REMEMBERING: CALHOUN MUSIC ICON LINDA MCCUMBERS

(01/22/2026)

Well-known Appalachian musicians, Lester and Linda McCumbers have been Calhoun music icons for 70 years (Photo compliments of Jim Meads) 2010 Another Calhoun mountain music icon has died. Linda McCumbers, 88, wife of fiddler Lester McCumbers of Nicut, has died after a bout with pneumonia. (Lester is now deceased) The couple have received recognition many times for their original Appalachian music and were the honorees at the 2007 WV Folk Festival. Linda has been Lester's performing partner since they married at age 16 in 1937, raising nine children. For several years in the mid-1960s, they hosted a weekly radio show in Spencer. Lester and Linda in the early 1960s, performing live at Spencer's WSPZ (now WVRC) Radio Station (Photo compliments of Jim Meads) The couple's first CD recording, "Old Timey," was released in 2002 and features 26 of their old-time fiddle tunes and songs. Lester has won over 50 fiddle contests over the years, receiving the Vandalia Award, West Virginia's highest folk-life honor in 2005. For complete obituary see Linda S. McCumbers

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