G.B. Grayson

A fiddler from the Tennessee-North Carolina border, G.B. Grayson was among the first to record several folk standards, including "Tom Dooley," "The Banks of the Ohio," and "Train 45." Born in 1888, he was blinded as an infant and became a musician. Many of his best recordings for Victor were made with Henry Whitter, a guitarist and harmonica player. Perhaps the longest-lasting (thanks to its revival in the '50s by the Kingston Trio), "Tom Dooley" was a song dear to Grayson's heart -- his grand uncle, a North Carolina sheriff, had arrested Tom Dooley himself. Grayson died in 1930, the victim of an automobile accident. ~ John Bush