Hear Rufus Quesinberry play “Greasy String” with the Oldtimers

            Although not much is known about the life outside of music of Rufus (or “Rufe” or “Berry) Quesinberry, his contribution to SW Virginia clawhammer banjo playing is profound. Beginning in the late 1940’s he became a regular fixture among the household of neighbor and legendary Carroll County fiddler “Uncle” Norm Edmonds. In fact, younger members of the Edmonds family have reported that he was there so often, they just assumed he was a member of the family.

            We do know that Rufus’s father, Caleb Quesinberry died in 1903, one year after Rufus was born and that Rufus was raised in the Laurel Fork community as an only child by his mother.  He married Mary Ann Coleman in September of 1926, and they became parents of five children, three daughters and two sons.  According to his World War II draft registration,  he reported that the third finger on his right hand had been cut off at the first joint, although this injury did not seem to affect his ability to make a forceful ”claw” attack on the banjo strings.

            Rufus’s first publicly lauded banjo appearances came on a weekly program on Saturday mornings on a local Hillsville radio station. Beginning in the mid 1950’s, “Uncle Norm and the Oldtimers,” consisting of Norm Edmonds, Rufus, and Uncle Norm’s sons, John, Cecil and Paul (all on guitars) broadcast 15 minutes of music to the Blue Ridge in between hog futures and local advertisements.  Several of these tapes, meticulously recorded and preserved by Rush Edmonds, were copied by folklorist Andy Cahn and were released by The Field Recorder’s Collective (FRC 301, 302) amounting to over 72 tracks of old time music featuring Rufus.

            In 1959, nationally recognized folklorist Alan Lomax brought his recording equipment to Hillsville and there, at musician George Stoneman’s home, Lomax recorded six tracks of the “Old Timers” for his Smithsonian collection. On these tracks Rufus is playing tightly with Uncle Norm’s fiddle and they are joined by Paul Edmonds on guitar.  Among the iconic tracks that they recorded for Lomax are: “Walking in the Parlor,” Sally Anne,” “Bonaparte’s Retreat,” “Breaking up Christmas,” “Salt River,” “White Dove,” and “Greasy String.”

            These recordings preserved a clear, crisp, and rhythmic playing style on Quesinberry’s part, and along with the Field Recorder’s release brought national attention to the “Old Timers” as a very representative sound of SW Virginia’s Blue Ridge.  Soon, young “folkies” from across the country came and joined in the legendary Sunday practice sessions (before church!) at the Edmonds farm and Uncle Norm and the Old Timer’s tunes were being played nationally.

            The last recordings with Rufus Quesinberry were made around 1961, and after that Rufus Barnett, a “up style” banjo picker joined the Old Timers.  The last 20 years of Rufus Quesinberry’s life were not spent playing out on banjo, but his indelible mark on SW Virginia’s music is much alive today.