BHS Class '53

Melvin Goins & Windy Mountain

For more than 50 years, Melvin Goins has been playing mountain and bluegrass music, as a member of the legendary Lonesome Pine Fiddlers, and for approximately 30 years, with his brother Ray in the Goins Brothers band. He now performs approximately 150 dates per year at bluegrass festivals, concert halls and clubs with Melvin Goins and Windy Mountain.

Hay Holler Records has released three albums by the Goins Brothers and one, "Bluegrass Blues," by Melvin Goins and Windy Mountain. The record company also released a 57-minute video, "50 Years of Mountain Music and Bluegrass," which included live footage of one of the band's festival performances and an extended interview with Goins.

A member of the Board of Directors of MSU's Kentucky Center for Traditional Music, Melvin Goins performed at the first Appalachian Celebration. He received the Appalachian Treasure Award during the 2001 Appalachian Celebration.

Melvin is the oldest of nine sons and one sister of Glen and Pearl Goins who lived on Razorback Road that was located off River Road on Sinai Mountain near the Goodwill, WV coal mining community.

Melvin attended both Bramwell Grade School and High School in the 1940 - 1950 era. Even as a child he was known for his musical talents and is remembered for his many concerts performed over the past fifty years in the southern WV coal fields. The below out-of-the-attic photograph was cropped from the Bramwell Grade School 1941 -1942 sixth grade class photograph.