The Old Country Store
In 1973 I was at Centre College in Danville, Ky working on a bachelor degree in Philosophy and Religion. It's hard to see how this would lead to Appalachian banjo. I didn't have a banjo at the time. But I had a guitar. I picked up a guitar in high school....at a tire store (go figure) in downtown Corbin, Ky. It hurt my fingers to play, but I was obsessed with it. My dad passed by me one day. I must have looked painfully inept as I worked on that blasted guitar. He said, "That won't last long." My dad, always the encouraging word.
But it did last. The thing was...I just couldn't put it down....ever since 1969. Then came the banjo.
When I went in search of the banjo sound in 1974 I came to C. B. Caudill's Store in Blackey, Ky by way of an article in the Courier Journal's human interest section. I met Joe and Gaynell Begley who owned the store. It had a long covered porch with weathered floor boards. We were sitting around one day and Joe said that he quit school "at the Little Big Horn". I said, " You quit school?" He said, "I was in the eighth grade and we were studying the history of the westward movement. I got tired of reading about it because everytime the soldiers won they called it a 'victory' and everytime the Indians won they called it a 'massacre'. Then we came to the Battle of the Little Big Horn. I held my hand up and the teacher said, 'You got a question, Joe?' I said, 'Yes, I'd like to know what is the difference between a soldier's victory and an Indian massacre?' He didn't have an answer and I walked out of school that day and never came back. I went to my mamaw's and told her I left school. She said, 'Well, maybe now, you'll get an education.'"
Many times I went to C.B. Caudill's store. It was a real old time country store. They had everything in it- tools, groceries, feed sacks, barrels, lard buckets, and pop. And many times Austin Miller was there playing his banjo on the porch. Just thumping away with his foot and playing a relaxed tune. Austin played banjo for himself and whoever might pass by. He didn't play gigs. He just played for his own pleasure. One neighbor listened there on the porch said, "That's mighty fine playing!" He replied softly, "It ain't much."
I recorded tune after tune. Again, I didn't know what I was recording. When I went back to the recording years later I found that Austin Miller had a very unique two finger method of playing the banjo. For the life of me I can't figure out what he is doing. It is a style all his own. I asked friends about Austin Miller. Someone led me to a short recording that Alice Gerard made of him. And that is it.
Below is one of the recordings I made of Austin Miller. I have pictures to go with the recording- one of Austin Miller, then of the store and some of Blackey,Ky. He's playing "Down South Blues" and one he called "Pretty Little Miss". We are on the porch of the C.B. Caudill store.
Austin Miller played another tune that he said was "an old dance tune". He called it, "Twice Sixteen Equals Thirty Two". I have played at many an old time jam over the years- scores and scores of tunes. But I have yet to run into this tune. Here it is. I am playing a two finger style banjo, emulating Austin Miller's playing. Not close, maybe. I am still looking for that sound on the banjo. So far, only Austin Miller knows.
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