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Appalachian Sounds

Randall Franks on the set of Appalachian Sounds

Appalachian Sounds

with Randall Franks

Appalachian Entertainer/Actor Randall Franks, “Officer Randy Goode” from TV’s “In the Heat of the Night,” performs with musical guests on his Americana music show Appalachian Sounds featuring artists from country, bluegrass, gospel, folk and the Americana musical genres. Franks is the 2024 Josie Music Awards Musician of the Year – Fiddle and Inspirational Vocalist of the Year nominee.

“I am thankful for the opportunity to share these times with these talented musicians,” Franks said. “I see this as a wonderful opportunity to show the talents of the youth we have mentored through the years with our Share America Foundation. Our initial episodes are dedicated to that purpose.”

The International Bluegrass Hall of Fame Legend and the Grand Ole Opry guest star marks his 40th Anniversary since debuting for the show this October. He is an Independent Country Music, America’s Old Time Country Music, Atlanta Country Music and Tri-State Gospel Music halls of fame member with a long list of awards in multiple music genres. Through his Share America Foundation, he inspires youth to learn and share the music of Appalachia. Georgia honored him for his service and philanthropy to the people of Georgia for helping raise millions to assist those in need.

“Appalachian Sounds” airs from UCTV in Fort Oglethorpe, Ga. with special thanks to Judy O’Neal and the staff of UCTV.

Franks appears live once monthly with a special musical guest on the series sharing live songs and video performances spanning his career in music.

The episodes are then edited into one-song webisodes and released on Randall Franks TV on YouTube, Rumble, Brighteon, X , TikTok and various social media forums by Peach Picked Productions.

Radio may find his music at https://airplaydirect.com/music/RandallFranks/.

Randall Franks is a TikPik Brand Ambassador: Get Your Pik that Sticks! https://www.tikpik.com/?ref=randall_franks

Appalachian Sounds – Episode One:

Randall Franks welcomes vocalist, banjo player and guitarist Dawson Wright. Wright is a Share America Foundation Pearl and Floyd Franks Scholar who in addition to his own shows appears with Randall’s historic Hollywood Hillbilly Jamboree.

Appalachian Sounds – Episode Two:

Randall Franks welcomes finger-style guitarist Caleb Lewis. Lewis is a Share America Foundation Pearl and Floyd Franks Scholar who in addition to his own shows appears with Randall’s historic Hollywood Hillbilly Jamboree.

Appalachian Sounds – Episode Three:

Randall Franks welcomes Southern gospel pianist/percussionist Colton Brown. Brown is a Share America Foundation Pearl and Floyd Franks Scholar who is completing his degree in music education at the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga. In addition to playing piano in church and student teaching, he appears with Randall’s historic Hollywood Hillbilly Jamboree.

Appalachian Sounds – Episode Four:

Randall Franks welcomes vocalist and country piano stylist Ryan Stinson. Stinson performs in concerts around the South including for theaters in Pigeon Forge, Nashville, and elsewhere. Stinson was a 2012 Share America Foundation Pearl and Floyd Franks Scholar and appears with Randall’s historic Hollywood Hillbilly Jamboree

Appalachian Sounds – Episode Five:

Randall Franks welcomes singer and banjo stylist Landon Fitzpatrick and guitarist/vocalist Arron Ramey from the Landon Fitzpatrick Band. In addition to his own band, Fitzpatrick travelled with Ralph Stanley II and the Clinch Mountain Boys. Fitzpatrick was one of Share America Foundation’s Americana Youth of Southern Appalachia.

Appalachian Sounds – Episode Six:

Randall Franks welcomes guitarist, autoharpist and singer Logan Puryear who shares the stylings of the Carter Family. Puryear was a 2019 Share America Foundation Pearl and Floyd Franks Scholar.

 

Appalachian Sounds – Episode Seven:

Randall Franks welcomes banjo stylist, vocalist and guitarist Cody Harvey of Mountain Cove Bluegrass Band. Harvey was a 2011 Share America Foundation Pearl and Floyd Franks Scholar. 

 

He came from Alabama with a banjo on his knee

 

James Watson appears on stage in at Vines Bluegrass Barn in Woodland, Ala. in the early 2012. (Courtesy James Watson Collection) 

James Watson performs Foggy Mountain Top with the Golden River Grass in 1985 on PBS show “Tonight at Ferlinghetti’s.”

http://youtu.be/8-ofvpGHSlk

I stood outside the front door of the Quattlebaum Funeral Home in Roanoke, Ala. and watched the hearse pull from the door, drive down the hill and turn left towards Rock Mills. About a dozen musicians had just fulfilled the wishes of country folk banjo legend James Watson sending him off with some of the finest banjo pickin’, singin’ and great stories of his life.

