Kilby Snow

Kilby Snow
Birth name John Kilby Snow
Born May 28, 1905
Grayson County, Virginia, United States
Died March 29, 1980 (aged 74)
Genres American folk music
Occupation(s) Musician
Instruments Autoharp
Years active 1910s  1970s
Labels Folkways

Kilby Snow (May 28, 1905  March 29, 1980) was an American folk musician. A virtuoso Autoharpist, he was awarded the title of Autoharp Champion of North Carolina at the age of 5, but recorded only a single album for Folkways Records in the 1960s.[1]

He was known for his "drag note" playing style,[1] a technique that relied on his left-handedness to produce slurred notes that would be impossible for a right-handed player to recreate due to the reversed relationship between thumb and finger.[2]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Kilby Snow at AllMusic. Retrieved January 2, 2013.
  2. John S. Wilson, "Snow Shows Style on the Autoharp", The New York Times, December 20, 1970