The Opera House Story Sessions

In this episode, I sit down with Mary Sue Burns. She is best known for her Paleozoic banjo picking, shaping young minds, and playing in groups like Juanita Fireball and the Continental Drifters. We will also hear about the first women in banjo and how she found a silver lining in the pandemic when she picked back up the fiddle.

In this episode, we will hear from my conversation with Dwight Diller. Dwight is a banjo player and teacher known for the "sledgehammer" banjo style and for documenting the stories and songs of the Hammons family. It is because of Dwight and people like Carl Fleischer and Alan Jabbour that we have records of the songs that were born out of these hills and hollers.

Today we’ll hear from Homer Hunter. Homer is known locally for his tall tales, kindness towards others, and booming voice that he learned later in life to meld and weave into bluegrass tunes — playing and harmonizing with others in a truly special way. 

Today we’ll hear from Dave Bing, the fiddle-playing brother of the old-time band, The Bing Brothers. We interviewed Mike Bing, the mandolin-playing brother, on an earlier podcast episode. But today, we focus on Dave. Like all the musicians who’ve played for the story sessions, Dave came to the Opera House to bow a little for us and tell stories. Still, Dave has such an immense library of tunes stored in his mind that we did have to take a few breaks — So bear with us as we chat both on stage and off with Dave in this story session. Dave shares tales of the old-time music family, the Hammons, and we chat about how Irish and Scottish tunes have influenced his playing and the dynamic tradition of passing down tunes in person. Our conversation wanders, much like the Williams River, which lured Dave’s father to Pocahontas country when Dave was just three years old. The three boys and their dad would camp on the Williams, known for trout fishing.

In today's episode, we’ll sit down with Mandolin player Mike Bing. He is one of three brothers who together formed the old-time band, The Bing Brothers, but he is one-of-a-kind. His mandolin chops and the band's prowess have carried him as far away as Ireland and Australia, but his roots are dug deep into the Appalachian soil.  So far on the Story Sessions, we’ve covered both Old Time and Bluegrass musicians, but Mike says the Bing Brothers’ music lies somewhere between both genres.

Mike Burn's first foray into Old-Time music was as a spoons player in the West Virginia University Forestry Club jug band. He soon moved on to guitar. The Forestry Club led him to Elkins for the Forest Festival where he heard Dwight Diller play in the banjo contest. It was the first time that Mike heard the clawhammer style of banjo playing and he instantly knew that was what he wanted to play. Back in Morgantown, Mike found Ron Mullenax and Jack Ramsey (who became his banjo mentor). Mike heard Highwoods at WVU around the same time and credits Highwoods fiddler, Walt Koken, as a major influence.

Travelling to many old-time festivals held throughout WV, afforded Mike the opportunity to meet Melvin Wine, Glen and Delano Smith, Wilson Douglas, Woody Simmons, Carlos Dalton, Mose Coffman, and Sherman, Burl, Maggie, and Mr. Lee Hammons. In following years, he visited these folks at their homes and couldn’t get enough of their music and stories. At a festival held at Pipestem State Park in WV, Mike heard Odell McGuire, Scott Nelson, Andy Williams, Brad Leftwich, Al Tharp, and David Winston playing some great, hard driving old time that reminded him of the Highwoods sound. Mike says, “I was now hooked on their brand of music. I followed the music to Lexington, Virginia for the 1975-76 Breaking up Christmas parties. Odell McGuire invited me to stay and I did.” During his time in Lexington, Mike met and became friends with Bruce Molsky, Chad Crum, James Leva, Steve Seal, and so many others. He started playing the fiddle after Odell McGuire told him there were too many banjo players in Lexington. He claims that he still plays the fiddle like a banjo: less notes and lots of rhythm.

Mike met his wife, Mary Sue playing in a music session at “Breaking Up Christmas” in Lexington. Mike eventually got a “real Job” as a forester in central West Virginia and once again hooked up with Melvin Wine and Wilson Douglas with whom he played at several of the early Vandalia Gatherings. By 1980, Mike and Mary Sue had settled in Pocahontas County, both with teaching jobs. For an extended time, jobs, kids, and school activities distracted them from serious music playing.

