Charles Moody
Musician · 1891–1977 · Gordon County, Georgia
Best known for
Songwriter
Charles E. Moody was a Georgia Methodist choir director, string-band musician, and gospel songwriter whose 1923 hymn “Drifting Too Far From the Shore” entered the standard country, bluegrass, and Southern-gospel repertoire after recordings by Bill Monroe, Hank Williams, Emmylou Harris, and the Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia.
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- Born Charles Ernest Moody on October 8, 1891, in a log cabin near Tifton, Georgia; spent most of his life in Gordon County.
- Learned harmonica and banjo as a boy and traded a shotgun for his first fiddle.
- Attended his first singing school in 1916 at Ebenezer, Georgia, taught by A. J. Simms.
- Played in the 1920s Calhoun, Georgia string band the Georgia Yellow Hammers, alongside Bill Chitwood, Bud Landress, and Phil Reeve.
- Wrote “Drifting Too Far From the Shore” in 1923 while directing music at a Methodist church in Tunnel Hill, Georgia.
- Served as choir director at Calhoun First Methodist Church for many years after the Yellow Hammers disbanded.
- Died June 21, 1977.