G.B. Grayson and Henry Whitter
- Given Name: Gilliam Banmon Grayson
- Place of Birth: Ashe County, North Carolina
- Date of Birth: November 11, 1887
- Place of Residence: Laurel Bloomery, Tennessee,
- Date of Death: August 16, 1930
- Given Name: Henry Whitter
- Place of Birth: Fries, Virginia
- Date of Birth: April 6, 1892
- Date of Death: November 10, 1941
Grayson and Whitter became acquainted at the 1927 fiddlers' convention in Mountain City, Tennessee. It was a short-lived partnership, ended by the death of Grayson in an automobile accident in 1930. However, many of the songs originally recorded by this duo went on to become standards in country music. Legally blind since he was a small child -- reportedly from gazing at bright sunlight reflecting upon snow when he was just six weeks old -- Grayson relied upon music for his income as his handicap kept him from other employment. Proficient on both the fiddle and banjo, he played shows and fiddler's conventions with many accomplished local and regional musicians. Whitter, who performed on guitar and harmonica, was a mill-hand by trade. He became the first musician from Grayson County, Virginia, to be recorded when he did a session for the Okeh label of New York in 1923. The songs of Grayson and Whitter, "Banks of the Ohio," "Little Maggie" "Going Down the Lee Highway" and "The 9 Pound Hammer," have been recorded by many over the years, including such notables as Bill Monroe and the Stanley Brothers [0]. Grayson & Whitter's recording of "Tom Dula" is especially significant since it was Grayson's uncle that tracked Dula in 1866. ("Tom Dula" --reworked by the Kingston Trio in the 1950's as "Tom Dooley" -- went on to become one of the most recognizable songs in history). On August 16, 1930, Grayson visited his brother's home in nearby Virginia on foot. He'd been making a bit of money from his recordings and public appearances and seemed finally able to buy a home. He had recently made a down payment on the home place where he was reared. As Grayson was returning home to Laurel Bloomery, neighbor Bill Millhorn stopped to offer a ride. Millhorn's family had his one-seat roadster fully occupied, so Grayson had to stand on the running board outside the car while the little brown Japanese-made fiddle he used for all his recording sessions was placed inside. While rounding a blind curve on US58 south of the town of Damascus, Virginia, Millhorn's car collided with a log truck heavily loaded with chestnut timber "extract" driven by another neighbor, Ferd Gentry. Grayson was hurled from the running board and killed. He was 42.