​ Past FOTMC Guests of Honor 1984 - 1990
FOTMC 1984 - Ralph Blizard
Ralph Blizard was a prize-winning old-time fiddler. His fiddling style, which he called "Appalachian Mountain Longbow," won the Mount Airy Old Time Fiddle Championship three times and earned Blizard the title "Master Fiddler" at the Union Grove Old Time Fiddlers. Convention in North Carolina. Blizard served on the Tennessee Arts Commission from 1987 to 1992, and was a Tennessee Arts Ambassador. Lauded by Charlie Seemann, of the Country Music Foundation as "one of the country's finest old-time fiddlers." Blizard is still recognized as one of Tennessee's master fiddlers and a historic treasures. He was a nominee for the National Heritage Fellowship Award, and performed at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C. He was a member of the Southern Ramblers and the New Southern Ramblers bands. Ralph Blizard passed away in December of 2004. He was two days shy of his 86th birthday.
1985 - Bruce Greene
Robert Bruce Greene is known worldwide as one of the finest living exponents of old time Kentucky fiddle music. He is also a skilled old time banjo player, singer, and collector of traditional Appalachian music and culture. Bruce has lived and worked among the people of Kentucky, Tennessee, and North Carolina for more than thirty years, bringing to his playing the profound intimacy and dignity he absorbed through his apprenticeships with musicians born as far back as the 1880’s.
"Bruce's repertoire includes a vast number of obscure and crooked tunes, as if opening a previously locked door to a room rich with old-time music most people didn't know existed...His playing never fails to transport me back to the lost and ancient world of Old Kentucky. His style is smooth as silk, his delivery exciting, his use of ornamentation harks back to the melding of Old World and New World that has occurred in Southern music a century and a half ago."
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-David Lynch, Old Time Music Top Ten
FOTMC 1986 - Gerry Milnes
Gerry Milnes is an award winning old-time fiddle and banjo player. Among his musical honors are first place awards at the West Virginia State Folk Festival, the Vandalia Gathering, and the Appalachian Stringband Festival at Clifftop, West Virginia.
At age 14, he learned banjo from Pennsylvania banjo players Phillip Cressman and Bill Major - the latter an elderly black man who played several old-time styles. After moving to West Virginia in the '70 s, his influences included the Hammonds family, Jenes Cottrell, and Phoebe Parsons.
He has over a thirty year history of researching, documenting, writing, teaching and performing traditional music and the folk arts and folk life of West Virginia. His performances include The National Folk Festival, Friends of Old Time Music of Great Britain, The Banjo Institute, the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, the Chicago Folk Festival, and the Florida Folk Festival.
Gerry has been the Folk Arts Coordinator at the Augusta Heritage Center at Davis and Elkins College. His published works include two books, many articles, numerous audio recordings, and film and video documentaries. He provided music for the soundtrack of the 1988 feature film "Matewan". His latest book was, “Play of a Fiddle: Traditional Music, Dance, and Folklore in West Virginia”, published by University Press of Kentucky.​
FOTMC 1987 - L. J. Slavin
L.J. Slavin is one of our favorite musicians and was our first Guest of Honor from Florida. He is a talented multi-instrumentalist who plays everything from Appalachian and hammered dulcimer, banjo, and fiddle, to the musical saw.
After his stint as our Guest of Honor, LJ Slavin thought he was ready for the big time. And make it in the big time he did, appearing in the Tony Award winning, the Grapes of Wrath, at the Cort Theater on Broadway in 1990. L.J. appeared on stage playing banjo, harmonic, Jew' s harp and musical saw, with Gary Sinise starring as Tom Joad.
In 1995, L.J. appeared in Woody Guthrie's American Song, playing banjo, fiddle, autoharp, and harmonica. He is in the original cast recording. 1999, found L.J. in a production of Appalachian Strings, stories, songs, and dance, many from the Smithsonian' s Folklife Center. One reviewer wrote, "...the shining moments … belong to L.J. Slavin … wows audiences with his ability to play a handsaw."
L.J. now lives near Chicago in lovely Grayslake, IL. He's a full time musician who plays bluegrass, swing, Irish, world music and other genres in his various bands. He is in the bluegrass group, Whiskey Hollow Band, with Steve Rosen of the Volo Bogtrotters old-time band. He has toured England, Ireland, Scotland and the Shetland Isles twice with his bluegrass group.
FOTMC 1988 - Troy & Lucy Lovelace
Troy Lovelace, was another great old-time fiddler who lived in Florida. Gillespie Gail stated, "In his 80s when we met him, he had a nice hoard of North Carolina and North. Georgia style tunes, some of which are similar to Manco Snead's."
Troy and his wife Lucy performed at several festivals including Pioneer Florida Museum.
​Troy Colman Lovelace was born in Almond, North Carolina on January 31st, 1902. He was the youngest of 6, one brother and four sisters. His father was born in Ireland and taught Troy at the age of 5 to play the fiddle. Troy's mother died when he was seven years old so his father put him in foster care where he was made to work on a farm and sleep in a barn. He was kept from going to school, so he would frequently run away from his foster home. He was finally able to go to school up to the eighth grade, which was the highest grade level at that school. Troy's older brother did road construction work where Troy took a job alongside him. He also formed a three man musical group and did live performances on WPAX radio in Thomasville, GA in 1923. While working in Thomasville he met and married Lucy Smith. Troy kept on playing his fiddle. When he retired Lucy learned to accompany him on the piano where he often took first place at the County music festivals.
Troy and Lucy performed at the prestigious Florida Folk Festival in White Spring, FL. Troy died in 1993 at the age of 91 in Brandon, FL.
- Bio provided by Troy and Lucy's grandson, Lou Rummel
FOTMC 1989 - Mike & Terry Williams
Terry was born and raised in Hamilton, Montana where her parents organized the family into a singing group at early ages. The family would entertain at various activities in the Bitterroot Valley until the children grew older and moved away from home. Terry took piano lessons from a local jazz musician, Jean Roble. and became quite skilled on the keyboard. While attending Carroll College in Helena, Montana she began to play the fiddle and guitar and jammed with many local musicians, most notably the Helena Parlour Pickers. During the 1980's she began entering fiddle contests and won a number of them. She then began to organize fiddle contests in western Montana as well as playing with local string bands for dances and an occasional bar gig.
She and Mike Williams were married in 1989 and continue to play together on a regular basis in a variety of string bands in the area.
Mike Williams’ earliest exposure to live music was strolling string musicians on the beach in St. Petersburg, Florida where he grew up. The other early influence was the record collection of his mother’s sister in Albany, Georgia. He played drums in several groups while in high school and during service in the Navy. He began to play the mandolin in 1964 during the “ Folk Revival.“ He ultimately became proficient on guitar, five-string banjo, and fiddle, all of which he presently teaches.
During his college years he played with various bluegrass and old-time bands in Georgia and North Carolina. After moving to Colorado in 1972, he was a co-founder of the Colorado Bluegrass Music Society. He was instrumental in organizing the Rocky Mountain Bluegrass Festival, as well as serving as editor and contributor to the organization’s newsletter.
Mike moved to Helena, Montana in 1975, where he has continued to teach music and organize concerts and fiddle contests. He was a co-founder of the Helena Folklore Society (1984-87).
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FOTMC 1990 - Allan Block
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Allan passed away on October 23, 2013 at the age of 90 years.
