Crooked Road CD Series [Back]

Linda Lay & Sammy Shellor:
Taking the Crooked Road Home

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Nine families have dominated Patrick County music since Revolutionary times. The Shelors are one of the families, but Sammy is also related to several others. The families are not of one ethnicity; they are German, English, Ulster Irish, and there is one African-American family.

Some of Sammy’s older relatives were recorded for Victor in 1927 by Ralph Peer at the famed Bristol Sessions, which also produced the first recordings by the Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers. These recordings were led by banjoist and singer Joe (Dad) Blackard, a brother of Sammy’s great-grandma, and an artist born before the Civil War.  Performing with him were the Shelor Brothers and his daughter, Clarice Blackard Shelor. Clarice lived to a ripe old age, and when Sammy began to be noticed as a banjo player at age 7, he was taken to play with Aunt Clarice.  He still recalls her powerful rhythm:  “She rocked the house.”

Among the Patrick County musicians Sammy revered when growing up were members of the Foddrell family, black musicians, storekeepers, farmers, and one of the famed nine musical families.  Turner and Marvin Foddrell played bluegrass, old-time, and jazz on banjo and guitar.  Their father, Posey Foddrell, could play any instrument, and was a fine dance fiddler. “I wish everybody could have seen and heard them,” Sammy says.

Linda grew up in Clayman Valley, a tiny community named after her family in Bristol. She is a Clayman reared in a family band kept by her father, mandolinist Jack Clayman, and his brothers and sisters. Like Sammy, Linda learned her music in a family that kept songs and tunes from old-time, bluegrass, gospel, and traditional country sources. Her dad sings and he took her to the places where the local musicians gathered. He loved the founders of the music, and he took Linda to see them and perform with them.

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