John Morgan Salyer
Description
This collection consists of forty eight acetate disc recordings made in the early 1940s that document Magoffin County, Kentucky fiddler and banjo player, John Morgan Salyer.
Salyer was born in 1882 and was master of an older eastern Kentucky style that is only barely discernible in the playing of present day fiddlers and banjoists. The recordings were made in 1941-42 by his sons Grover and Glen Salyer using a home disc-cutting machine. Many of JohnSalyer's tunes have not been documented elsewhere. On several of the recordings Salyer uses cross-tunings and some have banjo, mandolin, and guitar accompaniment provided by Grover and Glen Salyer.
See the Finding Aid to browse the complete John Morgan Salyer Collection.
Collection Items
Jenny Get Around
Fiddle played by John Morgan Salyer and recorded 1940-1941 in Magoffin County, Kentucky [Key of A / fiddle tuned AEAE]
Last of Harris
Fiddle played by John Morgan Salyer and recorded 1940-1941 in Magoffin County, Kentucky [Key of G / fdl & gtr]
Vance No More
Fiddle played by John Morgan Salyer and recorded 1940-1941 in Magoffin County, Kentucky [Key of A / fdl tuned AEAE]
Indian Ate the Woodchuck
Fiddle played by John Morgan Salyer and recorded 1940-1941 in Magoffin County, Kentucky [Key of C / fdl, gtr, mdn]
Lost Boy
Fiddle played by John Morgan Salyer and recorded 1940-1941 in Magoffin County, Kentucky [Key of G / fdl & gtr]
Love Somebody
Fiddle played by John Morgan Salyer, accompanied by Claude Helton on banjo, and recorded 1940-1941 in Magoffin County, Kentucky [Key of D / fiddle & banjo]
Speed of the Plow
Fiddle played by John Morgan Salyer and recorded 1940-1941 in Magoffin County, Kentucky [Key of A / fdl tuned AEAE]
Gilda Roy
Fiddle played by John Morgan Salyer and recorded 1940-1941 in Magoffin County, Kentucky [Key of C / fdl, gtr, mdn]
Big Eared Mule
Fiddle played by John Morgan Salyer and recorded 1940-1941 in Magoffin County, Kentucky [Keys of G & D]
William Riley
Fiddle played by John Morgan Salyer and recorded 1940-1941 in Magoffin County, Kentucky [Key of A / fdl tuned AEAE]
Sooka Flanagan
Fiddle played by John Morgan Salyer and recorded 1940-1941 in Magoffin County, Kentucky [Key of G / fdl & gtr]
Lonesome John
Fiddle played by John Morgan Salyer, accompanied by Claude Helton on banjo, and recorded 1940-1941 in Magoffin County, Kentucky [Key of A / fiddle tuned AEAE & banjo]