Crooked Road CD Series [Back]

The Spencer Family and Friends:
Greetings from Whitetop

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Deep in the most rugged mountains of southwestern Virginia, on the slopes and in the hollows of Mt. Rogers and Whitetop Mountain, a rich tradition of old-time music has endured through many decades of changes. As the popularity of bluegrass, rock, and rap flooded the country, and as the popularity of old-time music came and went, and arose again throughout the Appalachians, the old-time musicians of the Whitetop area maintained their pure, rich musical heritage like burning embers in a banked fire.

Among the most important of the many musical families in the area is the Spencer family: Thornton Spencer, a fabulous and versatile fiddle and guitar player and brother-in-law of the late Albert Hash, his wife, Emily, a brilliant clawhammer banjo player and vocalist, their son Kilby, a skilful and original fiddle player in his own right, and their daughter Martha, who bowls over audiences everywhere with the joyous intensity of her singing, dancing, and playing on fiddle, banjo, and guitar.

Individually, their talents and versatility have kept them in great demand throughout the area. Thornton and Emily played with the late Albert Hash in the Whitetop Mountain Band, a band that continues today with the addition of Martha Spencer, Spencer Pennington, and Michelle Lyle. Martha and Kilby have played, and still play, in other groups including the Crooked Road Band that performed in 2005 at the National Folklife Festival in Richmond, Virginia. On Friday nights, the family performs as the Whitetop Mountain Band for the “Alleghany Jubilee” in Sparta, NC, where local families come in to dance. Until late at night, dancers from pre-school age to the very elderly shuffle through square dances, two-steps, and waltzes to many of the tunes and songs heard on this CD. At the Jubilee, as they do everywhere, the Spencers and their friends bring joy and fun with them.

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