Tag: On This Day

On This Day #70: Remembering Jan Jerrold 

On this day … 

On August 18, 1993, American-born British bluegrass activist Jan Jerrold passed away, aged 52. His importance in the popularity of bluegrass music in the UK could scarcely be overstated.

Jan Jay Jerrold was born in Washington DC, on April 22, 1941, of French/Irish descent. He was the eldest of five children. He spent his first few years at 3510 Garfield Steet NW, not far from the Washington National Cathedral. 

His brother Alan remembers … 

“The family moved to Dublin in 1950 after my father’s death. We spent a while in France on the way. Jan moved to London after he got married in 1963.

Jan’s first interest in music was in the fifties with skiffle and Lonnie Donegan. He had a skiffle band which practiced in our garage. He then moved on to country music, Hank Williams, Hank Snow, etc., and later to bluegrass. Oddly, he moved to country and bluegrass while I moved to Woody Guthrie and folk.”

Sister Yvonne adds .. 

“He had started collecting records from when he was about 14 or 15.  I remember the very first record he bought was Harry Belafonte’s Island in the Sun on a 45rpm single. Later he discovered country western music and moved on to blue grass.”

If he wasn’t aware of country music while in America, Jerrold certainly became familiar with it while living in Dublin, as it was very popular in Ireland.  

To the best of her recollection, Jerrold’s widow Marie thinks … 

“…. there was a lot of folk/country music in Dublin in the early ’60s. We saw the group The Dubliners playing a few times, and Johnny Cash came to Dublin. Great concert.   

I’m pretty sure it was Paul O’Grady who introduced Jan to Hank Williams and Jim Reeves. At that time, before Paul got his own shop, he worked in a record shop down on the Quays and Jan spent a lot of time there. It … evolved into what Jan saw as the greatest sort of country music – bluegrass.”

It should be noted that O’Grady wasn’t the recently deceased English TV personality. As Marie emphasises, he “was just a bloke who was a country fan and ran a record shop. He introduced Jan to many new country artists and maybe bluegrass.”

Youngest sibling Suzanne said….. 

“My early memories are of Jan in charge of the music at ‘Hops’ in our house, playing Rock-Around-the-Clock and you [Yvonne] dancing with lovely full brightly coloured skirts which mother had made.”

For Tom Travis, Jerrold just seems to have been around since the late 1970s …. 

“Jan was the personification of the word, ‘Fanatic’ – although dogged by a genetic disease that had claimed his father and others before him, generated eruptive energy, which he applied to the furtherance of bluegrass music in Britain. I have memories of him arriving at my door with musicians for whom he had become a promoter and vehicle driver. Having driven for hundreds of miles, he stepped out of the car on my drive already talking, ten to the dozen, about everything bluegrass. He was truly irrepressible. 

I had the pleasure — along with other of his admirers and adherents – of singing at his funeral. We bade him farewell with, among other classic Stanley Brothers’ songs, Angel Band and The Darkest Hour Is Just Before Dawn. 

It’s now 30 years on, and I still miss him.”

The Stanley Brothers – The Darkest Hour Is Just Before Dawn .. 

In November 1993, Bill Clifton wrote this about a remarkable example of Jerrold’s intrepid nature ..

“I was completely taken aback when someone slipped up on our darkened front porch and knocked on our door shortly after midnight on a frosty March morning in 1979. Mendota is a tiny rural community in the Clinch Mountains of southwestern Virginia, and residents of this part of the country are wary of strangers at any time … but most especially so in the middle of the night.

Jan had been sent to Boston, Massachusetts, by the company for which he worked and decided to try to find me. I had only six months earlier returned from Britain to settle in Mendota. We used a post-office box as an address and we did not get a telephone for almost a year. Needless to say, Jan was undaunted by this lack of specific information.

He decided to rent a car and drive from Boston to Mendota (a journey of approximately the same magnitude as a trip from Land’s End to John o’ Goats). If he looked a bit disheveled, he was certainly no less bubbly and enthusiastic when I opened the door to him.

How in the world had he found us, I wondered aloud, thinking one would never dare to stop one’s car at any stranger’s house along the lonely stretch of country road he had just travelled. ‘Oh, it was no problem,’ he replied. ‘I noticed a light at a house about 10 miles back, so I stopped and asked them where you lived.’

I am sure that his naivety never allowed him to consider the prevalence of firearms in mountain homes. This naivety and innocence was, indeed, a great part of Jan’s charm. It endeared him to a lot of good folks in both Britain and America. These qualities enable him to ‘have a go’ at things which many of us would write off as being impractical or impossible. He demonstrated this quality over and over by tackling the organization of bluegrass evenings at the Half Moon in Putney [among other locations].”

British multi-instrumentalist Rick Townend remembers an amusing event involving Jerrold that took place in March 1987 …

“On the tour with Bill Clifton, Red Rector and Art Stamper, we stayed one night at Jan’s Woking house, and Art, who was a hairdresser, gave Jan a haircut, joking that he’d made him look like Pete Kuykendall!”

Bill Clifton, Red Rector and Art Stamper – Won’t It Be Wonderful There?  

Musician and writer Joe Ross visited Britain in the summer of 1990 …. 

“Every community of enthusiasts, including bluegrassers, seems to have its ‘Movers and Shakers,’ folks who truly make a difference. More than just fans, they’re energetic, influential, important, powerful, affable, personable, and connected.

Jan Jerrold was a promoter who got involved with bluegrass by somewhat by accident. When John Hopkins organized a tour for Bob Paisley in 1981, Jan drove the bus. Jan once told me, ‘I also tagged along on a couple of tours including Joe Val’s first in 1982. When John Hopkins quit doing tours, I got into it by finding some dates for Whetstone Run.’ Jan was also quite involved with the London Bluegrass Club and its growth.”

Whetstone Run – If Teardrops Were Pennies 

Ross continues …. 

“Jan realized the financial risks of his bluegrass endeavors, but those didn’t seem to dampen his enthusiasm. Another ‘labour of love’ was Jan’s involvement (with Phill Morley) as co-editor of the British Bluegrass News. It was a fine quarterly publication that first appeared in the 1970s as The British Bluegrass and Old-Time Music Journal, in the decades were before e-mail, internet, texting, and tweeting.

We were well past the use of carrier pigeons, but bluegrassers depended on old-fashioned snail-mail, phone calls, and publications like BBN to communicate, network, and stay informed. Phill Morley planted the seed for the newsletter at the 1976 Cambridge Folk Festival, and then launched it in May 1977 with a feature about the Edale Picking Sessions. In February 1979 it became a small magazine. Jan Jerrold came in with Morley in January 1982, and they decided to shorten its name to British Bluegrass News. Despite its ups and downs over the years, they always made sure the magazine was out on time. 

Hal Spence, guitarist and tenor singer with the Sawtooth Mountain Boys, recently told me, ‘Oh yes, we stayed with Jan twice! He had a huge, giant record collection, and I think he could tell you who played and sang what on any record you pulled out at random. Yet he didn’t play or sing! He edited their bluegrass newsletter. He was a computer programmer and would start work at 1:00 in the morning sometimes.'”

Another of the Sawtooth Mountain Boys, Steve Waller commented after one show that Jerrold was so excited that he was jumping up and down in his seat and looked, “as happy as a ‘possum with a mouthful of bees.'”

Sawtooth Mountain Boys – Just Like Every Hurtin’ Song 

As Jerrold’s involvement with British Bluegrass News increased there was more live bluegrass in central London – it was no coincidence. He booked artists such as High County, the Good Ol’ Persons, and Bob Paisley & the Southern Grass, and advertised these as a ‘Big Bluegrass Night.’

Good Ol’ Persons – My My My 

There had been a London Bluegrass Club in the 1970s, but it sometimes experienced periods of inactivity. In November 1986 he revived the Club with the opening night at The Half Moon, featuring English bands the Down County Boys and the Bluegrass Ramblers.  

The Echo Mountain Band, Fingers & Co., The WFTW Bluegrass Jamboree, and Scotland’s Runaway Sting Band were a few of the other British bands to be booked for the monthly concerts. American trio Bill Clifton, Red Rector, and Art Stamper, and bands such as The Sawtooth Mountain Boys, Jim Eanes (supported by English stalwarts Pete Stanley and Brian Golbey), Rose Maddox, The Johnson Mountain Boys, and Pete Rowan and the Red Hot Pickers were other very welcome guests at the London Bluegrass Club.

Townend adds … 

“Jan’s London Bluegrass Club operated at the Half Moon, Putney, for perhaps a year, then the Weavers Arms, Newington Green, and finally at the 100 Club in Oxford Street, where he put on most of the visiting US bands and musicians.”

In March 1987 Maddox played an ad-hoc bluegrass show at the Half Moon that was arranged by Jerrold. 

After suffering a near-fatal heart attack, Maddox returned to the UK in 1990. Townend, who played banjo in the back-up band in another gig that Jerrold organised, shares this behind-the-scenes memory of the occasion …. 

“One memory… is that we had a half-hour rehearsal for a two-hour show: fortunately Jan had provided us all with cassette copies of a lot of Rose’s material, and it was ok even when, after the first two songs, she started taking requests! In the rehearsal she’d shown us her hand signals for chord changes, and she conducted us though the entire evening, with such success that Jan reported that he’d heard one audience member (noted for his disparaging views of UK musicians) saying, ‘of course only the Americans can play like this …'”

Rose Maddox – My Rose Of Old Kentucky 

Mal Salisbury (with Pete Wraith) started the Ironbridge Bluegrass & Roots Music Festival in 1988 …

“I’d say that Jan played an integral role in the development of the Ironbridge festival. His knowledge and advice was second to none. He always had time for me, especially when bringing bands over from the States and Europe. Jan was a great human being and will always be in my thoughts.”