I aimed on loading up and starting back on the three-hour trip back home as soon as the procession was out of sight, but a missed turn carried me right by the cemetery in neighboring Rock Mills, and just before I drove by the bottom fell out of the sky and as I looked at those gathered around the tent, I just thought that God gave one last massive shedding of tears as they lowered one of the men that created such happiness with the talents God shared with him.
James was 81 and shortly after his passing I was called and texted that my former Golden River Grass band mate had finished his time among us. And what a time it was, he had appeared multiple times at America’s National Folk Festival, National Black Arts Festival, 1982 World’s Fair, 1996 Olympics, colleges, numerous bluegrass festivals and folk festivals. He was often seen on PBS in shows such as “Tonight at Ferlinghetti’s” and the Alan Lomax production “The Appalachian Journey.”
All of this from a man from an Alabama mill village who became a painter by trade but whose passion was music.
He became known as the hard-drivin’ musical sideman spending over 20 years of his career with the last old time Georgia fiddle band to be recognized as part of that unique historical segment of the country music genre – Doodle and the Golden River Grass. The band which began as a square dance band in 1963, became a popular folk act featuring comedy, Appalachian folk songs and upbeat tunes centered around several fiddlers – Seals Hicks, Bill Kee, Paul Wallace, Randall Franks, and Jerry Wesley; John “Doodle” Thrower’s harmonica; and beginning in the 1970s, Watson’s clawhammer banjo. Other long-running band members were C.J. Clackum (guitar), Wesley Clackum (guitar and mandolin), the late Lynn Elliott (guitar), and the late Gene Daniell (bass).
His banjo-playing uncle, Jack Edmondson of Wedowee, Ala. was responsible for Watson becoming a banjo player. Watson began his professional entertainment career at age 11 in 1947 with fiddler with Pappy Lee (Farmer) and the Chillun’ moving from banjo to play guitar appearing on WELR in Roanoke. As the children grew, the group became Pappy Lee and the Playboys in the 1950s. In his later career, the band Randolph County was among the acts with which he performed.
James said in anApril 2017 interview that he is amazed where his banjo took him.

“I have played for so many wonderful folks, been places an old country boy from an Alabama cotton mill village could never imagine,” he said. “I knew that there was only one place for my banjo playing and that was with Doodle and the Golden River Grass. Our sound made people happy, whether we were on stage or in the parking lot jamming. It’s amazing to think of millions of folks we reached.”

James Watson (left) and Grandpa Jones appear on stage at a

bluegrass festival near Dover, Delaware in 1984. (Courtesy James Watson Collection)

Watson also said he was so honored that so many of his music heroes became lifelong friends.
One of those heroes was Earl Scruggs, who James met by chance in 1964, when he took a trip to Nashville, drove to Scruggs’ home and found him standing by the mailbox.
“He turned out to be one of the friendliest fellows I’ve ever met,” he said.
Watson said that visit gained him a tone ring from Scrugg’s own banjo that added to the amazing sound which came from his 1950 Gibson bowtie banjo. On the same trip, Watson met the King of Country Music Roy Acuff and Grand Ole Opry star Bashful Brother Oswald.
He said the two gave him a chance to play “Shout Little Lula” on another hero’s banjo, a museum piece of early WSM star Uncle Dave Macon.
His unique stylings drew the attention of numerous performers with whom he made major concert appearances including Country Music Hall of Famer Grandpa Jones who often asked Watson to join him for banjo duets.

James Watson (second from left) appears on stage with the Golden River Grass from left, Randall Franks, Gene Daniell, Doodle Thrower and Wesley Clackum in 1990 at the Jekyll Island Bluegrass Festival in Georgia. (Courtesy Randall Franks Media: Ronald Stuckey)

Watson was often the punch line of the jokes shared by Golden River Grass front man “Doodle” Thrower, who died in 1994.
“Doodle was amazing at working a crowd, he brought a smile to everyone’s face and shared the audience’s love with all of us and especially with me with his jokes,” he said. James Watson (second from left) appears on stage with the Golden River Grass from left, Randall Franks, Gene Daniell, Doodle Thrower and Wesley Clackum in 1990 at the Jekyll Island Bluegrass Festival in Georgia. (Courtesy Randall Franks Media: Ronald Stuckey)“We both grew up playing those old time tunes and when we got to going, me and him would stand for hours having a good time. It just made people’s hearts want to dance. After Doodle went on, while the music was still there, it took so much away from what we did, it wasn’t the Golden River Grass no more.”
Watson’s recording discography includes 17 albums with the Golden River Grass including the his “Mountain Clawhammer Way Down in the Country” released by Attieram in 1986 and my own Golden River Fiddlin’. Other collections including his work are the Grammy ® winning “The Art of Field Recording Vol. I” (2007), Vol. II (2009), and Sampler (2006) from Dust-to-Digital.
My fellow bandmate Wesley Clackum and I are working with Grammy-winning engineer Michael Graves to restore and compile a Golden River Grass anthology including James’ popular banjo release.
James had an amazing ability to create a rhythm that allowed a fiddler to just go anywhere musically they could reach while he never veered or slowed his steam – ‘no dragging’ as he would say. He was original in what he did, always sharing an intensity and concentration that thrilled the audience. There was no one in folk, bluegrass or country who brought to the stage what he did.
His career is honored with a museum exhibit in his hometown of Roanoke, Ala. at the Randolph County Historical Museum. He also had a feature exhibit in the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in Macon, Ga. from 1996-2010 and was inducted into the Atlanta Country Music Hall of Fame in 2007.
Memorial gifts may be made to the Share America Foundation, Inc., (www.shareamericafoundation.org) P.O. Box 42, Tunnel Hill, Ga. 30755 for its Appalachian music scholarship.

A Constant Man of Music – Dr. Ralph Stanley

With each passing year, I look around and find fewer of my musical heroes still contributing to the great America music legacy.

I am honored to call Dr. Ralph Stanley a friend and to have produced and recorded with him.

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