Homer "Pappy" Lee Sherrill (March 23, 1915,
Sherrills Ford, North Carolina
Sherrills Ford is an unincorporated community and former census-designated place (CDP) in Catawba County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 941 at the 2000 census. For the 2010 census it was included within the Lake Norman of Cat ...
- November 30, 2001) was an American Old Time and
Bluegrass fiddler.
Pappy received his first fiddle, a tin model from Sears and Roebuck, at the age of seven. His first professional performance was in 1928 at Radio Station
WSOC in
Gastonia, North Carolina. In 1934 Pappy was performing for the Crazy Water Barn Dance on
Charlotte, North Carolina's WBT radio station. It was while playing for Crazy Water Crystals that Pappy joined
The Blue Sky Boys at station
WWNC in
Asheville, NC
Asheville ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the state's 11th-most populous cit ...
and later The Crazy Blue Ridge Hillbillies at station
WGST in
Atlanta, Ga. There, he met his wife and formed another band named The Smiling Rangers and moved back to Raleigh, NC at
WPTF
WPTF (680 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station broadcasting a news/talk radio format. Licensed to Raleigh, the station serves the Research Triangle area of North Carolina. It is owned by the Curtis Media Group, with studios located on Highwood ...
and then to
Danville, VA
Danville is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States, located in the Southside Virginia region and on the fall line of the Dan River. It was a center of tobacco production and was an area of Confederate activity ...
for station
WBTM
WBTM is an adult contemporary formatted broadcast radio station licensed to Danville, Virginia, serving Southern Pittsylvania County in Virginia and Northern Caswell County in North Carolina. WBTM is owned and operated by Piedmont Broadcasting Co ...
.
In October 1939 Pappy joined the
WIS Hillbillies. This introduced Pappy to
Dewitt "Snuffy" Jenkins and began a musical friendship that would endure throughout their lifetime. In 1948
Byron Parker
Byron Wesley Parker (born March 7, 1981) is a former gridiron football cornerback. He was signed by the Jacksonville Jaguars as an undrafted free agent in 2004. He played college football and college basketball at Tulane.
Parker was also a memb ...
, "The Hired Hand", died. To honor the memory of their dear friend the WIS Hillbillies underwent a name change and became The Hired Hands. The Hired Hands became a veritable force in the country music scene in South Carolina and in 1954 they appeared on
WIS-TV's very first day of broadcast. There, the group conducted a television show, "Carolina in the Morning."
References
External links
Homer Sherrill on Allmusic.comSnuffy Jenkins and Pappy Sherrill (myspace.com)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sherrill, Pappy
1915 births
2001 deaths
American bluegrass fiddlers
20th-century American musicians
People from Sherrills Ford, North Carolina
People from Chapin, South Carolina
Country musicians from North Carolina
Country musicians from South Carolina