This'n'll set you free!
NORMAN L. FAGAN 1976
There are two ways to say West Virginia: One is the Mountain State, and the other is the Morris Brothers.
DWIGHT DILLER 1983
The Morris Brothers is really a whole story in itself. That was really a crazy time.
DWIGHT DILLER 2014
John and Dave Morris were powerhouses. Incredible.
SUE ROCK 1971
Dave can do almost anything, and he did. He recited beautiful poetry (Dylan Thomas), strummed his Martin guitar, played a song which he composed himself on the autoharp, danced jigs, and told jokes that he laughed at harder than anybody else - which made everybody laugh at him laughing.
REX WOODFORD 1973
David Morris does most of the singing, plays the guitar and solos on the autoharp. He’s also capable of laying on a pretty fair version of a country clog dance, or back-step or snake stomp or whatever you might want to call it. John is the quieter of the two and he can make a fiddle sing. He’s also accomplished on the banjo and comes on strong as a soloist when he presents, in his tenor voice, folk tunes like "Pretty Polly."
J. P. ROOL 1974
Dave Morris freely admits his brother John is the better musician. The truth is John is an expert fiddler. He can coax whines and cries from the strings of his instrument that can compare favorably with the best bow men. Dave’s guitar playing, while ordinary, is good, but his forte is vocals. On songs such as ‘The Wreck of the Old 97’, which he introduced with: ‘There are two types of railroad songs, sad and sadder; this one’s just sad’, Dave can manage a Johnny Cash sound that someday will turn to cash for this bunch.
JOHN MORRIS 2021
There was a fellow named John Martin that played harmonica with us for a while. The early band - at one time there was just Morris Brothers with John Martin, the three of us. That would have been in '70, '71, along in there.
J. P. ROOL 1974
John Martin is a harmonica player supreme. His composition of ‘City-Country Blues’ is a touching and very personal piece that communicates a mingling of plaintive loneliness and urban congestion. It’s a minor masterpiece of harpwork.
DWIGHT DILLER 2020(a)
That was John Martin who was standing in the water, and I was lifting the logs for the bridge [in the ‘Morris Family Old Time Music Festival’ film]. He was the greatest on the harmonica, playing it on 'Hog-Eyed Man'. Also with hog grunt.
DWIGHT DILLER 2020(a)
The Morris Brothers had just started a little festival in Sodom, NC in June '72. That was the first summer I was working for the Morris Bros.
LEWIS STERN 2016
Dwight's first stage appearance with banjo in hand was with the Morris Brothers.
DWIGHT DILLER 2014
I am right sure that was the first place I went on stage with the Morris Brothers. [Sodom, NC, ‘72] They were well known as THE band in the country around.
DWIGHT DILLER 2021
And, see I was in, '72 and '73, those years, I was in grad school at West Virginia University. So, I played with them in the summers.
DWIGHT DILLER 2014
We were all in our late 20s. John [Morris] and I are two weeks apart in age. We are still brothers. I am right sure that the main thing we had in common was a central West Virginia 'Way'. They were playing their powerful central West Virginia kind of Old Time Music, and though I didn't know their tunes/songs and my skill level was lacking, I immediately jumped in like ducks in water. With them I found my music.
Uncredited reporter (The Raleigh Register) 1973
The group is made up of David and John Morris, John C. Martin and Dwight Diller. It has frequently been featured at the Capitol City Jamboree in Charleston, on television specials and in Charleston area night clubs. David and John are brothers from Ivydale in Clay County, sons of Dallis and Anna Morris.
Uncredited Reporter (The Raleigh Register) 1973
Pocahontas County born Dwight Diller is another ‘natural’ musician who learned his art from those around him in his childhood. [Diller was actually born near Charleston, in Kanawha County.] Dwight, the group’s virtuoso banjo player, is a graduate student at the West Virginia University. The Morris Brothers’ harmonica player and bassist is John C. Martin of Troutman, NC. Though not a native West Virginian, he has adopted the state during the past four years’ association with the Morris Brothers.
DWIGHT DILLER 2014
This is also where Snotty [Dwight’s loud banjo] found his home. All I had to do was keep driving the music, which demanded an extreme thump, and then fake the notes. In all the time I played that banjo, it never gave out no matter how violently I struck down on it. In fact, I had the strings close to a half-inch over the fingerboard where the neck and rim meet. It was Dick Kimmel who gave me a half hour banjo lesson in September 1969, a few years later, who said that I played 'sledgehammer banjo'. With that banjo, I could walk into a large bunch who were playing at a festival and totally take over. Snotty sledgehammer.
