Linthead Pop

Abstract

Charles Cleveland “Charlie” Poole was a banjo-playing mill laborer who lived an eventful life before passing at age 39 from one alcohol binge too many. He was arguably the most important musician to emerge from the stringbands populating mill towns across the North Carolina Piedmont -- a working-class hero as well as an important crossroads figure in the 1920s evolution of old-time music into what became bluegrass and country music, recording songs that remain bluegrass-festival standards to this day. And yet he has never been inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.