All About Dock Boggs

Banjo player Dock Boggs was a coal miner and a moonshiner, who recorded a handful of old timey tunes in the 1920s. After the stock market crash, however, he went back to work in the mines.

Then, in 1963, he was rediscovered by Mike Seeger of the New Lost City Ramblers, who encouraged him to return to playing music. Boggs complied and wound up becoming an influential figure in the old time folk music revival of the 1960s. His three-finger picking style differed considerably from that of bluegrass trailblazer Earl Scruggs, because Boggs' style incorporated elements of the blues. Learn more about Dock Boggs.

image © Smithsonian Folkways