Physical Description:

1 reel-to-reel audio tape (TTA-0190)

Dates:

1977

RESTRICTION:

These recordings may be used (outside fair use) only with the permission of the donor. Otherwise unrestricted.

Provenance:

A compact cassette tape of a studio recording produced by folklorist William Lightfoot was loaned to the Center by Lightfoot for copying.

Biographical Note:

Mose Rager (b. April 2, 1911, Smallhous, Kentucky. d. May 14, 1985, Drakesboro, Kentucky) was born into a musical family and at an early age learned both guitar and banjo. Although he played for short times with Texas Ruby, Curly Fox, and Grandpa Jones, and made an early New England tour with a Grand Ole Opry cast, his music playground was always nearer home. Humbly crediting Arnold Shultz (McHenry, KY) and Kennedy Jones (Cleaton, KY) as "inventors" of the finger-picking style, he himself is credited with the inspiration for the musical styles of Merle Travis, Chet Atkins, and currently Eddie Penington.

Scope and Content:

One (1) reel-to-reel audio tape copy of a studio-recorded compact cassette tape, recorded in 1977, documenting the music of Mose Rager.

Location:

Audio tape is filed by tape number among other archival audio visual materials.

Related Materials:

See "Martin, Odell" and "Finger-Picking Style" in the Special Collections Inventory for further recordings, lectures, pictures, and related materials about this style of guitar playing. See also Bobby Anderson's book That Muhlenberg Sound in the PALS database and his newsletter by the same title among the serials.