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Gilliam Banmon Grayson (November 11, 1887 – August 16, 1930) was an American Old-time fiddle player and singer. Mostly blind from infancy, Grayson is chiefly remembered for a series of sides recorded with guitarist Henry Whitter between 1927 and 1930 that would later influence numerous country, bluegrass, and rock musicians. Grayson wrote much of his own material, but was also instrumental in adapting several traditional Appalachian ballads to fiddle and guitar formats. His music has been recorded or performed by musicians such as Bob Dylan, Doc Watson, Mick Jagger, the Kingston Trio, and dozens of bluegrass artists, including the Stanley Brothers and Mac Wiseman.〔Barry McCloud (ed.), ''Definitive Country: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Country Music and its Performers'' (New York: Berkley Publishing Group, 1995), pp. 340-341.〕 ==Biography== G.B. Grayson was born in rural Ashe County, North Carolina in 1887 to Benjamin Carrol and Martha Jane Roark Grayson. According to his sister, when G.B. was six weeks old, his sight was damaged when he stared out the window at bright snow for several hours. While he was mostly blind his entire life, he could identify some people from their size and could tell time using a watch with large numbers. When G.B. was two years old, his family moved a few miles west to Johnson County, Tennessee, where he would live for the rest of his life.〔Joe Wilson, Notes in ''The Recordings of Grayson and Whitter'' (liner notes ). County Records, 1998.〕 While G.B.'s family was poor, the Graysons were a fairly prominent family in the mountains along the northern Tennessee-North Carolina border. G.B.'s uncle, James Grayson (1833–1901), was a Union Army officer who helped organize an anti-Confederate uprising in Carter County, Tennessee at the outbreak of the American Civil War and later aided in the capture of legendary North Carolina fugitive Tom Dula. G.B. and Henry Whitter were the first to record the folk song Tom Dooley— based on the capture of Dula— in 1929.〔 G.B. learned to play music at a young age, and was an accomplished fiddler by his early teens. As he was unable to work due to his near-blindness, he began playing at various small venues and dances around Johnson County to make money. Banjoist Clarence Ashley— who also lived in Johnson County— recalled travelling with Grayson to the West Virginia coal mines as early as 1918 to collect money by playing outside coal company pay shacks.〔 In 1927, Grayson met Whitter— who had already had some success as a recording artist— at a fiddler's convention in Mountain City, Tennessee. 〔(A Fiddler's Convention in Mountain City ), Tennessee, from "History of Johnson County 1986" by Thomas W. Gentry, accessed January 9, 2010 on Clarence Ashley website, maintained by Scott Moore.〕 The two recorded eight sides for Gennett Records in October of that year, but their greatest success came with a subsequent Victor session which produced the double-sided "Train 45"/"Handsome Molly", which sold over 50,000 copies in five years.〔 A follow-up session in 1929 brought less success, but Grayson had saved up enough money to buy a new house. On August 16, 1930, Grayson was killed while riding on the running boards of a car outside Damascus, Virginia.〔 He married Rhoda Frances "Fannie" Mahaffey (26 July 1887 - 8 August 1948). They had seven children, six of whom survived into adulthood. She and G.B. are buried in the Gentry Cemetery, near Laurel Bloomery, Tennessee. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「G. B. Grayson」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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