 Mainer was born near Weaverville , North Carolina , on a mountain farm in Buncombe County on April 21 , 1907 . His family was poor during his childhood and they lived in a log cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains . Mainer credited his father who was , in Mainer 's words , " a good singer – real stout voice " , as of one of his influences . During his career as a musical artist , Mainer would perform many of the old songs that he had heard from his father . 
