About Me
John Morgan Salyer was one of the last of the great traditional fiddlers of eastern Kentucky. He was born into an extraordinary musical world that flourished in rural isolation before the days of recording technology and that had largely disappeared by the middle of the twentieth century. We know that world largely through legend, but because John Salyer's family had the foresight and dedication to record his playing some fifty years ago, a piece of the old music of eastern Kentucky has been kept alive.Salyer enlisted in the United States Army in 1901 and served three years in the Phillipine Islands. He attended the public schools of Magoffin County and taught one school at the head of Licking River. After his 3 year tour of duty in the Spanish American War, he was engaged in farming in his native county. Later in life, he was elected Police Judge of Salyersville, KY. He always liked reminiscing with citizens of the county, recalling dates of marriage, births and deaths and great periods of history. He was remembered by lots of people as "Fiddlin" John SALYER (contributed by Mr. & Mrs. Grover SALYER) Old-time fiddler, John M. SALYER and his two sons, Grover and Glen, were invited by the Sandy Valley Grocery Company to be entertainers on an excursion to the 1933 World's Fair at Chicago, Illinois. The train started picking up passengers in Pikeville, KY and continued to Cincinnati, Ohio. The father and son trio boarded the train early in the morning at Paintsville. Immediately they began making music from car to car. John played the fiddle, Grover the guitar, and Glen the mandolin. The playing continued until they arrived in Cincinnati. There they were joined by the Gibson Girl singers. From there to Chicago, they alternated singing and playing. The trip was uninterrupted until they stopped in Kankakee, Illinois to switch engines. The next stop was Chicago about 10:30 at night. There they were greeted by a bag-pipe band. Most of the passengers had never heard bag-pipes before. In Chicago, they stayed at the Stevenson Hotel. The second night the SALYERS were invited to play for a dance in the million dollar ballroom of the Knickerbocker Hotel. The dance floor was make of glass blocks with many colored lights in it. There were 6500 people there; some wanted waltz music, some wanted square dance, and fox trot, others wanted Virginia reel or jig music. John said to them, "We'll play our kind of music and you dance any kind of dance you can!" They saw many new inventions from all over the world. One of special interest, and most mysterious, was to break a beam of light to turn on a drinking fountain, or open and close a door in the Hall of Science and Industry. After three days of seeing the wonders of the world, the excursion returned to eastern Kentucky. The SALYER trio was back in Magoffin County with blistered fingers and tired hands from playing so many hours. It was a great experience that they relived and retold the story on many occasions. Grover was privileged to attend another World's Fair, in Montreal, Canada and was able to see the sights of the Fair in Seattle, Washington. Both had many wonders but neither could surpass the memories of the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago.John was born, January 20, 1882 on Birch Branch of Burning Fork of Licking River, the son of farming parents, Morgan M. Salyer and Katherine Patrick. When he was about eight years old, John fell out of a tree and broke his leg. His father (a fiddler) bought him a half-size fiddle to keep him occupied while recovering. With this opportunity, John began to show a great deal of talent, and according to his son Grover, "it was not long before he could hear a piece and then play the piece himself." In those days, learning to play the fiddle was largely a matter of watching, listening and practicing, since generally the old traditional fiddlers did not give lessons.Inspiration for a young fiddler, however, was everywhere in the late 19th century since every rural community had is musicians and singers and its own style of music that was handed down through the generations. It would be twenty years before cars would begin to show up in Magoffin County, and people did not travel far or often, so music was centered in the home and neighborhood, an important and much-loved part of everyday life.One of John Salyer's close neighbors, and eventually his closest musical partner, was Willie Fletcher, who was born in 1871. John learned many of his tunes from Willie and greatly admired his musical abilities, considering him to be "the sweetest and smoothest fiddler he ever heard." Both John and Willie could play the banjo and fiddle equally well, and they visited each other's homes frequently, playing for hours at a time.Willie Fletcher and another neighbor, Patrick Risner (from a prominent fiddling family in the are), were probably the main musicians who inspired John Salyer, but there were possibly others, including Jeff Gipson, a part Cherokee Indian who was born in 1844. It seems unlikely, however, that Gipson was a major influence on John's playing since Gipson passed his music down to Glen Fannin, a contemporary of John's, and Glen's and John's versions of tunes where markedly different from each other.John Salyer spent his youth working on the family farm. He finished what is called the normal school and afterwards taught a year of school at the head of Licking River. According to Grover Salyer, John read a lot, was interested in history, and was a bible scholar.In 1901, he enlisted in the army and served three years in the Philippines. Following his discharge, he continued on around the world by ship, an unusual accomplishment at that time for someone from the Kentucky mountains. John returned home to marry Minnie Gullett on August 11, 1905. They eventually had nine children together: seven girls (two of whom died young) and two boys.With the 1920s came radio and increased opportunities for mountain musicians to earn recognition through recording. But according to Glen Salyer, his father didn't consider professionalism an option, preferring instead to play at home for his own enjoyment:"Sometimes he'd play two or three times a week. Then he might go for a month and not play. But he'd get his fiddle out maybe after breakfast [if he] felt good and maybe set there and play for an your and play thirty or forty different tunes. And never say a word, just play."Gladys Connelly, a neighbor, remembers hearing John play at her home:"In the summertime, the old time musicians would gather on our plank porch and John played the fiddle. The music they made stopped travelers on the road to listen."Besides entertaining family and neighbors, John enjoyed playing for local square dances. Grover Salyer remembers these events well:
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