Lee Knight Collection, SAA 132- This link opens in a new window
This collection consists mainly of interviews and performances by several traditional musicians and story tellers, their associates, and scholars. The recordings were made during the 1970s by North Carolina folksinger and storyteller, Lee Knight. The geographic area represented is mostly from Kentucky, North Carolina, and South Carolina. A large portion of the collection focuses on banjo players and their repertoires.
Included are well known banjoists such as Frank Proffitt, Jr. and Roscoe Holcomb along with several others from North and South Carolina. Other performance styles and instrumentation represented include lap dulcimer, African American singing from Johns Island, South Carolina, African American children’s game songs, Jack tales, and unaccompanied ballad singing. Notable women performers include Malvena Reynolds, Almeda Riddle, Roberta Voyles, and Lily May Ledford. There are also interviews with folk music scholars, Anne and Frank Warner, performer/activists, Guy and Candie Carawan, and country-bluegrass musicians, Bill Monroe, Kenny Baker, Ralph Stanley, and Roy Acuff.e.