Restrictions to Access

Use of audio or moving image materials may require production of listening or viewing copies.

This collection contains additional materials that are not available for immediate or same day access. Please contact Research and Instructional Service staff at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu to discuss options for consulting these materials.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Tommy Thompson Collection #20359, Southern Folklife Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Jessica Thompson Eustice (daughter of Tommy Thompson) in April 2002 (Acc. 99219)

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: Burgin Mathews, December 2003

Encoded by: Burgin Mathews, December 2003; and Emily Jack, February 2006

Updated for Digitization by: Amanda Loeb, August 2012; Anne Wells, October 2018: Patrick Cullom, December 2019; Nancy Kaiser, February 2021

Since 2017, we have added ethnic and racial identities for individuals and families represented in collections. To determine identity, we rely on self-identification; other information supplied to repository by collection creators or sources; public records, press accounts, and secondary sources; and contextual information in the collection materials. Omissions of ethnic and racial identities in finding aids created or updated after August 2017 are an indication of insufficient information to make an educated guess or an individual's preference for identity information to be excluded from description. When we have misidentified, please let us know at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu.

Until 2019, some of photographic materials in this collection were originally part of the "SFC General Photograph Collection." Materials in the SFC General Photographic Collection were individually numbered in a sequential manner that spanned collections. Materials that have a number with a "P-" indicate inclusion in this collection. These numbers have been retained so that previous uses of the images and additional description remain connected to the materials.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Actors--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• African American families--Ohio.
• African American musicians--Drama.
• Banjo--History.
• Bluegrass music--Photographs.
• Bluegrass music.
• Composers--North Carolina.
• Drama--20th century.
• Dramatists, American--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• Emmett, Daniel Decatur, 1815-1904--Drama.
• Herrick, Jack.
• Kaghan, Joan.
• Minstrel shows.
• Musical groups--North Carolina.
• Musical theater--North Carolina.
• Musical theater--United States.
• Musicians--North Carolina.
• Poole, Charlie, 1892-1931.
• Popular music.
• Red Clay Ramblers--Photographs.
• Red Clay Ramblers.
• Shepard, Sam, 1943-
• Simpson, Bland--Photographs.
• Simpson, Bland.
• Snowden family--Drama.
• String band music.
• Thompson, Tommy, 1937-2003
• Thompson, Tommy, 1937-2003--Photographs.

• Bland Simpson Papers (#04755)
• Red Clay Rambers Papers (#04745)
• The Last Song of John Proffit (FT-3315-3317), General Collections, Southern Folklife Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Tommy Thompson (1937-2003) was a founding member of both the Hollow Rock String Band and the Red Clay Ramblers, as well as a playwright, composer, and actor. In the mid-1960s, Thompson was a regular attendee at the Friday picking sessions at the Hollow Rock Grocery in the Hollow Rock Community outside of Durham, N.C. As these gatherings outgrew the grocery store, the weekly sessions moved to the home of Tommy and his wife Bobbie, and quickly became the social hub of Chapel Hill and Durham's string-band revivalist scene. The short-lived but widely celebrated Hollow Rock String Band developed out of this musical community and featured Tommy Thompson on banjo, Bobbie Thompson on guitar, Bertram Levy on mandolin, and Alan Jabbour on fiddle. The group recorded its only album in 1968.

Thompson formed his second band, the Red Clay Ramblers, in 1972 as a trio with Jim Watson and Bill Hicks; Mike Craver joined the group in 1973 and Jack Herrick joined in 1975. Subsequent incarnations of the band also included Bland Simpson, Clay Buckner, and Chris Frank. Thompson performed with the group for the last time in 1994.

Throughout the 1980s Thompson scripted, scored, and performed in--often in collaboration with other members of the Ramblers--a number of stage plays, including his own one-man-show, The Last Song of John Proffitt, a play exploring the historical figures Dan Emmett and the Snowden family, the development of the banjo, blackface minstrelsey, and the 19th-century interactions of black and white musical traditions.

Thompson died on 24 January 2003, after a long struggle with an Alzheimer's-like illness.

The collection includes materials primarily relating to musician and writer Tommy Thompson's music and theater activities, 1970s-1990s. Included are rough drafts, final scripts, scores, publicity, correspondence, and other materials related to dramatic works that Thompson authored or co-authored (some with Jack Herrick), scored, or performed in, including: The Last Song of John Proffitt: Life on the Mississippi, a musical based on the memoir by Mark Twain; Sam Shepard's A Lie of the Mind; Earrings; The Merry Wives of Windsor, Texas; Fool Moon; and Savages. The Last Song of John Proffitt, a one-man show exploring historical figures Dan Emmett and the Snowden family, an African American family from Ohio, which touches on the development of the banjo, blackface minstrelsy, and the interactions of black and white musical traditions, is extensively documented with scripts for a radio production of the play, schoolchildren's responses to the play, research materials, and other items. Items related to the musical  Savages include an audio cassette of song samples from the show. Other writings include drafts of short stories and of a children's book on which Thompson collaborated with illustrator Joan Kaghan, an unfinished dramatization of North Carolina string band leader Charlie Poole's life, and Thompson's notebooks. Also included are Thompson's song collection of both original compositions and material from other sources; materials related to the Red Clay Ramblers, consisting of publicity, documentation of the Ramblers' trip to Africa, Bland Simpson materials, and photographs; business materials, consisting of insurance correspondence, a 1991 ledger detailing personal expenses and income, and an address list of theaters; and personal materials. Personal materials include correspondence; photographs; Thompson's collections of antique ledgers, dramatic works of others, and research materials; silent film footage of one of Thompson's Friday night jam sessions; and other items.

• Audiocassette (FS-6948)
• Digital Audio Tape (DAT-558)
• Film (F-20359/1)
• Videotape (VT-20359/1)
• Image Folders (PF-20359/1 - PF-20359/8)