Biography
Born on November 17, 1880, in Allen, Kentucky, Rufus Crisp first took up the banjo as a teenager under instruction from his neighbor Gabe Frazier, igniting a deep and lasting engagement with the instrument along with the surrounding folk heritage. He remained rooted in the Floyd County area of Kentucky for his entire life, earning his living as a mail carrier while performing at regional folk dances. Reports indicate he held command of hundreds of traditional numbers, several of which he committed to tape for the Library of Congress Folk Archive in 1946. Pete Seeger has cited Crisp as the instructor who showed him the clawhammer frailing approach to banjo playing, an influence that, though rarely acknowledged, reached far and wide among other Kentucky players of the instrument. He passed away on June 9, 1956.
Albums