Honky-tonk
Whitetop Mountain, Virginia

Martha Spencer is a singer-songwriter, mountain musician, and dancer from Grayson County in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. She comes from a musical family and has been immersed in old-time traditions both at home and in her community from the time she was born. Her father was renowned old-time fiddler Thornton Spencer; her mother is banjoist, singer, and teacher Emily Spencer; and her uncle was the highly-influential luthier and musician Albert Hash. As a child, Martha soaked up the music and culture that was everywhere around her and learned to play several instruments by ear (guitar, fiddle, banjo, bass, dulcimer, mandolin) as well as flatfoot and clog.