Inventory of the Leland Ledgerwood Collection, 1880-1998

Collection Number 20291

Manuscripts Department, Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Contact Information:

Manuscripts Department

CB#3926, Wilson Library

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill, NC 27514-8890

Phone: 919/962-1345

Fax: 919/962-3594

Email: mss@email.unc.edu

URL: http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/

Descriptive Summary

Repository

Southern Folklife Collection

Creator

Ledgerwood, Leland.

Title

Leland Ledgerwood Collection, 1880-1998

Call Number

20291

Language of Materials

Materials in English

Extent

Items: 71

Linear Feet: 1.0

Administrative Information

Restrictions to Access

This collection has restrictions to access. Please see details below or contact the Manuscripts Department for more information.

Usage Restrictions

Use of audio materials may require production of listening copies.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Michael James in April 1998 (Acc. 98095) and Leland Ledgerwood of Warren, Ohio, in October 1998 (Acc. 98225).

Processing Information

Processed by: Ashley Nation, April 2000

Encoded by: Amy Davis, April 2000

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Leland Ledgerwood Collection #20291, Southern Folklife Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Online Catalog Headings

These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online catalogs.

Country music groups--United States.

Country music.

Country musicians.

Family--Ohio--Social life and customs.

Family--Tennessee--Social life and customs.

Fiddle tunes.

Fiddlers--Ohio.

Fiddlers--Tennessee.

Flynn, Gerald.

Folk music--United States.

Grainger County (Tenn.)--Social life and customs.

James, Bill.

Ledgerwood family.

Ledgerwood, Fred, 1899-1965.

Ledgerwood, Gladys, 1889-1962.

Ledgerwood, Leland.

Ledgerwood, William, 1889-1962.

Ledgerwood's Tennessee Fiddlers.

McGraw, Mack.

Rutledge (Tenn.)--Social life and customs.

Warren (Ohio)--Social life and customs.

Women country musicians.

Biographical Note

William Lafayette Ledgerwood, fiddle player and band-leader of Ledgerwood's Tennessee Fiddlers, was born in Grainger County, Tenn., to John T. Ledgerwood (1869-1937) and Mary Willis Ledgerwood (1871-1922) in 1889. Ledgerwood family history in the United States dates back to 1738, when another William Ledgerwood, born in Ireland in 1701, settled with his family in Augusta County, Va. Eventually, the Ledgerwoods migrated to Tennessee, where William Lafayette Ledgerwood's grandfather David (1816-1888) was born.

William Ledgerwood's family supported itself by growing and selling apples. John Ledgerwood also kept honey bees, which provided the family with some additional income. As a source of enjoyment and entertainment, music was always an important part of Ledgerwood family life. John Ledgerwood was a life-long fiddler, and both William and his younger brother Fred showed an early interest in the instrument. With the help of their father's instruction and their own natural abilities, both boys soon became accomplished musicians.

While still a young man in his early twenties, William Ledgerwood left his family's home in Tennessee to seek work in the coal mines of Virginia. In 1913, at the urging of a friend who had left the mines for a better paying and less dangerous job in the city, William left coal mining and relocated to Warren, Ohio. In 1915, he married Gladys Jane Allen, a pianist from Paulding County, Ohio. The following year, his younger brother Fred arrived in Warren, and the family tradition of music was re-ignited. Family performances were popular with friends and neighbors, and eventually, William formed a small string band including his wife on piano and himself and Fred on fiddles. Non-family members Gerald Flynn on mandolin and Bill James on banjo completed the band. The name Ledgerwood's Tennessee Fiddlers was chosen, and the group performed publicly throughout northeastern Ohio during the late 1920s, broadcasting weekly from radio station WKBN in Youngstown, Ohio, from 1927 through 1930.

Over the years, the band went through a few personnel and name changes. At one point, they broadcast from WKBN as the Ledgerwood-Harmison Old Time String Band. Another incarnation of the group included William, Fred, and Gladys Ledgerwood, along with three of Gladys' and William's children. For much of the 1930s, Mack McGraw, a fiddler from West Virginia related to Cowboy Copas, played with the band. Ledgerwood's Tennessee Fiddlers enjoyed success throughout their community, eventually altering their string band format by adding a drummer and saxophone players in order to cater to the dance market before eventually disbanding sometime during the late 1930s or early 1940s. Both William and Gladys Ledgerwood died in Warren, Ohio, in 1962. Fred Ledgerwood died three years later in 1965.

The Ledgerwood family music tradition was taken up by Gladys' and William's children and grandchildren. Their eldest son Allen Ledgerwood, who began with the band on banjo and guitar, eventually switched to string bass. During the early years of World War II, Allen performed with a swing band throughout Ohio and Pennsylvania. After the war, he relocated from Ohio to Los Angeles, Calif., where he lived and performed with jazz bands until his death in 1984. In addition to their own participation in the family band, younger brothers Lynn and Leland performed as a duo separate from the Ledgerwood's Tennessee Fiddlers from 1931 to 1934. Leland Ledgerwood began his musical career as a fiddler, but eventually switched to saxophone. His daughter is a jazz pianist who performs and teaches in New York City.

Collection Overview

Materials, primarily 1890-1953 and centering around the life and career of country musician William Ledgerwood, include Ledgerwood family genealogical records and photographs; business correspondence and publicity clippings related to Ledgerwood's Tennessee Fiddlers, a string band; and sound recordings, chiefly of country music. Photographs are largely from William Ledgerwood's childhood and youth in Grainger County, Tenn., and Rutledge, Tenn. Also included are photographs of the original Ledgerwood's Tennessee Fiddlers in Warren, Ohio. Band business and publicity materials include correspondence from the program director of a local radio station and several clippings from newspapers either reviewing or advertising the band's appearances. Sound recordings, which comprise the largest portion of the collection, are primarily home-recorded acetate discs and reel-to-reel tapes, some recorded after the band had stopped performing publicly. The recordings preserve a wide array of traditional country songs performed mainly by members of Ledgerwood's Tennessee Fiddlers. Included are recordings of William Ledgerwood, Gladys Ledgerwood, and Fred Ledgerwood, as well as other musicians who worked with the band. One often-featured musician is Mack McGraw, a fiddler from West Virginia and related to Cowboy Copas, who played with the band from the early 1930s to 1937. Also included are three cassette recordings of interviews with Leland Ledgerwood.

Arrangement of Collection

1. Ledgerwood Family Genealogy
2. Ledgerwood Family/Ledgerwood's Tennessee Fiddlers Photographs
3. Ledgerwood's Tennessee Fiddlers Papers Business and Publicity Materials
4. Sound Recordings
4.1. Acetate Discs
4.2. Reel-to-Reel Tapes
4.3. Audio Cassettes

Items Separated

Items separated include photographs (P-3601-3613), sound recordings (FT-8831-8836, FD-659-686, FS-4913-4915), and notes to sound recordings (FT-8831-8836).

Detailed Description of the Collection