Hornbeam Hollow - Audio Archives
I was between bands and kind of directionless and a friend at work said to me, "Why don't you try playing guitar with my brother, he plays banjo?" When I got done laughing I told him I would like to meet him. That guy was Jeff Folger and he introduced me to Bluegrass Music and I gotta tell you I was hooked. Jeff was friends with an old timer named Hank Wilkey (RIP) and he and I would drive out to Mount Vernon, Maine from Augusta in snow storms to pick with Hank. Hank would answer the door as an old man and within a few songs his face would be lit up like a little kid and his whole posture would change. Hank lived for the music - literally - he could play any bluegrass instrument - and he took the role of mentor to teach us how the traditional music was played. Jeff, Hank, and I had a little trio together for a while called "Hornbeam Hollow".
In December of 2017 I received an email from one of Hank Wilkey's relatives stating he found mention of Hank on this website and he was wondering if I might have some recordings for him to share with his son who was learning guitar and interested in bluegrass, and with his extended family. It has taken a few months digging in the archives and converting analog cassettes to digital files but I was able to find some very rustic audio from our practice sessions and the couple of performances we did. I decided to put together this page as a time machine back to 1993 in honor of Hank Wilkey so his memory could be shared.
The first reaction to these recordings from Hank's family was excitement because they did not know, or think, there were any recordings of him and these likely never would have surfaced if there was not a quest to find them. Thank you Jeremy Usher for reaching out in search of Hank which made me go looking. Thank you Jeff and Jayne Folger for photo below that was on the Bluegrass Music Association of Maine Archive Project.
Please scroll down and select an audio file to listen to from either the show at the Odd Fellows Hall in Farmington Maine on 4/6/1993, or the Mount Vernon Maine Variety Show on 3/27/1993, or a practice at Hank's in Mount Vernon on 1/30/1993.
In December of 2017 I received an email from one of Hank Wilkey's relatives stating he found mention of Hank on this website and he was wondering if I might have some recordings for him to share with his son who was learning guitar and interested in bluegrass, and with his extended family. It has taken a few months digging in the archives and converting analog cassettes to digital files but I was able to find some very rustic audio from our practice sessions and the couple of performances we did. I decided to put together this page as a time machine back to 1993 in honor of Hank Wilkey so his memory could be shared.
The first reaction to these recordings from Hank's family was excitement because they did not know, or think, there were any recordings of him and these likely never would have surfaced if there was not a quest to find them. Thank you Jeremy Usher for reaching out in search of Hank which made me go looking. Thank you Jeff and Jayne Folger for photo below that was on the Bluegrass Music Association of Maine Archive Project.
Please scroll down and select an audio file to listen to from either the show at the Odd Fellows Hall in Farmington Maine on 4/6/1993, or the Mount Vernon Maine Variety Show on 3/27/1993, or a practice at Hank's in Mount Vernon on 1/30/1993.
