Luke McKnight Archives - Bluegrass Today

Archiving Appalachia launches new weekly jam in Glenville, WV

Archiving Appalachia is a new non-profit organization in West Virginia dedicated to preserving regional traditions of old time and bluegrass music by offering educational opportunities to learn the music, especially for children.

But their work will be directed to all ages, and anyone who loves Appalachian music and wants to play it.

The organization is the handiwork of Megan Darby McKnight, and her husband Luke, who have been setting their plan into action over the past year. Megan has been involved in bluegrass education for many years at the college level, and wants to reach out into the community to share what she has learned about bluegrass.

She tells us that as President of Archiving Appalachia, their goal is to help young people find life opportunities through music.

“I have had a fair share of experience working with young children through various seminars and music youth camps. We want to embrace, celebrate, and promote traditional music and Appalachian traditions and heritage.”

Luke McKnight not only has many years experience playing bluegrass and country music, he has a pedigree as well. He is the grandson of mandolin legend Jesse McReynolds, and played with his band when he was younger. Since moving to Glenville when he and Megan were married, he has joined the Gilmer County Volunteer Fire Department, who have agreed to host a weekly jam sponsored by Archiving Appalachia.

They invite everyone in the region to join them on Thursday evenings from 6:00-8:00 p.m. for a traditional music jam at the Glenville station of the Gilmer County Volunteer Fire Department. People are welcome to come to pick and sing, or just to visit and listen. There is no entrance fee to the jam, and everyone who is interested will be gladly received.

Luke says that he and Megan hope to not only teach folks about their shared heritage, but also look for ways to assist those in need.

“When I first returned back to Glenville, West Virginia, I was honored to join the Gilmer Volunteer crew. The community is very welcoming and we have a true need not only to keep the music alive, but to also work together for those in need. I was once a career fire fighter, so we figured when the chief offered the facility, what better place?”

The station is located at:

Gilmer County Volunteer Fire Department
606 West Main Street
Glenville, WV 26351

The McKnights also wanted to express their gratitude to the people who have assisted them in getting Archiving Appalachia off the ground.

“A special thank you goes out to all of those who have supported us by donating teaching tools, instruments, and especially funding. An additional THANK YOU goes to the family of Richard Dress, Eddie & Martha Adcock, Sam Jackson, the family of Col. Jim Peva, and the Neuroradiology Section at Wake Forest School of Medicine in memory of Michael Patrick Sweeney.”

Anyone seeking additional details about Archiving Appalachia is invited to contact them by email, or through either Megan or Luke’s Facebook pages.

Megan and Luke invite everyone to their wedding

Logo design by Joshua Williams and Bree Fleming – photo by Amy Springer

Talk about a bluegrass wedding!

The upcoming nuptials between Megan Darby, Director of the bluegrass music program at Glenville State College in West Virginia, and Luke McKnight, grandson of mandolin legend Jesse McReynolds, promises to be a big old time. And they are asking everyone to join them on September 18 at Uncle Pen’s Cabin, just by the Bill Monroe Museum in Bean Blossom, IN. The couple will be performing at the Uncle Pen festival on the 17th as the closing act, and they will invite the audience to join them the next day at the cabin, where Larry Efaw will officiate the ceremony.

Luke and Megan met bluegrass cute, as we detailed in an earlier interview last summer. McKnight caught young Megan’s eye when she was just nine years old, as she told us back in 2020…

“My parents and I were at the bluegrass festival in Georgetown, Ohio in 1999. We never missed a Jim & Jesse show if they were booked where we were. That day Jesse McReynolds introduced his grandson, Luke McKnight, to the show. He was debuting his recently recorded album SUPERGRASS 2000, and he quickly became my first bluegrass ‘crush’.

I had my eye on Luke at Bean Blossom and other festivals throughout the years. But back then my Daddy would tell me, ‘that boy is too wild for you, Megan,’ but he always complimented his music!”

Both being bluegrass professionals, their paths crossed from time to time, and they considered each other friends, but romance began to bloom when both parties found themselves single following unsuccessful marriages a couple of years ago. Megan had called on Luke to speak to her Glenville students about the life of a musician on the road, and he mentioned to her in conversation that he had a large dollhouse that had belonged to his daughter, that her young daughter might enjoy. He drove it from Tennessee to West Virginia, and the two were soon an item.

Now McKnight has moved to Glenville, WV where he now works at the college, and he and Miss Megan are inseparable.

So if you’ll be at the Bill Monroe Music Park for the Uncle Pen Festival in September, Megan and Luke would like you to join them and witness their vows.

