Appalachian Figures Series – The Story of Lee “Lee Boy” Sexton of Letcher, Kentucky
Lee “Lee Boy” Sexton belonged to Linefork, Kentucky in a way that is hard to separate from the sound of his banjo. He was not simply a musician who happened to come from Letcher County. He was one of the keepers of a local mountain tradition, a coal miner, a farmer, a storyteller, a square dance player, and a teacher whose music carried the memory of family porches, house parties, corn shuckings, and hard work in the mountains.
The strongest family source for his vital dates is the Letcher Funeral Home obituary, which gives his life as March 23, 1928 to February 10, 2021. Some music sources list his birth year as 1927, including June Appal and Field Recorders’ Collective, so the discrepancy is worth noting in historical work. For the article itself, the family obituary is the safest authority for the full date.
A Dollar Banjo and a Mountain Family
Sexton’s story often begins with a dollar. According to the account he gave in later life, he wanted a banjo badly as a boy and worked for the money to get one. WYMT reported that Sexton remembered being seven years old when he bought his first banjo, after earning the dollar by working in a cornfield. The obituary says he purchased his first banjo at age seven and was still playing only two weeks before his death.
The music was already around him. His father played, and so did relatives in the Sexton family. One of the most important was Morgan Sexton of Linefork, later named a 1991 National Heritage Fellow by the National Endowment for the Arts. The NEA biography of Morgan Sexton says Morgan preserved the old time banjo styles he learned growing up and taught his nephew Lee Sexton to carry the tradition forward.
That family connection matters because Lee Sexton’s music was not learned from a book or conservatory. It came through kin, work, listening, and memory. He learned by ear. In a 2016 WYMT interview, Sexton said he could not read music, but if he heard a tune and liked it, he could play it. That kind of learning placed him within an older Appalachian way of carrying music, where a tune survived because somebody remembered it well enough to play it again.
Coal Work and a Style of His Own
Sexton spent much of his life working in and around coal. He worked in the mines during the week and played music on weekends for gatherings such as house parties, bean stringings, corn shuckings, and square dances. The Field Recorders’ Collective notes that he worked five days a week in the mines and played for local gatherings on weekends, while WYMT reported that he began working in the big mines in 1950 and later retired after developing black lung.
His body also shaped his sound. Appalshop remembered him as a legendary drop thumb banjo player and noted that after his right hand was crushed in a mining accident, he developed his own way of drop thumbing. UKNow described his style as powered by thumb and index finger, shaped by deep musical roots and work related right hand injuries.
That injury could have ended another musician’s playing, but Sexton adapted. His music kept its drive and edge. It had the feel of an older eastern Kentucky banjo sound, but it was not frozen in place. It was personal, practical, and made to survive. His hands carried the marks of coal work, and his playing carried the solution he made for himself.
John Cohen and the Wider World
In 1959, folklorist, photographer, and musician John Cohen recorded Sexton in eastern Kentucky. Those recordings helped place Sexton in one of the most important archival collections of Kentucky mountain music. Smithsonian Folkways’ Mountain Music of Kentucky includes Sexton on “St. Louis Blues,” “Pretty Polly,” “Fly around My Pretty Little Miss,” and “Fox Chase.”
The Smithsonian Folkways liner notes for Classic Banjo describe Sexton as one of the finest eastern Kentucky banjo players. They place him in Linefork, connect him with musical relatives and local radio listening, state that he began performing professionally in 1941, and note his work with fiddler Marion Sumner. Those same notes say he continued playing during the 30 years he worked in the coal mines and later performed in the region with the Lee Sexton Band.
The Library of Congress also holds important archival traces of Sexton. The Jean Ritchie and George Pickow Collection finding aid lists a sound tape reel with “Lee Sexton with Banjo” and names tunes and songs including “John Henry,” a banjo tune Sexton called “St. Louis Blues,” “Groundhog,” and “Cumberland Gal.” That finding aid places Sexton inside the broader network of Appalachian collecting connected to Jean Ritchie, another Kentucky musician whose work carried mountain music to national audiences.
