Raymond Fairchild and James Worley on Maggie Valley

Raymond Fairchild
"King of the 5 String Banjo"

James Worley
"King of the Mountain Harmonica"

23889 - James' Fox Chase
23890 - Raymond's Whoa Mule Whoa

Maggie Valley Records
A Clarence Jackson Production
Moncks Corner SC

1969

Clip (both sides)
thanks to eBay the waxman

Note : Not listed in this Raymond Fairchild discography

Raymond Fairchild

During the middle 1960s Raymond Fairchild first attempted to take his music to the public. By this time he had moved from Cherokee to Maggie Valley, North Carolina and had found a receptive audience at "The Hillbilly Campground," located in Maggie. He recorded many albums (most notably on Rural Rhythm), the first was in the early sixties on Sims Records (also available on Kash Records).

Recommended reading is the Wayne Erbsen's article published in March 1982 by "Bluegrass Unlimited" available HERE.

Excerpt :

Completely at home deep in the forest, Raymond the mountain man, knows his way around. In the fall of the year he still goes hunting ginseng, which has a root that is highly valued for its legendary curing properties. Although some ginseng hunters in the mountains take their sack of "sang" to nearby Asheville, North Carolina or Knoxville, Tennessee to sell for over $200 a pound, Raymond keeps all that he digs. Drawing upon lore learned from his mother's people, he combines the ginseng along with eighteen other roots and herbs to produce a medicine which he takes daily as a tonic. Going far into the woods in search of ginseng and other roots, Raymond has been known to stay gone for nearly a month. After one such trip he told of killing more than one dozen deadly rattlesnakes. Besides bringing home a poke full of wild roots, he often returns from the mountains with a fat ground hog in his sack. Claiming that groundhog is the finest wild meat in the world, Raymond also renders the grease from the woodchuck to make a tonic for the croup. "Just a spoonful or two," he cautions.

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