Fiddler Edden Hammons Dies: Sept. 7, 1955

On September 7, 1955, the great fiddler Edden Hammons died at age 80. The Pocahontas County native was part of an extended family known for its music and traditional ways.

The family had migrated into the Webster-Pocahontas county area just before the Civil War.

In 1947, Edden Hammons was recorded by folklorist and West Virginia University professor Louis Chappell in a Richwood hotel room. The resulting 52 tunes document a frontier fiddling tradition with links to the Old World. Here’s a sample:

Most of these tunes were later released as record albums by West Virginia University Press. These 52 tunes are the only known recordings of the great Edden Hammons.