GOOCHLAND COUNTY, Va. — Right in the middle of the rolling hills of Goochland County, just off Route 6, the bucolic blends with barbed wire and brick.
The place of work and punishment is probably the last place one would expect music history to unfold.
But it was here an inmate strummed his way into American lore nearly 90 years ago.
”His banjo really rings out in such a strong way,” says historian Gregg Kimball. “It is a window into a musical world that is really unique.”
Jimmie Strother was a man who defined a disappearing culture and whose songs are so important they reside in the Library of Congress.
“All of the hundreds and hundreds of songs he knew were up here,” says Kimball.
Strother, a blind banjo player burned in Madison County, passed the time picking while serving time for killing his wife. Historian Gregg Kimball says on June 13, 1936 a stranger carrying a microphone arrived at the prison.
John Lomax wanted to record Strother's songs before they were lost to history. The folklorist recording prison songs, blues and spirituals sung by inmates and field workers.
“I think he clearly recognized Strother’s abilities,” says Kimball. “To think that he went to every state prison in the United States and primarily recording African American musicians is remarkable.”
Executive Director of the Goochland County James Richmond says John Lomax worked to help preserve traditional Black music.
“It must have seen a very primitive recording but to hear them now you’re amazed that they survived at all. It is amazing,” says Mr. Richmond. “This is from the heart. It is from the soul. I think that comes through.”
Richmond says Strother's music is Americana to the core.
”It is music we can look back on. We can learn something from it. It makes us more human to hear it,” says Richmond.
Lomax preserved 13 of Strother’s songs over two days. The recording session and Strother’s life are detailed in Gregg Kimball’s new book “Searching for Jimmie Strother: A Tale of Music, Murder, and Memory”
“He is the bridge between really almost between slavery and the emergence of black music in the early 20th century,” says Kimball.
In 1939, Virginia Governor James Price pardoned Jimmie Strother. The blind musician died in 1947 at the age of 67. He is buried in an unmarked grave in Baltimore’s Mt. Auburn Cemetery.
“Strother is a part of a continuum of black culture and music capturing this is invaluable when you think about what that looked like,” says Kimball.
A metal historic sign marks the spot where in June of 1936 music history was made. When a stranger with a mic preserved the melodic bars of a banjo from behind bars.
If you listen closely, the voice of Jimmie Strother still echo across the hills of Goochland and beyond.
“He is definitely memorable,” says Mr. Richmond. “You cannot forget it once you’ve heard it.”
If you would like to learn more about Jimmie Strother and his life and music author and historian Gregg Kimball is scheduled to appear at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture on Thursday, June 12 at noon.
CBS 6 is committed to sharing community voices on this important topic. Email your thoughts to the CBS 6 Newsroom.
📲: CONNECT WITH US
Blue Sky| Facebook| Instagram| X| Threads| TikTok| YouTube