DWIGHT DILLER 2021
I was playing the clawhammer kind, so it has a different kind of drive to it than the bluegrass, three finger stuff, does. My style is heavy like black blues players. But you can listen to it on there. On the 'Hog-Eyed Man' I was the pig squealing. And John Martin was the hog snorting. (laughter) I was squealing and he was snorting!
REX WOODFORD 1973
The Morris Brothers stick close to folk and old-timey mountain music, and they have the talent to deliver it in a way that sends the customers home humming tunes and tapping toes. The string band had all the earmarks of a smash hit at Morris Harvey College where the students whistled, applauded loudly, joined in the singing and even danced in the aisles. When you hear them offer ‘John Henry’, ‘In The Pines’, ‘Rosewood Casket’ and ‘When Time Is Stolen It Flies’, you’ll be hearing some fine singing and playing of folk and country music. And when the entire band pulls out all the stops to present the rollicking, foot stomping, knee slapping ‘Sally Ann’ (also known as ‘The Hog Eyed Man’) then I’d defy any audience to sit still.
DWIGHT DILLER 2014
9 September 1973 was approximately the date when the Morris Brothers 45rpm was recorded in Charleston, West Virginia. John Morris was the vocal lead on “Yonder come the hog-eyed man”, and fiddle and harmony vocal. Dave was guitar and lead vocal. John Martin was the snarl and harmonicas. I had banjo and squeal. Our first take was a beauty, and the recording machine was not switched on. On our third take Dave broke a string, but we kept going. Some good memories of the kindness and graciousness of those folks.
DWIGHT DILLER 2020(b)
That was John (fiddle/tenor) and Dave (guitar/lead vocal/broken string @ 2:43) Morris, Ivydale, Clay County, WV, September 1973. John Martin from NC on French harp and hog grunt. I was on banjo and pig squeal. Jimmy Martin from St. Albans invited in with the jazz bass fiddle. The best 'take', of course, was the first one, and the sound man didn't have the recorder turned on?!?
CALEB DILLER 2018
This is meant to be played on 11, and keep it there till it hurts!! If you’re really a fan of old time, then you’ll know this is absolutely the real deal hottest shit old time has to offer.
DWIGHT DILLER 2014
When put on a juke box in a beer joint, 'Hog-Eyed Man' would be played over and over. However, it would have to be removed before long because fights would break out. We thought that would only happen in West Virginia. About ten years ago, a man stopped in a restaurant at nearby Snowshoe ski resort. Friends of mine were playing banjo and fiddle there. The man shouted 'Can you play Hog-Eyed Man?' Of course, no one can play the Morris Brothers version. But they made an attempt. The man said 'I'm from Jacksonville and that song was on the juke box down there. I remember it because they finally had to take it off. It kept starting fights all the time.'
JEFFREY DREVES, JR. 2021
‘The Hog Eyed Man’ is one of the finest records I have ever heard. It is one of my favourite records of all time, any kind of music. I just think that record is wonderful. In terms of energy, and like, old-time music- <pause> The energy on that record rivals any kind of music, anywhere, in my opinion. I can’t even begin to describe how much joy I felt the first time I heard that. I was jumping up and down. I just love that record.
JOHN MORRIS 2021
(laughter) That’s old-time music!
DWIGHT DILLER 2021
Well, that was who we were at that time. For two summers. That's what we- <pause> That's who we were.
JOHN MORRIS 2021
That's what people said: We played old-time music with a rock and roll attitude!
DWIGHT DILLER 2020(b)
Flip side was beautiful - 'Angeline'.
JOHN MORRIS 2021
It was ‘Angeline’. The fiddle tune, ‘Angeline’. I got a bunch of them Hog-Eyed records someplace. I'll see if I can find you one of them.
JOHN MORRIS 2021
Them records [‘Hog-Eyed Man’ 45 and ‘Music As We Learned It’ LP] was our first efforts at playing, you know. The fiddling is pretty amateurish. And the singing and stuff's alright, but my fiddling was pretty average.
DWIGHT DILLER 2014
There were four of us in the Morris Brothers Band. All four were in your face with the music, and off-stage also. There are three now. One had a really harsh time with bipolar disease, and he killed himself by jumping off an interstate bridge in front of a tractor trailer. He never drew a happy breath. Neither did the rest of us. Not a happy breath. Lot of laughter, but it was not really happy.
