Vol. VIII NO 3. | THE ELLER FAMILY ASSOCIATION | AUG 1994 |
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The Ellers of North Georgia:
LAWRENCE AND VAUGHN ELLER
Lawrence and Vaughn7 (Grady,6 Alfred Webb,5 Joseph,4 Susannah,3 Jacob,2 Jr. , Jacob1 Sr.)
Goin' to Georgia
The Eller Brothers and Ross Brown
(Submitted by EFA member Dorothy Newbold, P.O. Box 507, Ball Ground, GA 30107.)
(From a special insert in one of the LP 546 stereo recording produced by Flyright Records, 18 Endwill Road, Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex, by Art Rosenbaum, 1978.)
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Reared several miles .apart in the pre-Depression isolation of Towns County, Eller, 68, and Brown, 74, were brought up in a time and place of homemade bread and homegrown entertainment. The jokester of the group, Brown claims that be was inspired to learn the fiddle at age 12 by a sow that his family allowed to sleep under the house. "When she'd scratch her back against the floor joists, it would strike a tune somewhere between 'Amazing Grace' and 'Shout Lula.' I decided if I could ever Play that good. I'd be happy," Brown deadpanned while chickens clucked and scratched in Eller's front yard, adding a down-home touch to his cornball tale. In 1980, with the help of Reynolds, who is a folklorist with the Foxfire Fund, the Eller brothers and Brown were invited to the National Folk Festival at Wolf Trap Farm Park near Washington, D.C. The next year they Performed at the Smithsonian's festival of American Folk Life, an annual summer event on the mall in Washington. But Vaughn's failing health forced him to retire from the group before the Washington honor, so they recruited Cunningham to take his place as rhythm guitarist and part. time vocalist. The four also have performed at folk festivals through. out the Southeast. |
Cunningham is the only member ever to pursue a professional country music career. Although he was brought up listening to the Elers, Brown and others around Hiawassee, he fell in love with the Texas swing of the late 1940s and early 1950s, touring the nation with a band. He soon returned home, where he has supervised the music portion of the Georgia Mountain Fair for 32 years and has become a local celebrity for his fiddle playing. |
Smithsonian sending North Georgia grass-roots musicians to Scotland | |
By John Harmon Special to The Journal Constitution HIAWASSEE, Ga. It's grass-roots music - country music of an era before electricity came to the Georgia mountains and before pop-oriented Nashville dominated the airwaves. |
Eller and Brown, accompanied by guitarists Howard Cunningham of Hiawassee and George Reynolds of Rabun Gap, are one of seven American acts selected by the Smithsonian Institution to represent American Music at the Edinburgh International Festival in Scotland next month. |
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Page 24 | Mountain Home Companion | January 1989 |
Lawrence Eller By Dale Thurman | |
As I look out of my Georgia Mountain Fair office window, I see the stage that "Lawrence Eller and Friends" preformed on each day of the Fair. For many years Lawrence and his brother Vaughn shared their very unique form of mountain music with the many thousands of people that came to the Fair. |
�Lawrence Eller and Friends� were one of the five groups from the U.S.A. that were invited to attend this event. When talking about his trip, Lawrence would fondly remember the new friends he had made in Scotland. With the passing of Lawrence Eller, a unique form of music is gone forever. He left an emptiness in our hearts, but I know he and Vaughn are back together entertaining an even bigger audience. |
Lawrence's Grandfather From Hearthstones at Home, Col. I, 1983 � Edited by Jerry A. Taylor ALFRED WEBB ELLER Alfred Webb Eller, son of Joseph and Mariah Hedden Eller, was born June 18, 1843 in the Hightower community where he served in the local Militia district #1133 during the Civil War. On July 15, 1862 he went to Clayton, Georgia where he enlisted July 15, 1862 in Company F, 11th Regt. Cav., Georgia Vols., C.S.A. In his late years Alfred received a Veteran's pension for his service. |
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