Joe.” It was a good cut except for me choking as I went in for my break.
Luther Chandler, Doug Hutchens, Henry, and Garland Lambert.
I played with them in 1970 at Union Grove. Luther insisted that I come and stay with him at his home. As in the past year, I had slept in the car for a couple of nights.
We got up on Saturday morning and ate breakfast at a restaurant -- the first time I'd ever eaten breakfast at a restaurant. I looked and looked at the menu, finally ordering a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich and hash browns -- still my favorite breakfast meal, other than a hamburger. Many places, they look at you weird if you order a hamburger at that time of day. But weird looks never seemed to bother me.
I did not know you had a connection to Luther and Garland back then. Luther was the first mandolin picker I saw around 1964 up close playing a real Gibson F12. He was in the stairwell at the Cool Springs Convention tuning it and I remember looking up at Luther and that Gibson mandolin thinking someday I'm going to own a Gibson like that. I've known Garland Lambert all my life too and got to be part of his band in the early 90's when his son Conor went to preaching. Currently the Sons of South call me when Conor can't make the band.
ReplyDelete