Person:Milton Fitch (1)

Milton was called Dargan by all his family. He became interested in music in school and began to play professionally while in high school. He received his GED rather than go to school.

1. ↑ Personal Knowledge
   Lynda G. Fitch.
2. ↑ Official Record
   Fannin Co., GA.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7} Personal Interview.

   Written list of Work Life by Dargan Fitch (in possession of Lynda Fitch)

4. ↑ He died of Acute Congestive Heart Disease, within a few minutes of onset of the attack. He was taken by ambulance to Fannin Regional Hospital in Blue Ridge, GA where he was pronounced dead after about 2 hours of attempted resuscitation. He never regained consciousness.
5. ↑ Peanuts' grandfather gave him a guitar at about 13 and pretty soon he began to take lessons from famous Atlanta banjoist / guitarist Perry Bechtel. The country radio station played Dixieland Jazz, Monday through Friday, from 3:00 to 5:00! So every weekday Peanuts came home from school and picked out tunes off the radio on his guitar. And he spent a lot of time listening to the recordings of his favorite singer: Bessie Smith. Peanuts learned to sing the blues from Bessie.
   In 1956, Peanuts got a gig with a local Atlanta Dixieland Jazz Band called the High Society Five. The group played at a now-legendary club called Hank & Jerry's. Clarinet player Ed Reed was the band-leader and he promised Peanuts a permanent job if he could switch to the banjo. So Peanuts got himself a little $35 tenor banjo, tuned it like a guitar and immediately became a member in good standing of the High Society Five.
   In 1957, the High Society Five changed their name to the Riverboat Five and headed for Las Vegas on a 3-week contract. Those 3 weeks stretched into 11 weeks and the Riverboat Five came away with a Mercury recording contract and the beginning of a national following. By 1958 The Riverboat Five had made two albums for Mercury but, as all bands eventually do, the group broke up.
   Peanuts soon found himself on a national tour with the Turk Murphy band where he worked with Pat Yankee. Then it was back to Atlanta, again at Hank & Jerry's, but this time with well-known Atlanta players Sammy Duncan and the late Herman Foretich.
   In 1964 he struck out for New York City where he landed a job at the World's Fair playing in a nationally franchised banjo / sing-along operation called the Red Garter. In 1965, as the World's Fair wound down, Nuts brokered his gig into a transfer to the new Red Garter location opening in New Orleans. He met Hal Johnson and they worked together in the Red Garter in New Orleans nightly.
   In 1966 Hal and Peanuts made the trek back to Georgia to open a Red Garter-like establishment in downtown Atlanta called Ruby Reds Warehouse, beginning a 30+ year association with the club, the name and the band! Peanuts BECAME Ruby Reds, inspiring legend-like status with thousands of stories still floating around about his antics during that 10-year run. Peanuts became known for his rendition of the song "Butterbeans" and couldn't go anywhere in the South without being recognized and asked to perform it.
   After Ruby Reds closed in Underground in the mid-70s, Peanuts and Rocky hooked up for the first time in a short-lived club called Dixie Daisy's. Peanuts also worked in ALL of the Ruby Reds revival clubs, including the latest rendition in 1991. Peanuts made the jump to Fanny Moon's Beer Hall when Ruby Red's closed in 1992.
   During the lean times at Fanny Moon's, immediately after the Rodney King riots (see the Fanny Moon's history for more detail), Peanuts laid down his banjo for a waiters' apron and volunteered to help in any way he could. This proved to be a fortunate move for all parties because Peanuts could bring his vast people skills right to the audience. Peanuts began 'warming up' the audience long before the band would start playing each evening and then he would shock them by coming up later to sing. All the while the crowd would think that Peanuts was just a waiter... then they'd get rocked out of their socks when he launched into one of his legendary tunes!
   When Fanny Moon's closed in early 1996, Peanuts declared himself 'retired' from the music business and vowed to spend all of his time in Blue Ridge, Georgia with his wife, Linda, and his children and grandchildren. After a 2-year rest, however, he realized he was just 'tired' and not 'retired'... and now he's back with the reformed Fanny Moon's Big Butt Band carrying on with some of the greatest shout-singing ever heard. Bessie Smith would be proud!
   (Written by Rocky Ball & Marty Martin as promo for Fanny Moon's web site at <http://members.aol.com/bigbuttbnd/BBBsep/peanuts.html>
6. ↑ At the World's Fair is where he met Sandy Kilbourn, who was working at one of the pavilions.
7. ↑ 1966 to 1969 on Ellis Street across from the Union Mission in an old warehouse building; then from 1969 to 1974 in Underground Atlanta. Ruby Red's was the first nightclub to open in Underground. In fact, the club opened without a beer license for it was debated that it was too close to a church, however, they were issued a license and stayed in business there for years. He took about a year off about 1974/75 and worked as a carpenters helper in Fannin County. In 1980/81, Ruby Red's was in Marietta, GA.
8. ↑ He worked with Courier Security in Ellijay; Advanced Security in Atlanta and at R Ranch near Dahlonega.