Bradley Kincaid
b. 13 July 1895, near Lancaster, Garrard County, Kentucky, USA, d. 23 September 1989. Kincaid grew up strumming folk tunes, mountain ballads and vaudeville songs on an old ‘hound dog’ guitar, so-called because his father had swapped a hunting dog for it. He acquired a college education in Chicago and he lectured on folk music to learned societies. Kincaid described himself as a folk singer rather than a hillbilly, (a term he hated) and he became known as the Kentucky Mountain Boy. In 1926, he gained a regular spot on WLS Chicago and then became the star of its NATIONAL BARN DANCE. Kincaid began recording in 1927 and his pseudonyms included Dan Hughey, John Carpenter and Harley Stratton. His best-known records are Barbara Allen, The Fatal Derby Day, The Legend Of The Robin's Red Breast and The Letter Edged In Black. Like A.P. Carter of the Carter Family, he collected songs, and the individual sales of his 12 folios, MY FAVOURITE MOUNTAIN BALLADS AND OLD TIME SONGS, were as many as 100,000. Sears manufactured a replica of his ‘hound dog’ guitar. Kincaid toured extensively and, in 1936, he discovered Lewis Marshall Jones whom he renamed Grandpa Jones. Between 1944 and 1947, Kincaid was a regular on the GRAND OLE OPRY and he then bought his own radio station, WWSO Springfield. He retired in 1953, although he still performed at folk festivals. In 1963, he recorded 162 songs in four days, but only six albums from that session were ever released. He died in September 1989 in Springfield, Ohio, USA.