born // 1902
lived // owsley county
played // fiddle & banjo
died // 1981
Effie Pierson
in her first heaven
in her first heaven is a collection of recordings, songs, and stories about women musicians from Kentucky
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Blanche Coldiron
Dora Mae Wagers
Effie Pierson
Emma Lee Dickerson
Lella Todd
Lois Short
Effie Pierson
Effie Pierson -- 1. "Something Else"
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“There’ll never be another her. She done everything in the world that she could. She was a midwife, she was a musician, she was a mother, she was a wife, and she was a workhorse. She done everything there was to be done except drive a car.”
Effie Pierson -- 2. A Working Family
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Childhood sweethearts, Effie Smith and Edward Pierson were married in 1918, Effie 16 years old. Ed, in an interview with John Harrod, in the early 1980s, remembered their courtship:“Them days, we played games, you know, past times… Playing fox and the goose… we made a mark, put her foot over the mark,… and the fox tried to catch it. I said if I can catch that goose, I’ll take it home with me,” he said, with laughter. “We’s just children, you know. So I run my legs off, trying to catch her but she got home before I got her…. Well, I finally got my goose, though.”
Effie Pierson -- 3. Music in the Family
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Amidst the work, there was always time for music. Music was a family affair, for Effie. She’d grown up hearing her grandparents, her parents, and playing with her siblings.
Effie Pierson -- 4. On The Radio
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Mixed with the old dance tunes, was an increasing influence of the radio, and the records and songbooks they’d buy. “We would listen to the Delmore Brother’s Records, and copy down the song,” Pauline recalled. They’d listen to their songs on the radio, or off their records, over and over and write down the lyrics. “At one point, we knew three hundred songs.” Effie liked listening to Little Jimmy Dickens, The Carter Family, and Jimmy Rogers. The Delmore Brothers were their favorites. “Nothing can compare with the Delmore brothers… harmony like you wouldn’t believe. They would tear your heart out and do anything they wanted with it,” Lillian said.
Effie Pierson -- 5. "A Gracious and Charming Lady"
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Her daughters grew up, left Owsley County. Effie continued to play the fiddle, to plant a garden each year.
John Harrod, a fiddler and inquiring mind who had been visiting and recording many Kentucky fiddlers, visited Effie Pierson in the early 1980s.
Two musicians, from Booneville, Kentucky, Hargis Goodman and his son Donald, took him out to meet her. “I was just trailing all through the mountains, looking for people… they told me about Effie Pierson, so I went out to her,” John said.
