French (Curley) Mitchell was a well-known American fiddler from

Buffalo, West Virginia Buffalo is a town in Putnam County, West Virginia, United States, located along the Kanawha River. The population was 1,211 at the time of the 2020 census It is part of the Huntington–Ashland metropolitan area. History Along with numerous si ...

. French played the fiddle for more than 60 years and was a regular at the annual

Vandalia Gathering The Vandalia Gathering is a popular festival devoted to old-time and bluegrass music, as well as related arts such as dance, quilt making, and cooking, which takes place each summer on the state capitol grounds in Charleston, West Virginia, Un ...

on the statehouse grounds in Charleston.

Performances

His first professional music job came in the mid-20s, when he and his brother, Auvil, and a banjo player formed the Buffalo Nighthawks and played on ''The Old Farm Hour'' on Charleston radio station WOBU. Curley performed on the

WMMN WMMN (920 AM broadcasting, AM) is a conservative talk formatted Broadcasting, broadcast radio station licensed to Fairmont, West Virginia, serving North-Central West Virginia. WMMN is owned and operated by Laurel Highland Total Communications, In ...

''Sagebrush Roundup'' radio show in the late 1930s. The Mitchell brothers went on to play in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

, and later in Wheeling on the

WWVA Jamboree The ''Wheeling Jamboree'' is the second-oldest country music radio broadcast in the United States after the ''Grand Ole Opry''. The Jamboree originated in 1933 in Wheeling, West Virginia on WWVA, the first radio station in West Virginia and a 5 ...

with Cowboy Loye and Tex Harrison. Mitchell played professionally off and on for the next 20 years.Picture of French "Curley" Mitchell with Cowboy Loye from Myrtle Duke's Album of the Wheeling Jamboree
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Recordings

French had one album recorded by the West Virginia Division of Culture and History when he was in his 70s. It was called ''First Fiddle'' and contained old favorites as well as several of his own compositions. The album is now out of print. He has one track (''

Turkey in the Straw "Turkey in the Straw" is an American folk song that first gained popularity in the 19th century. Early versions of the song were titled "Zip Coon", which were first published around 1834 and performed in minstrel shows, with different people cl ...

'') on the LP called "The Music Never Dies: A Vandalia Sampler, 1977-1987" (Elderberry ER004).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, French 20th-century American fiddlers American banjoists People from Buffalo, West Virginia Old-time fiddlers Year of birth missing Year of death missing