Jerrold didn’t restrict himself to promoting bluegrass music, organizing a lengthy Louisiana Cajun/county music tour featuring D.L. Menard (guitar), Eddie LeJeune (accordion), and Ken Smith (fiddle); and the Whitstein Brothers.    

The Whitstein Brothers – Nobody’s Darling But Mine 

Seemingly having an inexhaustible supply of energy, in November 1991 he established Jan Jerrold’s Bluegrass Record Service with a detailed 29-page catalog of his stock. As well as mail-order sales, Jerrold took CDs to various shows that he promoted.  

He was very keen that the IBMA acknowledge and justify the ‘I’ in its name, and in 1989 he attended the WoB Convention in Owensboro, Kentucky, to learn more about the organization and make himself known to other members. Thus, when the International Bluegrass Music Association was ready, he was ideally suited to be a part of the production team for the CD IBMA Presents Long Journey Home: A Collection Of Bluegrass From Around The World (released in 1992). 

Czech-born bluegrass activist and another co-producer of this CD, Irena Přibylová, recalls ….   

“Jan was responsible for the selection of British groups on the IBMA International CD – Fingers and Co., The Bluegrass Ramblers, Echo Mountain Band, The Thrifts, and the Tom Travis Band. In the choice he cooperated with Ken Irvin. The British representation is quite wide on the CD! Thanks to Jan.”

Bluegrass Ramblers – Forgive And Forget 

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Echo Mountain Band – Prodigal Father

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On November 3, 1990, Jerrold became a co-founder of the British Bluegrass Music Association (BBMA) and the organization’s first secretary.  British Bluegrass News, which he continued to edit, became its quarterly magazine. 

Experienced fiddler / multi-instrumentalist Jack Leiderman reminisces … 

“I was fortunate enough to meet and spend some time with Jan Jerrold back in the 1980s, when he was organizing tours in the UK for American bands. I came over several times with High Country (and later with Bob Paisley and the Southern Grass). Jan was a whirlwind of energy and enthusiasm, as tour organizer, driver, and host.

What I remember most was Jan’s sheer enjoyment of the music.  Our band would be onstage during a show, and I’d look over and there was Jan grinning from ear to ear, looking like a kid in a candy store. I’ve never met anyone who genuinely enjoyed bluegrass music as much as Jan Jerrold.”

Bob Paisley and the Southern Grass – Prison Walls of Love

Jerrold collected bluegrass and county music recordings for most of his adult life, and at the time of his untimely passing, he had about 1,500 LPs, 400 CDs, and about 750 tapes and cassettes. His collection was donated to the British Library National Sound Archive. 

Dudley Connell remembers an unusual culinary preference …. 

“Jan Jerrold was one of the most enthusiastic bluegrass music fans that I have ever met. The Johnson Mountain Boys toured England in 1987, a tour that Jan had arranged for us. We were out for a little over the week, and piled all our instruments and sound equipment in Jan’s van. It was a wonderful experience during which we all became close friends. 

Several years later, Jan decided he wanted to come to the International Bluegrass Music Association convention and trade show, which at the time was hosted in Owensboro, Kentucky. I invited him to stay with us at our home in Maryland for a couple of days, before heading south to the convention.

And before I go any further, I should explain that I love to cook. While planning for Jan’s visit, I had started gathering ideas for our dinners. Well, it didn’t quite work out that way. I did prepare the meals for me and my family, but all Jan wanted to eat was boiled hot dogs… boiled hot dogs, morning, noon, and night. He would boil him up a pack in the morning, and eat them with us, and when he’d run through the package, I would go buy him more.

He was such a character, but I’ve never met a nicer gentleman with a kind and gentle soul than Jan Jerrold. As the old saying goes, they broke the mold with Jan Jerrold and the world is a better place for him.”

Jerrold had a sweet tooth also, taking six spoonfuls of sugar in his tea. 

Johnson Mountain Boys – Memories That We Shared 

Ken Irwin, one of the founders of Rounder Records, is another who still mourns Jerrold’s passing …  

“Jan Jerrold was a force of nature. Although I could tell that he was a serious music fan from our long-distance communication leading up to my first trip to England with the Johnson Mountain Boys, I was not prepared for the person who met us at the airport. Jan’s enthusiasm, passion, and energy were off the scale. I don’t think I had ever encountered anyone like him..

Throughout our stay, which included small clubs and the wonderful Edale festival, Jan’s infectious laugh and smile made our trip enjoyable, with the possible exception of the times when he was driving and turning around to talk to us. We all made it through and loved our trip.

While Jan is certainly best remembered as bluegrass promoter, and for his work with the British Bluegrass News, Jan enjoyed other roots music. The second time I came to England was with the Cajun Trio, D.L. Menard, Kenny Smith, and Eddie Le Jeune and The Whitstein Brothers.  Once again, Jan showed his warmth, enthusiasm, and talent as a promoter, road manager, and guide. 

When I heard of his illness, I somehow felt that he would beat it, that nothing could conquer his love of life, music, and friends.

I feel fortunate to have been able to spend some time with Jan and to be able to share some of that passion, energy, and friendship.  I still think of him frequently and am happy that others do also and that many will learn about Jan and his impact on the music and musicians he loved.”

Jan had an immense, idiosyncratic love of bluegrass music and his enthusiasm was infectious. 

I still fondly remember – and miss – our late night (too late for me really!) phone conversations about all things bluegrass. He was very encouraging and even asked me to accompany him on the road occasionally, as he took touring bands around the country.

Townend makes a point worth mentioning …. 

“For all his loquaciousness, Jan didn’t talk a lot about himself.”

At Jerrold’s funeral, Salisbury reminded us that Jan’s favorite song was ‘one that Del McCoury sang, Don’t Stop The Music…”

Shortly after Jerrold passed away the BBMA established its premier award in his name, presented to the person who has made the most significant recent contribution to the Bluegrass music scene in the UK. 

R.I.P. Jan Jerrold

On This Day #66 – First Bill Monroe recording with Flatt & Scruggs

On September 16, 1946, Bill Monroe recorded for the first time with Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs.  

These two evening sessions, 75 years ago today, were the first involving the aggregation acclaimed as the ‘original bluegrass band,’ comprising Bill Monroe (lead and tenor vocals, mandolin), Lester Flatt (lead vocals, guitar), Chubby Wise (fiddle), Earl Scruggs (banjo), and Howard Watts (baritone vocals, string bass). 

They took place at the CBS Studio, Radio Station WBBM, The Wrigley Building, 410 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, the first from 8:00 p.m. to 9:20 p.m. – during which they recorded four songs all with alternate takes – and later that evening – from 10:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. – they recorded four more numbers. 

The producer was the Bedminster, Bristol-born Englishman, Art Satherley. 

The recordings were done using just one microphone, a feature that they were used to, it being how they presented their stage shows. That said, before each take of a song was cut they rehearsed the steps that they would take to ensure that the correct volume levels – for voices and instruments – were maintained. 

The first song that they recorded was Heavy Traffic Ahead (Columbia Master CCO 4605), a metaphor for a week in the life of the band at that time. In fact, it has been that way from the beginning of the year, so busy were they maintaining their personal appearance schedule.  

At the beginning of the session the band “”eemed stiff, nervous, and uncertain,” according to music historian and writer Bluegrass Hall of Fame member, Charles Wolfe, and the first take suffered as a consequence. Whereas the second was “tight, crisp, punchy, and flowing.” It is this recoding that was released on a single, albeit not for almost three years. 

Heavy Traffic Ahead is notable for its opening; the first recording of the famous Lester Flatt ‘G-run’ ….

 

An up-tempo Flatt composition Why Did You Wander? (CCO 4606) followed. It was the first Flatt–Monroe duet that the pair recorded. Neither of the two takes was perfect; with some fluffed vocals on the first, and while Monroe re-arranged the song, moving his second mandolin break to the last chorus, a minor flaw in Scruggs’ banjo break marred the second effort.

The track remained unissued until 1976 when it was released on a various artists’ collection, Hills & Home; Thirty Years of Bluegrass (New World Records NW 225). 

The third song of the session was one of Monroe’s trademark numbers, Blue Moon of Kentucky (CCO 4607), recorded as a waltz. 

For Dorothy Horstman’s book Sing Your Heart Out, Country Boy, New York, 1976, Monroe spoke of his nostalgic waltz tribute to his home state … 

“Back in those days, it seems every trip we made was from Kentucky to Florida driving back and forth. I always thought about Kentucky, and I wanted to write a song about the moon we could always see over it. The best way to do this was to bring a girl into the song. I wanted words to this, because most of my songs were instrumentals. Kentucky Waltz had come earlier and I knew I could write both words and music, so I wrote it in the car on the way home from one of those Florida trips.”

In 1988 Blue Moon of Kentucky replaced Stephen Foster’s sentimental ballad, My Old Kentucky Home, as Kentucky’s official state song. 

The session ended with Toy Heart (CCO 4608), another up-tempo duet. It features some excellent mandolin playing and is the first recording of Scruggs’ banjo work in G tuning with the low D string lowered to a C. 

There were two takes of this song although, ultimately, the first was deemed appropriate.

When it was eventually released – in 78rpm and 33 1/3rpm formats – in the Spring of 1949 it became Monroe’s best-seller of the year, reaching  #12 on the Billboard’s Best Selling Retail Folk Records chart. 

Summertime Is Past and Gone (CCO 4609) is a ¾ tempo song arranged as a vocal trio, one of the few that the band recorded, with Watts singing the third or baritone part below Flatt’s melody. It is noteworthy also for Scruggs’ banjo solo. 

Structurally, Monroe’s melody for Summertime Is Past and Gone is the simplest – an a1, a2, a, a2 sequence – of all the those for the eight songs recorded on this day. With its reference to the moon “shining bright” it closely resembles Blue Moon of Kentucky. 

