Biography:A.A. Gray
A.A. Gray
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|---|---|
| Given name: | Ahaz |
| Middle name: | Augustus |
| Family name: | Gray |
| Place of birth: | Carroll Co. GA |
| Place of death: | Tallapoosa, Haralson Co. GA |
| Year of birth: | 1881 |
| Year of death: | 1939 |
| Profile: | Musician |
| Source of information: | |
Biographical notes
A.A. Gray was born in September, 1881, in Carroll County, Georgia, and was taught the rudiments of fiddle playing by an older brother. In a 1934 article in the Atlanta Journal's Sunday magazine, he told interviewer Willard Neal:
I guess I'm different from most of the fiddlers. Nearly all the others learned to play naturally, but I had to be taught. When I was seven years old my big brother started me off. He had to poke my fingers down on the strings and hold them there while I sawed the bow. He taught me part of a piece, and then got mad because I couldn't learn any faster, and quit, but I kept trying 'till I picked out the whole tune. And I've been playing ever since.
A.A. Gray died on 21 June 1939 having spent the last more than 30 years of his life as a Methodist minister, with a reputation as a well-respected and sober man.