19 May 2018

Who met Franklin George?

The BIB editor writes:

The latest issue (vol. 14, no. 9) of The Old Time Herald magazine includes (among many other good things) tributes by its founder Alice Gerrard to Pete Kuykendall and Bobby Patterson, who died a month apart last autumn. She writes: 'If it weren't for Bobby Patterson and Pete Kuykendall this magazine would never have gotten off the ground.'

An intriguing question for readers in Ireland is raised in Kim Johnson's tribute to West Virginia musician William Franklin 'Frank' George (1928-2017), reprinted from Goldenseal, the magazine of WV cultural history. Johnson recalls a meeting at the Clifftop old-time festival some twenty years ago: Frank George and other noted musicians were at lunch, and 'two men with thick Irish accents' sat down nearby, one of whom said: 'I'd love to meet Franklin George', whereupon -

Frank stood up and shook the man's hand. The Irishman, quivering from delight and nearly in tears, said 'I have a picture of you over my mantel in Ireland. I never thought I'd get to meet you in person.' Frank replied with his boyish enthusiasm, 'Well, here I am!'

We hope the two visitors are still around with their memories of this occasion. My own enduring gratitude to Franklin George is that I first heard 'Angeline' on his 1967 Kanawha album; it has been a favourite with me ever since.

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