Snuffy Jenkins and Pappy Sherrill

Bio:

This MySpace page was put together by close friends of the Snuffy Jenkins and Pappy Sherrill families as a tribute to these two great musicians. Their tunes and legacies shall live on in our memories and through their music. They are gone but definitely not forgotten.

SNUFFY JENKINS

Snuffy Jenkins was the first 5-string banjoist to broadcast the syncopated three-finger style on a live radio program. This historic event occurred in 1934 on WBT radio in Charlotte, North Carolina. Snuffy was a professional example and pioneer model for other banjoists. Ralph Stanley, Earl Scruggs, and Don Reno all cite him as a major influence.

Snuffy played in a three-finger style that in all probability originated in Western North Carolina around Cleveland and Rutherford Counties. A master of the 5-string banjo and a brilliant comedian, Snuffy’s professional career lasted more than a half century.

A child musician at five and unable to use a fiddle bow, he said that he “picked it like a mandolin.” After Snuffy graduated from fiddle to guitar, he and his older brother Verl performed as a duo and played locally for community events, dances, and Fiddlers’ Conventions. Later .. making his own banjo and playing it in the traditional two-finger style, Snuffy met musicians Rex Brooks and Smith Hammett, both of whom played in a smoother, three-finger style. That occurred in about 1927. Snuffy stated that Brooks and Hammett were the first that he ever personally heard play in a three-finger style. A self-taught musician who played “by ear”, Snuffy incorporated elements of this style into his own.

Snuffy’s professional career began in 1934 on WBT radio. It is established fact that he was playing in this unusual three-finger style for those broadcasts. That same year he met the fiddler who would later become his musical partner for fifty-one years. Pappy Sherrill had also played the Charlotte Crazy Water Crystals Barn Dance Program as a member of The Crazy Hickory Nuts.

In 1936 Snuffy joined J. E. Mainer’s Mountaineers and on April 15, 1937 the band came to Columbia, South Carolina to play on radio station WIS which was a 50,000 watt clear channel radio station. Legendary announcer Byron Parker teamed up with the band and when Mainer left, it became known as Byron Parker’s Hillbillies. Their programs always contained comedy and it was during one of these capers that Parker gave DeWitt his nickname “Snuffy”. The band then became The WIS Hillbillies and Pappy joined them in October of 1939. It was an alliance that lasted for most of their life.

Radio announcer Byron Parker had called himself “The Old Hired Hand”. After his death in 1948 the band re-named themselves The Hired Hands in his honor. The Hired Hands continued to perform on radio and TV as well as make personal appearances throughout the 40’s and 50’s. Other than playing music, they did not take day jobs until the middle 50’s. This placed them among the first generation of musicians who, because of radio broadcasts, were able to actually “earn a living playing music.” This fact also coincided with the use of the automobile which allowed them to tour for personal appearances. The Hired Hands began performing at bluegrass festivals throughout the Southeast in the late 60’s. They eventually received national as well as international recognition and their venues included such prestigious events as The 1982 World’s Fair, the Joffery Ballet, Wolf Trap, The Philadelphia Folk Festival, Carnegie Hall, and The Tennessee Banjo Institute. They performed seven times for the Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife, at one of which the attendance estimate was 250,000.

Snuffy was also one of the first to ever use metal finger picks, and according to Pappy, did it in 1937 on station WSPA in Spartanburg, South Carolina. He was also able to play in a variety of banjo styles, including frailing. He never used a capo. He would simply re-tune when the occasion called for it. It was his influence that laid the foundation for bluegrass banjo pickers who came after him. He was also a very fine guitar player although only a few tunes were ever recorded.

The Hired Hands received many awards among which were The South Carolina Folk Heritage Award and The North Carolina Order of the Long Leaf Pine. Pappy received The Carolina Legends Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995 and is a member of the South Carolina Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame.

Snuffy Jenkins passed away on April 29, 1990. His last performance had been the month before. At the age of eighty-six, Pappy was still doing what he had loved best…leaning his head slightly towards his left shoulder to cradle his fiddle under his chin and play a tune…just as he “pretended” to do as a child when his family said he would… “Pick up two sticks and rub them together”. His last public performance had been at McKissick Museum’s Folklife Festival on October 27, 2001. Pappy passed away on November 30th.

Although the origin of the three-finger forward roll may never be truly known, the evidence available proves that Snuffy Jenkins was the first banjoist to play the style on a live radio program. The Hired Hands music, showmanship, and comedy had always sparkled unselfconsciously straight from the stage. Their dignity, durability, and dedication to the music decidedly helped to shape it.