The fiddle solos have a bit more ornamentation and other instrumental interludes feature Scruggs’ melodically-inclined banjo – similar to that for his breaks on Heavy Traffic Ahead – in concert with Monroe’s tremolos. 

Five takes were required before one was found to be a suitable master as each of the first four has a different flaw.

The second song recorded during this later session was Mansions for Me (CCO 4610), a throw-back to the relative simplicity of the duet style that Bill enjoyed with his brother Charlie. In form and melody, it is similar to their career record of a decade earlier, What Would You Give In Exchange for Your Soul?

It is the only number in the band’s record catalogue that does not include an instrumental break. Otherwise, it is notable for Wise’s discreet bluesy fiddle in the background. 

Mansions for Me – paired with Mother’s Only Sleeping – was the first release from the days’ sessions. Perhaps tellingly they were only two songs for which there was just the need for one take. 

Mother’s Only Sleeping (CCO 4611) was brought to Monroe by Flatt and the former has said, “He put it in both our names.” 

Mother’s Just Sleeping, as it was known originally, was actually composed by Lance and Maynard Spencer some five years earlier when they were members of Charlie Monroe’s Kentucky Partners. The song was popular in the Carolinas and with slight variations it was recorded by a few acts from the region. Lester Flatt, also one of the Kentucky Partners at one time, learned the song during that stint. 

This is the first ‘heart’ song – one that celebrates mother and mountains – by this combination of the Blue Grass Boys.  

Blue Yodel No.4 (or California Blues) (CCO 4612) is in fact what songwriter Jimmie Rodgers called Blue Yodel Number 3, according to Wolfe. 

Like Heavy Traffic Ahead it is a 12-bar blues, and during performances on the Grand Ole Opry, Monroe worked at perfecting it as a showcase for his yodeling skills. The first recording attempt was overzealous, too intricate vocally whereas the version released on a single was more conservative in approach. There are indications in the recordings that Monroe was well-aware of the traditional black ragtime mandolin style. 

In the eyes of some scholars, Blue Yodel No.4 is one of the first instances in which the essential elements of the bluegrass style fell into place and coalesced on that record.

 

These recordings heralded a new era in country music. Lester Flatt introduced a choppier style of playing than that of earlier guitarists in the band, a solid rhythm that would help to establish bluegrass timing; Earl Scruggs a remarkable syncopated three-finger banjo that had already delighted Opry audiences; and some superb fluid fiddle work from Chubby Wise were the backdrop to Monroe’s breath-taking mandolin solos that were more jazz and blues-infused than hitherto.  

Monroe expert Tom Ewing has spoken highly of the solid bass foundations that Howard Watts provided for the other band members ………  

“His metronomic playing serves as a rhythmic reference for everyone in the band, freeing them from any worries whatsoever concerning the location of the beat.”

(Bluegrass Unlimited magazine, May 2002)

Vocally, Flatt’s relaxed lead and Bill Monroe’s soaring tenor set the template for the genre. 

Many have written and spoken about the impact of Monroe’s recordings, broadcasts, and shows with his most famous band. 

For example, British country music musician and historian, Brian Golbey, wrote in 1999 … 

“Bill Monroe’s next recording date in September 1946 was without doubt the most important in the history of bluegrass music, for it was at this session that the now familiar sound was finally and definitively established. Chubby Wise was still on and [Bill] Wesbrooks had been replaced by Cedric Rainwater on bass, but it was the addition of two other members that clinched Monroe’s defining sound. On guitar was Lester Flatt who, until recently had been working with Bill’s brother Charlie as a member of The Kentucky Pardners. He was a superb vocalist and his duet work with Monroe makes him the quintessential bluegrass singer, often copied, never bettered. But it was the young 22-year-old banjo player from North Carolina who really caught the public’s imagination: Earl Scruggs had developed a style of banjo playing that had never been heard before. Using a three-finger roll he completely revolutionized the approach to the banjo. Monroe felt that he had at last found the formula he had been searching for and ‘Bluegrass’ had truly come of age.”

However, there appears to be very little in the way of a contemporary view in print. Bluegrass music historian Neil Rosenberg shared these error-strewn lines are from Billboard magazine, published a week before the recording sessions, on September 9, 1946 (p.120)…

Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys are on a successful tour thru Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. Bill’s show is composed of Cubby [sic] Wise, fiddle; Lester Flat [sic], singer and guitarist; Earl Scruggs, mandolin [sic]; and Cedric Rainwater, comedian, who also plays bass and dances. Tommy Thompson, former WSM entertainer, who has bought [sic] and been wounded in both World Wars, is now with Monroe.

… the rest came later.

Radio Station WBBM began a long association with the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) on September 27, 1928. 

A Discography 

Singles 

  • Mansions For Me / Mother’s Only Sleeping (Columbia 20107 and Columbia 37294, released March 24, 1947) 
  • Blue Yodel No.4 (Columbia 20189 and Columbia 37565, July 14, 1947) 
  • Blue Moon of Kentucky (Columbia 20370 and Columbia 37888, September 22, 1947)
  • Summertime Is Past and Gone (Columbia 20503, October 4, 1948)
  • Toy Heart (Columbia 20552, March 14, 1949) 
  • Heavy Traffic Ahead (Columbia 20595, July 18, 1949)

Where only one title is mentioned, the recording was paired with that from another session.

Albums 

  • The Great Bill Monroe (Harmony HL 7290 / HL 11335, 1961)
  • The Best of Bill Monroe (Harmony HL 7315, 1964)
  • Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs The Original Bluegrass Band (Rounder Special Series 06 / CBS ‎P 13911, 1978)
  • Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys: The Classic Bluegrass Recordings, Volume 1 (County CCS 104, 1980)
  • Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys: The Classic Bluegrass Recordings, Volume 2 (County CCS 105, 1980)
  • Bill Monroe (Columbia Historic Edition FC 38904, 1984)
  • The Essential Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys, 1945-1949 (Columbia C2K-52478, October 20, 1992). A recording of all eight songs is included in this collection.
  • The Music of Bill Monroe, From 1936 to 1994 (MCAD 4-11048, 1994)
  • 16 Gems (Columbia (Legacy) CK 53908, 1996) 
  • Mansions For Me (Music Mill Entertainment MME 71007, November 19, 2001) 
  • Blue Moon of Kentucky: 1936-1949 (Bear Family Records BCD 16399 FL, 2002) 

This last is the most comprehensive set as every recording, including alternate takes, can be found on this 6-CD collection. 

Footnote:

William Smith ‘Bill’ Monroe, the Father of American Bluegrass Music, was born 110 years ago this past Monday, on September 13, 1911. He passed away on September 9, 1996, following a stroke. 

His grave is located in Rosine Cemetery, not far from where he was born in Ohio County, Kentucky. 

Monroe was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1970, the International Bluegrass Hall of Fame in 1991, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. He is the only performer to be honored by all three institutions. In 1993 he received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS). Two years later he was presented with the National Medal of the Arts by President Bill Clinton. 

Tennessean Lester Raymond Flatt (June 19, 1914 – May 11, 1979) and Earl Eugene Scruggs (January 6, 1924 – March 28, 2012) both left the Blue Grass Boys in 1948 and formed their own band, the Foggy Mountain Boys, amid a 21-year career together. 

The duo was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1985 and the International Bluegrass Hall of Fame in 1991. They are famously noted for their associations with sponsors Martha White Flour and the CBS TV sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies.

Robert Russell “Chubby” Wise (October 2, 1915 – January 6, 1996), from Florida, played with Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys on and off between 1942 and 1948. Wise was made a member of the International Bluegrass Hall of Fame in 1998. His showpiece tune was Orange Blossom Special. 

Also from Florida, Howard Staton Watts (February 19, 1913 – January 21, 1970) joined Bill Monroe in 1943 and would play bass for him off and on, for the next five years. Using the name Cedric Rainwater, he was the focus of comedy routines during that time. He was inducted into the International Bluegrass Hall of Fame in 2007. 

On This Day #64 – The Bluegrass Cardinals On Stage In Nashville

On this day …

On April 2, 1987, The Bluegrass Cardinals recorded On Stage In Nashville (BGC Records, BGC 1001) at the Station Inn, Nashville, Tennessee. 

The Bluegrass Cardinals were from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1974 with original members: Don Parmley (banjo), his guitar-playing son, David (who was 15 at the time), Randy Graham (mandolin) and Bill Bryson (bass). They moved to Virginia in 1976. 

For the first release on their own label – BGC Records – the now five-piece group decided to record a live album.

At this time the band comprised Don Parmley (banjo, baritone vocals); David Parmley (lead and rhythm guitar, lead vocals); Larry Stephenson (mandolin, lead and tenor vocals); Dale Perry (bass, bass vocals); and Mike Hartgrove (fiddle).

David Parmley reflects …

“A lot of fun, good time in my life.

We rehearsed two days before and did the show. It was recorded directly to two-track. 

The only overdub was an a cappella Gospel song [I Want To Go To Heaven].”

Larry Stephenson adds some detail …. 

“Don and David Parmley, Dale Perry, myself, and Mike Hartgrove. Glen Duncan was the guest harmony fiddle player. Lance LeRoy introduced us. 

Don, David, Dale, and myself stayed at Lance’s house in the bus, and we rehearsed all week. Mike was at Glen’s house all week working on the fiddles. The last couple of days, we all got together and rehearsed.

We had a packed house; a lot of fans and friends came in for the weekend. My Mom and Dad even drove down from Virginia.

The Station Inn was always a good date for us, and the Cardinals were the first professional touring band to ever play there in the early 1980s.”

While the LP cover indicates that Tom Skinker, (Mobile Control Room) was responsible for the recording, Richard Adler states … 

“I actually did all the live recording at the Station Inn for this project. The project was recorded and mixed live to two-track digital tape.

