We pay a literary tribute to a musical legend of the High Country of NC.
The phrase “pay it forward” might be a bit overused these days, but no one exemplifies it better than Albert Hash of Grayson County, Virginia who paid forward his love of mountain music.
In 1917, near the border of North Carolina, Hash was born into a hard life, and as a friend stated: it was root hog or die, which is an old-time saying for you’re on your own, and you had better be self-sufficient.
Hash grew up in a house full of music and he carved his first fiddle with a pocket knife at age 10. He would keep the pocket knife handy for carving, but his fiddle-making would vastly improve as the years went on.
The old adage that there is a fiddle player up each holler in the mountains applied to Hash. He got together with family and friends to play house parties, dances, and box suppers.
He sold his first fiddle for six dollars and also found that he could barter or trade his fiddles for other things. When he had appendicitis, a local preacher paid his hospital bill and Hash paid him back with a fiddle.
When his second daughter was born, he paid her hospital bill with a fiddle as well. He always playfully teased his daughter that he traded a beautiful blond fiddle with an Indian head on the scroll and lots of inlays for such a scrawny little runt of a child.
Later, when that very same daughter learned the craft of fiddle making from her father, she gave him her first fiddle…he said he’d rather have that handmade fiddle than a brand new Cadillac! A good thing too, there was no money for a fancy new car!
His fiddles made it to the big time via fellow Virginian Harold Hensley, who played Albert’s fiddles on the Hometown Jamboree TV show that featured guests like Johnny Cash, Tennessee Ernie Ford, and Tex Ritter among others. Hensley would always send Hash a post card to let him know where he’d be playing his Albert Hash fiddle next!
During World War II Hash wanted to join the Army but a heart murmur stopped him from serving. He did find work at a torpedo factory before returning to the hills of Northwest North Carolina. He farmed and made fiddles until he got a job as a machinist in a local factory.
On the top of the fiddle or scroll Hash carved various birds, like eagles, people, animal claws and even dogs. The backs of his fiddles showcased carvings of flowers and birds among other things.
While his talents were showcased for the 1982 World’s Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee and the Smithsonian Institute, his true legacy is the people he inspired to continue the tradition of old time music.
As our friend Dave Tabler says, Albert Hash ain’t a bit shy with a fiddle, he also didn’t hesitate to encourage fiddle players and fiddle makers. Coming from an era when trade secrets were hoarded like gold, Hash freely shared his knowledge. Those countless musicians have paid that kindness forward in memory and honor of Hash.
If the wind through the pines on Whitetop mountain sounds vaguely of fiddle music, it is most likely the mountain’s way of paying tribute to this fine country gentleman…Albert Hash.