Encouragement from musician friends, especially Jay Lockman and Norris Long, and, in Mike’s case, the desire to prove wrong his doctor’s hopeless pronouncement about the recovery of a broken finger, propelled them back into the music. Their band, “Juanita Fireball and the Continental Drifters” debuted at the Pocahontas County Opera House in 2008 and has been playing ever since. Additionally, Mike and Mary Sue have joined other friends to play Blacksburg Square Dances and the Floyd Country Store. They recently participated in a recording project titled “Dolly & the Devil Festival Season” with musician friends from North Carolina and Virginia.

Kelsey keeps the tradition of old-time music alive and thriving. She is a native of Pocahontas County, growing up with Clover Lick on her generational family farm. Arts, music, and crafts are something that has been a long tradition in her family. At an early age, she started taking banjo lessons from Pam Lund, who taught her many songs featured in the story sessions. When she's not playing banjo, you can catch her on the ski slopes at Snowshoe in the winter or floating down the river at Ace Adventures. Keeping true to the state's motto - Kelsey lives up to nothing but, Wild and Wonderful.

Trevor lives in Pocahontas Co. West Virginia where he continues to pass on the “old-time music” and traditions of the famous Hammons Family. He is the great-grandson of musician, Lee Hammons. Trevor is an award-winning banjo and fiddle player. He started lessons when he was eight years old with Pam Lund of Woodrow. She played with the Hammons and learned from them in the ’70s. Trevor has played with bands previously but finds the stories and history of this music need to be presented in a different way, which shows the importance of the tradition and what it really means.

He has a show that explains this and wonderful music to accompany and showcase his legacy. He mastered the banjo, playing in the Appalachian Old-Time technique familiar to his great-Grandfather Lee and his friends during the 1800s and early 1900s. As a youth, Trevor took many awards for adult categories with his unique style and musical abilities, playing an eerie and haunting style as performed by his Great-grandfather Lee. He has placed in Vandalia, Clifftop, Galax, VA, Monterey, VA, and more!

If you love the banjo and old-time music you must catch him playing! Only a few years ago, Trevor picked up the fiddle and began playing, again placing in contests in WV and surrounding states. He continues to learn from great musicians such as Pam Lund, Dave Bing, Henry Barnes, and John Blissard on the fiddle. He has studied with Tim Bing, Ron Mullennex, Dwight Diller, and so many more wonderful musicians. Trevor teaches music lessons at the Pocahontas Co. Library and Marlinton Wellness Center.

Jake Krack is an exceptional fiddler within the old-time tradition. Most often performing with The Bing Brothers, Jake has won multiple awards and fiddling competitions across Appalachia. From early childhood, Jake was mentored by many legendary fiddlers including Melvin Wine. The remarkable relationship between Melvin and Jake is beautifully captured in the children’s book Passing the Music Down. Jake was also the subject of the 2018 feature-length documentary Fiddlin’.

Jake and The Bing Brothers were the final performance of The Pocahontas County Opera House in March of 2020. This performance was held in conjunction with a screening of Fiddlin’. Jake lives in Marlinton with his wife Katie and daughter Iris.

Richard Hefner is a founding member of the Black Mountain Bluegrass Boys, West Virginia’s longest-running bluegrass band. Hefner’s bluegrass banjo playing and tenor vocals have contributed both continuity and much of the “high lonesome” sound for which the band has become so well-known. He has displayed his banjo skills many times as a victor in contests and at the Vandalia Festival.

The group was first organized in 1968 around the foursome of Richard Hefner (banjo/tenor vocal), his brother Bill Hefner (guitar/mandolin/baritone vocal), their late uncle Glenn “Dude” Irvine (mandolin), and the late Harley Carpenter (guitar/lead vocal). They took their name from Black Mountain in their native Pocahontas County. For five years the group worked a weekly radio show on WVAR, in Richwood. They also made regular appearances at local events and regional bluegrass festivals. They recorded their first album in January 1971, “Pure Old Bluegrass”, and in the mid-1970s they followed up with a pair of albums: “Million Lonely Days” and “Talk of the County.” More recent albums include “Black Mountain Bluegrass Boys 1968-1973,” “Live at Midnight,” “Live at The Opera House,” and “Live at Greenbrier Valley Theatre.”

Richard currently lives with his wife Maddy in Renick and often hosts informal music jams with some of the best musicians in the region at his home place in Mill Point.

The podcast that brings you the histories and the folklore of the people who’ve carried and continued to carry the music born outta these hills and hollers.