Hoyt Ming

Hoyt Ming (October 6, 1902 – April 28, 1985) was an American old-time fiddler.

Biography

Hoyt Ming was born in Choctaw County, Mississippi on October 6, 1902.[1] Later, in his life he married Rozelle Ming (April 25, 1907 - September 29, 1983); the couple performed together for the rest of Hoyt's life.[1][2] He played fiddle with the Pep Steppers, a family old-time band from Tupelo featuring Hoyt (fiddle), Rozelle (guitar) and Hoyt's brother Troy on mandolin,[3] sometimes billed as "Floyd Ming and the Pep Steppers", instead of using his real name "Hoyt". Hoyt and his band recorded for Ralph Peer and RCA Victor on February 13, 1928 at the Peabody Hotel including their most famous song "Indian War Whoop" which was included on the album Anthology of American Folk Music.[1][4][5] The recorded band also featured A.D. Coggins doing the set calling.[3] At the same session the band also recorded "White Mule", "Old Red", and "Tupelo Blues".[3]

Before recording, they played at fiddlers' contests, county fairs, political rallies, and rural picnics— and sometimes for dances, though they disliked the drinking that went on, and as soon as they had young children to bring up, they quit the dance halls.[6] They performed at local dances and fairs until about 1957, when he stopped playing. Interest in the band revived in the 1970s. They took to the stage at the National Folk Festival at Wolf Trap Farm in 1973 in the Washington D.C. area where they would record the album "New Hot Times" and at the 1974 Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife as well as other shows.[3][7][8] They also appeared in a film, Ode to Billy Joe.[7]

For most of his life he was a potato farmer. Hoyt sold potato plants, partly direct to other farmers and farming cooperatives, but in high season, from April to the end of July, through small ads in papers like Progressive Farmer and Southern Agriculturist . He and Rozelle told me they once counted and bunched 30,000 plants in a day.[6]

Early life

Hoyt learned fiddle at the age of fifteen, while living in Choctaw County, near Ackerman Mississippi. Both his brothers also played musical instruments, his brother Troy learning mandolin and Ethel taking up guitar as to accompany his brothers playing. By 1924, Hoyt had moved to Lee County where he met his wife Rozelle Young, an accomplished musician playing violin, piano, organ, mandolin, and guitar. She would join the band, replacing Ethel on guitar.[3]

Legacy

"Indian War Whoop" was featured in the 2023 Martin Scorsese film Killer of the Flower Moon, in the scene where Ernest Burkhart first meets his to-be wife. The tune "Tupelo Blues" is performed by the string band during the wedding dance scene.

Discography

Peabody Hotel Recordings (1928)

Title Label Number[8][9] Recording Location[8] Recording Date[8]
"Indian War Whoop" Victor 21294 Memphis, Tennessee February 13, 1928
"Old Red" Victor 21294
"White mule" Victor 21534
Tupelo Blues Victor 21534

New Hot Times (1973)

Side Title Label Recording Location Recording Date
A1 Old Red Homestead Records (103) Washington, D.C. 1973
A2 New Hot Times
A3 Bonnie Blue Flag
A4 Carroll County Blues
A5 Monkey In The Dog Cart
A6 Drafting Blues
A7 Mississippi Sawyer
B1 Cripple Coon
B2 Rattlesnake Daddy
B3 Old Hen Cackled
B4 Tupelo Blues
B5 Charleston No. 2
B6 Pallet On The Floor
B7 Indian War Whoop

References

  1. ^ a b c r2WPadmin. "Ming, Hoyt, and His Pep Steppers". Mississippi Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2022-02-25.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ Myers, Leslie R. (June 7, 1983). "Strings, yodel sow seeds of country sound". Clarion-Ledger. p. 21. Retrieved February 23, 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d e May Meade, liner notes for New Hot Times!, Hoyt "Floyd" Ming and His Pep-Steppers, recorded 1973, Homestead Records 103, 1973.
  4. ^ "Ag museum to host concert by string band". The Northside Sun. October 25, 1984. p. 16. Retrieved February 23, 2022.
  5. ^ "Ming And Pep Steppers Will Fiddle At The Fair". The Star-Herald. September 23, 1973. p. 14. Retrieved February 23, 2022.
  6. ^ a b Russell, Tony. Country Music Originals : The Legends and the Lost, Oxford University Press, Incorporated, 2010. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/etsu/detail.action?docID=415214.
  7. ^ a b Liner notes to Classic Old-Time Fiddle from Smithsonian Folkways, SFW CD 40193. Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, 2007.
  8. ^ a b c d Russell, Tony; Pinson, Bob (2004). Country Music Records: A Discography, 1921-1942. Oxford University Press. p. 629. ISBN 0199881545.
  9. ^ "Ming, Hoyt - Discography of American Historical Recordings". adp.library.ucsb.edu. Retrieved 2022-04-12.

Further reading

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.