Byard Ray's guest appearances

Byard Ray

Down the Road on the Blue Ridge Music Trails of North Carolina

Nina Simone

Derek Piotr

Carl Sandburg

Raymond Fairchild

George Shuffler

Doc Watson

Earl Scruggs

Bascom Lamar Lunsford

Jimmie Rodgers

David Holt

Arvil Freeman

Lula Bolick

Chester McMillian

Don Reno

Frank Proffitt

OwlTail

Fiddle music is a richly layered tapestry that runs through the core of Western North Carolina. The passing down of the traditions (or styles), and instruments is ever present. In 2020 North Carolina native and traditional musician, Jason Cade recorded his “Byard Ray Dozen Series.” A collection in tribute to the legendary Byard Ray of Madison County. The core of the story is the multigenerational journey of a Western North Carolina fiddle.

Episode 1: Byard Ray's Old Fiddle Makes New Music

Obray Ramsey

It’s not unusual for traditional musicians to influence artists in other styles, and that kind of cross-pollination was especially common in the 1960s and ’70s, as pop and rock musicians mined the depths of old-time, blues, and other folk styles. But few traditional musicians of that era had quite such a long, strange trip into the world of pop culture as North Carolina’s Byard Ray and Obray Ramsey.Ray and Ramsey were cousins from Madison County, North Carolina, in the Blue Ridge Mountains west of Asheville. Madison County has been home to renowned traditional ballad singers and instrumentalists for generations, and the two men were part of the network of families whose musical heritage has made the county famous. Obray Ramsey was a banjo player with an old-time three-finger picking style and a smooth, high singing voice. Byard Ray was a skilled fiddler whose musical roots drew from the playing of some of the early fiddlers of the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains, including J. D. Harris, who influenced many other great musicians of the region.

It’s not unusual for traditional musicians to influence artists in other styles, and that kind of cross-pollination was especially common in the 1960s and ’70s, as pop and rock musicians mined the depths of old-time, blues, and other folk styles. But few traditional musicians of that era had quite such a long, strange trip into the world of pop culture as North Carolina’s Byard Ray and Obray Ramsey.<br/><br/>Ray and Ramsey were cousins from Madison County, North Carolina, in the Blue Ridge Mountains west of Asheville. Madison County has been home to renowned traditional ballad singers and instrumentalists for generations, and the two men were part of the network of families whose musical heritage has made the county famous. Obray Ramsey was a banjo player with an old-time three-finger picking style and a smooth, high singing voice. Byard Ray was a skilled fiddler whose musical roots drew from the playing of some of the early fiddlers of the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountains, including J. D. Harris, who influenced many other great musicians of the region.

Byard Ray and Obray Ramsey Make Long, Strange Trip into Pop Culture