Second-generation bluegrass artist Curtis Blackwell passed away on July 23, at 83 years of age.
A guitarist and vocalist, Curtis was a prominent performer starting in the early 1960s from his home in South Carolina. Even as a teen in high school, he played in the Westminster High School string band, and worked with The Sunshine Melody Boys as a young man, playing on the Grand Opry with them in 1960.
Blackwell was especially proud of his short stint as a member of Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys, taking the guitar spot vacated by Peter Rowan’s departure in 1967.
But he is best remember for the music he made as Curtis Blackwell & the Dixie Bluegrass Boys, which he formed in 1965, and kept active for 60 years, eventually including all three of his sons for periods of many years. Things took off for The Dixie Bluegrass Boys when they took first place at the Union Grove Fiddlers Convention in 1970, which led to a record contract with County Records. Curtis and the Boys traveled to record in New York City, resulting in their Shadows of Time album with Randall Collins.
They were regular performers at the Shoal Creek Country Music Park in Lavonia, GA, one of the biggest regular bluegrass shows in the southeast during the 1960s and ’70s. It was later the home to the Georgia State Bluegrass Festival which would run for a week or more each year.
Curtis performed at bluegrass festivals all over the southeastern US, and made trips out to Missouri, and to the World’s Fair in Knoxville, TN in 1982. He toured twice in Ireland in 2012 and 2014, but was always available to sing for a benefit or charitable function if the need arose, or at funerals.
Well known in bluegrass circles up to the present day, his family recalls being at concerts and festivals where the featured artists would always recognize his name, and immediately befriend them whether it was grandchildren, aunts, uncles, cousins, or what have you.
In September 2010, the Bluegrass Hall of Fame & Museum, then the International Bluegrass Music Museum, invited him to Owensboro, KY as a Pioneer of Bluegrass Music, and a former Blue Grass Boy.
Butch Robins, a contemporary who played with Monroe in roughly the same time as Blackwell, posted this audio of Carlton Haney’s “Bluegrass Story” from the first Roanoke Bluegrass Festival in Fincastle, VA in 1965, with Curtis and Bill Monroe together.
The Atlanta Country Music Hall of Fame honored Curtis in 2015 with their Certificate of Award in recognition of outstanding contributions and distinguished achievements in the Hillbilly Country Western Gospel Music Industry. Oconee State Park in South Carolina also recognized him in 2024 for 45 years playing the square dance there, awarding him a South Carolina State Park Ranger Hat.
Curtis continued recording through the years with the Dixie Bluegrass Boys, including a pair of albums with Atteiram Records in the 1990s, and independent projects like Carry Me Back to the Old Home and Where Did the Good Times Go? They toured as well up until fairly recently with differing personnel through the years.
Family and friends will long cherish the time they had with Curtis, who was always quick to lend a hand or help someone in need. They also look fondly on how he encouraged young people playing bluegrass music.
Funeral services will be held on Saturday, July 25, at 4:00 p.m. at Prentiss Church of God in Franklin, NC, followed by burial in the Wright Cemetery. Family is receiving visitors tonight, July 24, from 6:00-8:00 p.m. at the church.
R.I.P., Curtis Blackwell.
