The West Virginia Music Hall of Fame in Charleston has announced their inductees for 2022, after missing two years during the pandemic shutdowns.
Included among this year’s honorees are two bluegrass artists that have contributed greatly during their careers, Buddy Griffin, and The Lonesome Pine Fiddlers.
Griffin excelled on both banjo and fiddle, working professionally in a number of US cities, though he eventually settled back home in the Mountain State where he taught music in schools. During his time on the road he performed with Red Smiley, Joe Meadows, Johnny Russell, and the Goins Brothers. Perhaps his most lasting mark will be his efforts to develop the Bluegrass Music degree program at Glenville State University, where he served as its first director.
The Lonesome Pine Fiddlers were a very popular string band from the 1940s through the 1960s. Started by Ezra Cline in 1938, they initially played a pre-bluegrass style of traditional mountain music, eventually transforming into a bluegrass act in 1949 when Bobby Osborne and Larry Richardson became members.
Over the years the Fiddlers included many artists who became influential in bluegrass, like Curly Ray Cline, Paul Williams, Melvin and Ray Goins, Charlie Cline, Udell McPeake, and Billy Edwards.
Though begun in Bluefield, WV, the group also worked for a time in Detroit, and in Pikeville, KY.
Already members of the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame, the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers will be inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame on June 3 of next year at the Culture Center Theater in Charleston. Along with Buddy Griffin, other honorees will be Parliament-Funkadelic co-founders Fuzzy Haskins and Calvin Simon, classical pianist Barbara Nissman, and Hammond B-3 organist Winston Walls.
Tickets for the induction ceremony are available now from the Hall of Fame web site.
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