Frank Greathouse at the New Deal String Band reunion in Raleigh, NC (10/1/14) – photo © Nick Hancock
Frank Greathouse, 78, mandolinist with the ground-breaking New Deal String Band from central North Carolina, passed away on Saturday, September 26, 2026. Back in the ’70s, the band incorporated rock songs (such as The Clovers’ Love Potion Number 9) into their bluegrass repertoire, and paved the way for the newgrass sound and ultimately, the New Grass Revival.
Fiddlin’ Al McCanless, a founding member of the New Deal String Band, shared a little personal history.
“We are sad at the loss of another old friend, but glad we were able to reconnect and play some music the last few years.
I first met Frank Greathouse over at NC State where my high school friend and picking buddy from Salisbury, Buck Peacock, was in design school along with Frank. Frank was a budding mandolin player with a larger-sized instrument called a mandola, capoed up to sound like a mandolin. NC State had a thriving bluegrass scene at the time (1965-66) and we all gathered at an old house on Ashe Ave [in Raleigh] for bluegrass jam parties most every weekend.
It was not long before multiple bands formed and dissolved. It seems like Frank and I always ended up in the same bands most of the time, mainly because I was the only fiddler and he was one out of two known mandolin players. Finally, I met some pickers and formed a band over at UNC-CH. I was going back and forth playing in bands in Chapel Hill and Raleigh, and Frank was coming over to Chapel Hill to play in the UNC band.
In 1967, the Chapel Hill band won the campus talent show, and the prize was a job at Six Flags Over Georgia amusement park in Atlanta. Frank and I caught the train from Raleigh and ended up playing along with Al Osteen, Martin Beckman, and Tom Glenn as the Lick Skillet Ramblers. When we ended up back in Raleigh at the end of the summer, we formed another band with newly arrived Rocky Mount friend of Frank’s, Leroy Savage, called the New Deal String Band. The band consisted of Frank Greathouse (mandolin), Buck Peacock (guitar and vocal), Robert ‘Quail’ White (bass fiddle), Gene Knight (banjo – later Bob Isenhour), Al McCanless (fiddle), and Leroy Savage (lead vocal and guitar).
We had gained a fair amount of proficiency on our instruments by that time and with the great singing voice of Leroy Savage, we hit the big time, like $10 per man and all the beer we could drink, at the keg. Frank’s mandolin playing was fast and pure bluegrass, but with an unorthodox twist to it. One time it was compared to the sound of an old lady falling down a flight of stairs, and that was meant in a good way.
Frank was keen on promoting the band and somehow got us a spot at the Fillmore East in New York City. We went over great as we were doing straight up bluegrass, a la Bill Monroe, but also songs by the Beatles, Bob Dylan, The Grateful Dead, and the Rolling Stones done bluegrass style. As a result of that performance, we landed a recording contract with Sire Record. A few weeks later, we spent a week in New York City recording an LP, Bluegrass, The New Deal String Band. Thus our short lived career was launched.
After playing and touring with the band for a year, I finished my pharmacy degree and moved to Star, NC to practice pharmacy, and Frank after some band stints in various places, ended up doing graphic design work.
There was a long stretch where I saw Frank infrequently. He was living first in Wilmington, NC and then Port Charlotte, FL, where he engaged in various pursuits such as a club owner, sailboat enthusiast, music store owner, blues performer, and graphic designer. When Frank and his wife, Phyllis, finally moved back to the Raleigh area, we would get together on a regular basis at the Q Shack in Durham, where Frank, Leroy, other old friends, and I would gather weekly to play for a couple hours.
By that time, Frank’s rheumatoid arthritis had progressed and it was becoming increasingly difficult for him to play mandolin. He was even known to crazy glue the pick to his fingers to be able to play. He had more success with the steel guitar and was a fine bluesman and blues guitar player.
Eventually, he was unable to play and had to go into a rest home. The arthritis had taken its toll and he was no longer able to walk or feed himself. The final blow was that he developed throat cancer and had to undergo 35 radiation treatments. Finally, his body gave out. Through it all when Leroy and I would visit or talk to him on the phone, he was always optimistic and in good spirits, a great lesson I believe he left us all along with his music.”
Another NDSB founding member, Leroy Savage, added…
“The record on the London-Sire record label in New York City was recorded in March 1970 after an executive from the label heard us play at The Filmore East in NYC on December 2, 1969.
We got together in Raleigh around 1967 and played until around 1972, and then broke up due to financial difficulties, college degrees, marriage, and the Vietnam War. We played most all of Carlton Haney’s festivities and Jim Clark’s festival in Culpepper, VA. We opened for various artists and bands over the years such as: George Carlin, Tex Ritter, Goose Creek Symphony, and The Vassar Clement Band. We backed up Mac Wiseman in Michigan and played for Izzy Young & The Friends of Old Time Music in NYC plus many gigs at RISDI in Rhode Island, Brown University and Georgia Bennington College in Vermont. [We also had] many jobs in Richmond, Virginia for RPI, and various bars and restaurants and nightclubs in the south.
We were possibly the first true hippie bluegrass band to start and use the term newgrass, as stated in the movie, Bluegrass Country Soul, and were a major inspiration for Sam Bush and Jerry Douglas.
We had no aspirations of becoming rich or famous. We just had a great time, and over the years, band mates went on to perform, such as Kenny Kosek with Breakfast Special, Jack Lawrence, who played for Doc Watson, Butch Robins, who played with Bill Monroe, and Al Osteen, who played with Blackwell & Collins and later with Jim and Jesse. All were part of the band from time to time.
[The New Deal String Band] was written up in Bluegrass Unlimited, Muleskinner News, Billboard Magazine, and Playboy Magazine. We had Bobby Hicks and Kenny Baker play with the band on a few occasions.
Frank was born and raised in Rocky Mount, NC, and I have been friends with him since kindergarten. He graduated from NC State University with a degree in graphic design and worked for the University. He started his own business, designing and doing silk screening, owned a bar and restaurant in Wilmington, and then moved to Florida and started a music store where he sold and repaired instruments and gave mandolin lessons. The move to Florida was due to rheumatoid arthritis which worsened over the years until he was put into a nursing home unable to dress or feed himself, with no ability to hold anything or move his wheelchair. Then just a month or two ago, he was diagnosed with throat cancer and after a few treatments with radiation therapy, his body was worn out and he passed away from all of his medical problems.”
Kenny Kosek shared his personal connection to Greathouse.
“Frank was at the forefront of the hippy grass, proto-jam grass, bringing a vivacious youth-friendly stage presence to the New Deal String Band. Spending some of the summers of ’70 and ’71 down in North Carolina with Frank and the NDSB was a treat and a great learning experience for this Bronx boy. I mourn his passing.”
Frank’s ashes will be scattered on a small island off the coast of North Carolina near Wilmington, where he and his wife used to sail in a small sailboat that he built himself. No date has been announced.
R.I.P., Frank Greathouse.