Whoa Mule and the Recorded Legacy
For many listeners, Sexton’s name is tied most closely to Whoa Mule. June Appal Recordings, the record label of Appalshop in Whitesburg, released Whoa Mule as part of its effort to record and distribute the music and stories of central Appalachian artists. The June Appal page says the album includes recordings from a 1952 home recording with fiddler Fernando Lusk through recordings made in 2001, and it lists Lee Sexton on banjo alongside musicians including Marion Sumner, Sonny Houston, Phil Sexton, Debbie Sexton, and others.
Morehead State University’s Appalachian Kentucky Video Archives preserves Lee Sexton: “Whoa, Mule,” a 1990 video recording by Lee Sexton, June Appal Recordings, and Herb E. Smith. Its abstract describes the film as a documentary of Sexton, an American banjo player from Letcher County, playing at a local square dance.
Field Recorders’ Collective later released Lee Sexton & Family: Recordings from the collection of Ray Alden. That source is valuable because it documents Sexton’s two finger and clawhammer playing, his Letcher County residence near Whitesburg, the story of his homemade fretless banjo with a groundhog skin head, and his family musical connections. It also records the family sound around him, including Phil Sexton and Debby Sexton on later tracks.
A Banjo Player in Film, Festivals, and Public Memory
Sexton’s music moved beyond Linefork, but he did not have to leave Linefork behind for it to matter. His obituary notes a cameo in Coal Miner’s Daughter, an appearance on a Smithsonian Folkways album, a performance at the Kentucky Derby, and the 1999 Governor’s Award in the Arts.
The Kentucky Arts Council’s list of past Governor’s Awards in the Arts recipients confirms Lee Sexton among its Artist Award recipients. Appalshop remembered the honor as the 1999 Kentucky Governor’s Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts.
He also became the subject of later documentaries. UKNow described Linefork as a film about the day to day life of Lee and Opal Sexton in Kentucky’s Appalachian Mountains. The article presents Lee as a retired coal miner with black lung who continued to farm the land where he was born, while still standing as a living link to the deep past of regional American music. PBS lists Lee Sexton: Appalachian Banjo Man as a KET local public television program built around his banjo playing, stories, and early life history.
Teaching the Next Generation
Sexton was not only remembered because he played well. He was remembered because he passed the music on. His family obituary says thousands of students sat under his instruction and calls him a pioneer of the drop thumb method of picking. WYMT reported that Sexton said he taught young boys who later found work playing music.
Appalshop also remembered him as a Master Artist in Residence at Hindman Settlement School, while UKNow called him an active performer and teacher. That teaching role placed him in the line of tradition bearers who do more than preserve an art form for archives. They put it into another set of hands.
Why Lee Sexton Matters
Lee “Lee Boy” Sexton matters because his life shows how Appalachian music often survives. It does not survive only through famous stages or commercial records. It survives through families, neighbors, local dances, memory, and the stubbornness of people who keep playing after work, after injury, after hardship, and after the world has decided that older sounds belong in the past.
Sexton’s banjo linked Letcher County to the Smithsonian, the Library of Congress, Appalshop, KET, Berea, Hindman, and old time music listeners across the country. Yet the center of his story remained Linefork. He stayed close to the land where his family had lived for generations. The wider world came to him through recordings, documentaries, festivals, and students, but the sound itself still pointed back to the same hollows, dances, coal camps, and family rooms where he first learned to listen.
In that sense, Lee Sexton’s legacy is not only a discography. It is a reminder that Appalachian history is often carried in ordinary hands. His banjo held the work of a coal miner, the memory of an uncle, the rhythm of a square dance, and the voice of a county that still has music running through its ridges.
