Ed Delp (1931-2009) - In Memoriam

Obituary:

SALTVILLE, Va. – Mr. Edward Junior Delp, Age 78, passed away Wednesday, March 11, 2009, at his home.

He was preceded in death by his parents and several brothers and sisters and special friend, Shike Moore.

Ed was an accomplished banjo player, even being recognized by the Emory & Henry director of music for his accomplishments.

Survivors include his wife, Shirley Delp; four sons, Rick and Linda Delp of Abingdon, Va., Eddie "John" and Sherry Delp of Marion, Va., Tracy Delp and Lynn Robinson of Marion, and Lee Cowan of Kingsport, Tenn.; two daughters, Doris Ann Teno of Rockville, Md., and Telisha and Harold Roland of Chilhowie, Va.; one sister, Dot and Charles Adcock of Oliver Spring, Tenn.; 15 grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren; several nieces and nephews; and special friends, Stickie and Jean Allison, Swanson and Phyllis Puckett, Pam Hale, Eva and Charles Bordwine and James and Connie Duncan, all of Saltville, Va. Funeral services for Mr. Edward Junior Delp will be conducted at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 14, 2009, in the D.R. Henderson Funeral Home. Burial will follow in the Delp Family Cemetery.

Pallbearers will be members of the Adwolfe Fire Department. The family will receive friends from 6 until 8 p.m. Friday at the D.R. Henderson Funeral Home. Online condolescences may be sent to drhendersonfuneralhome.com D.R. Henderson Funeral Home in Saltville, Va. serving the Edward Delp Family.

Published in Bristol Herald Courier on March 13, 2009

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It's not often that we encounter one such as Ed in a lifetime. He was one of the few that found his true God given gift which was singing and picking the five-string banjo. I remember growing up listening to Ed and following him everywhere when he was part of the Southern Mountain Boys with Ossie Roberts and LW Frye. Their harmonies were so powerful, that I have heard they could make the microphone vibrate on the stand. I played bass with them on several occasions, and got the desire to play the banjo after listening to Ed's haunting backup licks. He was the best backup banjo player I have ever met. It was an honor to play bass for him when he won what I always called the "5 foot" trophy for playing Foggy Mountain Breakdown at the Hobart Smith Music Festival like he wrote it. I can still see him with his sleeves rolled up burning the strings off that old Gibson banjo.

Ed came to all of our jams, and sang on many occasions. He followed us from the Rescue Squad building to the Coon Club to Allison Gap and later to Chilhowie. I understand he frequented the jams we left behind also. We will dearly miss him on Monday nights at the Smyth County Jam in Chilhowie. He would always sit down and sing with Ersel and the gang when he felt like it. He was one of the very best singers in Bluegrass music with the ability to sing all parts without effort. Ed loved to camp at Tumbling Creek and to jam with the many musicians that came down to pick. Although he didn't pick much in his later years, his singing voice stayed true up until a few weeks before he passed.

It would take volumes for me to express how I felt about Ed and what he showed me over the years on the banjo. I can almost remember the exact spot we were standing when he showed me a lick in Pike County Breakdown. I still play a lick he showed me in Foggy Mountain Breakdown. I used to love to hear him tell me the story of he and my dad talking about getting me a banjo. He would say; "Ryburn asked me over at Ralph Stanley's convention what kind of banjo I should get Larry and I told him a mastertone......" and a few years later, I had one.

Ed's music came from the heart. He didn't learn from CD's, DVD's, tablature, etc. as a lot of us have over the years. He learned by listening to the radio and watching Earl Scruggs when he could. He always told me to "bare down on it and play it like you mean it". I will think of him every time I pick up the banjo.

Another little side-line story. I was trout fishing many years ago in Tumbling Creek, and saw two guys out in the creek below me. The more I looked, the more I could tell one of them had a big fish hooked. When I got closer, I saw that one of them was Ed. This was the first time I had ever saw him fishing and believe it or not, he caught a monster carp in a trout stream. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't have believed it. I did take pictures.

I'll miss being his "little buddy".

Larry Hogston