Ed Haley (1885 to 1951) was a blind fiddler from Harts Creek, West Virginia, who spent his life playing street corners, courthouse squares, and dances across West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, and Virginia. He never made a commercial record. What survives are home discs cut by his family in the late 1940s. Those discs, released by Rounder in 1975 and 1997 and in a seven-CD set in 2022, made him one of the most studied old-time fiddlers of the twentieth century.
Why Haley matters
Most fiddlers of Haley’s era who left a mark did so through 78s. Haley did it through a stack of home recordings and the memory of the people who heard him. His tunes carry more notes, more variation, and more bow detail than most Appalachian fiddling of his time. When John Hartford heard the tapes, he spent the last decade of his life learning and promoting them. Old-time fiddlers now treat Haley’s versions of Parkersburg Landing, Blackberry Blossom, and Man of Constant Sorrow as the standard to reach for.
Life and career
James Edward Haley was born on August 16, 1885, on the Trace Fork of Harts Creek in Logan County, West Virginia. His father, Milt Haley, was a known fiddler in the Guyandotte and Big Sandy valleys, and his grandfather fiddled too. Ed lost his sight at age three after a bout of measles. In 1889 his father was accused of a shooting in the Lincoln County feud, captured, and killed by a mob. Ed’s mother died in 1891, and his grandfather and uncle raised him on Trace Fork.
His uncle Peter Mullins gave him a fiddle. As a young man he traveled the Guyandotte and Big Sandy valleys with other musicians and had left Harts Creek for good by about 1910, though he came back to visit for the rest of his life. He built a working life as a street and dance fiddler. His repertoire covered breakdowns, jigs, waltzes, and show tunes, played at square dances, fairs, fiddle contests, and courthouse squares.
On July 1, 1918, he married Martha Ella Trumbo, a blind piano teacher from Morehead, Kentucky, who played mandolin and accordion beside him for years. They lived in Ashland and later Catlettsburg, Kentucky, and raised a family there. Haley played on WLW radio in Cincinnati and cut a few private discs for friends, but he turned down record labels. He worried they would cheat a blind man.
Late in life his stepson Ralph brought home a Wilcox-Gay disc cutter from military service. The family recorded Ed, Ella, Ralph on guitar, and daughter Mona singing. Haley died of a heart attack at home in Ashland on February 3, 1951. Ralph later split the discs among his siblings, and a portion reached Rounder Records. Researchers estimate that most of the recordings remain lost or unreleased.
Playing style
Haley’s playing is dense. Where a dance fiddler might state a tune plainly, Haley fills each phrase with passing notes, slides, and small rhythmic shifts. He changes the tune a little on every pass. The bowing is long and connected, which is why Hartford named his tribute album Speed of the Old Long Bow. The melody flows across the bar lines instead of stopping on each beat.
His repertoire ran wider than most mountain fiddlers. He played breakdowns and jigs, but also waltzes and show tunes he picked up in town. That breadth shows in his versions of common tunes, which pull in ideas from ragtime and popular music. The home discs are rough, with plenty of surface noise, so learning from them takes patience. The 2022 Spring Fed set improved the sound.
Influences and legacy
Haley learned from his father’s circle of fiddlers in the Guyandotte and Big Sandy valleys. The West Virginia Music Hall of Fame credits him as an influence on Clark Kessinger, the Kanawha Valley fiddler who became a recording star in the late 1920s.
His largest legacy came through John Hartford. Starting in 1990, Hartford researched Haley’s life, learned his tunes, and recorded them on two Grammy-nominated albums, Wild Hog in the Red Brush and Speed of the Old Long Bow: A Tribute to Ed Haley. Hartford and historian Brandon Kirk worked on a Haley biography from 1995 until Hartford’s death in 2001. At the Down from the Mountain concert, Hartford played Haley’s arrangement of Man of Constant Sorrow, the tune he also played for the film O Brother, Where Art Thou? Ashland, Kentucky, has held an Ed Haley Memorial Fiddle Contest every year since 1996. The West Virginia Music Hall of Fame inducted him in 2015.
Signature tunes and songs
Parkersburg Landing Blackberry Blossom Man of Constant Sorrow Forked Deer Grey Eagle Shove That Hog’s Foot Further in the Bed.
Essential recordings
Parkersburg Landing (Rounder, 1975) Forked Deer (Rounder, 1997) Grey Eagle (Rounder, 1998) Stole From the Throat of a Bird: The Complete Recordings of Ed and Ella Haley (Spring Fed Records, 2022)
Awards and honors
West Virginia Music Hall of Fame (2015)
Watch and listen
The West Virginia Music Hall of Fame made this short film for Haley’s 2015 induction. It covers his life and plays his recordings.
What to learn from Haley
Learn Parkersburg Landing from the Rounder recording. It is slow enough to hear every note, and it shows how Haley fills a simple melody with slides and passing tones. The technique to steal is his habit of changing the tune on every pass. Play the A part plain, then play it again and move one phrase up an octave or add one slide. Keep the bow long and connected instead of chopping each note. That approach gives an old-time tune motion without speeding it up, and it is the reason his recordings still sound fresh after seventy years.
Sources
Ed Haley, Wikipedia Ed Haley, West Virginia Music Hall of Fame Ed and Ella Haley, Spring Fed Records Ed Haley Fiddle Contest (2000), Brandon Ray Kirk
Related players
See the fiddle players hub and the fiddle guide for more old-time players. The West Virginia Music Hall of Fame names Clark Kessinger as a fiddler Haley influenced. Melvin Wine carried a related West Virginia tradition into the 2000s. J.P. Fraley played the same eastern Kentucky ground where Haley spent his later years.