Clarence "Tom" Ashley

• Given Name: Clarence Earl McCurry
• Date of Birth: September 29, 1895
  
• Married: Hettie Osborne
  
• Place of Death: Mountain City, Tennessee
• Date of Death: June 2, 1967
  

Clarence "Tom" Ashley (Mountain City, Tenn.) left home at age 16, with the blessings of his family, to join a traveling medicine show as a banjo picker and storyteller. Born Clarence Earl McCurry, Ashley legally adopted the name of his maternal grandparents, who raised him. Like many musicians of the day, Ashley worked various jobs to provide for his family such as hauling commodities for the federal government, farming and mining. During the early 1940s, Ashley performed a blackface comedy routine with both Charlie Monroe and the Kentucky Pardners and the Stanley Brothers. Unfortunately, it was also during this time that Ashley lost his left index finger in a lumberyard accident. He decided he would never be able to play music again and set his banjo and guitar aside, although he still sang occasionally. In 1960, a chance meeting with ethnomusicologist Ralph Rinzler brought Ashley back to the stage and to records. Throughout sixties, Ashley and his group performed at festivals across the country and in Europe and even graced the stage at Carnegie Hall. He passed away in 1967. Ashley's music influenced that of Roy Acuff and Doc Watson, among others.

Written by Becky Buller and Thomas Sneed