Though this has all happened quickly, Luke tells us that he feels he is a lucky man. “It took 39 years to know what happy really means….. I am blessed beyond words.”

Megan says that it will be a quick and simple ceremony, which will be beautiful no matter who comes over. “All that matters to us is that we have God, our girls, and parents, and any family and friends there.”

But if may be at Bean Blossom, y’all come! The family will provide coffee and homemade cookies for all who take part.

The couple have formed a non-profit organization to help preserve early country and traditional mountain music alive, called Miss Megan and Luke McKnight: Archiving Appalachia. They ask that anyone inclined to remember their wedding with a gift, to please consider a donation.

They can be sent to:

Archiving Appalachia
PO Box 24
Glenville, WV 26351

Luke McKnight – new single, new hip, and new outlook

Luke McKnight, lifelong bluegrass performer and grandson of mandolin master, Jesse McReynolds, has suffered from one of the less often discussed misadventures of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of the strict restrictions throughout the US, especially during the early lockdown period in March and April, many hospitals completely stopped offering elective surgery of any kind, and people in need of relief had to wait several months for treatment.

Luke was one such, in need of hip replacement surgery at age 39 owing to a genetic bone disease he suffers from. Living in extreme pain made this a very troubling year for him, which should have been among the more joyous of his life. He had signed a contract with Turnberry Records to produce a solo album, and found a new romance with Megan Darby, Director of the Bluegrass Music Program at Glenville State University in West Virginia. Bluegrass cute!

The diagnosis came in during February, after an MRI showed the disease had cut off blood flow to the hip, but no hospitals were willing to do the surgery. He had to wait until November 12 to have it done.

Let’s have Luke share the story…

“The surgery that I had to have done was a full hip replacement on my right hip due to a generic bone disease called Avascular: osteonecrosis. It’s simply a lack of blood flow to the bone that connects the leg to the pelvis, and causes deterioration. Honestly, I needed this surgery done months before I did it. But due to COVID and several other factors it just wasn’t possible. Finally, after going through several channels from friends and referrals, we found the perfect surgeon in Charleston, West Virginia. I knew the whole time that I wanted to get the surgery done in West Virginia, so I could do my rehab there.

It all just really worked out very well. The surgeon told me that once he got started, he soon realized that this was the worst hip that he had ever worked on. The bone was literally broken in half in the socket, and had been that way for months. It was the most pain that I ever thought possible. But as soon as I woke up from the anesthesia I could tell that there was improvement.

I was sent home the next day exactly 24 hours after the surgery began. I am able to walk better now than I have in all of 2020 with the help of a walker, for a couple weeks probably. I am positive, confident, and motivated to completely recover and continue my pursuit of carrying on my family’s music and tradition.

I was born to be an entertainer. I have no doubt about that. And I’m not gonna let some little bone disease get in my way of sharing music with people. It means too much to me.”

As it happened, McKnight was on a waitlist for surgery, but a cancellation came up and, given the degree of pain he was suffering, the doctor got him right in with little more than a week’s notice.

The first single from his new album was released on October 31, It’s Gonna Take A Train, a gritty, bluesy, medium-tempo grasser that came from a friend of his.

“This song was sent to me by a good friend of mine Jeff Hyde, the co-writer. I got to know Jeff well during my 5 years of touring as a bus driver with Eric Church, as Jeff is in the band as a utility player (banjo, guitar, and mandolin) and backup singer. We shared a lot of common interests, both coming from bluegrass backgrounds, and both spending years around the Grand Ole Opry.

I had asked him if he had any songs sitting with a grassy vibe, and he sent me about 8 songs immediately. The single was a a no brainer the first time I heard it. In fact, I couldn’t believe that nobody had already grabbed it. Once the recording process began, it became evident that it should be the first song released on my new project on Turnberry Records.

It was exactly the sound I was after… solid lyrics and drive! I also knew immediately who would play banjo on the cut. I told my co-producer, Steve Thomas, that this song has Robbie McCoury written all over it. So we got him to come in, and he nailed it just like he always does.

So as far as the song goes, between the writers and the lyrics and the musicians, I think that this single portrays a lot about the direction that I want to go in. You never know what you’re going to hear from me!”

For now, outside of encouraging everyone to request It’s Gonna Take A Train from the favorite DJs, Luke has nothing on his schedule but recovery, including regular physical therapy sessions. His doctors suggest about six weeks before he can completely return to normal use of his legs, but given how badly his hip had deteriorated, it could be up to three months.

He is taking the so far, so good approach.

“My recovery from surgery is going very well. All the doctors and physical therapists are very optimistic that I’ll make a full recovery. They also seem to think that I’ll progress in recovery faster because I’m only 39 years old. I was walking up and down the halls of the hospital 20 hours after the surgery.

