The McReynolds family, extended relations of the pioneering bluegrass entertainers Jim & Jesse, are asking for your help in raising sufficient funds to restore and rehabilitate the childhood home of Jim and Jesse McReynolds in southwestern Virginia.
The two brothers grew up in Carfax, VA, located in the furthest western corner of the state, quite close to where it meets up with Kentucky. Jim & Jesse were among the very first acts to respond to Bill Monroe’s new sound with their own bluegrass style, and started recording for Capitol in 1952.
They came from an extremely fertile area of the state, growing up one mountain over from where the Stanley Brothers were likewise developing their own mountain bluegrass music in Coeburn. Like the Stanleys, Jim and Jesse were raised in humble accommodations, and it is this home of their childhood that Jim’s daughter, Janeen McReynolds-Reynolds, is seeking assistance in rescuing.
In her gofundme campaign to raise the money, Janeen quotes the lyrics of My Time Is Running Out, which the McReynolds brothers recorded in 1976 for their Songs About Our Country album.
I’d like to take the old homeplace and fix it up once more
put new shingles on the roof new carpet on the floor.
To re-live the past would be a pleasure there’s no doubt
but the law of average tells me that my time is running out.
Janeen hopes to see her dad and uncle’s dream fulfilled, just 48 years later.
She also shared these beautiful memories of returning there with her dad in her girlhood.
“I spent much of my childhood at this magical place. Walking alongside my Daddy, we explored every nook and cranny of those majestic mountains. Stacking firewood in the wood shed as he split it. Helping carry fence posts so he could mend broken fences. Walking up to the mountain cemetery to pay our respects to those family members gone on before. Accompanying my dear Aunt Stella as we walked down the mountain path to a nearby cousin’s house to pick up the mail…all the while praying she wouldn’t have to use that hoe she always carried to kill copperheads.
Rocking in the old rocking chair in front of the kitchen fireplace. Helping my Aunt Stella prepare apple slices to hang on a drying rack over the old Warm Morning wood stove in the bedroom. Drinking ice cold mountain spring water from the old metal dipper hanging on the dairy porch. Gently swinging on the old red porch swing while listening to the water trickle down the creek.
These are just a few of my fondest memories there. Now my Daddy rests in that mountain cemetery up above the old homeplace. The house has sat empty and quiet for many years. The paint quietly fading. The roof quietly leaking. The vines quietly growing into the walls. The basement quietly flooding. The wood quietly rotting.
Until now. Our family has already begun the restoration process. We have set into motion the dreams both Jim & Jesse pictured in their minds as they sang those words with their beautiful harmony. We envision a day when once again those walls will ring with music. A day people can visit to experience the beauty and magic of the place of Jim & Jesse’s humble beginnings. The place they called home.”
If you feel moved to contribute to this effort, simply visit the gofundme page online, where contributions in any amount can be made using major credit cards, Venmo, Apple Pay, or Google Pay. It is quick, secure, and your donation is guaranteed to reach its intended source.
Best of luck to Janeen and the rest of Jim and Jesse McReynolds’ descendants as they work to refurbish this important piece of bluegrass history. They can’t wait to welcome everyone to tour the homeplace once the work is completed.
