Band
L.W. Lambert
Banjo player and bluegrass musician
Olin, NC (Iredell County)
Banjo picker Luin Wilford Lambert, Jr., was born in 1926, in the Summers community of Wilkes County. His father, L.W., and mother, Grace Luella Gregory Lambert, both played banjo, and in 1938 they formed a family band called the Carolina Neighbors. With L.W. Sr. on the banjo, L.W. Jr. on the guitar, and his sister LaVaughn on the mandolin, the group played at local social events.
Read more about L.W. LambertCarol Rifkin
Music writer, oldtime musician and dancer
Asheville, NC (Buncombe County)
Carol Rifkin has been deeply involved in the music of Western North Carolina for decades, as a writer whose work appears in the Asheville Citizen-Times and prominent music magazines, and as a performer, dancing and playing oldtime and country music.
Read more about Carol RifkinChuck and Peggy Patrick
Oldtime musicians and craftspeople
Brasstown, NC (Clay County)
Chuck and Peggy Patrick, natives of Blairsville, Georgia, grew up learning traditional mountain music and crafts. Peggy's father and grandmother were both square dance callers, and from her family she learned much oldtime and gospel music. Chuck, who is also an oldtime musician, was trained by his stepfather in several traditional crafts. His stepfather's family ran Jackson Forge in Blairsville, and taught Chuck blacksmithing skills, which he uses today in his crafting of knives and other edged tools.
Read more about Chuck and Peggy PatrickLena Jean Ray
Ballad singer
Asheville, NC (Buncombe County)
Lena Jean Ray grew up surrounded by some of the most acclaimed musicians of the North Carolina mountains—her father, fiddler Byard Ray, her great-aunt Dellie Norton, her father's partner and friend Obray Ramsey, and many others. She loved and learned the music of her family and community, and in doing so carried her family's musical traditions into a seventh generation.
Read more about Lena Jean Ray