The downside is that I’m already guaranteed to need another replacement on my left hip because the disease is there too. There is no way to know when I will need it, as it progresses at its own speed. However, it will not bother me near as much now that I have had this one done, and know that it’s not the end of the world.

This was the first surgery that I’ve ever had, so I was very anxious and afraid. I believe next time will be different. Surgery will never be fun, but thinking about it won’t lead to panic attacks anymore. (LOL)

I do have to say that I could not have done this without Megan and her encouragement. She has been the rock that I needed to get through this. I will spend a lot of the future trying to repay her for all the good she has done for me. I’m a better man because of her. I’m a stronger man because of her. And ultimately I will have a better music career because of her ability to encourage me and stand behind me and believe in me like nobody else ever has. She pushes me to always try harder and do better no matter what I’m doing. And I’m the kind of man that needs that. I admit that. I need somebody to kick me through the door sometimes and get me moving.”

Everybody loves a happy ending to a sad story, and it looks like Luke and Megan have just that.

Best of luck to you both!

Luke McKnight to Turnberry Records

Turnberry Records has announced the signing of Nashville vocalist and mandolinist Luke McKnight to the label. This talented artist has a long history in bluegrass music and has a new album ready for release in the near future.

Luke actually comes from bluegrass royalty, as the grandson of mandolin maestro and bluegrass icon Jesse McReynolds. As a teen and a young man, Luke performed as a member of Jim & Jesse and The Virginia Boys, and he took that opportunity to learn the tricky crosspicking style his grandfather pioneered on the mandolin. After leaving Jesse’s group, he formed and performed with a band called McReynolds Tradition, including two of his cousins, as well as a solo artist.

After a career as a firefighter and a turn as a bus driver, McKnight is ready to return to the world of bluegrass music he learned as a boy.

Luke says that he is eager to get his new music out to the market, and offers a tease of what will be included.

“It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. It’ll be released as soon as possible.

Content-wise, you never know. I don’t consider myself a traditional bluegrass artist per se… you never know what I’m gonna come up with. I’m not a big fan of ‘genre.’ I just don’t like the word. I’m just a fan of good music.”

Expect more details on a new Luke McKnight album in the near future.

COVID meant love for Dr. Megan Darby and Luke McKnight

Who doesn’t love a bluegrass love story? Especially when it carries a touch of music royalty. How about we add in some social distancing elements and a dash of higher education?

This is the heartwarming story of a romance, long in coming, between Megan Darby and Luke McKnight. Both have dedicated their lives to bluegrass, Megan as the Director of the bluegrass music program at Glenville State College in West Virginia, and Luke, the grandson of mandolin icon Jesse McReynolds, a mando-man and singer himself, has also worked for years carting touring artists around as a bus driver. He had also been a regular member of Jim & Jesse’s Virginia Boys, where he played many times on the Grand Ole Opry.

So how did this all begin?

Their paths had first crossed some time ago, as Darby recalls from when she was only nine.

Then a decade later they met backstage at a Keith McReynolds Memorial Benefit concert in Gallatin, Tennessee in 2009.

“I congratulated Luke face to face on his engagement that evening. He had the whole room tearing up, including me and my Momma. I could tell through his music, stage presence, and word that he was a good man with good character. I have always wished happiness and success for him.”

Both Megan and Luke had been married, with each marriage ending without any involvement of the other. In fact, there was never even an attempt at a relationship until this year. They continued to run into other on the touring circuit, and became friends along the way. McKnight was out with a group called McReynolds Tradition, also including his cousins Amanda Lynn and Garrett McReynolds, and their uncle, Darin Lyons.

Starting in the early 2000s, Luke pursued a career as a firefighter and worked in that profession near Nashville until 2011, when music called him back.

They got to see each other occasionally through GSC, starting from when Megan enrolled there as a student in the nascent bluegrass program. Directed at that time by fiddler Buddy Griffin, who had toured with Jim & Jesse when Luke was a teen, Griffin called on him often to speak to the students and participate in projects with them.

When Darby took over the department, she continued calling on McKnight.

“Luke has always been generous and willing to share his talents and experiences for the good of our bluegrass music program. Though he was generally on the road, he made time to record with our students ,and often offered business advice.”

According to Luke, it was a recent act of kindness on his part that showed him that he and Darby might make a good pair.

“I think our relationship took a huge leap forward when we had our first face-to-face visit after almost eleven years of seeing each other. I delivered my daughter’s massive dollhouse to her little girls from Gallatin, TN to Glenville, WV. It was so big that I had to bring it on a trailer attached to my Yukon.

