Hi Frank & fellow musical enthusiasts... Just Wait A Year & Voila! I have this album and am listening to it as I write... I have no idea how I ended up with my vinyl copy, or what exact year it is...but there it was in a box this afternoon, possibly having been acquired at an estate sale or thrift store for the cover art & now has been stored for a couple decades... I'll send some pics up online if I can ...here are some excerpts gleaned or paraphrased off the liner notes:
Virg came from a musical family with 2 of his uncles being fiddlers. One of them a champion.
Virg played professionally with various groups, including the well known "Blue Ridge Mountaineers", doing stage & radio work. While following this musical career through the 30's, another love was flying. He earned his pilot's license and worked as a flight instructor until 1942. He then served in the Air Force as a Captain in WWII. After his separation from the Air Force, he was a commercial pilot, but the fiddle was never too far away.
Virg began entering fiddle contests and at the time the LP was recorded was California State Champion and won top honor's in the national old time Fiddler's Contest.
Frank Hicks has been playing guitar with Virg Evans since they met at an old time fiddling contest 3 years prior to this LP. He says he was inspired as a boy by Riley Puckett, who was a well known old time guitarist in the late 1920's.
Frank played professionally until 1950, but now is a railroad engineer, playing only as a hobby, other than occasional dances & nightclubs.
Ken Hall is listed as an unsurpassed manodolinist who has played with Frank Hicks for "some time" . It was through Frank that Ken met Virg and they spent many hours practicing & arranging. Ken has been well known to the folk music world since the 1930's and there is always a group both young & old alike standing around, amazed at his playing.
stay tuned and I will post a pic soon...
Post by Frank HoppeHi all. I came across an album by Virg Evans from 1975 and was
wondering about the artist. My copy is just digital audio so I have no
pictures, but supposedly Virg is backed on mandolin by Kenny Hall.
Have you heard about this bluegrass fiddler? Anybody have pix of the
cover or liner notes for "The Flying Fiddler"? Thanks.