We did a few ‘overdubs’ at Tom’s place. I did not work with Tom a lot, but he had the best set up to do the few overdubs that David Parmley wanted to do.”

Adler goes on to add that there were many challenges to doing live recordings … 

“Artists and bands want studio quality from ‘live’ recordings. This required a lot of gear, and often setting up an entire stage with microphones in addition to the mics being used for ‘house’ sound reinforcement. Often the mixing console used for house mixes and monitors was completely bypassed for the recording signal path.”

The Bluegrass Cardinals On Stage in Nashville …… 

Track listing … 

Introduction by Lance LeRoy / Big Mon / A Friend in California / Close By / Sweethearts Again / Love and Wealth / True Life Blue / I Want To Go To Heaven / Virginia Darlin’ / Sunny Side Of The Mountain / Wake Up / Back Away / White House Blues. 

(released 1987)

On Stage in Nashville with New & Old Favorites was released on CD in 2006. 

PS: Dale Perry was born on this day in 1962. Happy Birthday Dale!

On This Day #60 – Steve Earle and Del McCoury

On this day …  

On May 21, 1999, Steve Earle accompanied by The Del McCoury Band performed at the Butterworth Hall, Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, England, in a UK tour to promote their recently released collaboration, The Mountain (E-Squared / Artemis 1064-2). 

The personnel involved were Steve Earle (guitar), Del McCoury (guitar), Ronnie McCoury (mandolin), Robbie McCoury (banjo), Jason Carter (fiddle) and Mike Bub (bass).

The set list for the concert was as follows …  

Texas Eagle / Yours Forever Blue / My Old Friend the Blues / The Graveyard Shift / Outlaw’s Honeymoon / Dixieland / Connemara Breakdown / Harlan Man / The Mountain / I Still Carry You Around / More Than I Can Do * / Now She’s Gone * / Goodbye * / Taneytown * / Halo ‘Round the Moon * / Another Town * / South Nashville Blues * / I Ain’t Ever Satisfied * / Mystery Train Part II / Leroy’s Dustbowl Blues / Hometown Blues / Long, Lonesome Highway Blues / I’m Looking Through You / Ben McCulloch / Tom Ames’ Prayer / Carrie Brown / Copperhead Road 

Encore … 

Johnny Come Lately / Hillbilly Highway / Down the Road 

The asterisks represents the songs performed solo by Steve Earle. 

Award-winning bass player with the Del McCoury Band at the time, Mike Bub, reflects …. 

“I don’t remember a thing about that specific show, unfortunately. I probably have a recording of it in my tapes somewhere. We basically did the same show every night. We were based at the Sheraton Hotel in Kensington, and would go up to a different town by bus and play a show every day and return to the hotel each night. At the same time, the Mavericks were playing a week long run of sold out shows at the Royal Albert Hall, and all of their band and crew were staying at the same hotel. We would gather in the pub every night and have a few drinks. We did the Jools Holland Show with them. 

That tour was really fantastic for a young musician, like myself, who had pretty much never toured at that level before. We had a double decker tour bus and a full-time traveling caterer making dinner for us every night. Unfortunately, it was during this time that Del decided to end his touring partnership with Steve… probably more like the managers deciding. It pretty much came to an end when we returned to the states. 

It was back to the bluegrass circuit for us but eventually, the impact of touring with Steve finally caught up with us and it helped take Del and band to a whole new audience and level of venues and events. In spite of upper level managerial conflicts, I loved touring with Steve. He worked very hard to get his bluegrass chops up to speed, and he wrote some fantastic songs for the album.

Conversely, we had never been around or involved with an activist before. Someone who used the stage to espouse a political ideology and that was something we had to adjust to. But, it was just that bit of tension and message that made the whole thing more eventful. It really was a collision of two very different worlds, but the outcome was beneficial to both camps.”

Steve Earle and The Del McCoury Band perform Carrie Brown live at the Farm Aid concert in Tinley Park, Illinois on October 3, 1998 

While The Del McCoury Band did collaborate with him for a track, I Still Carry You Around, on an earlier Steve Earle CD, El Corazón, a full album and tour was a somewhat incongruous combination, and many reviewers spoke of the differences, as did Tim Perry writing for Country Music International magazine.  

At the same time, it has been said that the link-up was beneficial to both parties. The Mountain was generally well received being registered as a top-20 hit on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart. 

As far as the show in England’s West Midlands is concerned, a Steve Earle fan left as a big Del McCoury Band enthusiast also. 

In penning all the songs on The Mountain CD, Steve Earle acknowledged another recurring topic in the annals of bluegrass music …

On This Day #57 – Ricky Skaggs’ Country Boy

On this day  ..

On January 9, 1994, Ricky Skaggs’ Epic single Country Boy (Epic 34-04831) was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). 

The recording was done in June 1994 and features such bluegrass music luminaries as Bobby Hicks (fiddle) and Lou Reid (vocals and banjo).

It was released in February 1985 as the second single and title track from the album Country Boy. The recording was Skaggs’ ninth #1 hit on the Billboard Country chart. The single was at #1 for just one week, and spent a total of 13 weeks on the Country chart.

The music video for Country Boy was filmed in a wintery New York City and features Bill Monroe who, playing the part of Uncle Pen, visits Skaggs in his New York City office, upset that Skaggs had perceivably shed his country ways. Skaggs leads Monroe, constantly clutching his mandolin but for a brief demonstration of his own dancing skills, through New York City’s streets and subways, showing through song and dance that he’s still a “country boy at heart”, as the last line of the chorus goes. 

The video was one of four nominees for the first Music Video of the Year honor presented by the 19th Country Music Association Awards in October 1985. It lost out to All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight by Hank Williams, Jr. Perhaps Monroe would have said, “that ain’t no part of nothing.”

Monroe played mandolin on Skaggs’ recording of Wheel Hoss, the ‘B’-side to the Country Boy single. 

The recording of Wheel Hoss was awarded a Grammy for the Best Country Instrumental Performance of 1984 by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) at the 27th Annual Grammy Awards show in February 1985. 

Skaggs gave his Grammy award to Monroe, saying in his autobiography, Kentucky Traveler: My Life in Music, “I gave my Grammy to Mr Monroe because he hadn’t yet won a Grammy, and I thought he deserved one.”

The first Grammy award recognizing the bluegrass music genre specifically was made in 1989 for Best Bluegrass Album; the winner was Bill Monroe’s Southern Flavor LP (MCA Records).

On This Day #56 – Sawtooth Mountain Boys

On this day ..

On September 4 and 5, 1993, the Sawtooth Mountain Boys played at Wolf Mountain Bluegrass Festival, Grass Valley, California. 

A traditional bluegrass band established in 1964, the Sawtooth Mountain Boys consisted of Mike Eisler (fiddle), Steve Waller (mandolin, lead vocals), John Van Brocklin (banjo), Rollie Champe (bass, vocals), and Hal Spence (guitar, tenor vocals). 

The 12 numbers include a couple of songs from Earl Taylor’s repertoire, one each from Flatt & Scruggs, Jimmy Martin, and the Carter Family; a Carter Stanley song; a Sid Campbell song; a Buck Owens song; and two Mike Eisler tunes. 

Track listing – 

Cute Thing; I’ll Take the Blame; I’ll Break Out Tonight; Darlin’ Little Joe; Long Road Home; (For You) I Could Change My Mind; Our Last Goodbye; Callin’ Your Name; Cascade Blues; Sweet Rosie Jones; This Morning at Nine; and Don’t Chain My Heart. 

Three of these recordings, that of Don’t Chain My Heart, I Could Change My Mind and I’ll Take the Blame are included on the CD Live at Grass Valley, Wolf Mountain Bluegrass Festival ’93 (Wolf Mountain Music WMM 302), released in 1994. 

Three of the surviving members share their recollection. 

Hal Spence speaks fondly of the environment and the attentive audience …. 

“Wow, 25 years ago, September 4th and 5th, 1993. I recall the Nevada County Fairgrounds in Grass Valley, California, was always one of my favorite places to play. It was home to the famous Grass Valley Festival that’s still going on today. It’s a beautiful park, within a forest of huge Ponderosa Pines. It was a very ‘educated’ audience, that knew bluegrass. I recall the feeling of walking out on stage in the evening show and seeing literally thousands of people sitting in their lawn chairs, and it would be silent just before we played as people were actually there to hear the music! What a feeling though, to be able to play your best and have the audience erupt in appreciation! I recall Dave Baker, the promoter, really wanting the ‘original’ sound, like the pioneers of bluegrass. The Sawtooth Mountain Boys were really on a mission to preserve the original first-generation sounds. At that time Sawtooth, Mike and Steve, had been together since 1964, Rollie and I (Hal) joined in 1971, so we had 22 years in, and John on banjo had been with us for seven years by then, so we were a pretty tight group, and it was FUN! I loved the harmonies and blend we were achieving then and Mike, Steve and John were tops on fiddle, mandolin and banjo respectively! We had already been on tour in Europe and Great Britain a few times by then and traveled the western US quite a bit also. The 1990s was probably the best sound ever for Sawtooth. What fun times.   

One memory I have of the festival was that I stumbled over some words on a couple songs that I sang lead on, and of course those were a couple of the songs that made it on the live Wolf Mountain recording, preserved for ever! Humbling moments! Oh well!

Mike, John and Rollie along with Rollie’s son Brett now play in a group called Fern Hill. I’m playing in a couple of bands, one called the Ladd Canyon Ramblers, which is a group I was in in college in the 1970s (also called EOCene) and now in a new group, called Youngberg Hill, with my son Andrew on banjo. What a kick it is to play and sing with one’s son and passing it on!” 

Mike Eisler remembers the passion that there was for the integrity of first generation bluegrass, and the desire to foster it …. 