It was evident pretty quickly that we shared strong feelings for each other.”

And it has been the COVID-19 shutdown that brought them even closer. Megan used the flexible and revised curriculum in the Bluegrass Music History course offered this spring semester to assign each student to a music professional, who they would research and interview as part of their grade. Luke, of course, was neither touring himself nor driving anyone else, so he was able to work with students who reached out to him.

Megan said…

“I found his enthusiasm and availability to work with my student to be striking. I enjoyed phone conversations about his music and current outlook on the music industry during this hectic time. We began reminiscing of the old days and one conversation led to another.”

Luke agrees, saying that it never would have happened without the shutdown.

“COVID is what made our relationship possible. The virus basically put a stop to everything in the music industry, and before that, I believed she and I were too busy with our careers to even think about pursuing a relationship with anybody. This pandemic has definitely given us quality time that we wouldn’t normally be experiencing under normal working conditions. This extra time has made it possible for our relationship to progress and become strong.”

For a lifelong grasser, Megan says that their first time out was a perfect rendezvous.

“Our official first date was very special. Luke planned a trip to Jim and Jesse’s home place near Coeburn, VA. Having the opportunity to visit Jim’s gravesite and to see the world through the lenses of these legends gave me cold chills.”

Luke, who has also mastered his grandfather’s crosspicking style on the mandolin, said he knew it would have a powerful impact.

“I don’t take many people to the home place, but I wanted to take her. I knew that it would mean something to her. I knew that she would be able to take something from the experience. I know how much the history means to her personally, but I think seeing the place will help her be an even better teacher.”

Darby now says that her parents are fully supportive of them being together, since Luke is no longer a wild teenager, and Megan is likewise a responsible adult.

And Luke says that Jesse feels the same.

“I think Dedaddy is very supportive of the relationship between me and Megan. He always like to see people be happy. He also enjoys seeing good music shared and preserved. That’s a lot of what me and Megan want to do together.”

The new couple expect to do performances, mandolin workshops, and other things as a duo, both at the college and its Pioneer Stage, Bluegrass Music Education Center, located just off campus.

So the question on every mandolin player’s mind is, will Megan convert to the crosspicking style? It’s a definite maybe.

“I always told my parents I could never be in a relationship with another mandolin player. A picker, sure but not mandolin player. It’s funny how things turn out. The best part is that we are so totally opposite on mandolin styles, instrument preferences, clear down to the type of pick that we use. I really haven’t thought much about learning how to crosspick but I recognize my unique opportunity to get pointers from Luke and Jesse.”

Best of luck to Luke and Megan!

Luke McKnight is the Leader of the Band

Luke McKnight is the son of Gwen McReynolds, the oldest of Jesse’s four children. He has worked as part of the Virginia Boys since 1994 or 1995 when he joined on a part time basis and, I recall, he piqued my interest in him when I heard him singing on Our Kind Of Country (Pinecastle PRC 1108). In fact, I had missed his contributions to an earlier CD A Gift For Keith, recorded as a benefit for the late Keith McReynolds, Luke’s uncle. McKnight is also among the musicians on other Jesse McReynolds’s CDs since then, as well as releasing his debut album in 1999.

More recently, McKnight has decided to go out on his own, form a band – Luke McKnight & Thunder Road – and make another album. The current band members are Daniel Grindstaff, on banjo; Kent Blanton, on bass; Steve Thomas, on fiddle; and Garrett McReynolds (Jesse’s other grandson) on guitar and tenor vocals.

McKnight recently announced the availability of that self-released album, Leader Of The Band. Recorded last year in Steve Thomas’ Gain Train Studio in Hendersonville, Tennessee, it features McKnight (mandolin and lead vocals), Grindstaff (banjo), Blanton (bass), Thomas (guitar and vocals, as well as fiddle) Donny Catron (vocals), Tommy White (Dobro ¬Æ), Carl Jackson (vocals) and Scott Vestal (banjo).

The CD comprises an interesting mix of material, beginning with The Beatles’ I’ve Just Seen A Face. There are a few other older songs including Rovin’ Gambler, Eastbound Freight Train, Lizzy Lou and Don’t Fall In Love With a Rambler, along with newer songs, such as the title cut, Mr. Right Now (written by Garth Brooks) and 2000 Years Ago, a Gospel song written by Jesse McReynolds.

Additionally, there are two instrumentals – Showboat Ride and the McKnight composition The Crossing, another showcase for the cross-picking style of mandolin playing.

There are audio samples on Luke’s website, and at CD Baby.