The Wright Family — It Was His Love
A wonderful singing, indeed. Links
Conway, AR, Harrison Mayes Marker considered for the National Register of Historic Places
Apparently, Conway’s Harrison Mayes Marker, that I documented here and that kicked off my interest in Mayes’ work which resulted in this website, is nominated for the National Register of Historic Places. The Arkansas properties that will be considered by the State Review Board come from all over the state and illustrate the rich and…
The A. L. Phipps Family
The Phipps Family from Kentucky was known as a musical family “in the Carter Family tradition”. Founded in the last years of the depression, Arthur Leroy Phipps and his wife Kathleen Norris Helton started to play their own songs of traditional mountain music. Their friendship with A.P. Carter and the Carter Family, as well as…
Leonard Bowles and Irvin Cook
I heard about Bowles and Cook first on the Smithsonian Folkways “People’s Pick’s” playlist series that got kicked off by my friend Daniel Bachman in 2015. He described their music best in his notes, writing: It seems appropriate that this is the first song on the playlist because it was the first I ever heard…
Rev. Ernest C. Martin
Ernest C. Martin was a bluegrass and country gospel musician and evangelist from Clay City, Kentucky. Born on January 27, 1914, in Clay City, he began his career in music at an early age, playing the banjo, guitar, and banjolina, and singing in church, school dances, and pie suppers. He gained his first steady radio…
Rev. Dallas Alexander
Dallas Alexander was a prominent figure in the Ohio bluegrass scene, born in Jackson County, Kentucky. He began playing guitar at age 14 and moved to Ohio in 1954. After his spiritual conversion in 1961, Alexander devoted his music to spreading the gospel message. Throughout the 1960s and 70s, Alexander recorded and produced several albums…
Poor Valley Pentecostal Holiness Church, Rose Hill, VA
Primitive church building, serviced by a group of teenagers from Virginia, close to the Kentucky border. I assume the church was built and active in the summer and fall of 2013. These kids were signs followers and seem to have taken it quite serious. The church building looks like a remodeled shag, has outhouses and…
New and Updated Harrison Mayes Markers and Signs
Since I began documenting Henry Harrison Mayes work online, I knew I would rely on people who know more than I do and visited places I will never be able to visit. I found that the people who conserved the most knowledge before internet posts on blogs or social media were a thing, were three…
Highway Mile Marker 0: Cardboard Sign
I found references to Mayes markers in the book Mountain Holiness: A photographic narrative from 2003 which can be ordered via the UT Press website or borrowed digitally over at archive.org. It features markers in Ewing, VA, Harlan, KY and this cardboard sign by Mayes. Photography by Warren E. Brunner
A Mayes Sign at Finster’s Paradise Garden
Last year I found out that Henry Harrison Mayes and Folk Art legend Rev. Howard Finster knew each other and Mayes even influenced Finster with his sign ministry. The first clue about this relationship I found in Norman Girardot’s book Envisioning Howard Finster: The Religion and Art of a Stranger from Another World. And digging…
The Appalachian Storyteller – Appalachia’s Sign Man
The YouTube Channel “The Appalachian Storyteller” features Harrison Mayes story. Found my Conway, AR sign in there, so I assume one or another image was sourced from here as well. Which is cool. I found a few more leads in the comments, so maybe I’m able to add more to the map.
“Get Right With God” road sign, Indiana, Mississippi, March 1977 by William R. Ferris
It’s hard to tell if this is a genuine Mayes cross. I’ve seen images of crosses with a similar typeface attributed to him. Those were older, and given the bad paint job and the time frame of William R. Ferris photo, this might be one of those older crosses, painted over by someone who “took…
Evangelist Clarence Jackson & The Christian Family – I Wanna See Jesus (1970)
praise the lord, that’s old time holy ghost down home singing Great post by Gospel Boogie podcast
Harrison Hayes (sic!) and Middlesboro, KY mentioned in the book “The Serpent Handlers: Three Families and Their Faith” by Fred Brown, and Jeanne McDonald
Harrison Mayes is mentioned in the book “The Serpent Handlers: Three Families and Their Faith” by Fred Brown and Jeanne McDonald, which depicts the well-known Coots family in Middlesboro, KY.
All for Jesus Singers
The book The Persecuted Prophets by Karen W. Carden, Robert W. Pelton mentioned the existence of a music group called the All for Jesus Singers that went “on tour”. This is at least the second mention of a named music project out of the serpent handling community, beside Tommy and Lou Coots. Although only the…
Exterior view of a house, Leslie County, Kentucky, 1949
There is a high probability that this is an early sign made by Harrison Mayes, photographed by Eliot Elisofon for the feature “The Fruitful Mountaineers” in the TIME Magazine, Dec. 1949. The photo doesn’t appear in the magazine, but in a blog post, that is not publicly available any more (archived version). Time Magazine, Dec….
Two Faux Signs?
I found these two photos that resemble Harrison Mayes’ work, but I’m not 100% certain. His typography has undoubtedly influenced them. Photographer Don Dudenbostel posted some more photos and some background information on this photography forum.
Mayes Portrait by Eleanor Dickinson
Scholar and artist Eleanor Dickinson is responsible for getting Henry Harrison Mayes work into the Library of Congress. She conducted countless interviews with the Mayes, brought Rev. Howard Finster and Brother Mayes together, and documented the culture of the mountain folks. The book REVIVAL! contains Dickinson’s beautiful line-drawings, photos of religious services, artifacts, and stories…
Connecting the Dots: The Music of Serpent Handlers – the Coots Duo and the Coots Duet.
This photo above, is clipped from the National Geographic Snake Salvation series. Initially I took a screenshot because I collect these kinds of photos, but later I came back for another reason. I discovered the Alabama Astronaut podcast, which explores the music of the serpent handlers. There they mention the Coots family, and that Jamie…