JOHN MORRIS 1974
John Martin was a really great and sensitive musician. The unfortunate part is unless you got to know John or be around him at length, you will never know him as the compassionate, warm hearted person he was aside from his music. Everyone who ever knew John will miss him in the years to come. Many who knew him as a musician will miss him for the joyful sounds he produced and for the wonderful feelings he was able to arouse in the listener. Others like myself will miss him not only as a musician, but as a valued friend who was always generous with a helping hand or advice no matter what was to be considered. John was able to make people happy, to laugh and enjoy themselves. I’ve seen this and experienced it many times in the past 4 years. These qualities and abilities, in the world of today, are, like his music, indeed very rare, truly, very rare.
DWIGHT DILLER 1983
It was, it was <pause> it was hard, at that time, for me. You heard what Dave said down there on stage the other night, you know? [at the Augusta Heritage Arts Workshop, Elkins, West Virginia, August 1983] He said that was some of the hardest years he ever had.
CHRISTINE BALLENGEE MORRIS 2020
David’s reflections about that time revealed that his undiagnosed PTSD [from his service in Viet Nam], combined with feeling overwhelmed by the Morris Brothers’ success, created strong tensions between he and John.
PAUL GARTNER 2017
David attributed the eventual breakup of the Morris Brothers Band [in 1976] to the usual stresses and strains on musicians. This was a low point for him.
DAVID MORRIS 2010
I went down so low, there were times I didn’t think I would live.
DWIGHT DILLER 2021
But I had to, as I said, I had to quit John and Dave. And I was getting married, so…
DWIGHT DILLER 2014
You can go anywhere in the world, and any time in the world, to find any group that say they are an 'Old Time Music Band', and I will put them up against what the Morris Brothers were doing back in those days. They all pale in comparison. When I went with them in June 1972, I could hardly play much of anything. Listen to where I was in September of 1973. I have never ever played any better in my life and had only been with them a total of about seven months.
Old Pappy 2016
The Morris Brothers recorded ‘Hog-Eyed-Man’ back in 1973, and it was a very popular selection on the jukeboxes of WV beer joints. Now, of course, I have never been in a WV beer joint, but I do like their version of the song. Wonder how many of you know what ‘Hog-Eyed Man’ means.
Andrew D. 2016
Well Dwight did sort of tell us at a workshop. At least we figured our way through his euphemisms to an answer.
Bryan Shepard 2016
I've heard a couple different interpretations of what it may mean, but I'll go with the family friendly distilled version: a barge man. A boat worker, basically. The others are more colorful (and more interesting)!
Old Pappy 2016
That is a new one for me, but it is nice to know of an interpretation that can be used in polite society.
Bill Rogers 2016
Great version of ‘Sally Ann’--with lyrics involving a hog-eyed man. Also, a bit of ‘Skillet Good and Greasy’. No sign though of one of the ‘Hog-Eyed Man’ melodies. Interesting choice of title.
Old Pappy 2016
I am sure the title, and additional lyrics, were chosen by someone with a wink in his eye!
On Saturday May 26th, 1973, a seven-piece Morris Brothers band appeared at the 4th Annual Mountain Heritage Folk Festival at Carter Caves State Park in Olive Hill, Kentucky. The band played two sets that day, the first in the afternoon and the second in the evening. They ended both sets with 'The Hog Eyed Man', and recordings exist of each. The afternoon version of 'The Hog Eyed Man' is complete, is slightly better sounding, sonically speaking (I think there were two mics instead of one), but is missing the pig squeal and hog grunt intro from the record. The evening performance has the grunting and squealing they would record for posterity just over three months later, and a high-octane energy, but unfortunately the tape ends well before the song does. What follows here is a composite of the two performances of 'The Hog Eyed Man' played that day. The Morris Brothers band on this occasion consisted of David Morris (guitar, lead vocal), John Morris (fiddle, tenor vocal), Dwight Diller (banjo, vocal), John Martin (harp, vocal) Tom King (guitar, vocal), Mark Morton (mandolin, vocal), Ron Sanders (bass, vocal).
DAVID MORRIS 1973
I'm glad he introduced all these fellers to you 'cause I don't know half of 'em!
JOHN MORRIS 1973
This is a tune called ‘Morris Brothers Tight Set’, I think.
DAVID MORRIS 1973
This song's from an album entitled 'Morris Brothers Greatest Hits'.
L-R: Tom King, John Morris, Dwight Diller, Ron Sanders, John Martin, David Morris, Mark Morton
Sources
Dwight Diller
Interview, Elkins, West Virginia, August 3, 1983, Jack Bernhardt Papers, Southern Folklife Collection, University of North Carolina.
Interviews, conversations and email correspondence with Lewis Stern in 2014, 'Dwight Diller: West Virginia Mountain Musician', Lewis M. Stern, McFarland & Company, 2016.
Comment, "Morris Family Old Time Festival - PREVIEW", Documentary Educational Resources channel, https://youtu.be/kV60741TJ5g, 2020(a).
