Biography
Born on 28 March 1920 in Florida, Marion Sumner moved with his family as an infant to Vicco, Kentucky, where he grew up and first picked up the violin. He performed early on with the Payroll Boys and stayed busy throughout the 1930s and 1940s. By the late 1930s he had joined Cousin Emmy’s band, and during World War II he worked alongside Molly O’Day, Lynn Davis, Eddie Hill, Johnnie Wright, and other musicians. Sumner earned the nickname “Fiddle King of the South” for the energetic, stylish way he played, which won him a loyal audience among traditional country listeners. His studio work included sessions with singers Preston Ward and Don Gibson as well as banjoist Lee Sexton, who was born in 1927 in Linefork, Kentucky; on that date Sumner was accompanied by banjo player Freddie Campbell, guitarist and singer Sonny Houston, and bassist Phil Sexton. He also cut paired fiddle recordings with Jesse McReynolds of Jim and Jesse. Among the tunes most closely associated with him is “Lost Indian,” which has turned up on several anthologies of similar artists. Although full albums under his own name remain scarce, individual tracks appear on collections issued by the American Folk Life Center and Smithsonian Folkways. Beyond his standing with listeners, Sumner drew scholarly notice when, in 1996, Ronald Pen—associate professor of musicology at the University of Kentucky School of Music—presented the paper “Marion Sumner: Fiddle King of the South” at the International Country Music Conference in Meridian, Mississippi.