A North Carolina Artist’s Search for a Lost Sound Uncovered a Dark History

Artist Freeman Vines was captivated for a long time with an unforgettable sound he once heard from a gospel musician’s guitar. At his home near a tobacco field in the small rural town of Fountain, North Carolina, Vines then spent over 50 years hand-carving guitars out of found wood, in a relentless search for that special tone. Despite decades of creating guitars, he never found that sound again. But he found other revelations. In the new book Hanging Tree Guitars, a collaboration between Vines, photographer Timothy Duffy, folklorist Zoe Van…

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