Program

Legends & Lore®

Subject

Arts & Culture, Folklore

Location

Co Hwy 10/02, Logan, WV 25601, USA

Lat/Long

37.889621, -82.012662

Grant Recipient

Logan County Chamber of Commerce

Aunt Jennie Wilson, born Virginia Myrtle Ellis, was a music prodigy. Mingo County’s Delpha Maynard taught her to play clawhammer banjo at age nine, and her older brothers Jesse and Hughie taught her the double-thumb style. An extraordinary musician, Aunt Jennie began picking up tunes from square dances, parties, and visiting musicians stopping by her family’s farmhouse. She also became a songster with a huge repertoire spanning British Child ballads, American ballads, historical ballads, and songs from African American tradition. In her later years, Aunt Jennie spoke fondly of the dances, corn shuckings, and bean stringings where she played her banjo and sang alongside Logan County’s finest musicians.

In 1984, Aunt Jennie was awarded the Vandalia Award from the state of West Virginia, the state’s highest folklife honor. Her legacy has lived on with the Aunt Jennie Music Festival, held in her honor at Chief Logan State Park, near where she was born on her family farm.