Image Number

Photographer

Date

Rights

Collection

Geographic Term

Subject Term

Personal Subjects

Physical Description

General Note

His apprentice, Trenda Slaughter, who lives in nearby Trenton, has been playing the fiddle for about two years. She was attracted to Jones's smooth fiddling style the first time she heard him. Slaughter is working to learn the bowing, ornamentation, double-stops, slides, and other elements of the style as well as to build a repertory of his tunes. By studying with Jones, she will ensure the continuation of old-time fiddling in her community.

Traditional fiddler Willie David Jones of Old Town, was born in Dixie County in 1923, just a few miles from where he lives today. He comes from a long line of fiddlers that includes his brothers, father, aunt, and great-uncle. Southern old-time fiddling is a blend of Anglo-Celtic dance music traditions and early popular music styles such as ragtime, county, and blues. It is distinguished by hard-driving rhythm, sliding notes, and ringing "drone" strings. Several of the tunes Jones plays, such as "Charleston No. 1," for instance, have been handed down in his family through several generations.