Marcus Lowell Stokes was born in Ellijay, Georgia, in 1898, to a family of farmers and musicians. He moved to Atlanta in the early 1920's, soon becoming a prominent figure in the growing country music scene there, In addition to fronting a jazz-influenced group of his own, he played for years with the Skillet Lickers, and was pretty much their lead fiddler from 1928 on, Unfortunately, he was also a drinker, a fighter, and a poor judge of women; and on Christmas night of 1930 a drunken melee ended when somebody grabbed a shotgun and blew off his right hand. He learned to work a bow with a special prosthesis, but his career pretty well stalled out. He played here and there around the South for a while, eventually settling in Oklahoma, where he died in 985,
Lowe Stokes, fiddle; Riley Puckett, guitar.
Atlanta GA 4/14/30 Columbia 15620-D
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