He is a bluegrass musician and singer-songwriter born William Marburg in Riverwood, Maryland, and like many budding bluegrass artists, grew up listening to bluegrass on the radio. By the 1950s, he was laying down vinyl with The Dixie Mountain Boys.
At the age of 17, he wanted to meet A.P. Carter, so he went to his house in Maces Springs, Virginia. The two of them became such close friends that when Carter passed away in 1960, Clifton was asked to be a pall bearer.
A year later, he organized the first bluegrass music festival in Luray, Virginia. He became quite literally an ambassador of the genre, as his family emigrated to England a couple of years later and work followed on the club circuit.
His subsequent stint with the Peace Corps allowed him to spread the bluegrass gospel to such exotic locales as New Zealand and the Philippines.
Clifton makes his home in Mendota, Virginia, and still performs to this day. He was inducted into the Bluegrass Hall of Fame in 2008.
Bill Clifton recordings:
Dixie Ramble (Bill Clifton)
Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Clifton
- http://www.birthplaceofcountrymusic.org/index.cgi?BISKIT=265837&CONTEXT=cat&cat=10070
- http://www.bestprices.com/cgi-bin/vlink/4000127164254.html
- https://www.discogs.com/artist/784890-Bill-Clifton
- http://www.allmusic.com/artist/bill-clifton-mn0000762869/biography