Spartanburg Music Trail

The Spartanburg Music Trail

Some cities celebrate their war heroes, others their sports stars, but in Spartanburg, it's all about our musicians. Head out on the Spartanburg Music Trail, presented by the Spartanburg Philharmonic: a 30-minute outdoor walking tour of the city's incredibly robust music history.

The Spartanburg Music Trail honors musicians from Spartanburg who have made a national or international impact in the world of music. The stops highlight artists in such genres as country, gospel, soul, rock 'n' roll and more. Ultimately, the trail will circle the downtown as new inductees are added.

Below are three fun facts about 19 of the inductees:

Ira Tucker (active 1938 - 2008) • Grew up singing at local tea parties in Spartanburg and knocked door-to-door to sing for spare change. • So eager to audition for the Dixie Hummingbirds that he said he would walk the 29 miles back home from

Greenville to Spartanburg if he failed the audition. • Known for his eager, dynamic performance style; would rip his coat off, run down aisles, and dance on stage.

Arthur Prysock (active 1944 - 1990) • Born in Spartanburg and returned every summer to help his grandfather on his farm. • His former girlfriend didn’t believe he was singing with Buddy Johnson’s band until they came back to perform in Spartanburg. • His children told the press that they didn’t listen to his music because it wasn’t disco, so Prysock released

“When Love is New.”

Billy Walker (active 1820s - 1875) • A member of First Baptist Church in Spartanburg. • His bookstore was located near his Music Trail sign! • Took part in the cornerstone laying ceremony for Spartanburg’s Wofford College.

Clara Smith (active 1910-1935) • Introduced to singing from the traveling tent shows that often stopped in Spartanburg. • Lived on Simms Street near the intersection of Henry Street and Daniel Morgan Avenue. • Even performed on the West coast, which was rare for a blues singer.

Pink Anderson (active 1930s - 1960s) • Met and learned guitar from Simmie Dooley, a blind singer from Georgia who settled in Spartanburg and learned to read at Spartanburg’s School for the Deaf and Blind. • Performed with the Spartanburg String Band, as well as at local parties, dances, and picnics. • Wrote a song called “South Forest Boogie” when he lived on Forest St., and wrote another song about a barber that he used to go to on Wofford Street.

Marshall Tucker Band (active 1972 - present) • Toy Caldwell, lead guitarist of the band, went to Dorman High School. • The Gladstone Hotel once stood on Spring Street, where the Marshall Tucker Band originally rehearsed. • The Ruins, the downtown night spot where the band would perform, used to stand in the lot across from The

Spartanburg Herald-Journal.

Johnny Blowers (active 1930s - 1970s) • Grew up on a house on Brown Avenue, but he also lived on Maple, Poplar, and Hydrick streets. • Went to Frank Evans High School here in Spartanburg. • Started playing the drums in his school days, and played in local jazz clubs around Spartanburg.

Hank Garland (active 1946 - 1961) • Inspired by the guitarist Arthur Smith, who would often play on the WSBA radio station in Spartanburg. • A part of Shorty Painter’s band, a local band in Spartanburg, which gave Garland his first experience performing. • Discovered by accident; he had gone to the local music store to buy a guitar string and met Grand Ole Opry member Paul Howard.

Walter Hyatt (active 1970s - 1990s) • Attended kindergarten at Spartanburg’s First Presbyterian Church. • Performances drew in huge crowds, including to a Spartanburg club called Hooley’s at the old Franklin Hotel on Main Street and in the Wofford College Coffeehouse. • His mother, Emma Hyatt, studied music at Converse College and taught Walter to play the piano.

Champ Hood (active 1970s - 2001) • Hood, as well as his fellow band members, Hyatt and Ball, is a Spartanburg High School graduate. • Grew up in Spartanburg’s Duncan Park. • Started playing guitar around the age of eleven, took lessons for only 3 months before saying, “that’s all I need.”

Blue Ridge Quartet (active 1946 - 1985) • Kenny Gates said, “Very few people [in Spartanburg] knew how big we were… Wherever we went, though, we were always sure to mention Spartanburg, South Carolina.” • Every Tuesday, they followed the CBS news on live television, introducing many new people to gospel music. • Performed not only in churches but also at fairs and amusement parks, locations that gospel groups usually didn’t play.

Don Reno (active 1939 - 1984) • Built his first banjo at the age of five, using white oak, dogwood, cat’s skin, and screen door wires. • Father traded a hog on their Spartanburg farm for a guitar for Don. • Taught the guitar by Hank Garland, another Spartanburg musician.

Sparkletones (active 1956 - 1961) • Formed in 1956 at Cowpens High School in Spartanburg. • Group member Joe Bennet grew up here in Spartanburg’s Cannons Campground community. • One of the first acts to perform live on “The Ed Sullivan Show” but they had to change their sparkly jackets because they were too bright.

Marshall Chapman (active 1970s to present) • Played her piano recital at Twichell auditorium in 1956 and then returned there to perform April 2022. • Seeing Elvis at Spartanburg’s Carolina Theater inspired Chapman and changed her view of music. • Her song, Why Can’t I Be Like Other Girls, refers to Chapman’s “rebellious” nature; she wanted to become a singer rather than carry on the mill-owning legacy of her father.

Buck Trent (active 1948 - present) • His newest album, which was released in 2018, is called “Spartanburg Blues.” • Lived in the Acadia mill village west of town, and the mill facility where his mother once worked has now been converted into the Mayfair Mill Lofts. • Played the signature guitar lick in the original recording of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene.”

David Ball (active 1988 - present) • Attended Pine Street Elementary School in the early ‘60s. • Father was the pastor of Fernwood Baptist Church. • Wrote his first song in seventh grade and played it at the school talent show with his band, the Strangers.

Carlos Moseley (active 1930s - 2012) • Graduated from Spartanburg High School, and entered Duke University, where he majored in English. • Founded a “little dance band” with another Spartanburg native, Sandy Meyerson, which got them a job playing tea dances on an ocean liner to and from Europe. • Lived in his family home on Otis Boulevard.

Rev Julius Cheeks (active 1940s - 1960s) • Left school to support his widowed mother and twelve siblings, but kept singing in a local Spartanburg gospel group. • His baritone voice was so strong that it distorted the microphones, creating a new style which was imitated by later R&B and soul singers. • Daughter Judy Cheeks also became a singer, and she worked with artists like Tina Turner and Stevie Wonder.

Gianna Rolandi (active 1970s - 1990s) • Sang in her first opera at age 7, in the children’s chorus of a Charlotte production of “La Boheme.” • Originally studied the violin, and began taking voice lessons while at the Brevard Music Center. • Performed on Converse College’s Twichell Auditorium stage in 1982, 1985 and 1995.