“We don’t want to reminisce too intently, or folks will think we’re getting old! But for you, I will try to conjure up some recollections.  

The first thing I remember is how enthusiastic Dave Baker was about his festival. He had a very clear vision about the roots of bluegrass, and his desire to present that brand to the general public was unwavering. This is sort of off the subject, but I remember renting a car to drive to Grass Valley one year to save the depreciation of my own vehicle. When I arrived at the festival, I realized the oil hadn’t been changed in a long time on this rental car, had it changed and deducted the cost from my rental bill. After that I was careful never to buy a ‘program car’ as a used vehicle because I realized rental companies view their fleet as a disposable commodity, and buying one would be the exact opposite of buying a ‘one owner’ used vehicle that was well taken care of.

Well, back to the subject at hand. Back in that era of the music, far more musicians were highly influenced by the first-generation players. Creativity was encouraged but so was an unwritten respect for what the originators had created. As such, most musicians spoke a common musical language. This worked very well for extemporaneous jam sessions, not only at Grass Valley, but nationwide for that matter. A person could travel thousands of miles from home and play music with total strangers (they were only strangers until the first tune ended), and feel like you had been playing bluegrass with them for a decade. I recall some wonderful jam sessions at Grass Valley with members of bands like High Country, the Vern Williams Band, and Lost Highway. The weather was generally warm all night, and it was not uncommon for the music to go on until five in the morning. No one complained about not getting any sleep, and viewed the sound of bluegrass as a lullaby in their tents. It was a long drive back home on Sunday and work on Monday morning rolled around before you knew it. Thinking back to the intense fun you had that weekend kept you going all week. Current students of mine seem daunted by the amount of repetition that is required to achieve an automated approach to playing. They do not realize how many repetitions the musicians experienced back then in an all-night jam. I played banjo so many hours back then that once I almost fell asleep in the middle of a tune standing up. That’s how intense our love of the music was. Being young didn’t hurt anything either.”

John Van Brocklin remembers how tight-knit the Sawtooth Mountain Boys were at the time …

“So, I remember Dave Baker being the guy putting it on (the festival), and talking about how a lot of musicians tried to improve upon the formula of how to play bluegrass but then never did, and how the pioneers had it right. I also remember that we played well and had a ‘band’ sound. Some of my fondest memories and best music I ever played was as a Sawtooth Mountain Boy with Hal, Steve, Mike, Rollie and myself.”

Rollie Champe has some health problems at the moment. 

Steve Waller passed away on June 26, 2015. 

On This Day #55 – Eddie Adcock turns 80

On this day  .. 

On June 21, 1938, banjo-playing stylist Eddie Adcock was born in Scottsville, Virginia. 

Edward Windsor ‘Eddie’ Adcock’s introduction to music came in the shape of an older brother, Frank, whose own interest led to him acquiring instruments, including a tenor banjo, that he learned to play. Eddie, not wanting to be left behind, took every opportunity to learn to play also. 

However, it was the guitar and mandolin that Eddie preferred when he first began in those formative years to learn to play music. Later the brothers played and sang as a duo in local churches and on radio stations in nearby Charlottesville. 

As there wasn’t a record player in the household and their radio was of limited use, Adcock’s early love for music grew mostly from hearing the live musicians playing at Scottsville’s Victory Hall theatre where many now famous country music stars performed during the 1940s and into the 1950s.

His musical adventures continued as a 14-year-old with a little band in Scottsville—the James River Playboys. 

Shortly afterwards he left school and ventured further afield – going to live with his brother Bill and his wife in Alexandria, Virginia – where job prospects were more promising; certainly, better than the intense toil of farm work while his father was hospitalised. It was during this period that Adcock wrote the tune Nightwalk, which he recorded with Starday, Mercury, and Patuxent Music (in 2011). 

From just prior to his 16th birthday, Adcock joined Smokey Graves and his group the Blue Star Boys, “finally .. able to get a real job in music,” Adcock admitted to Banjo Newsletter in January 2012. Prompted by Graves saying that he needed a five-banjo player – Adcock was still only playing a little bit of tenor banjo at this time – Adcock bought a Gibson RB-100, which he learned to play in the two to three weeks before starting with the Blue Star Boys. He ‘celebrated’ his birthday with Graves and presenter Jody Rainwater doing a live show at Radio WSVS in Crewe, Virginia.

In the mid-1950s Adcock played briefly, during 1956, with Mac Wiseman, before moving on in quick succession to play with Bill Harrell and the Rocky Mountain Boys, working on Radio WARL, in Arlington, Virginia, (1956- 1957); Buzz Busby and the Bayou Boys; and The Stoneman Family (working with these last two in 1957). 

In the July of 1957, while working with Buzz Busby, Adcock was involved in a serious automobile accident sustaining injuries that kept him hospitalised for several weeks. 

Having recovered, Adcock went to work as a janitor in a high school in Annandale, Virginia. 

That job didn’t last long however, as in April 1958 he went to work for Bill Monroe, with whom he was never going to gain much more than a few muscles to add to his very slim frame as he spent more time working on Monroe’s farm than he did playing his banjo for the Blue Grass Boys. It is ironic that he should be so employed, as it was to get away from farm work that Adcock turned to playing music. 

Nevertheless, Monroe did note Adcock’s singing, remarking one time, “that boy’s the best baritone in the business.”

In July of the same year Adcock escaped to Virginia where he landed a job as a sheet-metal mechanic. 

His time away from music didn’t last long though, as early in the spring of 1959 he was tempted to join the Country Gentlemen with whom over about 12 years Adcock was to enjoy an extremely fruitful time. With Charlie Waller, John Duffey, and Tom Gray, Adcock helped to create a modern brand of bluegrass music with his improvisational banjo work, those baritone vocals about which Monroe spoke, and the ability to select and arrange some great songs. 

The quartet, which has come to be known as the “Classic” Country Gentlemen, recorded for a variety of labels such as Starday, Folkways, Mercury, Design, Rebel, and Rome, and were a considerable factor in making Washington DC the bluegrass as well as the nation’s capital. 

In early 1968 Adcock recorded a dozen banjo instrumentals with another innovative banjo picker Don Reno, released by Rebel Records on the album The Sensational Twin Banjos of Eddie Adcock & Don Reno (SLP 1482). 

While still playing with the Country Gentlemen, Adcock met singer and guitarist Wendy Thatcher and the duo would play during the intermissions at the Country Gentlemen’s shows. 

Ready for a change, in the early part of 1970 Adcock and Thatcher travelled to the West Coast for a brief flirtation with country rock music, playing an electric guitar and performing under the stage name of Clinton Codack (an anagram of “Adcock”) in a group that he dubbed The Clinton Special. He recorded two songs for Rocky Ridge. 

After about a year out west, Adcock returned to the east coast and co-opted Jimmy Gaudreau and Bob White to form IInd Generation, playing a more progressive style of bluegrass music. With Thatcher also in the band, they recorded for the Rome and Rebel record companies.

In 1973 Adcock met South Carolina-born Martha Hearon; the couple would marry three years later and they have been together ever since. 

With Martha as part of IInd Generation they had five record releases – beginning with Head Cleaner (Rebel SLP 1533) – for Rebel and CMH Records. 

Their association with CMH Records  continued with the all-instrumental Guitar Echoes (CMH 6236, 1979) – supposedly solo, but Martha is featured playing guitar – and Love Games (CMH 6249, 1980), released under the name Eddie & Martha Adcock. 

In the mid-1980s the Adcocks worked for the “outlaw country” musician David Allan Coe, with whom Eddie played a lot of electric lead guitar and, along with Martha, was the main backup singer. According to Eddie, Coe’s three-hour show would often include an hour of bluegrass music. 

During the latter part of the 1980s Adcock recorded a ‘solo’ album; Eddie Adcock & His Guitar (CMH 6265) for CMH Records. 

Also for CMH Records, Eddie Adcock with Talk of the Town – made up of Martha Adcock, Susie Gott, Missy Raines, and Jody Maphis – had two LPs; Eddie Adcock & Talk of the Town (CMH 6263, released in 1987) and The Acoustic Collection (CMH 9039, 1988). 

Also in 1988, Eddie Adcock joined Charlie Waller, John Duffey and Tom Gray to record an album for Sugar Hill Records, Classic Country Gents Reunion (SH-3772, released in 1989) which earned the IBMA’s Recorded Event of the Year for 1990. 

In 1990 Adcock, playing guitar as well as banjo, teamed up with fiddler Kenny Baker, dobro stylist Josh Graves and mandolin ace Jesse McReynolds using the apt group name The Masters. The group won the 1990 IBMA Instrumental Recorded Performance of the Year award with their eponymous album for CMH Records (CMH 6266). The release, which featured Martha Adcock and Missy Raines also, was a Grammy finalist as well. 

That relationship with CMH Records continued with the release of two albums by the Eddie Adcock Band; Dixie Fried (CMH 6270) and Talk To Your Heart (CMH 6272). 

From 1996 through to 2003 the Adcocks were signed with Pinecastle Records for whom they recorded three CDs – Renaissance Man (PRC 1058), Spirited (PRC 1078) and Twograss (PRC 1128); this last-named literally featured the duo, both playing multi-functional roles. 

The year 2008 was very significant for Adcock; firstly he teamed up with ex-Country Gentlemen Jimmy Gaudreau and Tom Gray as well as Randy Waller, son of the late Charlie Waller, to record an album for Adcocks’ RadioTherapy Records (RTR-CD-001) as the Country Gentlemen Reunion Band. 

The phrase RadioTherapy makes reference to some pioneering surgery performed at Nashville’s Vanderbilt University Medical Center to correct a right-hand tremor that had begun to threaten Adcock’s ability to continue to play the banjo and the guitar. The procedure placed electrodes in Adcock’s brain allowing him to regain controlled use of his picking hand. He had to remain awake, with banjo laid across his lap, while surgeons worked to correct the problem. 

