Benton Flippen
Encyclopedia
James Benton Flippen was an old-time fiddler from Mount Airy, North Carolina
. He was one of the last surviving members of a generation of performers born in the early 20th century playing in the Round Peak style centering on Surry County, North Carolina
. His contemporaries included Tommy Jarrell
, Fred Cockerham
, Kyle Creed
, and Earnest East.
Flippen learned to play old-time music early in life from his father, uncles, and brothers. He has composed several original tunes and performed with the Camp Creek Boys. Of late he had been performing with Benton Flippen and the Smokey Valley Boys.
Flippen was a recipient of the 1990 North Carolina Folk Heritage Award
.
, where he first played the banjo during his childhood. His father was an accomplished old time banjo picker, as were his uncles and brothers. During his youth he visited his fiddling uncle John Flippen, quickly turned to playing the fiddle and started playing with the area's noted bands and musicians, among them the Green Valley Boys led by Glenn McPeak, with Esker Hutchins and Leak Caudill. Esker became an important influence on Flippen's fiddling style, which included a heavy bow shuffle and bluesy notation.
In the late 1960s he was asked to fiddle with the Camp Creek Boys, after Fred Cockerham's departure. From the 1970s on, Flippen belonged to the Smokey Valley Boys, an outfit that preserved Flippen's unique musical abilities on recordings. The band also earned awards at numerous fiddling competitions, before disbanding in 1985. In 1990, the North Carolina Folk Heritage Awards honored Flippen, who was recognized for a unique style of string fingering. Flippen was also renowned for his original compositions, which include "Benton's Dream," "Fiddler's Reel," "Sally in the Turnip Patch," and "Smokey Valley Breakdown."
During his career, Flippen took first place numerous times in the fiddle and band contests at the Old Fiddler's Convention in Galax, Virginia
; Union Grove/Fiddler's Grove (having won Fiddler of the Festival three times); the Mount Airy Fiddlers Convention
, and many others. He also played at the Newport Folk Festival
, the 1982 World's Fair
in Knoxville, Tennessee
, the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, the Smithsonian Institution
, the Library of Congress
, the Appalachian String Band Music Festival
in Clifftop, Fayette County, West Virginia
, and many more highly esteemed venues. In 2008, at the age of 88, he headlined the Berkeley Old Time Music Convention in California.
In the late 1990s Flippen reorganized his Smokey Valley Boys with new and previous members. The latest lineup of his band often included Frank Bode singing and playing guitar, William Flippen (Benton's grandson) on guitar, Kevin Fore playing banjo, Verlin Clifton on mandolin, and Andy Edmonds playing banjo and guitar.
Flippen also had a unique two-finger banjo style. He said he found it difficult to play clawhammer banjo, and though he liked hearing it, the three-finger bluegrass
style wasn't quite for him, so he came up with his own heavily syncopated two-finger picking style that combined drive and charm.
Mount Airy, North Carolina
Mount Airy is a city in Surry County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 10,388.-History:Mount Airy was settled in the 1750s as a stagecoach stop on the road between Winston-Salem and Galax, Virginia. It was named for a nearby plantation...
. He was one of the last surviving members of a generation of performers born in the early 20th century playing in the Round Peak style centering on Surry County, North Carolina
Surry County, North Carolina
Surry County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of 2010, the population was 73,673. Its county seat is Dobson.- History :The county was formed in 1771 from Rowan County...
. His contemporaries included Tommy Jarrell
Tommy Jarrell
Tommy Jarrell was an American fiddler, banjo player, and singer from the Mount Airy region of North Carolina's Appalachian Mountains.-Biography:...
, Fred Cockerham
Fred Cockerham
Fred Cockerham was a fiddle and banjo player of American folk music.Cockerham was one of the seven children of Elias and Betty Jane Cockerham in North Carolina. He was one of the most accomplished of all the "Round Peak," North Carolina musicians but is most commonly known as the banjo accompanist...
, Kyle Creed
Kyle Creed
Kyle Creed was an influential musician and banjo luthier of 20th century Appalachia. Along with Tommy Jarrell, and Fred Cockerham, he is considered to be one of the originators of the Roundpeak clawhammer banjo style that developed in the 1960s and came to shape banjo practices in the Old-time...
, and Earnest East.
Flippen learned to play old-time music early in life from his father, uncles, and brothers. He has composed several original tunes and performed with the Camp Creek Boys. Of late he had been performing with Benton Flippen and the Smokey Valley Boys.
Flippen was a recipient of the 1990 North Carolina Folk Heritage Award
North Carolina Folk Heritage Award
The North Carolina Folk Heritage Award is an annual award given out by the North Carolina Arts Council in recognition of traditional artists from the U.S. state of North Carolina. The award was created in 1989. The program was suspended in 2008 due to budget problems. -1990:*The Badget Sisters,...
.
Early life and career
Flippen was raised on a farm in Surry County, North CarolinaSurry County, North Carolina
Surry County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of 2010, the population was 73,673. Its county seat is Dobson.- History :The county was formed in 1771 from Rowan County...
