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Alton Stitcher inducted into Atlanta Country Music Hall of Fame
December 1, 2004
CARROLLTON, GA - With the help of University of West Georgia’s Center for Public History, a Carroll County man is getting his due.
The
Atlanta Country Music Association inducted Villa Rica native Alton Stitcher
into its Hall of Fame Saturday, Nov. 27. Sticher, 88, was a featured artist
of the center’s Regional Music Project which produced “Everybody’s
Tuned to the Radio: Rural Music Traditions in West Georgia, 1947-1979.”
That compilation of “hillbilly music” by various artists from
Carroll County included four of Stitcher’s home recordings from
1959.
A second CD, “I Hear a Sweet Voice Calling,” featured over 70 minutes of timeless music with deep roots in American tradition with new recordings.
Dr. Ann McCleary, director of the center, says the CDs gave Stitcher an outlet for his music and, with his history of playing on WLBB during the 1940s and 50s, led to his recognition by the Atlanta Country Music Hall of Fame.
"The Center for Public History is proud to have produced this CD of Alton Stitcher's music,” McCleary said. “His repertoire of ballads, folk songs, country music, and personal compositions represent the wealth of regional musical traditions in our community. We are pleased that we were able to present this wonderful folk artist to a wider community. Through the CD, his songs have already gained national and international recognition."
McCleary added that the CD has become very popular in England. So popular in fact, BBC Radio executives have called the center to inquire if Stitcher plans a tour across the big pond.
Stitcher was naturally humble about his award, citing former UWG graduate student Mick Buck, who produced the CDs, for helping lobby the association.
“They were some of the nicest people I believe I’ve ever talked to,” Stitcher pointed out. “They acted like they were so happy to have me there. I tell you if it weren’t for Mick Buck, I’d probably still be sitting on the couch. When he interviewed me for the first CD, he said I needed to get out and play.”
Born in Villa Rica in 1916, Stitcher grew up in the West Georgia countryside where he absorbed many of the traditional folk songs, ballads and hymns he sings on the CDs. In 1936, he made his debut as a radio performer in Griffin, and between 1947 and 1963, Stitcher performed regularly on Carrollton radio station WLBB, where he helped keep old-time country music alive.
Through the Regional Music Project, faculty and students from the Center for Public History are documenting the music traditions of the West Georgia region. The Center is continuing to collect oral histories, historic recordings, and other documents and artifacts connected to this music as part of its mission is to research, document, preserve and promote public discussion of the history and resources — architectural, cultural and folk life — of West Georgia and the surrounding region.
Along with Stitcher’s unique interpretations of traditional songs such as Listen to the Mockingbird and Babes in the Woods, and early country classics like Kentucky and Have I Told You Lately That I Love You, the CD features nine of his own compositions, including My Georgia Mountain Home and Model-T Love.
Stitcher is accompanied on the CD by a number of talented musical guests from his past and present. Joining him in the studio on the 18 new recordings on the disc were Faye Marshall, who sang and played guitar with Stitcher on the radio during the late 1940s; his niece, vocalist Donna Fuller; Russell McClanahan on mandolin, banjo, and harmonica; and master fiddler James Bryan and his daughter Rachel Bryan, from Mentone, Ala.
In addition, the disc includes 10 of Stitcher’s home recordings from the 1950s and 60s. Uncle John Patterson, Carrollton’s late, great “Banjo King,” and vocalists Lee Williams and Elizabeth Cooper are featured on these vintage recordings.
The Center is currently in preproduction for “Set Your Fields on Fire: Sacred and Gospel Music Traditions in West Georgia,” made possible by a grant from the Georgia Council for the Arts’ Total Folk Life Project. The new CD will include both new and historic recordings by 15 to 20 different artists and groups, including Stitcher. The center also received a $1,000 grant from the Community Foundation of West Georgia.
For more information on this project contact the UWG Center for Public History at 678-839-6141.
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