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Joe Wilson Author & Illustrator

Joe Wilson was a music historian, folklorist, and chairman of the National Council for the Traditional Arts. Raised in the Blue Ridge Mountains, he learned ballads from his mother, guitar from his uncle, and “Jack” tales from a neighbor. He also heard his great-aunt, known to early radio audiences as “Carolina Sally,” play banjo on his back porch. He has produced 41 large-scale music festivals in 11 states, and was one of the driving forces behind the creation of the Crooked Road. In 2001 he was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts.