Ethel Birchfield

Ethel Birchfield: and her family lived on a farm at the top of Roan Mountain in Tennessee, just a few miles from the home of John Hobson.  (In fact, they were related to John and his family).  The Birchfields had come to notice with their band ‘The Roan Mountain Hilltoppers’, which began appearing at Festivals in the 1970’s.  However, I was also told of Ethel’s storytelling and so I visited her in the hope of getting a few of her tales down on tape.  Many of the Hilltoppers’ recordings have recently been reissued on the CD Down Home (Roan-001).

Part of the booklet notes, written by Mike Yates, to the Musical Traditions Records CDs Far in the Mountains (MTCD321-4)