John Haywood is an award winning artist, singer and banjo player from Floyd County, Kentucky. As a child, he attended the Old Regular Baptist Church with his papaw, where he heard him sing the old unaccompanied songs of Zion. He was a Kentucky Folklife apprentice to Knott County banjo master, George Gibson. John performs solo and also has performed with Lee Sexton, the Traveling Snakes, the Golden Cowboys of the Golden West and with Rich & the Po’ Folk. He can be heard on their recording When the Whistle Blew and on Tyler Childers 2020 album Long Violent History. Haywood is a regular advanced banjo instructor at the Cowan Creek Mountain Music School. He has also presented at numerous old time gatherings and workshops, and has twice been a featured musician at the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes. He was recorded by Mike Seeger in 2009 and can be heard on his final project “Just Around the Bend” by Smithsonian Folkways. He is also a visual artist whose work captures mountain history and music.
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