Bud Garrett, Marble Player & Marble Maker
Clay County native and blues musician Bud Garrett received broad attention throughout the South on music tours and at festivals, performing his music and demonstrating flint marble-making (marbles made for playing “rolley hole,” a regional marble game played in the Upper Cumberland River Valley) on his machine constructed from an assemblage of spare auto parts.
This page is dedicated to his craftsmanship and honors his legacy.
The photo above is from the Tennessee State Library and Archives collection of an unidentified men setting up a Rolley Hole marble yard on Bud Garrett’s property in Free Hill, 1987.
Remembering Bud Garrett
Robert “Bud” Garrett died on November 24,1987. Perhaps appropriately, he suffered a heart attack during his third game of the folk marble game “rolley hole” the day before Thanksgiving. Rolley hole has been a tradition in Garrett’s home of Clay County, Tennessee, and the adjoining counties...
Photo of Bud Garrett Making Marbles
Bud Garrett of Free Hill, Tennessee, making marbles at the Rolley Hole Marbles National Championship in Hilham, Tennessee, Sept. 10, 1985. This event was organized by Bob Fulcher and took place at the Standing Stone State Park. -photos courtesy of Tennessee State Library and Archives
Marble Maker & Player
Robert (Bud) Garrett – 1916-1987 Rolley hole, a marbles game involving teams, is regionally played in the Upper Cumberland River Valley. Garrett was a popularizer of the game and in the 1940’s he invented a marble-making machine. His marbles, while not always completely smooth, were prized for...