He might have preferred fame for more conventional performances rather than that associated with the televised picking in an operating theatre. The ‘Bionic Banjo Man’ became known world-wide as a result of the publicity. 

Adcock has had several follow-up operations to fine-tune the procedure. 

In 2011 Eddie, Martha, and Tom Gray recorded a Country Gentlemen retrospective called Many a Mile released on the Patuxent label (CD 228). 

Last year Patuxent Music released some of Adcock’s older recordings capturing his unique musical wizardry, Vintage Banjo Jam (CD 300), recorded in 1963. 

A simple career overview doesn’t reveal many of the multitude of other Adcock accomplishments ..

  • Adcock is one of the pioneers of “new acoustic music” or “newgrass,” bringing rock, blues, jazz, rockabilly and folk music styles to bluegrass music. 
  • He is one of the few truly original banjo stylists, incorporating a self-invented single-string, a pedal-steel style, string-bending, a rhythmic thumb style, an energetic bounce, and unlimited improvisation.
  • He invented a number of items of musical and sound equipment, including the Gitbo, a double-necked instrument that incorporates an electric guitar and electrified acoustic banjo. 
  • Adcock is a member of the IBMA’s Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame, being inducted in 1996 as a member of the classic Country Gentlemen – Charlie Waller, John Duffey, and Tom Gray. 
  • In 1993 he was inducted into SPBGMA Preservation Hall of Greats. 
  • He was inducted into America’s Old-Time Country Music Hall of Fame (in 1996). 
  • He was inducted into the Bill Monroe Hall of Fame (in 2005).
  • In 2012 he was presented with the Washington Monument Award.
  • Two years later he was presented with the Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass Music.
  • Adcock has been a board member for the IBMA and the Kentucky Center for Traditional Music. 
  • He has composed over 130 songs/tunes, including Another Lonesome Morning; Let’s; Another Lonesome Morning (Another Lonesome Day); Too Lonely To Hear The Rain; The Sentence; What Love Can’t Do; State Of Mind; Cedar City Blues; Eddie’s Bounce; El Dedo; Turkey Knob; Champagne Breakdown; Devil’s Run; and the afore-mentioned Nightwalk.
  • In addition to the many albums that he has recorded in his own name, Adcock has been a guest on a considerable number of other recordings.
  • He pursued a successful side career providing sound amplification for bluegrass festivals as Adcock Audio, starting in the 1970s and continuing until 2006. 
  • Adcock had a variety of jobs while pursuing his musical quest, including auto mechanic, heating and air conditioning repairman, sheet-metal mechanic, laundry deliverer, dump truck driver, auto parts salesman, and gas station owner. 
  • He set two track records at the Manassas, Virginia, drag-racing track and won 34 consecutive races with his car, which he named ‘Mr. Banjo’. 
  • Since 2000 he has hosted numerous benefit concerts, including an annual event for the homeless of Nashville, Tennessee. 
  • The Adcocks, have appeared on Austin City Limits, Song of the Mountains, Grassroots to Bluegrass, Ernest Tubb’s Midnite Jamboree, TNN’s Nashville Now and Wildhorse Saloon, and a host of NPR specials, as well as syndicated, Internet, and local TV and radio shows worldwide.
  • He has made several foreign tours, playing music in Canada, Europe and Japan.

Adcock has spent this week teaching at the Kaufman Kamp in Maryville, Tennessee. 

Happy Birthday Eddie. We hope that you are enjoying the longest day.

Some of Adcock’s bluegrass friends have sent their birthday wishes … 

Historian Fred Bartenstein remembers traveling to festivals with Adcock ….. 

“Congratulations on your 80th, Eddie! I have so many happy memories of our times together, especially in the back of your panel van, which you piloted to so many festivals as both headlining artist and sound technician. I think you and I are also charter members of the Pat Mahoney Fan Club; my T-shirt finally wore out. But my regard and love for Eddie Adcock will never wear out.”

Fellow banjo player Greg Cahill remembers one particular stunning performance by Adcock and his fellow band members ….. 

“Happy 80th to my very good friend Eddie Adcock – a ground-breaking banjo playing stylist, fantastic musician and a wonderful human being I am proud to call my friend.

One distinct memory was seeing Eddie for the first time many, many years ago at a festival that I believe was in Georgia. He had his IInd Generation Band and they had car trouble en-route to the fest. They came running up the hill to the stage (with all instruments) and basically jumped up on stage to begin their set. Even with all the stress and chaos involved in getting to the fest on time they gave an absolutely astounding set of music. Fabulous singing and playing and the crowd went wild – many, like myself, had never heard bluegrass music played this way – superb musicianship and excellent arrangements of songs never before heard in the bluegrass genre. It was truly a remarkable experience I will never forget and I am honored that I have been able to spend time with Eddie (and Martha) on occasion and to have the friendship of a true giant in the world of bluegrass music.”

Janet Deering of Deering Banjos speaks highly of the courage that Adcock showed in undergoing his corrective surgery in 2008 ….. 

“In celebration of Eddie Adcocks 80th birthday, I will share one of our fondest memories of Eddie. He has always been an innovator and a free spirit in the banjo world. One example of how courageous he has always been is when he went in for open brain surgery while awake, and played his banjo in the operating room while the surgeons found the right location for stimulus to help him control his picking hand. That was off the charts of innovation and dedication as a banjoist. And much to my surprise it worked! He was one of the first people to undergo such a procedure and it took true grit to do so! 

Eddie and Martha have been a great match and musical team, they have worked together much like Greg and I have, and we all share a love of our cats. It isn’t an easy road to have a family business but Eddie and Martha have done great things together and have made the world a better place through their music. We wish Eddie a very happy 80th birthday!”

Ron Thomason of Dry Branch Fire Squad marvels at how Adcock was so open to other styles of music …. 

“Eddie is and always has been a consummate professional both on the stage and off. He was the first notable bluegrass musician that I had ever met (or even known about) who was so passionate about doing ‘other’ music, and so liberated and confident in his own ability that he enthusiastically left a highly successful, innovative, famous, unique, and ground-breaking band to form his own groups and make his own selections as to whom he performed with, how he presented himself, and how he chose to expand his own extensive musical horizons. I admire him. He has been a friend to me since I first met him.”

Tom Gray is still playing with Adcock after all these years ….. 

“Happy birthday Eddie! I’m honored to be a bandmate of yours.”

Bass player and songwriter Jon Weisberger is another who remembers Adcock’s friendly nature ….

“Eddie Adcock has been so friendly, and so interesting to converse with that it’s hard for me to even remember when we first met – I feel like I’ve always known him! And as much credit as he’s already gotten for his contributions to bluegrass music, I can’t help but feel that he’s still under-appreciated.  

Happy birthday, Eddie, and I hope to see you down the road soon!”

Tom Mindte of Patuxent Music notes … 

“Happy Birthday Eddie. You have been an inspiration to all of us. Your music is the gift that keeps on giving every time we listen to it.”

Historian Dick Spottswood speaks highly of Adcock’s technical excellence …..

“When it comes to Eddie Adcock, the superlatives pile up. In his long, productive life, he’s altered the trajectory of an important corner of American popular music, extending and revealing the possibilities of the five-string banjo, the instrument that defines bluegrass in public perception. He’s infused the classic Monroe/Stanley/Wiseman music with the excitement of jazz, accenting the second and fourth beats over country music’s usual first and third, in a style some critics claim is derived from Merle Travis, though Eddie prefers to cite Merle’s mentor Mose Rager as a primary inspiration; steel-guitar-type bent strings and his own single-note work are also essential components of Adcock’s language. He absorbed banjo styles from mountain frailing to jazz, while exploring the banjo’s inner harmonies on his own and invoking a number of additional styles to create his personal musical universe. His first record with the Country Gentlemen in 1959 was made just after his 21st birthday. He sang baritone and played two solos on The Hills and Home. The first solo included Earl Scruggs references but, when Eddie encored, it was with all the stops pulled out, and showed what Mose Rager and Bud Isaacs might have played, had they shared Eddie’s imagination and skill set with a five-string banjo.”

Happy Birthday as well from all your friends at Bluegrass Today!

On This Day #54 – New Lost City Ramblers

On this day ….. 

On the Sunday evening of May 25, 1958, the New Lost City Ramblers (NLCR) played a half hour set on John Dildine’s weekly folk music radio show on Washington, DC’s WASH-FM radio station, thus making their first public performance. 

One of the numbers the then nameless trio performed that night was a mountain dance tune called Colored Aristocracy – prior to this they had only played together for about 30 minutes. 

The founding members were Tom Paley (born in New York City, March 19, 1928; died September 30, 2017), John Cohen (born in Queens, New York City, August 2, 1932) and Mike Seeger (born in New York City, August 15, 1933; died August 7, 2009). 

Another New Yorker Tracy Schwarz (born on November 13, 1938) replaced Paley, who left the group in 1962, due to a disagreement about adopting a more professional approach, and a political issue.

Cohen is a musicologist, photographer and film maker. His 1962 film, High Lonesome Sound, is synonymous with the music of Appalachia, featuring, as it does old-time musician from Kentucky, Roscoe Holcomb. 

Paley was a guitarist, banjo and fiddle player who had been playing music from about 1951. Two years later he recorded his first album Folk Songs of the Southern Appalachian Mountains. He said this of playing with Cohen and Seeger …. 

“When we formed The New Lost City Ramblers it was the kind of thing I’d been doing for quite a few years…. It didn’t feel particularly revolutionary to me but I understood we had quite an impact on young people like Dylan.”

