The Reece Museum Exhibition Publications

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Introduction

Clarence “Tom” Ashley (September 29, 1895 - June 2, 1967) was a musician from Mountain City, Tennessee. Ashley began making music at medicine shows and local fiddlers’ conventions as early as 1911. Notably, Ashley participated in the Mountain City Fiddlers Convention in May 1925, an event that is considered to have helped launch the modern country music industry by catching the attention of recording executives in the years leading up to the historic Bristol Sessions (1927-1928) and Johnson City Sessions (1928-1929). Ashley was recorded during the historic 1929 Johnson City Sessions as both a solo artist and as a member of the trio Byrd Moore and His Hot Shots.

Ashley garnered his initial fame in the 1920s as a solo recording artist and as a member of various ensembles until approximately 1943. Following a serious hand injury, there was a gap of time in which Ashley stopped making music altogether. However, in the early 1960s, he was encouraged by fellow enthusiasts and members of the urban folk music revival movemen — such as Ralph Rinzler, Pete Seeger, and Joan Baez—to try making music again. Ashley would go on to become an important voice in the revival of regional folk music in the 1960s, and he is often credited with having introduced Doc Watson to folk music audiences nationwide. During this revival period, Ashley frequently toured with a band comprised of fellow regional musicians including Fred Price (Johnson County, Tennessee), Clint Howard (Johnson County, Tennessee), and Doc Watson (Deep Gap, North Carolina).

Ashley’s recordings—especially of “The Coo-Coo Bird”—influenced younger musicians such as Jerry Garcia, Bob Dylan, and many others. Ashley is featured on important recordings from significant events during the American folk music revival,  including shows at Carnegie Hall, the Newport Folk Festival, and the Chicago Folk Festival. Ashley’s recorded musical legacy solidifies his importance as a live performer and recording artist, and emphasizes the historic value of live recordings during this significant period in American music history.

Clarence “Tom” Ashley is one of several regional musicians who were recorded by Ambrose Manning and Dr. Thomas Burton at East Tennessee State University in the 1960s, to help preserve traditional music by active practitioners. Interested visitors can listen to Clarence “Tom” Ashley perform the songs “Omie Wise,” “The House Carpenter,” “Cuckoo Bird,” “Barbry Allen,” “On the Banks of the Ohio,” “Maggie Walker, the Girl I Left Behind,” “The Blind Child,” and “I Was Born in East Virginia”—which were recorded on campus on April 7, 1966—at the Archives of Appalachia, located on the fourth floor of Sherrod Library.

Six months later on October 7, 1966, Clarence “Tom” Ashley was a leading performer at ETSU’s first annual Folk Festival. A local article published by the Elizabethton Star described Ashley as “perhaps the best known artist to appear” at the festival. This performance was one of Ashley’s final significant regional performances before his passing in June 1967.

Clarence “Tom” Ashley’s repertoire has continued to pervade American music and popular culture through multiple genres and avenues, solidifying East Tennessee and Appalachia as influential sources of sustained musical traditions, some of which trace to English and/ or Irish balladry. Of the many songs for which Ashley is remembered, perhaps the most often referenced is “The Coo-Coo Bird” (also referred to as “Coo-Coo Bird,” “Cuckoo Bird,” or “Cuckoo”), which musician and practitioner Roy Andrade (Director of Old-Time, Department of Appalachian Studies, ETSU) describes as “ubiquitous” in the Old-Time music community. Andrade states: “’Cuckoo Bird’ is incredibly important…it’s a song that every serious banjo player learns.”

Ashley is also closely associated with the song “Rising Sun Blues,” which has since evolved and is contemporarily known by many as “House of the Rising Sun.” The oldest known recording of the song’s earliest iterations was performed in 1933 by Clarence “Tom” Ashley and Gwin Stanley Foster, who worked with Ashley as a member of The Carolina Tar Heels and the Blue Ridge Mountain Entertainers. Several of the songs that Ashley performed during his career, including “The Coo-Coo Bird” and “Rising Sun Blues,” were taught to Ashley by family members, particularly on his mother’s side.

The tradition of live music in the form of fiddlers’ conventions and festivals still continues in our region today. The 1925 Mountain City Fiddlers Convention celebrated its 100th anniversary last year, with a public celebration occurring in Mountain City on October 3-4, 2025. The Johnson County Center for the Arts continues to support the preservation of traditional music through multiple avenues including recording projects, support for visual artworks by regional artists such as Cristy Dunn, and a musical heritage mural mile that visitors can walk in downtown Mountain City. This 100th anniversary event has since passed, but enthusiasts are still celebrating this tradition. The 8th Annual Upper East Tennessee Fiddlers Convention will occur on April 24-25, 2026 in Flag Pond, Tennessee. Additionally, for the first time in decades, the ETSU Folk Festival returned to campus on Tuesday, April 7, 2026.

This catalog is intended to complement the Rising Sun exhibition and live beyond the physical display. Supporting essays and supplemental materials were contributed by Dr. Ted Olson (Professor, Department of Appalachian Studies, ETSU), Cristy Dunn (Director, Johnson County Center for the Arts), and Ryan Bernard (Education & Outreach Archivist, Archives of Appalachia, ETSU). The Reece Museum would like to thank these contributors, in addition to Mr. Joe Ashley, the donor who made this exhibition possible.

Start Date

3-2-2026

End Date

2-19-2027

Table of Contents

  • 1-2: Exhibition Introduction
  • 5-7: "Clarence 'Tom' Ashley"
  • 8-20: Artifacts and Photographs
  • 21: "Carrying It Forward: The Enduring Legacy of Clarence 'Tom' Ashely"
  • 23: "'Tom' Ashely's Amazing Grace: A Mountain Legacy"
  • 28: Select Performances of Clarence 'Tom' Ashley
  • 29: Colophon & Acknowledgements

Exhibition

Savannah Bennett (Research & Curation); Joe Ashley (Curatorial Consultant); Spenser Brenner (Design & Installation)

Publication Contribution

Spenser Brenner (Design & Layout); Savannah Bennet (Editing, Research & Development); BMC Creative (Printing); Joe Ashley; Cristy Dunn (Johnson County Center for the Arts); Ryan Bernard (ETSU Archives of Appalachia); Dr. Ted Olson (ETSU Department of Appalachian Studies)

Reece Museum Staff

Rebecca Proffitt (Director); Spenser Brenner (Exhibition Coordinator); Savannah Bennet (Collections Manager); Ashley Gregg (Education Curator)

Rising Sun: The Musical Legacy of Clarence

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