Boyden Carpenter

Carpenter was born February 26, 1909, in Fries, Grayson County, Virginia, and was raised in Pipers Gap, Carroll County, Virginia^[4] and Sparta and Cherry Lane in Alleghany County, North Carolina.^[1][2][3] He died May 25, 1995, at Cherryville, Gaston County, North Carolina.^[3] Carpenter was his adopted surname—he was born to John W. and Mary E. Summit but was using his stepfather's surname by 1930.^[5]

In 1930, Carpenter was working in Winston-Salem, Forsyth County, North Carolina, as a musician in an orchestra.^[5] Billing himself as "The Hill Billy Kid," he began playing with several bands, including Wade Mainer's Sons of The Mountaineers, Bill Monroe's Monroe Brothers, and the Crazy Water Crystals-sponsored^[6] "Crazy Water Barn Dance" show band in Charlotte, North Carolina.^[1][3][7]

He had his greatest musical success in the mid-1930s working at WPTF radio station in Raleigh, North Carolina, touring with the "Grandfather of Bluegrass, Wade Mainer and his Sons of the Mountaineers band and Bill Monroe's Monroe Brothers,^[1] and playing with Ernest Thompson.^[8]

The William Leonard Eury Appalachian Collection at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, preserves a photograph of Carpenter with his guitar and "The 'Hill Billy' from Alleghany County" guitar case found in a book titled Boyden Carpenter: The Old Gospel Singer.^[3] A 1930s booklet entitled Boyden Carpenter: The Original "Hillbilly Kid", which relates his life story and lyrics to his songs, also survives.^[9]