Road To Home
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"Marion Sumner is one of my favorite breakdown fiddlers of all time. I have admired his talent and technique for over 30 years and I'm happy to know that through this album others will do the same." Chet Atkins, 1979
"Fiddle King of the South" Marion Sumner (1920-1997) was raised on George's Branch in Perry County, KY. After winning a fiddle contest during the 1937 Black Gold Festival in Hazard he gained the attention of Cousin Emmy and performed with her group for several years. During WWII, Sumner worked briefly for Molly O’Day and Lynn Davis, and then with Eddie Hill and Johnny Wright. In the post-war period, Marion worked as a sideman with many bands on radio station WKIC in Hazard. He later joined Don Gibson and Chet Atkins in Knoxville and Esco Hankins in Lexington.
Marion spent briefer periods with Cowboy Copas, the York Brothers, Preston Ward, Archie Campbell and the then youthful duo of Jim & Jesse. Sumner also fiddled extensively on the night club circuits in Cincinnati, Columbus and Knoxville. He recorded sparingly in his wide travels, doing sessions with Preston Ward and Don Gibson in the 1940s. In his later years he frequently played with eastern Kentucky banjo master Lee Sexton.
In 1979, Marion cut his first album, Road to Home, for June Appal. In the mid-80’s, he made two more albums, both with the assistance of Jesse McReynolds, who always held Marion’s fiddling in high regard. Sumner lived in retirement in Isom, Kentucky in Letcher County until his death in 1997.
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