Anderson-Green (English, Kennesaw State U.) tells the stories of several legendary performers and instrument makers from the Upper New River Valley-Whitetop Mountain region. With a focus on performers from Alleghany and Ashe Counties in North Carolina and Carroll and Grayson Counties in Virginia, she reveals how they started to bring the music of Appalachia to a wider audience well before the emergence of Nashville as a country music center, and she relates the experiences and values behind the practice of this musical heritage. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Thomas Rutherfoord (1766-1852) emigrated in 1784 from Scotland to Richmond, Virginia, as representative for the mercantile firm of Hawksley and Rutherfoord of Dublin, Ireland. Thomas sold the goods he brought, returned to Ireland to settle accounts and become a partner, and then returned to Richmond in 1789. In 1790 he married Sarah Winston. Descendants (chiefly spelling the surname Rutherford) and relatives lived in Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Tennessee, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, California, Washington and elsewhere. Includes much ancestry and relatives in Scotland, and some in Ireland, England, India and elsewhere in the British empire.