If you’ve ever attended an outdoor bluegrass festival or fiddlers convention, you’ll know the character portrayed in Ashby Frank’s new single with Mountain Home Music.
We’re talking about the old timer who comes down to the front and free-form dances, often generating as much attention as the act on stage. At fiddlers’ conventions, where there is usually an old time dance competition, they get a chance to shine for all to see, and some become well known among the local population.
Stokes County Buck Dancing Man tells of one such, a real person named Todd Inman.
“I wrote this song with my buddy Mason Via. We both attended fiddler’s conventions and bluegrass festivals in North Carolina and Virginia when we were kids, and of course, flat foot buck dancing and clogging are a big part of these events. There were always so many great musicians and dancers there, as well as some larger-than-life personalities, but Todd ‘The Bod’ Inman from Stokes County, NC, might have been the biggest and brightest character of them all.
We wrote this song as a tribute to Todd, and we were able to send him a work tape version of it before he passed away from cancer in 2024. He loved being the life of the party and the star of the show, and he seemed to really get a kick out of our song about him.
Galax Old Fiddler’s Convention will never be the same without his iconic dance moves and sense of humor.”
It’s a rockin’ grasser with Frank singing lead and playing mandolin, supported by Seth Taylor on guitar, Matt Menefee on banjo, Jim VanCleve on fiddle, Travis Anderson on bass, and Tony Creasman on drums. Mason Via sings harmony.
Have a listen.
Stokes County Buck Dancing Man is available now from popular download and streaming services online, and to radio programmers via AirPlay Direct.
