Career
He is believed to have been born in the 19th Century, and died some time between 1941 and 1945. At the request of Alan Lomax, in charge of the Archive of American Folk Song at the Library of Congress, John Wesley Work III of Fisk University recorded ten of Stripling"s songs at the Fort Valley State College Folk Festival in Fort Valley, Georgia in March 1941. Stripling sings and plays what may be a four-string banjo in a style typical of the period around 1900.
The recordings of Stripling found in The Archive of Folk Culture are:
AFS 5149
B1.
"Standin" on the Corner Smokin" a Cheap Cigar"
AFS 5154
A2. "Hammering in My Soul"
B2.
"Whoa, Mule Whoa"
AFS 5155
First Rate (at Lloyd's). "Alabama Red"
A2. "Coon Gi"nt"
AFS 5161
First Rate (at Lloyd's).
"Breakaway"
A2. "Sevassafool"
B1.
"Where You Been So Long" (with Gus Gibson, guitar)
B2. "Lookin" Foreign the Bully in This Town"
B3. "Sally Walker"
The following songs have been published on the Civil Defense Deep River of Song: Georgia (Rounder Records 2001), a selection of songs from the Allan Lomax Collection:
"Sally Walker" (Children"s song)
"Coon Gi"nt" ("Coonjine")
"Breakaway"
"Sevassafool" ("Sebastopol")
The song "Breakaway" is featured on the soundtrack of the Martin Scorsese movie Gangs of New York (2002).
Is the Great-Grandfather (paternal) of the American socialite David Stripling.
