Ken Farmer has made both his careers out of doing what he loves. Whether he’s appraising on PBS’s popular and long-running “Antiques Roadshow,” or performing on a local stage as Ken Farmer and the Authenticators, his knowledge of and love for the arts, crafts, and music of southwest Virginia shines through.
Farmer’s roots in the back country go deep. He grew up in Pulaski, where at age 10 his father got him an inexpensive Teisco del Rey bass guitar. This was 1960, and “I was drawn to rhythm and blues. I learned all the bass lines to the Rolling Stones songs,” Farmer says. When he got to Emory & Henry College, his roommate told him while they were jamming, “You’ve got a pretty good tenor voice—you should sing too.” That’s when Farmer got introduced to Doc Watson, his first guitar hero. In his junior year, when the family moved to Delaware, Farmer got exposed to the music scene in the Philadelphia area and began learning about the full range of American roots music.
By 1974, Farmer was living in Wytheville and married to Jane, his college sweetheart. “We had no furniture,” Farmer recalls, “so we started going to local auctions—we’d buy the stuff left over at the end. Once we started buying stuff, we had to figure out how to sell stuff. We [took a load] down to the Metrolina flea market in Charlotte and made $2,000.” Jane was working as a teacher, and soon Farmer quit his job as a probation officer and became a self-employed dealer. “I’m a stuff nerd,” he says. His superpower is remembering objects and their context—quality, source, and price.
At the same time, Farmer was traveling to fiddler conventions and guitar competitions. He met some musicians from Radford, who invited him to join their bluegrass band Upland Express. By 1979 Jane was pregnant with their first child and the couple moved to Radford. Farmer left the band to become a real estate agent and then a broker—which got him into estate sales. In selling off entire estates, Farmer found “I didn’t know enough about pricing everything, so I started auctioning—off the back of a truck at first. Eventually I bought a tent, and then a warehouse.” He found auctioneering combined his increasing knowledge of “stuff” with his performing instincts, and it also gave him more experience in valuing objects, which led him into appraising.
In 1995, he got a call from a producer for PBS’s “Antiques Roadshow.” The producer liked his credentials as a generalist who could evaluate not only regional furniture and furnishings, but also crafts, tools, and textiles. Over 20 years, Farmer had built up a breadth of experience and a network of experts he consults to get the best information on “things I don’t see much of, from Asian art to jewelry and rare instruments.”
Farmer has appraised everything from a North Carolina secretary desk worth six figures to tools and fishing equipment. The worst part, he says, is telling someone the “antique” they’ve staked their heart on is a fake. He also cautions that simply getting a price range is not the whole story. “There’s also what you have to spend [formal appraisal, restoration, research on provenance, advertising in the right places, etc.] to turn that object into money.”
Most of all, Farmer points out, “I can’t put a value on what that object means to you.” Farmer’s home is filled with everything from folk art to fine art, and “I could tell you a story about every single piece.” Early in their married life, he and Jane spent pretty much their last dime on a decorated Appalachian pie safe that they have kept and enjoyed for almost 50 years. His advice: “Surround yourself with things that give you a little love every day.”
Music has given Farmer plenty of love for decades. His repertoire includes rockabilly, blues, roots rock, and country—basically, the full range of the 20th century, including contemporary songwriters and original music. “I love that you can play this music that’s still performed as it was 100 years ago, and you can take it and make it your own,” Farmer says. “Other people have drawn from the music of Appalachia—Gram Parsons and Marty Stewart, to name only two.”
When he moved to Charlottesville in 2012, Farmer began meeting local musicians through the Central Virginia Blues Society. For the last five years, he’s played guitar and sung lead vocals with The Authenticators—Rob Martin of Nelson County, Frank Cain, and Preston Wallech. They’ve played area wineries and pubs, Fridays After Five, and the Blues Society’s annual festival. This year’s gigs include Plaza Antigua in Waynesboro, The Camel in Richmond, and Carter Mountain Orchard.
While he loves the crafts of the back country, Farmer admits he’s a musician first. “Music frees my mind,” he says. “It’s a hypnotic, spiritual thing—a great gift.”
BEHIND THE SCENES
While the “Roadshow” may look casual to viewers, quality control is rigorous. Appraisers (who are not paid) fill out a form listing their expert contacts, which get vetted beforehand, Farmer says. During the show, “you’re surrounded by your peers checking out what you’re saying.” The evaluations may look off the cuff, but appraisers do get a chance to prepare—and of course, only a small number of the most interesting appraisals make it into the show.