Search Results: Bill Emerson

Bayou Boys publicity photo—Seated Buck Austin (Pete Pike was not available for the photo shoot). Standing (left to right) Buzz Busby, John Hall and Don Stover. Photo Courtesy of John Hall

Classic Fiddler From The Early Days Of Bluegrass

John William Hall was born on November 29, 1933 near Front Royal, Virginia and grew up on a small family farm. He went to the Washington, D.C. area in 1951 and soon became an important part of the area bluegrass scene. In 2005, Tom Mindte spoke with John in connection with a book he and…

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Photo by Daniel duffin

Earl Scruggs

A giant of music, in 1945 and for all time Earl Eugene Scruggs was born Jan. 6, 1924 in Flint Hill, North Carolina, in farm country in the Piedmont region. Early in his life there, he came up with a new, rolling, sometimes blazing-fast banjo style that has kept his name out front through the…

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photo by kim brantley

Lincoln Hensley

Continuing the Scruggs Style Banjo Tradition Earl Scruggs helped define bluegrass music as we know it today and he originated the style of playing the five-string banjo that formed the foundation for banjo players in bluegrass music.  Many banjo players feel that there has been no one that has matched Earl’s mastery of this style,…

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Rudy Lyle: The Unsung Hero of the Five-String Banjo

Soft-cover. 147 pages. Includes banjo tablature. Illustrations by Giselle Harrington The Bill Monroe band of Blue Grass Boys that included Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs (1946-1947) has often been called the “greatest bluegrass group of all time.” But, as Tony Trischka says in his intro to Max Wareham’s new book, Rudy Lyle: The Unsung Hero…

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Keith Whitley

The Bluegrass Years This year—2022—is going to be a huge year for Keith Whitley fans. We will watch as Keith receives one of the highest honors a country music singer can achieve—induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame. I have been following and studying Keith’s career since I became interested in bluegrass in 1985….

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