1909 barn dance, Pea Ridge, KY. Sam Short tunes the banjos. Annie and Walter Short frailed them. Little Ovie Short jigged. 1976: Sam tuned the 80-year-old banjo. Annie played “Mule skinner blues.” 1956 photo of Walter and Annie.

AUNT ANNIE’S BANJO

She strummed and laughed,

She sang and played,

Her music bubbled,

Rambled and ran,

Down hollers and hills.

Her banjo knew well,

Her songs and chords,

The paddlewheel steamboats,

The mean-eyed gamblers,

The whiskey drinkers,

The high flying dancers,

And white-veiled brides.

Annie is no more,

Her banjo vanished,

Their stories forgotten,

Gone downstream.