Comment, "The Hog Eyed Man - The Morris Brothers", Martin Hall channel, https://youtu.be/nLWKEBicziM, 2020(b).
Conversation and correspondence with the author, 2021.
John Morris
On stage with the Morris Brothers, Mountain Heritage Folk Festival, Carter Caves Park, Olive Hill, Kentucky, May 26th, 1973.
Liner notes, 'Glen Smith and the Mountain State Pickers', Kanawha Records 322, 1974.
Conversation with author, 2021.
David Morris
On stage with the Morris Brothers, Mountain Heritage Folk Festival, Carter Caves Park, Olive Hill, Kentucky, May 26th, 1973.
Interview with John Lilly 2010; "The Morris Brothers: Music From The Head of the Holler", John Lilly, Goldenseal, Vol 37 Issue 1, 2011.
Christine Ballengee Morris
'Running Ridges, Burning Bridges: A story about war, PTSD, and the Arts', Christine Ballengee Morris, PhD, unpublished manuscript, 2020.
Norman L. Fagan
From his introduction of the Morris Brothers at the opening concert of the Science and Culture Center in Charleston, West Virginia in 1976.
"The Morris Brothers: Music From The Head of the Holler", John Lilly, Goldenseal, Vol 37 Issue 1, 2011.
Sue Rock
"Music", The Baltimore Grotto News, National Speleological Society, Baltimore, Maryland, Vol 11, No 10, November 1971.
Rex Woodford
"Can't Sit Still With the Hog Eyed Man", Charleston Daily Mail, Charleston, West Virginia, May 7, 1973.
J.P. Rool
"Why Aren't They On Records?", Sunday Gazette-Mail, Charleston, West Virginia, March 17, 1974.
Uncredited reporter
"Mountain Music Concert Slated", The Raleigh Register, Thursday October 18, 1973.
Lewis Stern
'Dwight Diller: West Virginia Mountain Musician', Lewis M. Stern, McFarland & Company, 2016.
Paul Gartner
"David Morris (1944-2016)", Paul Gartner, Goldenseal Vol 42 Issue 4, 2017.
Caleb Diller
Comment, "The Morris Brothers - 'Hog Eyed Man'", cridantis channel, https://youtu.be/pLX5PRfVa2s, 2018.
Jeffrey Dreves, Jr.
Composite quote from conversations with John Morris and Dwight Diller, 2021.
Old Pappy, Andrew D., Bryan Shepard, Bill Rogers
Excerpted from a thread on the Banjo Hangout online discussion forum, https://www.banjohangout.org/archive/316759, 2016.
Photos/Images/Recordings
All of the photos that include Dwight Diller (except the 7pc Morris Brothers band, and the one lifting a log) are from the Lewis M. Stern book, 'Dwight Diller: West Virginia Mountain Musician', McFarland & Company, 2016.
The image of Dwight Diller and John Martin lifting a log, and John Martin on stage with John, and John and David Morris, are screen shots from the 1980 Robert Gates film 'Morris Family Old Time Music Festival', Documentary Education Resources DVD, 2007. The film was shot at the 1972 festival.
The portrait of John Martin by Robert Gates appeared on the 1975 Glen Smith and the Mountain State Pickers self-titled album on Kanawha Records which includes John Martin's last performances.
The colour snapshot of David Morris in Viet Nam is from Christine Ballengee Morris' unpublished manuscript.
The photo of the 7pc Morris Brothers band onstage at Carter Caves in 1973, the two of John and David, and the one of John and David with parents Dallis and Anna, are screen shots from "The Morris Brothers 2018 West Virginia Music Hall Of Fame Induction Vignette" produced by Brainwrap Productions, West Virginia Music Hall of Fame channel, https://youtu.be/lpin_ir76V0, 2018. (There are no photo credits with the video. If/when I locate them, I'll update the captions beneath the applicable photos above.)
The digital scans of the Hog Eyed Man 45, labels and music, were sent to me by a West Virginia record dealer who angrily quit conducting business any other way than in-person, shortly before we finalized a trade. I prefer these audio transfers to the others previously uploaded to youtube.
The live recordings of the Morris Brothers band at Carter Caves State Park in 1973 came from a private collector. Labelling states they were recorded by Reuben Powell, and circulated via his Renfro Valley Tape Club. I have searched the Reuben Powell Collection at Berea College, and I was unable to locate these. They are more than likely within that collection, but mis- or unlabelled. It is also possible these recordings were circulated with other Reuben Powell recordings, but were actually recorded by someone else, possibly for another tape club. Research is ongoing.
The dividers on this page were designed by Gordon Johnson.