Sources & Further Reading
Letcher Funeral Home. “Obituary for Lee ‘Lee Boy’ Sexton.” Letcher Funeral Home, February 2021. https://www.letcherfuneralhomeinc.com/obituary/Lee-Sexton
Appalshop. “We Mourn the Passing of Appalshop’s Longtime Friend, Lee Sexton.” Appalshop, February 16, 2021. https://appalshop.org/we-mourn-the-passing-of-appalshops-longtime-friend-lee-sexton/
Morehead State University ScholarWorks. “Lee Sexton: ‘Whoa, Mule.’” Appalachian Kentucky Video Archives, 1990. https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/appalachian_kentucky_video_archives/88/
Sexton, Lee. Whoa Mule. June Appal Recordings, January 1, 2001. https://juneappalrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/whoa-mule
Field Recorders’ Collective. FRC 105, Lee Sexton & Family: Recordings from the Collection of Ray Alden. Field Recorders’ Collective, November 5, 2015. https://fieldrecorder.bandcamp.com/album/frc-105-lee-sexton-family-recordings-from-the-collection-of-ray-alden
Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Mountain Music of Kentucky. Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. https://folkways.si.edu/mountain-music-of-kentucky/american-folk-old-time/album/smithsonian
Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. “Pretty Polly.” Classic Old-Time Music from Smithsonian Folkways. https://folkways.si.edu/lee-sexton/pretty-polly-2/american-folk-old-time/music/track/smithsonian
Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Classic Banjo from Smithsonian Folkways. Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, 2013. https://folkways.si.edu/classic-banjo-from-folkways/american-folk-bluegrass-country-old-time/album/smithsonian
Adams, Greg C., and Jeff Place. Classic Banjo from Smithsonian Folkways. Liner notes. Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, 2013. https://folkways-media.si.edu/docs/folkways/artwork/SFW40209.pdf
Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Classic Old-Time Music from Smithsonian Folkways. Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. https://folkways.si.edu/classic-old-time-music-from-folkways/american-folk/album/smithsonian
Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Classic Old-Time Music from Smithsonian Folkways. Liner notes. Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. https://folkways-media.si.edu/docs/folkways/artwork/SFW40093.pdf
Library of Congress. Jean Ritchie and George Pickow Collection: Finding Aid. American Folklife Center, Library of Congress. https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.afc/eadafc.af016008.3
Smithsonian Institution. 37th Annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Program booklet, 2003. https://archive.org/download/37thannualsmiths00smit/37thannualsmiths00smit.pdf
Smithsonian Institution. “Festival Recordings: Music, Tradition and Family.” Smithsonian Folklife Festival Records: 2003 Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections. https://sova.si.edu/record/cfch.sff.2003/ref638
The Washington Post. “Today at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival.” July 3, 2003. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2003/07/04/today-at-the-smithsonian-folklife-festival/6052ed71-cb41-4802-97d4-92ac3403580c/
Berea College. “Leather Britches.” Digital Library of Appalachia, Berea College, 2013. https://dla.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/berea/id/5324/
Berea College Special Collections and Archives. “Celebration of Traditional Music.” Berea Digital Collections. https://berea.access.preservica.com/uncategorized/SO_469926b4-0a67-42ca-8d48-f0507468cef7/
Kentucky Arts Council. “Governor’s Award in the Arts Recipients Past to 2023.” Kentucky Arts Council. https://artscouncil.ky.gov/governors-award-in-the-arts-recipients-past-to-2023/
Kentucky Arts Council. “Folk and Traditional Arts Apprenticeships.” Kentucky Arts Council. https://artscouncil.ky.gov/folk-and-traditional-arts-apprenticeships/