Pat J. Ahrens
Columbia, South Carolina
2007


HOMER "PAPPY" SHERRILL

The following was written by Pat Ahrens for Fiddler Magazine, Spring 2001 issue

A soft, almost shy smile turns up the corners of Pappy's mouth when he puts his fiddle under his chin. It is something he has been doing for seventy-eight years of his life. A master fiddler, and now eighty-five years old, his delight with the instrument's feel and sound has never diminished.

At the age of seven, he was given a Sears and Roebuck $1.98 tin fiddle and shortly afterwards got his first taste of performing, working for his father who was a farmer. Pappy recalls, "I used to fiddle for my daddy to help him sell watermelons. By noon all ours would be sold and we'd leave the other farmers standing out in the hot sun."

Born in Sherrill's Ford, North Carolina, Pappy's first professional performance was in 1928 at radio station WSOC in Gastonia, North Carolina, when he was thirteen. His notoriety began in earnest in 1934 with his performances for the Crazy Water Barn Dance on Charlotte, North Carolina's WBT. Historically one of the first manufacturers to sponsor country music, these Crazy Water Crystals live radio performances produced many musicians who became famous, among them the Father of Bluegrass Music, Bill Monroe.

Continuing to play for Crazy Water Crystals, Pappy joined The Blue Sky Boys (Bill and Earl Bolick) on station WWNC in Asheville, North Carolina, for about two years before moving on to WGST in Atlanta, Georgia, as The Crazy Blue Ridge Hillbillies. It was in Atlanta that he met his wife, Doris Lyle. Forming a new group, The Smiling Rangers, Pappy's next move was back to Raleigh, North Carolina, at station WPTF. From Raleigh, the Rangers moved on to Danville, Virginia's WBTM. By then, Pappy had become among those of the first generation of musicians to earn a living from radio performances.

In 1939, Pappy moved his family to Columbia, South Carolina, and joined Byron Parker's Hillbillies to play on station WIS. It was a fortuitous event that cemented his friendship with banjoist "Snuffy" Jenkins and developed into an extraordinary partnership lasting more than a half century. After Byron Parker's untimely death at thirty-seven, the band renamed themselves The Hired Hands in his honor. Parker had been a phenomenal radio announcer who, in working at WAAW in Omaha, Nebraska, became acquainted with Bill and Charlie Monroe and booked their personal appearances. He had always signed off the air as "your old hired hand."

Via their daily WIS broadcasts, The Hired Hands became South Carolina's premier country band. Pappy's lively version of "The Orange Blossom Special" would call folks from field to radio for their noontime program. Pappy had learned the tune directly from its composer, Ervin Rouse, in 1938, and played it on show dates after the Rouse Brothers had recorded it for RCA. Pappy's fiddling directly helped to popularize this now-famous tune. Even though he has performed for every conceivable kind of audience, Pappy has never forgotten playing back on the "Kerosene Circuit" when only lanterns lit the stage. The applause sounded just as sweet then as it does today in places like the Newberry Opry House in Newberry, South Carolina.

Already veterans of live radio productions, The Hired Hands appeared on WIS-TV the very first day of broadcast. From 1954 to 1958, they conducted an hour television show once a week called "Carolina in the Morning." National acclaim came to Pappy and Snuffy in 1973, when Esquire magazine printed an article featuring the banjo. Other articles in publications such as Bluegrass Unlimited, Banjo Newsletter, Pickin', The New York Times, and The Village Voice have all recognized their historic contributions to old-time as well as country music. Their early recordings on the RCA Vintage Series, Early Rural String Bands and The Rail Road in Folksong, are now collector's items.

Over the years, The Hired Hands played such prestigious venues as the 1982 World's Fair, The University of Chicago Folk Festival, The Joffrey Ballet, Wolf Trap, the Washington, D.C. American Folk Festival, and Carnegie Hall. They were filmed in a captioned documentary, "Free Show Tonight," which was made by the Smithsonian in tribute to the early entertainers of vaudeville and medicine shows.

Pappy has met, listened to, and sometimes performed with many musicians whose names are legendary. While in Atlanta, his contemporaries were Clayton McMichen, Fiddlin' John Carson, and Riley Puckett. In North Carolina, they were Charlie Poole, J.E. Mainer, and Jimmy Shumate. He fondly remembers a suppertime visit from A.P., Sarah, and Maybelle Carter. He performed with Jimmy Davis, the former governor of Louisiana and composer of "You Are My Sunshine," and country music and movie star Tex Ritter. Songwriters Mel Tillis and Roger Miller both performed with The Hired Hands while stationed in the Army at Ft. Jackson in Columbia.

