Clarence Ashley
Clarence "Tom" Ashley (1895-1967)
Clarence Ashley was a 20th century American clawhammer banjo player. Clarence was born in Bristol, Tennessee on September 29 1885. Nicknamed 'Tommy Tiddy Waddy' by his grandfather, Clarence was best known to friends and acquaintances as Tom. Clarence began to play banjo and guitar at a young age, and when he was 16, joined a travelling medicine show as a banjo picker and singer.
In 1925, Clarence formed the 'Carolina Tar Heels' along with Doc Walsh and Gwen Foster after meeting at a fiddler's contest. This band produced 18 records under the Victor label in the late 20's and early 30's. In 1929, Clarence recorded several solo cuts that would become closely identified with him - "The Coo Coo Bird", "The House Carpenter", and several others. For several of these songs Clarence used a G-modal banjo tuning that he called the 'sawmill' tuning (gDGCD).
In the folk music revival of the late 1950's and early 1960's, Clarence's music was rediscovered by urban ethnomusicologists. In 1960, Ralph Rinzler met Clarence at the Old Time Fiddler's Convention in Union Grove, NC. He eventually persuaded him to start playing banjo again and to record his repertoire of songs. Over the next few years, he and his friends, including Doc Watson, played at many urban folk festivals. They also made two records for the Folkways (record label) label.
On June 2 1967, Clarence "Tom" Ashley died of cancer.
Sources
- Tom Clarence Ashley: An Appalachian Folk Musician (Masters Thesis: East Tennessee State University) by Minnie M. Miller, 1973.