Clogging Extraordinaire: Arthur Grimes Keeps on Dancing

By David Brewer

In Boone, North Carolina, clogger Arthur Grimes has danced his own singular path all the way from his family home in the town’s traditionally African-American Junaluska neighborhood to the most hallowed stages alongside roots music royalty.

Renowned for his high-energy, high-stepping clogging style, Grimes’ dancing days began in earnest in the fall of 1975, after Grimes tried out for the Watauga High School football team. Clad in the requisite shoulder pads, spikes and Pioneer helmet, Grimes soon discovered one serious problem with his plans to shine under the Friday night lights as a football star.

“I was terrible!” Grimes says. “So I quit football — I was in the wrong thing. So I decided to teach myself how to buck dance on my mama’s back porch. I’d go out there every evening after I quit football, and that was my practice. That’s how I really got started.”

His mother, Magnolia Grimes, was none too pleased with her son’s decision to trade his spikes for tap shoes. One of eight children, Grimes says he drove her crazy experimenting with all sorts of clogging, buck dancing and flatfooting moves on the porch, dancing along to music by Flatt & Scruggs, Doc & Merle Watson and others.

“It got on my mama’s nerves real bad,” Grimes says. “She said, ‘Have you ever thought about going back to playing football?’ It’s because the taps — what makes the instrument so you can hear. That’s what got on my mom’s nerve the most, because I had jingle taps. They really make noise.”

For the next three years, Grimes continued devoting hours each week to refining his hybrid clogging technique on that same back porch before venturing out to try his steps alongside live performing musicians. In 1978, Grimes began going to Jim & Jennie’s High Country Music Barn & Campground, formerly located in Avery County’s Crossnore community, where live bluegrass and old-time music were featured regularly. 

Bluegrass legends J.D. Crowe & The New South noticed Grimes’ clogging during one of his early trips to Jim & Jennie’s and welcomed him to share the stage with them. This memorable first time on stage for Arthur was a seminal experience that validated his many hours of practice and dedication.

“I got hooked up with J.D. Crowe and that’s what started making me realize that bands appreciated the dancing a whole lot, if you could do it right,” Grimes says. “That’s what got me started in a way, and then that opened up my life, right there, I could actually do good things if I just stay focused. And that’s why I just kept focused, focused, focused.

“And it paid off for me because I wanted to be seen. I wasn’t there for the money, I was there for the enjoyment. And trying to make sure that people understood that this dance was not just for White folks — it was for anybody that wanted to learn how to do it, and to do it right!”

Two decades later, popular band Old Crow Medicine Show began their amazing journey from lean and scruffy King Street busking outfit to seasoned festival headliners and members of the Grand Ol’ Opry, where Grimes performed with them last December. Grimes first ran into the group in downtown Boone in 1999, and they became fast friends, as their raucous old-time repertoire provided the perfect soundtrack for his signature clogging moves.

Grimes, 68, says he’s extremely grateful that Old Crow has continued to feature him as their guest, even as their star has continued to rise. He joined them again at their recent sold-out Appalachian Theatre performance in March, and gave what he called his “farewell MerleFest performance” on the Watson Stage in 2024 — though festivalgoers were delighted, if not surprised, to see him dancing again this year. 

Grimes’ clogging moves have also brought crowds to life alongside other standout roots artists, including the Carolina Chocolate Drops and the Steep Canyon Rangers.

Practically a fixture in downtown Boone for the last 30 years, Grimes is still all about the music. Last year during the town’s Boonerang Music & Arts Fest, he was spotted busking as a percussionist, playing the washboard alongside a group of young pickers. 

“Well, me being around the music that I’ve been around — that put me around the best people I could ever have met in my life,” Grimes says. “Why, if you get in and just focus on those three things — focus on music, theater and dance — it took me to a different level. And I wanted to stay focused on that through my whole life.”