Stella Kimble

Stella Kimble and Pearl Richardson: I went to Laurel Fork in search of fiddle-player Taylor Kimble.  Taylor was extremely ill and, though confined to a wheelchair, insisted on playing me a few tunes.  Sadly, his strength had gone and none of his recordings is issued here.  However, Taylor’s wife, Stella, and her sister Pearl Richardson were prompted by my visit to try to recall some of the songs that they had learnt in their youth, such as Lord Thomas and Fair Ellender, First Come in Was a Bumblebee and Fair and Tender Ladies.  Stella and Pearl were originally from the deep mountains of western North Carolina, where Stella had also learnt to play the banjo from her father.  “It should sound like a chicken picking up corn”, was how her father described it.

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