THE TRANSCRIPT OF AND RECORDING OF THIS ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEW WITH GEORGE HODGKISS CAN BE FOUND AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE.
A Project of The Gooney Valley History Group
INTERVIEWEE: George Hodgkiss (GH)
INTERVIEWER: Roger Tomhave, PhD (RT)
DATE OF INTERVIEW: March 13, 2023
INTERVIEW LOCATION: George’s home and studio as above; recorded with George’s Phoenix Studios recording equipment.
ABSTRACT: In this interview, Roger Tomhave interviews Browntown Resident George Hodgkiss on behalf of the Gooney Valley History Group. Dr. Tomhave is Professor Emeritus in Studio Art, Design, and Art History at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA, and former Fine Arts Coordinator for Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia. Roger’s acquaintance with George Hodgkiss is through recording at Phoenix Studios and performing over the years at the Browntown Community Center Bluegrass Jam. In the music world, Roger is a multi-award winning singer/songwriter in the Appalachian Trail- MyATstory contest, the Great American Song Competition, the International Indie Awards, the MidAtlantic Songwriting Competition, the Unsigned Only Music Competition, the USA Songwriting Competition, the WAMMIES, and at the Empower Music and Arts Positive Music Awards.
George Hodgkiss and his wife Jackie are longtime residents of Browntown, Virginia. He is the owner and operator of Phoenix Studios in Browntown. His experiences in the United States Air Force and working in the radio and television engineering group of the telephone company in Washington, DC, brought him to the recording industry as an assistant at Roy Homer’s Studio in Clinton Maryland, then to National Media Services in Front Royal, Virginia, and finally to his own studio in Browntown. He has become well known for his recordings in the genre of Bluegrass music, and as a result has brought many luminaries of Bluegrass music to Phoenix Studios in Browntown. Among those that George has recorded are Mike Auldridge, The Country Gentlemen, Bill Emerson, Gary Ferguson, Emmylou Harris, Mark Johnson, Emory Lester, Leon Morris, Tony Rice, Linda Ronstadt, The Seldom Scene, Mark Schatz, Larry Stevenson, Cliff Waldron, Marshall Wilborn, Paul Williams, Bill Yates, The Yate Brothers, and many more.