from the Lexington Herald-Leader:

Homer Ledford
1927 - 2006

Legendary bluegrass musician and instrument maker
Homer Ledford, whose work is displayed at the
Smithsonian Institution, died yesterday afternoon.

Mr. Ledford, of Winchester, was 79.

"He'd been sick real bad for a month or so," said
Vernell Carpenter, wife of Rollie Carpenter, a member
of the group Homer Ledford and the Cabin Creek Band.

The band had been performing since 1976.

"He hadn't played with the band all year," she said.
"He'd been real sick and couldn't walk or anything."

Vernell Carpenter said she and Rollie Carpenter
received word of Mr. Ledford's death yesterday from
another member of the band, L.C. Johnson. Other band
members are Marvin E. Carroll and Pamela Case.

Mr. Ledford was born Sept. 26, 1927, in the Tennessee
mountains.

At an early age back in Tennessee Mr. Ledford started
making musical instruments, according to his band's
Web site.

At 18, he was given a scholarship to attend John C.
Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, N.C. He later
attended Berea College, but transferred and graduated
from what is now Eastern Kentucky University in 1954.

Mr. Ledford worked as a high school industrial arts
teacher in Jefferson and Clark counties and became a
full-time instrument maker.

He completed an estimated 5,776 dulcimers, 475 banjos,
26 mandolins, 26 guitars, 18 ukuleles, and four
violins, among other instruments, the Web site said.

Mr. Ledford has samples of his craft in the
Smithsonian Institution, including a fretless banjo,
an Appalachian dulcimer, and a dulcitar, an instrument
of his own invention, which he patented.

He was honored in Winchester in 1986 when the Homer
Ledford Bluegrass Festival was named after him.

He was also one of the original inductees in the
Kentucky Stars. A sidewalk plaque honoring him is in
front of the Downtown Arts Center on Main Street in
Lexington.

In 2005, Mr. Ledford helped restore an 1850 Martin
parlor guitar – played by Henry Clay's granddaughter,
Anne Clay McDowell – for Ashland, The Henry Clay
Estate.

"Homer was a delight to work with, and until I showed
up on his doorstep, he had only worked on one other
Martin guitar dating to the 19th century," Ann
Hagan-Michel, executive director of the estate, said
at that time. "He's done a wonderful job, and the
guitar is playing nicely now."

He is survived by his wife, Colista. The two met as
students at Berea College in the late 1940s. They were
married more than 50 years.

Information on funeral arrangements was not available
last night.