Many honors have been bestowed on Homer Lee Sherrill during his career. He is a recipient of the North Carolina Order of the Long Leaf Pine, The South Carolina Folk Heritage Award, and is a member of the South Carolina Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame. Pappy was picked as a participant for the prestigious Grassroots to Bluegrass project, which was filmed in Nashville in 1999, and shown on TNN. Pappy's contribution to traditional music in both the Carolinas is a continuing legacy and an achievement few have equaled. He possesses a vast knowledge of old- time fiddle tunes and has contributed many of his own originals, such as "CNW Railroad Blues," "Peanut Special," and "The Cherry Blossom Waltz." Some of his personal favorites that he also enjoys playing are "Leather Britches," "Grey Eagle," "Billy in the Lowground," and "Listen to the Mockingbird." He said his favorite waltzes are "Good Night" and "Peek A Boo."

As our visit with Pappy and a fun-filled afternoon of fiddling was finished, my friend Chris and I began to case our instruments. As an afterthought, I turned to him and said, "Pap, I've told Chris about when you used to do all your trick fiddling and he's never seen anything like that. Do you still do it?" The genuine surprise on his face turned wistful as he momentarily paused. Then, with the same shy smile, the unmistakable strains of "Pop Goes the Weasel" came from his fiddle. Gracefully, and with an age-defying agility, his face once again glowing with the blush of youth, he continued, with impeccable timing, to play his fiddle under his chin, down on his chest, behind his back, between his knees, and on the floor between his feet, the flourish ending with a perfect toss of the bow being caught in mid-air. It had been a moment of magic, and our applause filled the room. Even for an audience of two, Pappy was still a great entertainer.

Pappy passed away at the age of 86 in November 2001.

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I will never forget the fun times sitting on Pappy's back porch when I was in my early 20s, fiddling away into the night. Pappy would play one tune after another, and I would make sure my tape recorder was running so I could go home and make an attempt to learn the tunes somewhere close to the way he played them. His wife, Mrs. Dot, would make sure we took a break to have a slice of cake or some cookies. Their son Jerry would sometimes accompany us on guitar.

Pappy would get out his old records and tell me stories about how Ervin Rouse was passing through the area in the late 1930s and how Ervin showed Pappy his new tune, the Orange Blossom Special. He would play the old waltzes for me and tell me how Clayton McMichen showed him how to play Dreamy Georgiana Moon when Pappy was in Atlanta. Pappy loved to play the old hymns, and he could play them sweeter than anyone I had ever heard play a fiddle. He would play Listen to the Mockingbird on his fiddle that he got from Curly Fox back in the 1940s, and occasionally you would hear a bird in the yard answer his bird calls. You could hear the bob white and whipporwill calling from inside his fiddle. He would play the lively old tunes that you don't hear too often any more, such as Miss McCloud's Reel, Flop Eared Mule, Green Mountain Polka, and many more, and your toes were sure to be tapping.

Over the years I have made sure to take the time to recognize Pappy as my primary fiddling influence and mentor. I usually will play a couple of his tunes when I play shows. Pappy was a fine gentleman and was always quite generous with his time and patience, and was always willing to share his tunes with me. Thank you Pappy!

Ashley Carder, April 2008

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The Legacy of Two Legends, a book by Pat J. Ahrens, is the story of the career of banjoist "Snuffy" Jenkins and fiddler "Pappy" Sherrill and their band, The Hired Hands. The 110 page book contains 49 photographs, biographical information, and a discography. It is for sale from Pat for $25.00 plus $5.00 postage. If you would like to purchase a copy, please send us a message by clicking on the "Send Message" option on this MySpace page.
The following video is from one of Snuffy's last performances in February 1990, a couple months before he passed away at the age of 81. Snuffy is playing banjo on Long Journey Home



The following video was recorded at a festival in South Carolina in 1989, and features Pappy and Snuffy and the Hired Hands, along with former band member Tommy Faile playing Alabama Jubilee:



And the following video was recorded at the same festival in 1989, and features Pappy Sherrill playing his "Cherry Blossom Waltz".

Member Since:

April 09, 2008

Members:

HIRED HANDS, earlier known as the WIS Hillbillies and Byron Parker’s Mountaineers

The Hired Hands included various personnel over the years. Among them were Dewitt "Snuffy" Jenkins (banjo, guitar, washboard, vocals, comedy), Homer "Pappy" Sherrill (fiddle), Julian "Greasy" Medlin (guitar, vocals, comedy), Ira Dimmery (Bass, vocals), Bill Rea (guitar, vocals), "Handsome" Leonard Stokes (guitar and vocals), Clyde "Skippy" Robbins (guitar and vocals), Byron Parker (vocals and emcee), Tommy Faile (guitar and vocals), Harold Lucas (guitar), Randy Lucas (banjo), Frank Hartley (bass and vocals), and Buddy Harmon (bass).

Influences:

Smith Hammett, Rex Brooks, Clayton McMichen, and others.

Sounds Like:

The Hired Hands. They laid the groundwork for what came after them.

Record Label:

Rounder