With his trademark mandolin style and unequaled tenor harmonies, Curly Seckler has carved out a seventy-seven-year career in bluegrass and country music.
His foundational work in Flatt and Scruggs's Foggy Mountain Boys secured him a place in bluegrass history, while his role in The Nashville Grass made him an essential part of the music's triumphant 1970s revival.
Foggy Mountain Troubadour
The Life and Music of Curly Seckler
The bluegrass legend's road from Carolina cotton fields to Nashville Grass
Written in close collaboration with Mr. Seckler and those who know him, Foggy Mountain Troubadour is the first full-length biography of an American original. Penny Parsons follows a journey from North Carolina schoolhouses to the Grand Ole Opry stage and the Bluegrass Hall of Fame, from boarding houses to radio studios and traveling five to a car on two-lane roads to make the next show. Throughout, she captures the warm humor, hard choices, and vivid details of a brilliant artist's life as he criss-crosses a nation and a century making music.
"Let us shower Penny Parsons and Curly Seckler with roses for their wonderful collaboration on Foggy Mountain Troubadour. Curly Seckler is one of the most beloved and revered of all the first generation country and bluegrass music pioneers. Ms. Parsons not only illuminates Mr. Seckler's storied life but also reports rarified accounts that offer us insight into the humanity that underscored the people, songs, live performances, recordings, and travels surrounding what is now considered to be one of the most mythical bands ever to play: Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, and the Foggy Mountain Boys. Penny Parsons is not only an authentic biographer, she is also a first-rate musical detective." --Marty Stuart
--Jay Orr, Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
"This carefully researched and richly detailed account of Seckler's life and career provides a new perspective on the work of his primary employers--Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs. Parsons's labor of love has produced a good read and an invaluable reference."
Music journalist Penny Parsons was Curly Seckler's manager and is a regular contributor to bluegrass publications.
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| The book, published by the University of Illinois Press will be released in June of 2016 but pre-orders are available now in both cloth or Paperback from their website. |
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