Jimmy McCarroll, fiddle
From Rockwood, Tennessee, about 40 miles west of Knoxville, came the Roane County Ramblers, Jimmy McCarroll always claimed that his tunes were "Indian pieces" learned from his grandmother's Cherokee relatives, but his close friendship with Earl Johnson had something to do with his aggressive style as well. Older versions of "Callahan" involve the story of a fiddling felon by that name, who, on his hanging day, offered his fiddle to anyone in the crowd who could beat him playing this, his favorite tune. Finding no takers, he smashed his fiddle on the gallows and dropped to his death.
The Roane County Ramblers: Jimmy McCarroll, fiddle; John Kelly, mandolin; Howard Wyatt, banjo; Luke Brandon, guitar.
Johnson City TN 10/21/29 Columbia 15570-D
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