Ralph Roberts, from Frametown, teaches Barry Carlton, left, from Elkin, N.C., a tune Tuesday at Camp Washington Carver in Clifftop in preparation for the Appalachian String Band Festival, which starts Thursday. Roberts is regarded as one the annual festivals “greats” and helps teach mountain tunes to younger generations.
CLIFFTOP, W.Va. — Eighty-seven-year-old fiddler Ralph Roberts says he is from the “geographic center of West Virginia” in Frametown, Braxton County, but he’s also the type of old-timer who is the heart of the Appalachian String Band Music Festival at Camp Washington-Carver.
Everyone in the section of campground called “geezer hill” knows Roberts.
Massachusetts native Don Borchelt pointed out his camp — “He’s the real deal. He didn’t go to Nashville.”
Tuesday, Roberts was under a canopy with several other fiddlers. They sat around a table with two oil lamps. He patiently bowed while Barry Carlton of Elkin, N.C., sat and copied him…