Samantha Bumgarner
By Eric Brightwell
Aunt Samantha Bumgarner was a fiddle and banjo player from North Carolina who, in 1924, became the first woman to record hillbilly music. In doing so, she opened the doors for all the great female hillbilly and country musicians who followed such as Brenda Lee, Iris Dement, Jean Shepard, Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline, Norma Jean, Skeeter Davis, Sue Thompson, Tammy Wynette and countless others.
Samantha Biddix was born in Dillsboro, North Carolina on Halloween, 1878, the same year Black Bart held up his last stagecoach and Thomas Edison patented the phonograph. Her parents were Has Biddix, himself a fiddler, and Sara MaLynda Brown Biddix. Though Biddix showed an early interest in music, her... Read More
- City Of Origin:
- Dillsoboro, North Carolina, United States
- Genre:
- Country, Bluegrass
- Birthdate:
- 10/31/1878
- Death date:
- 12/24/1960