Jim Mullins and Ken Childress
Duo Of The Mountains.
Jim Mullins and Ken Childress are both
Dickenson
County,
Virginia natives and still reside in the Clintwood, Virginia area. They have
played music together for forty years or more. Early on, the setting was on a
front porch or living room or on a flat rock down by Pound River. They have been
playing on stage for the last six years.
Their music is varied, covering everything from "old timey" through the blues, traditional mountain, swing and some gospel thrown in. Jim is an accomplished finger picker, playing guitars in both standard and "G" tuning. Also, he plays old style five string banjo with a unique method all his own. Ken plays rhythm guitar. Both Ken and Jim do some lead singing and harmony vocals.
Jim and Ken have performed at The
Traditional Music Festival at Berea College in Berea, Kentucky; the Doc
Boggs Festival at Norton; Fall
Fling at Wise; the Jettie Baker Center at
Clintwood in conjunction with the Ralph Stanley Museum;
the Pickin Porch at Bristol; Hillbilly
Days at Pikeville,
Kentucky;
Seedtime on the the Cumberland at Appalshop in
Whitesburg, Kentucky and are yearly performers at the Highlands
Festival at Abington, Virginia; the Swapping Meeting
at Cumberland, Kentucky and at Fall Crafts Days at
MECC at Big Stone Gap, Virginia. They appeared in the play "Three
musicians and Uncle Pearl," produced by the
Appalachia Cultural Center at Appalachia, Virginia and at many other venues in
southwest Virginia and eastern Kentucky. Jim and Ken have coordinated the annual
Old Time Music Festival at the Breaks Interstate
Park in May each year featuring two days of old time picking and singing.
Jim and Ken have recorded four CD"s together Appalachian Memories, Soft Mountain Breeze, From the Front Porch and Bridging the Gap. Additionally Ken has recorded two solo Cd"s For Family and Friends and Gospel for Family and Friends.