Pammy Wallace Davis Lassiter of West End, NC passed away early this morning following a month-long battle with multiple health issues. She was 79 years of age.
Known affectionately in music circles as “the Queen,” Pammy was a driving force in the North Carolina bluegrass music community. She was a founding member of the Charlotte Folk Music Society. In July 1997, she founded High Lonesome Strings Bluegrass Association, which currently has in excess of 250 members. She worked diligently on The G-Run, the club’’ newsletter, and a monthly e-mail of upcoming bluegrass events. A dobro player, she ran Resogat, a gathering of resophonic guitar players, in Wilkesboro, NC for the past 18 years. In 2018, she received the annual special award for her contributions to bluegrass music at the Granite Quarry Fiddlers’ Convention near Salisbury, NC.
Her beloved husband, Big T Lassiter, whom she married in a bluegrass wedding on June 11, 2016, shared, “I am so sorry to inform everyone that my dear sweet Queen, my whole world, my everything, went to be with the Lord at 3:00 a.m. Pammy fought so hard to stay here with me. The Scheerhorn resonator guitar has fallen silent. She was compassionate, especially about bluegrass and bluegrass people. She was responsible for so many kids receiving the gift of music. Literally, hundreds of kids owe their musical abilities to HLS, Pammy, and Elizabeth Greeson.”
Pammy was instrumental, no pun intended, in helping launch the careers of many now-professional musicians, including Jim VanCleve, Zeb and Samantha Snyder, Ashby Frank, Rhiannon Giddens, Mason Via, Nathan Aldridge, Jake Goforth, and Ettore Buzzini, and rising artists Truett Wagner and Elliot King, among others. She has performed on stage with numerous A-listers: Darin & Brooke Aldridge, Junior Sisk, Sideline, Al Batten, Danny Paisley, Special Consensus, Greg Blake, and Clyde Mattox. With Pammy on dobro and Big T on bass, they have jammed with the Gibson Brothers, Frank Solivan, John Cowan, Sierra Ferrell’s band, James McDowell, Billy Lee Cox, the Black River Pickers, John Boulding, and a host of others.
Pammy also worked hard spreading music throughout North Carolina with the annual HLS Bluegrass Festival held in May at Hagan-Stone Park in Pleasant Garden, Picking for Clyde on Monday nights at Circle M City in Sanford, and during various times at the Lassiter residence. She competed and won at numerous fiddlers convention and served on the Seagrove Fiddlers’ Convention Committee. The Lassiters’ hotel rooms and campsites were gathering places for all levels of musicians from beginners to professionals. Pammy had a special heart for youth, encouraging them to play, compete, and apply for scholarships.
Pammy was a dear friend to this writer. We initially met when the Hatley Family performed for the Charlotte Folk Music Society. Since then, we have cordially competed against each other at many fiddlers’ conventions, sat together and jammed at festivals, and worked together to promote bluegrass music.
Condolences are pouring in from her many music family members. Here are just a few:
Elizabeth Greeson, president of HLS, stressed, “May we all be grateful for our dear friend, Pammy, as she spent endless hours to share her love and resources with the bluegrass community. Her devotion to High Lonesome Strings Bluegrass Association was more precious than any silver or gold. We will miss her terribly and we will do all we can to carry on her legacy.”
Lorraine Jordan said, “This is a hard hit for the North Carolina bluegrass community. Pammy did so much to keep the music alive. She will be missed.”
Jan Johansson shared, “One of the very finest, most hospitable people I have ever known, Pammy Lassiter has left us. The bluegrass community has lost one of its pillars and foremost personalities. Nobody has supported bluegrass music any more than Pammy. She will be missed in a big way. We met at Stuart, VA in 1986. Milton Harkey introduced me to her. RIP dear friend.”
Mason Via credits the Lassiters in assisting with his marriage. “Pammy and T were part of Waverly and I’s origin story. My (future) wife and I had just met, and T and Pammy told her that I was a good guy and basically fully vetted me to her.”
A celebration of life will be held on Saturday, January 24 at 1:00 pm at the residence of the Lassiters, 310 Tram Road, West End, NC. Guests are encouraged to bring a finger food to share and an instrument to jam in her memory.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to:
High Lonesome Strings
PO Box 482
Pleasant Garden, NC 27313
…or visit this link.
You can also contribute to the Pammy Davis Lassiter Dobro Scholarship at East Tennessee State University through the ETSU Advancement Office.
The first annual Pammy Fest will be held June 12 and 13 at the home of the Lassiters, 310 Tram Road, West End, NC. Darin & Brooke Aldridge will headline the memorial event along with Caroline Owens, Starlett & Big John, Steve Dilling & Friends, and the Bluegrass Brothers.
R.I.P., Pammy Lassiter
You impacted many.
