Leonard Rutherford

Leonard Rutherford was one half of the fine Monticello, KY, string band duo Burnett & Rutherford. His smooth, sliding fiddle sound, coupled with Richard Burnett's keening vocals and modal banjo playing, make their best-known song, the archaic-sounding "Willie Moore," a true national treasure. Rutherford was only a teenager when he began playing with Burnett in 1914, and the duo performed throughout the South until the 1950s, when their association ended with Rutherford's death in 1954. Burnett retired from professional music and was in his nineties when he died in 1977. ~ Steve Leggett