Re-Reedy: Appalachian Music, Migration and Memory Revisited

This multi-media presentation will feature video, audio/musical excerpts, and archival materials from a documentary-in-progress about the musical and familial legacy of Frances and John Reedy. The Reedys were early bluegrass musicians who temporarily migrated north from Corbin, Kentucky to work in Dayton, Ohio during the late 1940’s through early 1960’s. There they became part of both a much larger migrant Appalachian population in Ohio as well as a substantial transplanted Appalachian Rock-a-Billy music scene of honky-tonks and independent Bluegrass record labels in the Dayton area. They lived in Dayton during the workweek and commuted home to Kentucky every weekend until the mid-1960’s when they permanently returned to live in Corbin. This session builds on a 2010 ASA presentation on the Reedys and will focus on (1) recent findings from the Kentucky Historical Society about their early career in Harlan, Kentucky; (2) the commercial and home recordings produced in Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio during their migration cycles; and (3) video footage of the Reedys’ sons, Harold and Tim, and their memories of their parents music and migration.