John Dee Holeman (1929-2021)

From northeastern North Carolina to a Sunday afternoon house party in Durham

I first met John Dee (as he was universally known) when I was working in Ahoskie, North Carolina, in the northeastern corner of the state just south of the Great Dismal Swamp.

I had arranged for the North Carolina Black Folk Heritage Tour to come to Ahoskie one year and nearby Winton the next. John Dee Holeman and Fris Holloway were the Blues musicians i…