Margie York

Margie and Gene York: As a young girl, Margie was raised in the little hamlet of Beef Hide in Pike County, Kentucky where she heard a good deal of traditional music.  Her people had lived in the area for a long time, dating back to a figure known in the family as 'Revolutionary John', and Margie is proud of her family’s long pioneer heritage: “When you’re from the mountains,” Margie says, “you know who you are, for your roots grow straight up.”  Her mother played the banjo and Margie also recalls that “Half the people in Beef Hide had those old organs that reached to the ceiling.”

When she was about six, her mother moved to Cincinnati for work, although they often returned to Pike County on visits.  She met Gene as a teenager when they lived in the same Ohio apartment building.  “She was just a poor old country girl until she met me,” Gene jokes, “but then she became sophisticated.”  In fact, Gene’s background was every bit as countrified as Margie’s, a commonality that attracted them to each other.  Gene’s father John was originally from Tennessee and was related to the Sergeant Alvin York of World War I fame.  John sang and played lots of instruments (fiddle, banjo, guitar, harmonica and jew’s harp).  He worked in a machine shop and was billed (to the annoyance of Gene’s mother) as “Lonesome Johnnie” on the popular radio stations WLW and WKRC.  Eventually, Gene and Margie moved back to Kentucky and became involved in the local musical scene.

Part of the booklet notes, written by Mark Wilson, to the Musical Traditions Records 4-CD set Meeting's a Pleasure (MTCD341-4)