Eddie Adcock, five string banjo master and memorable former member of The Country Gentlemen, died early in the morning of March 20. He was 86 years of age, and had been suffering from multiple health issues over recent years.
Also known as an innovative guitarist, Eddie’s musical career was mostly noted for his banjo work, initially with The Country Gentlemen starting in 1959. Bill Emerson had actually been the first banjo player in the new group, which also included Charlie Waller on guitar, John Duffey on mandolin, and Larry Lahey on bass. Within a short period of time, the band settled into its familiar “original” setting of Waller, Duffey, and Adock, with Tom Gray on bass.
But this wasn’t the first professional outing for the native of Scottsville, VA, who left home as a young teen to establish his own path in life. While also pursuing opportunities as a boxer, Eddie worked for Smokey Graves & The Blue Star Boys, Mac Wiseman, Bill Harrell & The Rocky Mountain Boys, Buzz Busby & the Bayou Boys, and Bill Monroe & The Blu Grass Boys
It was from Busby’s group that The Country Gentlemen were formed, or more accurately, from an auto accident involving the band in July of 1957 that left Buzz and Eddie unable to perform for a while. Bill Emerson quickly sought to put a band together to work out the dates booked for the Bayou Boys, and that early version of the Gents was the solution.
Adcock stayed with the Gentlemen until 1970, and appeared on six significant albums by the band, including major hits like Bringing Mary Home, This Morning At Nine, Brown Mountain Light, Girl From The North Country, Make Me A Pallet On Your Floor, The Traveler, Matterhorn, Where I’m Bound, and many others. Though his playing was largely based on Earl Scruggs’ three-finger roll style, Eddie also embraced Don Reno’s single-string approach, and his own unique ideas which incorporated aspects of Travis guitar picking and even ragtime piano.
While still working with Waller and Duffey, Eddie cut an album with Don Reno with the auspicious title, The Sensational Twin Banjos of Eddie Adcock & Don Reno, on Rebel.
Upon departing the Gentlemen, Adcock moved to the west coast and dabbled in the fast-growing county rock scene in California, but was back in a year, and started a new group with Jimmy Gaudreau and Bob White called IInd Generation. In 1973, he met guitarist and vocalist Martha Hearon, and they married in ’76. She became an integral part of IInd Generation, and they recorded a total of five album with Rebel and CMH Records.
With IInd Generation Eddie and Martha pioneered the new grass sound that was to come into full flower with acts like New Grass Revival, and eventually David Grisman and Tony Rice.
Then in the mid-1980s, the Adcocks took another break from bluegrass, working for outlaw country music hero David Allan Coe, with Eddie playing electric guitar and Martha singing backup. Before long, Coe began incorporating a brief bluegrass set in the middle of his show with Eddie on banjo. His focus on guitar led to another solo project, Eddie Adcock & His Guitar, for CMH.
Next up for him was Talk of the Town, a new bluegrass act with Martha on guitar, Susie Gott on fiddle, a teenaged Missy Raines on bass, and Jody Maphis on drums. They released two albums for CMH, in 1987 and ’88.
A reunion of the “classic” Country Gentlemen resulted in a recording featuring Adcock, Waller, Duffey and Gray in 1989. Classic Country Gents Reunion for Sugar Hill records was named IBMA’s Recorded Event of the Year for 1990.
In 1990 he teamed up with Kenny Baker, Josh Graves, and Jesse McReynolds which was billed as The Masters, with Raines on bass and Martha Adcock on guitar. Their eponymous debut won the 1990 IBMA Instrumental Recorded Performance of the Year award. Two more Eddie Adcock Band albums for CMH followed.
In 2008, Adcock went viral in a truly remarkable way, when video of then radical brain surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville was shared with ABC’s Good Morning America show. The procedure was done to correct a right hand tremor that was preventing Eddie from playing banjo. Electrodes were placed in his brain to counter a false signal causing the tremors, attached to a battery, that allowed him to play, as you can see in the video.
Eddie and Martha continued to record for Pinecastle Records, until he formed his own Radio Therapy Records, with the name taken from his brain surgery. A Country Gentlemen Reunion Band album was released with Eddie, Jimmy Gaudreau, Tom Gray, and Charlie Waller’s son Randy in 2008.
As a duo, the Adcocks continued to perform for some years, teamed up for a time with Tom Gray on bass.
A great many honors have come Eddie’s way over the years.
- 1993 – inducted into SPBGMA Preservation Hall of Greats
- 1996 – inducted into America’s Old-Time Country Music Hall of Fame
- 2005 – inducted into the Bill Monroe Hall of Fame
- 2012 – won the Washington Monument Award
- 2014 – was presented with the Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass Music
As a member of the Country Gentlemen, he was inducted into the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 1996. He had served as a board member of both the IBMA and the Kentucky Center for Traditional Music.
Adcock Audio was another of his ventures, running from the mid-1970s through 2006, which provided live sound reinforcement for festivals and concerts.
Eddie also took up drag racing when he was younger. He set two track records and won 34 consecutive races with his car, ‘Mr. Banjo,’ at a track near his home in Manasas, VA.
During his long career, Eddie Adcock had been closely affiliated with two banjo makers. Both Stelling and Deering had him as sponsoring endorsers at different times, and towards the end, with failing health, he regularly used a Deering Goodtime banjo for its lighter weight.
Eddie was a rebel of sorts, musically, never content to be constrained within anyone else’s ideas or limitations. It showed through in everything he did, including his commentary on current events, the music industry, and political happenings in the US and the wider world. He began doing so at a time when it wasn’t common for artists to speak out much outside of their own musical output, and he was never shy about sharing his thoughts. Such a habit tends to make enemies, but that never concerned him in the least. Eddie Adcock always spoke his mind.
Whether you agreed with him or not, his comments were always interesting and typically well thought out.
Eddie leaves behind his loving wife, Martha, and a large group of dear friends who will miss him dearly. He is also the patriarch of a large family: three children from his first marriage, Edward Adcock, Jr (born 1959), Beatrice Adcock (born 1960), and Dennis Adcock (born 1964); four grandchildren, five great grandchildren, and five great-great grandchildren. He loved them all just as he loved the music. Dennis had toured with his dad on bass, and worked alongside Eddie and Martha at Adcock Audio.
The bluegrass and banjo world owes Eddie a deep debt of gratitude, for the many songs he has added to the repertoire, for his visionary recordings, and his innovative playing of the banjo.
No information has yet been shared about funeral arrangements.
R.I.P., Eddie Adcock.
