Raymond Chilton Johnston
Raymond Chilton Johnston was born on Christmas day, 1916 in Baileysville, Wyoming County, West Virginia. Raymond was a solid oldtime fiddle and clawhammer banjo player. It is not clear when he took up the fiddle, nor who his fiddle mentors were, but his mother, Clara Blankenship Johnston, played clawhammer banjo, so it is likely he learned from her. Raymond had a cousin, Jess Johnston (1898-1952) from Baileysville who appears as the fiddler on at least nine early commercial recordings on the Gennett label out of Richmond, Indiana. Perhaps Raymond learned from Jess.
Early in life Raymond and his family moved to nearby McDowell County to work the mines. Raymond was a well-known fiddler and appeared at various places around West Virginia, including the famous Wheeling Jamboree, the West Virginia State Fair, and the John Henry Folk Festival. He was a regular performer on the R.F.D. Jamboree on WHIS televsion out of Bluefield, West Virginia. Raymond played with several groups of out southern West Virginia, including Cecil Surratt and His West Virginia Ramblers, Archie Day and the Rhythm Masters, and the Bluegrass Clippers.
Raymond died on February 20, 1980, and is buried at Palm Memorial Gardens in Matheny, Wyoming County, West Virginia.
-Written by Chris Haddox using information and pictures provided by Alan 'Cathead' Johnston, 2/19/2026.