National Endowment for the Arts. “Morgan Sexton.” NEA National Heritage Fellowships. https://www.arts.gov/honors/heritage/morgan-sexton
PBS. “Lee Sexton: Appalachian Banjo Man.” PBS, presented by KET. https://www.pbs.org/show/lee-sexton-appalachian-banjo-man/
University of Kentucky. “Niles Center Presents Screening of Film on Banjo Legend Lee Sexton.” UKNow, October 23, 2017. https://uknow.uky.edu/arts-culture/niles-center-presents-screening-film-banjo-legend-lee-sexton
University of Kentucky. “Folk Legend Lee ‘Boy’ Sexton to Open ‘Appalachia in the Bluegrass.’” UKNow, September 12, 2013. https://uknow.uky.edu/arts-culture/music/folk-legend-lee-boy-sexton-open-appalachia-bluegrass
University of Kentucky. “‘Appalachia in the Bluegrass’ Welcomes Lee ‘Boy’ Sexton and Red State Ramblers.” UKNow, September 11, 2014. https://uknow.uky.edu/arts-culture/music/appalachia-bluegrass-welcomes-lee-boy-sexton-red-state-ramblers
University of Kentucky. “Next Two ‘Appalachia in the Bluegrass’ Concerts Feature Dynamic Duos Lee ‘Boy’ and Johnny Sexton, The Local Honeys.” UKNow, October 8, 2015. https://uknow.uky.edu/arts-culture/music/next-two-appalachia-bluegrass-concerts-feature-dynamic-duos-lee-boy-and-johnny
University of Kentucky. “Banjo Pickin’ Time at Niles Gallery.” UKNow, September 28, 2010. https://uknow.uky.edu/arts-culture/music/banjo-pickin-time-niles-gallery
Linefork. “Lee Sexton & The Banjo.” Linefork. https://linefork.com/lee-sexton-the-banjo
Linefork. Linefork. Documentary website. https://linefork.com/
Rawlings, Vic. “Linefork.” Vic Rawlings. https://www.vicrawlings.com/linefork/
Documentary Educational Resources. “Linefork.” DER Documentary Educational Resources. https://www.der.org/programs/sponsored-projects/linefork/
Marshall, Brooke. “Lee Sexton, Famous Letcher County Musician, Dies at 92.” WYMT, February 12, 2021. https://www.wymt.com/2021/02/12/lee-sexton-famous-letcher-county-musician-dies-at-92/
WYMT. “Award-Winning Banjo Player Lee Sexton Recalls Memories from 80 Years Ago.” WYMT, February 19, 2016. https://www.wymt.com/content/news/Lee-Sexton-recalls-memories-from-80-years-ago-369440332.html
Lawless, John. “Lee Sexton Passes.” Bluegrass Today, February 12, 2021. https://bluegrasstoday.com/lee-sexton-passes/
Humans of Central Appalachia. “Lee Sexton.” Humans of Central Appalachia, January 22, 2016. https://www.humansofcentralappalachia.org/stories/2016/1/22/lee-sexton
Carcassonne Community Center. “Dance of Fellowship from Kentucky Monthly.” Carcassonne Community Center, May 21, 2023. https://carcassonnecommunitycenter.org/dance-of-fellowship-from-kentucky-monthly/
Carcassonne Community Center. “About Us.” Carcassonne Community Center. https://carcassonnecommunitycenter.org/about-us/
Kentucky.gov. “Attractions.” Letcher County, Kentucky. https://letchercounty.ky.gov/tour/Pages/attract.aspx
Barnwell, Tim. Hands in Harmony: Traditional Crafts and Music in Appalachia. New York: W. W. Norton, 2009. https://www.barnwellphoto.com/hands-in-harmony
World Music Central. “Artist Profiles: Lee Sexton.” World Music Central, July 7, 2017. https://worldmusiccentral.org/artist-profiles-lee-sexton/
Apple Music. “Lee Sexton.” Apple Music. https://music.apple.com/us/artist/lee-sexton/2469155
Apple Music. Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus: Music from the Motion Picture. Luaka Bop, 2007. https://music.apple.com/us/album/searching-for-the-wrong-eyed-jesus-music-from-the/279517429
AllMusic. “Music from Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus.” AllMusic. https://www.allmusic.com/album/music-from-searching-for-the-wrong-eyed-jesus-mw0000208146
Author Note: Lee Sexton’s story is not only about a banjo player, but about how mountain music survives through family, work, memory, and place. I have relied first on family, archival, recording, and institutional sources so readers can follow the sound of Linefork from local dances to national collections.