Bud Garrett: Bluesman (audio only from 1981, 22:30 minutes).
Patriarch of the rural African American community in Free Hill, Tennessee, near Celina, Bud Garrett (1916-1987) was a widely-known character among players of the unique “rolley-hole” marble game local to surrounding counties along the Tennessee-Kentucky line. His handmade flint marbles were prized by shooters throughout the region, and the marble yard that Bud maintained on Free Hill was an active social scene among the game’s many enthusiasts—black and white alike. Bud also grew up around music and became a skilled guitarist and singer, exposed to a wide variety of musical influences. As a bluesman, he followed the stylings of postwar urban blues, and was drawn to wide-ranging novelty songs that suited his outgoing manner, some of which he wrote himself.
He had aspirations to record and some contacts in Nashville’s R&B recording scene, but he only released a single 45 on the Excello label.
Betsy Peterson’s 1981 work with the Tennessee State Parks Folklife Project led to Bud’s frequent appearances as both as a marble-maker and a performer at regional events and at the 1986 Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife, for which his engaging personality made him especially well-suited.
Bud was also featured on “Free Hill A Sound Portrait Of A Rural Afro-American Community” (TFS-107) a documentary LP released by the society in 1985, and he was later the subject of Peterson’s doctoral dissertation.
The following recordings come from Bud’s performance at the TFS 1981 annual meeting.
0:57 – Can’t Tell Which Way the Train Went by Looking at the Tracks
4:08 – Love is a 5 letter word
8:03 – Good God-Fearing Man
11:52 – I Walk the Backstreets and Cry
15:50 – Fare Thee Well Little Bitty Joe
18:15 – Kansas City
– This material is provided by the Tennessee Folklore Society