Seeger, a member of the famed Seeger family of folk musicians and folklorists, was a distinctive singer and an accomplished musician who played autoharp, banjo, fiddle, dulcimer, guitar, mouth harp, mandolin, dobro, jaw harp and pan pipes. 

Briefly, the group drifted apart during the latter half of the 1960s, with Schwarz and Seeger performing with different musicians, and together they helped to form the short-lived Strange Creek Singers. 

Jointly, the NLCR distinguished themselves by focusing on the traditional playing styles that they heard on old 78rpm records of musicians recorded during the 1920s and 1930s, many of whom had earlier appeared on the multi-disc Anthology of American Folk Music. 

The pioneering American folk band brought the sounds of genuine old-time string band music of those such as Gid Tanner and his Skillet Lickers; the Fruit Jar Drinkers; Sam and Kirk McGee; the Kessinger Brothers; Carolina Tar Heels and other early country music recording artists to urban audiences, many of which had looked on that as a relief from the more-bland commercial music.

A contemporary old-time string band, the NLCR were pioneers in the revival of Appalachian mountain music during the folk music revival of the late 1950s and early ’60s. They were the most popular, most influential, even the most important first-generation revival band, playing the southern sounds that they heard. 

Also, by including these styles in their repertoire, the versatile NLCR helped to introduce bluegrass music, western swing and Cajun sounds to a receptive Northern audience. 

The made many television appearances, had many successful tours, and played at the popular Newport Folk Festival.  

In 1966 they toured in Europe, including England, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland – with the Stanley Brothers, Roscoe Holcomb, Cousin Emmy, Cyprien Landreneau, and others.

The following year the NLCR returned to England to play at the Royal Albert Hall, London.

The NLCR has been cited by many as a source and influence, among them Bob Dylan and The Grateful Dead, Bela Fleck and the North Carolina Chocolate Drops among others. 

This enjoyable short film, Goin’ to Cade’s Cove, made in 1968 shows Cohen, Seeger and Schwarz in their element. 

The songs/tunes performed are The Green Grass Grows All Around, Three Men Went a-Hunting, Poor Old Dirt Farmer (composed by Tracy Schwarz), Foggy Mountain Top, Old Granny Hare, Little Betty Ann, In the Pines, Black Jack Davy and Ain’t a-Gonna Get No Dinner Here Tonight. 

In June 2003 Cohen, Seeger, Schwarz and Paley, who was living in England at the time, played a reunion concert at the Shaw Theatre in London. The event was sponsored by the Cultural Section at the US Embassy.

Listen to Part One…

… and Part Two:

The NLCR made its last performance on July 30, 2009, at the Appalachian String Band Festival, an annual musical gathering also referred to as simply “Clifftop,” held annually on a mountain top in the New River Gorge area of West Virginia. Eight days later, Mike Seeger died from cancer.

They recorded extensively, as would be expected in a career of such longevity. The vast majority were released by Moses Asch’s Folkways label. 

A Discography: 

  • The New Lost City Ramblers (1958) (Folkways Records)
  • The New Lost City Ramblers Vol. II (1959) (Folkways)
  • Songs From the Depression (1959): see [2] (Folkways)
  • Old-Timey Songs For Children (1959) (Folkways)
  • The New Lost City Ramblers Vol. III (1961) (Folkways)
  • Tom Paley, John Cohen, Mike Seeger Sing Songs of The New Lost City Ramblers (1961)
  • The New Lost City Ramblers (1961)
  • Earth Is Earth Sung by The New Lost City Bang Boys (1961) (Folkways)
  • The New Lost City Ramblers Vol. 4 (1962) (Folkways)
  • American Moonshine & Prohibition (1962) (Folkways)
  • The New Lost City Ramblers Vol. 5 (1963) (Folkways)
  • Gone to the Country (1963)
  • Radio Special # 1 (1963)
  • The New New Lost City Ramblers with Tracy Schwarz: Gone to the Country (1963) (Folkways)
  • String Band Instrumentals (1964) (Folkways)
  • Old Timey Music (1964)
  • Rural Delivery No. 1 (1965) (Folkways)
  • Remembrance of Things to Come (1966) (Folkways)
  • Modern Times (1968) (Folkways)
  • The New Lost City Ramblers with Cousin Emmy (1968) (Folkways)
  • On the Great Divide (1973) (Folkways)
  • 20th Anniversary Concert (1978)
  • 20 Years-Concert Performances (1978)
  • Tom Paley, John Cohen, and Mike Seeger Sing Songs of the New Lost City Ramblers (1978) (Folkways)
  • Old Time Music (1994)
  • The Early Years, 1958-1962 (1991) (Folkways)
  • Out Standing In Their Field-Vol. II, 1963-1973 (1993) (Smithsonian Folkways)
  • There Ain’t No Way Out (1997) (Folkways)
  • 40 Years of Concert Performances (2001)
  • 50 Years: Where Do You Come From? Where Do You Go? (2009) (Smithsonian Folkways) 

Bluegrass Today is very grateful for the alert from Richard Hawkins, Bluegrass Ireland Blog.

The life of the NLCR is documented in an hour-long film, Always Been a Rambler, written, directed and edited by Yasha Aginsky and released by Arhoolie. 

You can watch a three-minute trailer here. 

In October 2010 the University of Illinois Press published Ray Allen’s award-winning exploration of the cultural impact of the NLCR: Gone to the Country: The New Lost City Ramblers and the Folk Music Revival.

The New Lost City Ramblers were nominated for two Grammy awards; for Best Traditional Folk Recording for the album 20th Anniversary Concert (in 1986) and Best Traditional Folk Album There Ain’t No Way Out (1997). 

On This Day #53 – Bill Emerson turns 80

On this day …..

On January 22, 1938, Bill Emerson was born in Washington D.C., from where he went on to be one of the most important banjo players in bluegrass music history. 

William Hundley “Bill” Emerson, Jr. was influenced towards becoming a musician by his listening to country and bluegrass music records. He began by playing the guitar, but when introduced to bluegrass music he was captivated by the sound of the banjo.

As a 15-year-old, he traded his electric guitar and purchased an inexpensive Belltone banjo; he credits John Duffey with showing him some basic rolls and chords. Afterwards, a local banjo player, Smitty Irvin, who later played banjo with Bill Harrell, helped him the most. Although impressed by Earl Scruggs, Don Reno and Ralph Stanley, it was Don Stover – on television – and Bill Blackburn – at his personal appearances – providing opportunities for Emerson to learn further. 

After playing the banjo for just three months Emerson won first prize playing Lonesome Pine Breakdown at a competition at Luke Gordon’s Solver Creek Ranch (near Paris, Virginia). 

His first professional job was with Uncle Bob & the Blue Ridge Partners, who Emerson heard on WINX, Rockville, Maryland. Emerson went to the radio station and impressed Uncle Bob sufficiently that he was asked to join his band. 

Subsequently, he had a stint with Roy and Curly Irvin, playing in small clubs like the Pine Tavern in Washington D.C..

That arrangement didn’t last long as in a few months Emerson moved to play with Buzz Busby and the Bayou Boys. While with Busby, Emerson recorded Lost, Lonesome Wind, Me and The Jukebox, and Going Home, among other songs. 

Shortly afterwards Busby was involved in an automobile accident, though, fortunately for Emerson, he was not in the vehicle at the time. 

At the time, Busby had a regular booking at the Admiral Grill in Bailey’s Crossroads, northern Virginia. So, to keep the date, Emerson and a fellow Bayou Boy, Charlie Waller, put together a band; which by July 1957 became the ground-breaking Country Gentlemen. 

At about this same time Emerson first played banjo with Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys; that occasion being at New River Ranch, Rising Sun in Maryland. He went on to play with Monroe “from time to time,” to quote Emerson in an interview with Joe Ross (for Bluegrass Unlimited magazine). One other occasion was in March 1971 at the Bluegrass Jamboree at the Virginia Theatre, Alexandria, Virginia, one of the first of such indoor events. 

Emerson recorded a few singles with the Country Gentlemen; one for the Dixie label, Going to The Races b/w Heavenward Bound (released in 1957); and two for Starday, Dixie (Look Away) b/w Backwoods Blues, and High Lonesome / Hey, Little Girl. Backwoods Blues was paired with It’s the Blues for another single. 

However, this spell with the Country Gentlemen didn’t last long, as by the fall of 1958 he had left the band and started playing with the Stoneman family. This set the tone for a chequered period during the following decade. 

By 1960 he was playing with Bill Harrell; then early in 1961 he joined Jimmy Martin and the Sunny Mountain Boys with whom he gained recognition as a touring musician, and played on the first of a series of recordings for Decca Records: for the LP This World Is Not My Home, released in 1963; in the same year two songs – Please Keep Remembering and Love’s Chance Again –  that Emerson recorded with the Yates brothers (Wayne and Bill) were released as a Kash single; during the following year he joined Red Allen & the Kentuckians, with whom Emerson recorded 12 tracks for the LP The Solid Bluegrass Sound Of The Kentuckians (released on the Melodion label); before moving on to re-join Jimmy Martin, recording tracks for the LPs Mr Good and Country (1966) and Big & Country Instrumentals (1967). 

Early in 1967 he cut a selection of fiddle and banjo duets with Scotty Stoneman (Fiddle and Banjo Blue Grass) released on the obscure Arion label. 

In 1968 Emerson joined forces with guitarist Cliff Waldron using the stage name Emerson & Waldron and the Lee Highway Boys (later New Shades of Grass). They recorded three albums for Rebel Records; New Shades of Grass (SLP-1485, released in 1968), Bluegrass Country (SLP-1489, 1969) and Emerson and Waldron Invite You to Bluegrass Session (SLP-1493, August 1970). Perhaps the most-enduring highlight of the partnership with Cliff Waldron was their recording of Fox on The Run, the Manfred Mann pop song that he heard on his car radio and that he re-arranged for the duo. Their recording of the song – on the LP Bluegrass Country – made it an essential part of the bluegrass music canon for many years. 

