# Episode 50 | Rare 1990s Folk Art Footage from Tom Wells

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/house-of-folk-art-6855332/episode-50-rare-1990s-folk-art-footage-from-tom-wells
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/house-of-folk-art-6855332/episode-50-rare-1990s-folk-art-footage-from-tom-wells.md
Podcast: [House of Folk Art](https://stenobird.com/podcast/house-of-folk-art-6855332)
Published: 2026-02-16T13:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://share.transistor.fm/s/3160fc6f
Audio file: https://media.transistor.fm/3160fc6f/2c37fec9.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/house-of-folk-art-6855332/episodes/episode-50-rare-1990s-folk-art-footage-from-tom-wells
Duration seconds: 3139

## Resource

Before museums and collectors caught on, Tom Wells was documenting Southern folk artists on VHS in the early 1990s. In this episode, Matt Ledbetter sits down with the longtime dealer to revisit those tapes and reflect on discovering artists like Z.B. Armstrong and J.T. McCord. Tom explains how he first met these artists, how relationships developed, how work was sold, and what it looked like to build a market without the internet, price databases, or collector forums. Some of the footage captures artists actively working. The footage captures artists at work and preserves moments from an important era for folk art. CHAPTERS 00:00 | Meeting Tom Wells in Thomson, Georgia 01:39 | First encounter with Z.B. Armstrong 08:24 | National exposure and Southern Magazine 12:19 | Jake J.T. McCord on his front porch 18:46 | Finding Ralph Griffin off a dirt road 27:09 | Jimmy Lee Sudduth and painting with mud 37:21 | Leonard Jones and painted tin 42:21 | Discovering Willie Tarver 46:45 | Meeting Richard Roebuck Do you know a folk artist or have a picking story worth sharing? Leave your name and where you are from and you might hear yourself on a future episode. houseoffolkart@gmail.com (919) 410 8002 Follow @houseoffolkart for more stories, field trips, and upcoming auction dates at LedbetterAuctions.com.

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## Transcript

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