Boyden Carpenter (1909–1995) was a hillbilly and bluegrass artist active in the 1930s and 1940s in the United States.
Personal Carpenter was born February 26, 1909, in Fries, Grayson County, Virginia, and was raised in Pipers Gap, Carroll County, Virginia and Sparta and Cherry Lane in Alleghany County, North Carolina. He died May 25, 1995, at Cherryville, Gaston County, North Carolina. Carpenter was his adopted surname—he was born to John W. and Mary E. Summit but was using his stepfather's surname by 1930.United States of America, Bureau of the Census: Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930, Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1930, T626.
Musical career In 1930, Carpenter was working in Winston-Salem, Forsyth County, North Carolina, as a musician in an orchestra. Billing himself as "The Hill Billy Kid," he began playing with several bands, including Wade Mainer's Sons of The Mountaineers, Bill Monroe's Monroe Brothers, and the Crazy Water Crystals-sponsoredFamous Mineral Water Company: Crazy From The Start!, http://www.famouswater.com/story.aspx , accessed June 9, 2012. "Crazy Water Barn Dance" show band in Charlotte, North Carolina.Sjef Hermans: Tell Me Where Have All The Hoboes Gone; To Hobo Songs in American Roots Music, http://www.champagnecharlie.nl/nieuws2011/hobo_verhaal.pdf , 2011, accessed June 9, 2012.
He had his greatest musical success in the mid-1930s working at WPTF radio station in Raleigh, North Carolina, touring with the "Grandfather of Bluegrass, Wade Mainer and his Sons of the Mountaineers band and Bill Monroe's Monroe Brothers, and playing with Ernest Thompson.Carolina Music Ways: 1920s – 1930s: Northwest Piedmont Stringband Musicians in the Dawn of Hillbilly Recordings, http://www.carolinamusicways.org/history_1920s.html , accessed June 9, 2012.
The William Leonard Eury Appalachian Collection at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, preserves a photograph of Carpenter with his guitar and "The 'Hill Billy' from Alleghany County" guitar case found in a book titled Boyden Carpenter: The Old Gospel Singer. A 1930s booklet entitled Boyden Carpenter: The Original "Hillbilly Kid", which relates his life story and lyrics to his songs, also survives.Worthopedia: Boyden Carpenter Hillbilly Kid Cherry Lane NC Booklet, http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/boyden-carpenter-hillbilly-kid-cherry-170451473, accessed June 9, 2012.
References