For Immediate Release: August 14, 2008
Press Info: Karen Byrd, Karen.byrd@gmail.com (615) 595-1500
General Info: Nancy Cardwell, nancyc@ibma.org (615) 256-3222
BILL CLIFTON AND CHARLES K. WOLFE TO BE INDUCTED INTO INTERNATIONAL
BLUEGRASS MUSIC HALLOF FAME
NASHVILLE, TENN. --IBMA is proud to announce two inductees to the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame for 2008: Bill Clifton, artist and international ambassador for bluegrass music, and the late Charles K. Wolfe, renowned author and cultural historian.
Born April 5, 1931, Bill Clifton grew up in Lutherville, Maryland and began his entertainment career in March, 1950, singing and playing the guitar at radio station WINA in Charlottesville, Virginia. Bill also performed at local barn dances while a student at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, where he later earned his Masters Degree under his birth name, William Marburg. He organized Bill Clifton & The Dixie Mountain Boys in June 1953, recording in 1954 for the Blue Ridge label, and later for the Mercury and Kapps labels. Starday and its budget label, Nashville Records, also released a number of singles and a total of seven LPs by Bill Clifton & The Dixie Mountain Boys from 1957-1963. During this period Clifton was also active in organizational and promotional work with events such as the Newport Folk Festival in Newport, Rhode Island, and one of the early single-day, multi-artist outdoor bluegrass events held at Luray, Virginia, on July 4, 1961.
A longtime student and researcher of American and English folklore, Clifton moved to southern England in 1963, about the time his Starday contract ended. He had built a sizable following overseas through his recordings, and from his home in England he organized many folk clubs throughout Europe, promoting and greatly expanding the market for American bluegrass and folk music on the continent. Clifton’s work created a fan base that has endured and continues to benefit bluegrass artists touring in Europe.
Returning to the U.S. in 1978, Bill has since traveled periodically to Europe and Japan for tours and has recorded several LPs of his own and in collaboration with other artists—including his longtime touring partner, Red Rector. Clifton’s rich catalog of recorded songs includes “Mary Dear,” “Little White Washed Chimney,” “Walking In My Sleep,” “Going Back To Dixie,” “Blue Ridge Mountain Blues” and “Are You Alone.” Sung in a strong, rich voice with driving, traditional bluegrass instrumentation, Clifton’s songs received heavy airplay on many country radio shows from the late 1950s to the mid-‘60s. In 1992 IBMA honored Bill Clifton with a Distinguished Achievement Award.
A self-described “cultural historian,” Charles K. Wolfe was born August 14, 1943, in Sedalia, Missouri, and earned a Ph.D. from the University of Kansas. Gifted and well-respected in all genres of traditional country and bluegrass music as a writer, historian and storyteller, Dr. Wolfe documented musical histories, often with little compensation, and wrote liner notes for scores of albums.
Wolfe authored more than a dozen books, most historical in nature, that provide a priceless written and photographic documentation of the early days of Southern country music and its people. Some examples are DeFord Bailey: A Black Star in Country Music, co-written with David Morton; A Good-Natured Riot: The Birth of The Grand Ole Opry; The Devil’s Box: Masters of Southern Fiddling (1997); and The Music of Bill Monroe, co-authored with Neil Rosenberg and published in 2007.
An intense interest in old-time fiddle music, plus a desire to learn more about Southern popular country music, led Wolfe to accept employment at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro in 1970, where he taught English, science fiction and folklore until his retirement in 2005.
Wolfe was in his element in middle Tennessee—a 30-minute drive from Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry, 15 miles from the birthplace and home of the legendary Uncle Dave Macon in adjoining Cannon County, and with easy access to numerous musicians and entertainers who lived in the area. Here he did invaluable
research and interviews with surviving members of the early bands that were preserved in his later writing. Soon after moving to Tennessee, Wolfe joined the Tennessee Valley Old-Time Fiddlers Association, judging many of their contests, contributing to their quarterly magazine and getting to know many of the fiddlers personally.
For more than 25 years Wolfe was active in the production of the Uncle Dave Macon Days celebration, held each July in Murfreesboro, and he received three Grammy nominations for his work on an album project of obscure, previously unknown Macon recordings.
Dr. Wolfe served for several terms on the IBMA Board of Directors, representing print media and education constituencies. The IBMA honored him in 1990 with its Distinguished Achievement Award.
He died February 9, 2006, in Murfreesboro.
The Hall of Fame inductions will be one of the high points of the International Bluegrass Music Awards, slated for October 2, 2008 at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tenn. Tickets may be purchased online at www.ibma.org or by calling 1-888-GET-IBMA or (615) 256-3222.
The Hall of Fame is housed in the International Bluegrass Music Museum in Owensboro, Kentucky.
