Q&A with Prof. Taylor Hagood, author of Stringbean, at UIP Blog

The University of Illinois Press blog has a great Q&A with Professor Taylor Hagood on his new book, Stringbean: The Life and Murder of a Country Music Legend .

An excerpt:

Q: Why did you decide to write this book?

This book began in my childhood when I was entranced by Roy Clark playing the banjo on Hee Haw. By my early teens I was learning to play the banjo myself and had become deeply fascinated with the history of country and bluegrass music. I saw a photograph of Stringbean in a book I checked out in the school library. His costume just killed me—that long shirt and short pants made him look otherworldly and downhome at the same time. I pestered my parents to take me to the Country Music Hall of Fame, and there I saw Stringbean’s Vega No. 9 banjo on display. With its graceful lines and engraved mother-of-pearl inlays, it was very different from my Sears-bought Harmony. I remember being particularly struck by the white surface of the head being worn away by Stringbean’s clawhammer (or “rapping”) style of playing. My parents mentioned at the time that he had been murdered. After that, I grew up and went to college and ascended through the ranks of professorship. As my career continued, I had the opportunity to be meet some really great writers of nonfiction, including Tom Clavin, Scott Ellsworth, and Lawrence Leamer. I wanted not only to write literary criticism but also the kinds of narrative nonfiction they wrote. In 2017, a video of Stringbean playing and singing popped up on social media, and I remembered him and his banjo. I wanted to read a biography of him, but no one had written one. So I decided I would be the person to write that book. [ . . . ]