About the Program
Legions of bluegrass fans know the name Otto Wood (1893–1930) from a ballad made popular by Doc Watson, telling the story of Wood’s crimes and violent death. However, few know the history of this Appalachian figure beyond the larger-than-life version heard in song. Trevor McKenzie reconstructs Wood's life, tracing how a Wilkes County juvenile delinquent became a celebrated folk hero. Throughout his short life, Wood was jailed for numerous offenses, stole countless automobiles, lost his left hand, and made eleven escapes from five state penitentiaries, including four from the North Carolina State Prison after a 1923 murder conviction. An early master of controlling his own narrative in the media, Wood appealed to the North Carolina public as a misunderstood, clever antihero. In 1930, after a final jailbreak, police killed Wood in a shootout. The ballad bearing his name first appeared less than a year later.
Using reports of Wood's exploits from contemporary newspapers, his self-published autobiography, prison records, and other primary sources, Trevor McKenzie uses this colorful story to offer a new way to understand North Carolina--and arguably the South as a whole—during this era of American history.
" A deeply researched account that strives to establish the true story behind a crime spree that has been immortalized in a much-played and much-recorded bluegrass ballad . . . engaging [and] thoughtful."—Southern Review of Books
"McKenzie brings a unique, musician’s perspective to the book . . . [and] deftly threads the needle between fact and fancy, telling the story of the man behind the song."— New York Journal of Books
Trevor McKenzie is a musician and Appalachian historian living in Boone, North Carolina. He is the Director of the Center for Appalachian Studies at Appalachian State University. McKenzie performs and teaches traditional music from along the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina and Virginia, both as a solo artist and with regional string bands including Nobody's Business, The Little Stony Nighthawks, and The Elkville String Band. He was a guest editor of Appalachian Journal's Appalachian Music Special Issue, is a contributor to WVPB's Inside Appalachia, and was the recipient of a 2020 SouthArts In These Mountains Apprenticeship to study fiddle traditions with master musician and radio host Paul Brown. Otto Wood the Bandit: The Freighthopping Thief, Bootlegger, and Convicted Murderer behind the Appalachian Ballads, published in 2021 by The University of North Carolina Press, is his first book.