Riley Gilbreath with Rhonda Vincent on the Grand Ole Opry – photo © Melody Hendrix
This article is a contribution from Nancy Cardwell, former Executive Director of both the International Bluegrass Music Association and the IBMA Foundation. She writes for many other publications and performs as an artist as well.
Twenty-two year old Riley Gilbreath from Crowley, Texas, played the Grand Old Opry in Nashville, Tennessee for the first time on Tuesday, August 25, subbing on guitar with Rhonda Vincent & the Rage. Vincent had been aware of the young guitar and banjo player who fronts his own band, Riley Gilbreath and Lone Star Blue, for several years through his association with the Dallas-based Bluegrass Heritage Foundation’s Play it Forward!® instrument lending program, which Vincent has helped to support in memory of her father, Johnny Vincent.
“It was such a joy having Riley join us for his debut on the Grand Ole Opry,” Rhonda Vincent said. “He had rehearsed the songs we were going to do, and then when the news of Dolly’s passing was released, the Opry made an immediate pivot to honor Dolly. Riley only had a few hours to learn three new songs for his debut performance. He rose to the challenge and even opened the show in tribute to Dolly Parton. The song ended up on CNN and many other news outlets. The evening became a night to remember for multiple reasons, and hopefully one he will cherish for years to come.”
Riley was surprised to get the call from Rhonda a week before the August 25 appearance. “I’ve seen her many times over the years,” Riley said. “I went to her family’s Sally Mountain Bluegrass Festival in Missouri at age 14, and Dale Brawner’s band, Cedar Junction got up on an open mic. I played a tune on the banjo with Rhonda—it’s still on YouTube! Last year my band played at a festival in Glen Rose, Texas before her set, but I never really got the chance to sit down and talk with her.”
Gilbreath returned the call after he got off work at his part-time job at Cavender’s Western Wear. Although he was not able to fill in for Zack Arnold on guitar on Friday night, August 21, due to a previous commitment, the following Tuesday, the 25th, was open. Riley said he got busy working up Kentucky Borderline, Rocky Top, Driving Nails in my Coffin, I’ll Take the Blame, which Rhonda recorded with Ralph Stanley, and a couple of songs from her new album—one, a duet with Sierra Ferrell. He was excited, but not nervous.
Riley met his parents (Danny and Jana Gilbreath) and some friends from Oklahoma for lunch in Nashville on Tuesday. Then Michael Durbin, a good friend who had driven up from Texas with Riley, texted him to let him know about Dolly’s passing. Shortly after that he received a group band text from Vincent letting them know their song list had changed.
“I just got a cup of water and was ready to order, and then I said, ‘I am so sorry. I’m going to have to go back and work on some new songs. Time is getting closer, and I really want to be sure that I’m prepared,” he said. “So I had around 30-40 minutes to work up Jolene and 9 to 5 before getting ready to head to the Opry. We rehearsed, and then they asked Rhonda to do Coat of Many Colors, so we ran over that, too, and I sang the harmony. We opened the show with that song, and it was just a beautiful thing. I was honored to be a part of something like that, especially on my first time playing at the Opry. Maybe 45 minutes later we got back up and did 9 to 5 and Jolene. It went by super-fast, but I had a great time.”
Riley continued: “My parents and a bunch of folks drove eight to ten hours to watch me, and friends from Nashville came to watch—which I really appreciated. Russ Carson (Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder), who was playing banjo, was so kind and almost like a big brother to me that whole night. He made me feel right at home, like I belonged there. He even took photos of me in the circle (of original floor boards from the Ryman at the Opry House, center stage). Rhonda, Mickey [Harris], and Adam [Haynes] were all very kind and hospitable. All I can say about Rhonda Vincent is that she is one of the classiest and kindest women you will ever meet—a lot like Dolly.”
Riley was 12 years old when he got his first banjo through the Play it Forward!® program in 2016. “I heard Dad playing something on the radio that had a banjo in it and I liked the sound of it,” he recalled. “I thought, ‘What is that? I’d like to learn how to play that.’ Then Dad went online and found the Bluegrass Heritage Foundation and the Play it Forward!® program, and Alan Tompkins referred me to Jim Penson, who taught me for a year and a half. He had been the banjo player with the Front Porch Boys with Robert Earl Keen and Lyle Lovett.”
Riley was invited to sit in with a local band, Cedar Junction, and became their banjo player. When band leader Dale Brawner passed away, Riley and his dad both played guitar with the Pocket Change bluegrass band. “That’s about all we made,” Riley joked. In 2021, at 17, he decided to start his own band.
Riley is a two-time recipient of the Johnny Lee Vincent Fund administered through the Bluegrass Heritage Foundation. He took bluegrass college classes online at age 15, and he received a scholarship to Camp Bluegrass in Levelland, Texas in 2017 with funds donated in memory of Rhonda and Darrin Vincent’s father.
At the Kentucky School of Bluegrass & Traditional Music, directed by Dean Osborne in Hyden, Kentucky (a part of the Hazard Community and Technical College and the University of Kentucky), Riley studied audio recording technology and bluegrass music history. Osborne said, “We are enjoying watching Riley grow and take his place as a pro. We are proud that the future of bluegrass is in good hands.”
At camps Riley has studied advanced banjo with Alan Munde, Bill Evans, Tony Trischka, and Ned Luberecki. After starting with the Play it Forward!® banjo, he saved up to buy a Recording King. Riley currently plays a Huber Workhorse banjo that was presented to him jointly by luthier Steve Huber, the Bluegrass Heritage Foundation, and his parents. His guitar—the one he played on the Opry stage—is a 1952 D-18 Martin.
Riley won both the Oklahoma International Bluegrass Festival Banjo Championship and the Texas Banjo Championship in 2019. He plays guitar and sings lead in his own band, but he likes to jam with the banjo, and he can also play mandolin and acoustic bass. Gilbreath’s favorite banjo player is Mike Lilly. “He did that Reno style, which I love, and it fits the style of bluegrass my band does,” he said. “I do a lot of Harley Allen songs. He’s my singing hero, and the Allen Brothers are my favorite bluegrass group of all time. I have almost all of their records.”
A young man of faith, Riley said, “God has really blessed me a lot in my life and during this year. It’s more than I deserve—definitely this week! When we were driving to Nashville last week I was weeping with thankfulness about all the things God has been doing in my life,” he shared. “Then I heard a gentle voice in my head that had authority, saying, ‘This Tuesday at the Opry will be bigger than you think. What you know about it is the tip of the iceberg.’ Then all that happened on Tuesday. I was just…Wow! And of course, He was right about all that he had told me. God has been there every step of the way in my life,” he continued. “I’ve had to do my own hard work, but I couldn’t have done any of without God or my parents, obviously. They raised me that way, to know to go to God with anything, and He makes it to where I don’t have to worry. It’s already set in stone. He’s got a plan for everything.”
“This is the first time a student from the Play it Forward!® program has been invited to play at the Grand Ole Opry,” said Bluegrass Heritage founder Alan Tompkins. “We couldn’t be prouder of him, but Riley is the one who has done all the work to learn to play and sing, as well as lead a very popular Texas bluegrass band. We kid him that he’s an overnight sensation, after only 10 straight years of non-stop hard work and practice! He was in the line-up at our Farmers Branch Bluegrass Festival in Farmers Branch, Texas, a few weeks ago, and the crowd loved him, as always.”
Congratulations to Riley Gilbreath on his Opry debut. Riley and his band, Lone Star Blue, are definitely rising artists in the bluegrass world, with impressive vocal harmony and instrumental chops. Be on the lookout for them at a festival near you!
