Hill Billies

This eclectic band played music rooted in the Southern Appalachians and was founded by banjo player John Rector (b. c. 1900, USA, d. 28 August 1985, USA), the owner of a general store in Fries, Virginia. Rector recorded in New York for OKeh Records with Henry Whitter and James Sutphin as Whitter's Virginia Breakdowners. In Galax, Virginia, in 1924, Rector heard guitarist Joe Hopkins, his singer brother, Al Hopkins (b. 1889, d. 1932) and fiddler Alonzo Elvis ‘Tony' Alderman (b. 1900, d. 1983), and persuaded them to record with him in New York. The Victor Recording Company cut ...