Restrictions to Access

This collection contains additional audiovisual and born-digital materials that are not processed and are currently not available to researchers. For information about access to these materials, contact Research and Instructional Services staff. Please be advised that preparing unprocessed materials for access can be a lengthy process.

Restrictions to Use

No usage restrictions.

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 Bobby Patterson Collection #20574, Southern Folklife Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Janet Patterson in September 2019 (Acc. 103720).

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.

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.

• Banjo music.
• Bluegrass music.
• Bluegrass musicians.
• Country music.
• Fiddling--Competitions--United States.
• Galax, Va.--History.
• Old Fiddlers' Convention.
• Old-time music.
• Patterson, Bobby.
• Southern States--Songs and music.

Bobby Frank Patterson (1 April 1942–24 September 2017) of Galax, Va., was a central figure in the Galax and Blue Ridge Mountain communities. A white multi-instrumentalist (guitar, banjo and mandolin), Bobby played with Kyle Creed and the Camp Creek Boys, The Highlanders, The Heritage IV and many other bluegrass, gospel, and old-time ensembles. Patterson and his long-time musical partner Willard Gayheart were the original Blue Ridge Music Center mid-day mountain musicians. In 1987, he helped found the magazine The Old Time Herald. In 1972, with help from his father and Kyle Creed, he built his first recording studio and created a record label, Mountain Records. Two years later Patterson sold his interest in Mountain Records to Creed and formed his own record label, Heritage Records, recording Tommy Jarrell, influential fiddler and banjo player, as well as other local musicians. In 1985, he purchased Kyle Creed's Mountain Records and resumed producing recordings for the label. As President of the Blue Ridge Music Makers Guild, Patterson organized festivals and concerts to promote traditional music in the area. From 2006 to 2007, as Governor of the Galax Moose Lodge, he helped organize the annual Galax Old Fiddlers Convention, one of the oldest and largest fiddler's conventions in the world. Patterson was inducted into the Blue Ridge Music Hall of Fame in 2015 for his contributions to the recording industry.

Adapted from "Bobby Patterson Remembered" at Bluegrass Today (https://bluegrasstoday.com/bobby-patterson-remembered/).

The Bobby Patterson Collection consists largely of studio masters for Heritage Records and Mountain Records recordings of the Galax Fiddlers Convention. Audio formats include 1 inch and ¼ inch open reel, DAT, audio-and cassette, LP test pressings. Other materials of note are files with photographs, artwork, and liner notes relating to record releases; correspondence chiefly relating to Heritage Records; catalogs; printed programs and flyers for local fiddling conventions; and photographs of Bobby Patterson with the Highlanders at the World's Fair in Knoxville, Tenn., and other old time musicians. There are also video tapes and 8mm films of fiddler conventions, live performances, and other events.

• Oversize papers (OPF-20574/1-4)