, where he first played the banjo during his childhood. His father was an accomplished old time banjo picker, as were his uncles and brothers. During his youth he visited his fiddling uncle John Flippen, quickly turned to playing the fiddle and started playing with the area's noted bands and musicians, among them the Green Valley Boys led by Glenn McPeak, with Esker Hutchins and Leak Caudill. Esker became an important influence on Flippen's fiddling style, which included a heavy bow shuffle and bluesy notation.
In the late 1960s he was asked to fiddle with the Camp Creek Boys, after Fred Cockerham's departure. From the 1970s on, Flippen belonged to the Smokey Valley Boys, an outfit that preserved Flippen's unique musical abilities on recordings. The band also earned awards at numerous fiddling competitions, before disbanding in 1985. In 1990, the North Carolina Folk Heritage Awards honored Flippen, who was recognized for a unique style of string fingering. Flippen was also renowned for his original compositions, which include "Benton's Dream," "Fiddler's Reel," "Sally in the Turnip Patch," and "Smokey Valley Breakdown."
During his career, Flippen took first place numerous times in the fiddle and band contests at the Old Fiddler's Convention in Galax, Virginia
Galax, Virginia
Galax is an independent city in the southwestern part of the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is bounded to the northeast by Carroll County and to the southwest by Grayson County. The population was 7,042 as of 2010...
; Union Grove/Fiddler's Grove (having won Fiddler of the Festival three times); the Mount Airy Fiddlers Convention
Mount Airy Fiddlers Convention
The Mount Airy Fiddlers Convention is a popular festival devoted to old-time and bluegrass music, as well as related arts such as dance, which takes place each summer at Veterans Memorial Park in Mount Airy, North Carolina, United States. It was established in 1972. It is held on the first weekend...
, and many others. He also played at the Newport Folk Festival
Newport Folk Festival
The Newport Folk Festival is an American annual folk-oriented music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in 1959 as a counterpart to the previously established Newport Jazz Festival...
, the 1982 World's Fair
1982 World's Fair
The 1982 World's Fair, formally known as the Knoxville International Energy Exposition, was held in Knoxville, Tennessee, in the United States. The theme of the exposition was "Energy Turns the World."...
in Knoxville, Tennessee
Knoxville, Tennessee
Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...
, the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
, the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
, the Appalachian String Band Music Festival
Appalachian String Band Music Festival
The Appalachian String Band Music Festival is a weeklong gathering of thousands of string band musicians and their friends from across the country and around the world, who each year since 1990 have assembled near the New River Gorge in West Virginia in late July/early August to celebrate the...
in Clifftop, Fayette County, West Virginia
Clifftop, Fayette County, West Virginia
Clifftop is an unincorporated community in Fayette County, West Virginia, United States.It is the home of historic Camp Washington-Carver, which hosts the Appalachian String Band Music Festival the first weekend in August....
, and many more highly esteemed venues. In 2008, at the age of 88, he headlined the Berkeley Old Time Music Convention in California.
In the late 1990s Flippen reorganized his Smokey Valley Boys with new and previous members. The latest lineup of his band often included Frank Bode singing and playing guitar, William Flippen (Benton's grandson) on guitar, Kevin Fore playing banjo, Verlin Clifton on mandolin, and Andy Edmonds playing banjo and guitar.
Style and technique
Flippen gained popularity among the old-time music community for his unique approach to fiddling. Having rather large hands, he discovered the best way to get around the neck was to slide his index and middle fingers, rather than fingering up and down the scale with all four fingers as most people do — including his mentor, Esker Hutchins. On some tunes, he slid up the neck with one finger as he nearly simultaneously slid down with another. Where most fiddlers make a "D" chord on the neck with the index and ring finger, Flippen did it with index and middle finger. His bowing was described as smooth and heavily shuffled, having been perfected over many years of playing for square dances. As Paul Brown describes in the liner notes to Old Time, New Times, "It cries the blues, shouts a spiritual message, resounds with the celebration of a square dance or house party. It's full of syncopation and stretch, yet solidly down-to-earth."Flippen also had a unique two-finger banjo style. He said he found it difficult to play clawhammer banjo, and though he liked hearing it, the three-finger bluegrass
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
style wasn't quite for him, so he came up with his own heavily syncopated two-finger picking style that combined drive and charm.
Discography
- 1972 — The Smokey Valley Boys (Heritage)
- 1993 — Benton Flippen: Old Time, New Times (RounderRounder RecordsRounder Records, originally of Cambridge, Massachusetts, but now based in Burlington, Massachusetts, is a record label founded in 1970 by Ken Irwin, Bill Nowlin and Marian Leighton-Levy, while all three were still university students...
) - 1997 — Smokey Valley Boys (Easterwood Recordings)
- 2004 — Beware of Dog (Heritage)
- 2005 — Fiddler's Dream (Music Maker)
- 2008 — An Evening at WPAQWPAQWPAQ is an Americana, and Bluegrass formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Mount Airy, North Carolina, serving the Piedmont of North Carolina and the Southside and Southwestern sections of Virginia...
, 1984 (5-String Productions)
External links
- Benton Flippen MySpace page
- Benton Flippen page
- Benton Flippen in World Music: The Rough Guide