During the very early part of that decade Emerson, with a random group of other musicians dubbed the Virginia Mountaineers – Buzz Busby, Red Allen, Bill Harrell Frank Wakefield and Tom Morgan – recorded about 25 instrumentals that were released on a few budget LPs.  

Some 12 years after leaving them Emerson re-joined the Country Gentlemen, replacing Eddie Adcock. During this period with the band Emerson worked the recordings for the LPs Sound Off (Rebel, released in 1971) and The Country Gentlemen (Vanguard, 1973).

However, that link-up with the Country Gentlemen was abruptly terminated as in February 1972 in a frightful incident outside the Red Fox Inn in Bethesda, Maryland, Emerson was the victim of a drive-by shooting, suffering a wound to his right forearm. 

When he had recovered fully he joined the U.S. Navy Band the next year, assuming the rank of Master Chief Petty Officer. While a member of the forces he formed the country/bluegrass band, Country Current. Serving his time based in Washington DC, he played for and travelled with Presidents Carter, Reagan and Bush, and many other dignitaries world-wide while making numerous TV and radio appearances.

For 50% of the time Emerson actually played a guitar as Country Current performed an assortment of music. He continued to serve in the Navy until retirement in 1993. 

During those 20 years in uniform, Emerson played on several albums as a guest; Shenandoah Grass – Yesterday and Today with Jim Eanes; Stained Glass Bluegrass with the Busby Brothers; Every Time I Sing a Love Song with Larry Stephenson; and Classic J.A.G. with Jimmy Gaudreau. Also, he collaborated with songwriter Pete Goble, the duo recording two LPs for Webco; Tennessee 1949 – a # 1 album – and Dixie In My Eye. 

All of those albums were released on the Webco Records label, founded by Wayne E. Busbice. Between 1985 and 1988 Emerson worked with Busbice as A&R director. Then in 1989 Emerson, with his son John, took over the label. From 1990 until 1994 his son John operated the label as Webco Records of Virginia, moving it into the major league with the more widely distributed Sugar Hill, Rounder and Rebel Records. In 1994 Pinecastle Records’ owner Tom Riggs acquired the Webco label. 

In 1992 Emerson’s Reunion album was released; it featured some of the lead singers with whom he had worked up to that period in his career, namely Jimmy Martin, Charlie Waller, Red Allen, Wayne Taylor – a Country Current protégé of Emerson’s – and Tony Rice. The CD was nominated for the IBMA’s Album of the Year award. 

During the same period Emerson recorded two solo albums for Rebel Records; Home of the Red Fox (released in April 1988) and Gold-Plated Banjo (September 1990).

For most of the remainder of 1990s Emerson enjoyed the fruits of his earlier labors, although he did further recordings with Wayne Taylor, Appaloosa (Webco, released in July 1994); and a collaboration with Mark Newton; A Foot in The Past, A Foot in The Future (Pinecastle, from February 1998). Also, he sang baritone on the CD Tony Rice Plays and Sings Bluegrass just a few of the recordings that he did with Rice in the 1990s. 

In February 1996 a further CD was all-instrumental Banjo Man (Webco/Pinecastle) featuring some tracks recorded in previous Webco sessions.

In 2007, after encouragement from Tony Trischka, Emerson came out of retirement, just as he was approaching his 70th birthday, to form his own band, Sweet Dixie, adding to his already superb catalogue of recordings with a CD for Rebel Records; Bill Emerson & The Sweet Dixie Band (released in October 2007) with three further albums released by Rural Rhythm; Southern (January 2010), Eclipse (April 2011) and The Touch of Time (January 2012) released in consecutive years. 

These were followed by Dancin’ Annie (Rural Rhythm, 2014) and The Gospel Side of Bill Emerson & Sweet Dixie (another Rural Rhythm album, released in September 2015). The single Dancing Annie is currently # 2 on Roots Music Report Traditional Bluegrass Top 50 singles. Indeed, all of the Bill Emerson & Sweet Dixie recordings have charted very well.

He continues to be active, having been in a recording studio recently working on an album that he hopes to release later this year.

Throughout his career Bill Emerson has been recognised for his many contributions to the bluegrass music field. He is considered of the genre’s most influential five-string banjo players. Also, Emerson is noted for being an excellent, strong baritone singer. 

That said, some feel it more than a bit remiss that he hasn’t yet become a member of the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame, an honor for which he was first nominated in 2009.

Some accolades that Emerson has received include – 

  • 1959 – National champion banjo player awarded at the National Championship Country Music Contest in Warrenton, Virginia. 
  • 1972 and 1973 – Awarded Banjo Player of the Year at the 2nd and 3rd Annual Muleskinner News Awards, Camp springs North Carolina. 
  • 1990 – the Stelling Banjo Company issued an Emerson signature banjo model – the Bill Emerson Red Fox Model.
  • 2000 – Inducted into the SPBGMA Preservation Hall of Greats in Nashville Tennessee. 
  • 2006 – Inducted into the Washington Area Music Association (Wammies) Hall of Fame. 
  • 2007 – Winner IBMA Recorded Event of the Year – Double Banjo Bluegrass Spectacular. 
  • 2008 – Honorary Life Member of the IBMM Museum and included in IBMM’s Pioneers of Bluegrass
  • 2009 – Inducted into the Southern Legends Entertainment and Performing Arts Hall of Fame. 
  • 2010 – received the Washington Monument Award (presented at the inaugural DC Bluegrass Festival on March 27, 2010).
  • 2011 – Certificate of Recognition presented Virginia Governor McDonnell.
  • 2016 – received the IBMA’s Distinguished Achievement Award 

Emerson has played on two Grammy nominated projects; Tony Rice Plays and Sings Bluegrass (in 1994) and Tony Trischka’s Double Banjo Spectacular (2007). 

Additionally, he has had many nominations for awards presented by the IBMA.

Tom Gray, another stalwart of the Washington D.C. area bluegrass music community, sends his greetings …..

“Thank you for enriching this music that we love. And thanks for teaching me a difficult lesson. And HAPPY BIRTHDAY!”

Larry Stephenson shared these thoughts ….. 

“If it were not for Bill Emerson, I may not have started my band in 1989. We were working together on the Emerson & Goble recording and he was so encouraging and his kind words about my abilities helped me to step out with my band. He also played banjo with me on the first date my band played. I love Bill Emerson and his wisdom and his encouragement to young guys like me. 

Bill Emerson needs to be in the IBMA Hall of Fame!

Happy Birthday, Bill.”

Bluegrass Today is pleased to recognise one of the all-time bluegrass legends on his 80th birthday … 

Happy Birthday Bill Emerson! 

On This Day #52 – Skaggs & Whitley

On this day …

On January 8, 1971, Keith Whitley and Ricky Skaggs recorded tracks for what would be the LP Tribute to The Stanley Brothers (Jalyn JLP-129) at the Jalyn Recording Studio, 1806 Brown Street, Dayton, Ohio.  

The young duo – at the time Keith Whitley was 15 years old and Ricky Skaggs was aged 16 years old – cut a dozen of the Stanley Brothers’ best-known songs, not long after Ralph Stanley discovered them singing in a bar in Ft. Gay, West Virginia. Stanley, hardly believing that he wasn’t listening to a jukebox is reputed to have remarked that they “sounded just like me and Carter in the early days”.

Indeed, their singing was impeccable as is evidenced by these 12 recordings … 

We’ll Be Sweethearts in Heaven; Mother No Longer Awaits Me at Home; White Dove; Our Last Goodbye; Lonesome River; I Love No One But You; The Angels Are Singing in Heaven Tonight; It’s Never Too Late; Loving You Too Well; Too Late to Cry; Little Glass of Wine and I Long to See the Old Folks. 

Supporting Keith Whitley (guitar and lead vocals) and Ricky Skaggs (mandolin, fiddle and tenor vocals) were Ralph Stanley (banjo and vocals), Ron Thomason (mandolin), Roy Lee Centers (banjo), Jack Cooke (bass) and Curly Ray Cline (fiddle). 

Ralph Stanley and Jack Lynch served as producers. 

According to the sleeve notes, this album was recorded on January 9, 1971, however Ricky Skaggs, speaking of the session in his autobiography Kentucky Traveler –  My Life in Music remembers it as having been recorded the day before, “We did our first album, Tribute to The Stanley Brothers, in a few hours before a night show in Dayton. I always remembered that we cut it on January 8, ’cause there was an old fiddle tune called Eighth Of January that the old-timers in eastern Kentucky used to play. It seemed like a good omen to make our first record that day.” 

The LP, using the same catalog reference, was re-issued shortly after this release as Ralph Stanley – Featuring Keith Whitley & Ricky Skaggs. 

10 of the 12 tracks – White Dove and The Angels Are Singing in Heaven Tonight were omitted – were re-issued in 2015 on the CD Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys – The Complete Jessup Recordings Plus! (Real Gone Music RGM-0429). 

Keith Whitley went on to an-award winning career as a singer of his neo-traditional brand of country music. He passed away prematurely, of alcohol poisoning, on May 9, 1989, at the age of 33 years. 

Ricky Skaggs also had an extremely successful career as a neo-traditional country music artist, winning multiple Grammy, CMA and ACM awards. In 1997 he turned to play bluegrass music once more, forming a band Kentucky Thunder. He won yet more Grammy awards, as well those presented by the IBMA. 

Whitley and Skaggs were both members of J. D. Crowe’s New South, the former from 1978 to 1982 and the latter during 1975 and 1976. 

Kentucky Traveler –  My Life in Music was written with the help of Eddie Dean and published by Harper Collins  

ISBN: 9780061917332
ISBN 10: 0061917338 

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