Bluegrass History

January in Bluegrass History

Jan.1 Flatt and Scruggs recorded “I’m Gonna Sleep With One Eye Open” for
Columbia, 1955
Flatt and Scruggs released “Cora Is Gone” for Mercury, 1951

Jan. 2 Red Smiley died at the age of 46, 1972

Jan. 3 Ricky Skaggs album “Highways and Heartaches” went platinum, 1982

Jan. 4 Patty Loveless born in Pikeville, Kentucky, 1957

Jan. 6 Earl Scurggs born in Cleveland County, North Carolina, 1924
Fiddler Robert “Chubby” Wise died, 1996

Jan. 10 Fiddler “Curly” Ray Cline born in Balsden, W. Va, 1923
Jimmy Martin recorded “Tennessee Waltz” for Decca, 1966

Jan. 12 Paul Warren, fiddler for Flatt and Scruggs died at age 59 in Nashville, 1978

Jan. 14 Jimmy Martin recorded “All the Good Times Are Past and Gone” for Decca, 1960

Jan. 15 Don Reno, Red Smiley and the Tennessee Cutups recorded “Hear Jerusalem
Mourn” and “I’m Using My Bible For A Road Map” for King, 1952

Jan. 17 Bill and Charlie Monroe cut their first recordings for Bluebird, 1936
Flatt and Scruggs recorded the Top 20 single “Petticoat Junction” for Columbia, 1964

Jan. 19 Charlie Waller, founding member of The Country Gentlemen, born in Jointerville, Texas, 1935
Dolly Parton born near Sevierville, Tennessee, 1946

Jan. 20 Flatt and Scruggs play at President-elect Richard Nixon’s inauguration, 1969

Jan. 21 Cedric Rainwater, legendary bass player with Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys and
with Flat and Scruggs Foggy Mountain Boys, died, 1970

Jan. 22 Ozark Jubilee debuted on ABC television, 1955

Jan. 23 Polly Lewis of the Lewis Family, born in Lincoln County, Georgia, 1937
Flatt and Scruggs recorded “Crying My Heart Out Over You” for Columbia, 1959

Jan. 25 Dixon Brothers recorded “Wreck on the Highway” for Bluebird, 1938
Blue Sky Boys recorded “Beautiful, Beautiful Brown Eyes” for Bluebird, 1938

Jan. 27 Cheryl White, of the Whites, born in Wichita Falls, Texas, 1955
Flatt and Scruggs recorded “Six White Horses” for Columbia, 1957

Jan. 28 Earl Taylor, bluegrass band leader and mandolin player, died at age 54, 1984
Tommy Jarrell, old time fiddler and banjo player, died 1985

Jan. 29 Louvin Brothers recorded “Just Rehearsing” and “Love Thy Neighbor as Thyself”
for Capitol, 1955

Jan.31 Blue Sky Boys recorded “Alabama” , 1949

 

February in Bluegrass History

Feb. 1 Del Mc Coury born in Bakersville, North Carolina, 1939

Feb. 3 Bill Monroe’s 1st recording session for Decca, 1950
Flatt and Scruggs recorded “I Ain’t Gonna Work Tomorrow” and “If I Should Wander Back” for Columbia, 1961

Feb. 4 Tate Tater, fiddler for Bill Monroe, Jimmy Martin and others, born in Gate City, Virginia, 1931
Kenneth “Jethro” Burns died at age 65 in Evanston, IL 1989

Feb. 5 Chubby Anthony, legendary bluegrass fiddler, died at age 45, 1980
Blue Sky Boys recorded “The East Bound Train”, 1940

Feb. 6 Louvin Brothers recorded “He Set Me Free” and “He Stopped Loving Her Today”
for Capitol, 1961

Feb.7 Jimmy Martin records “Union County”, “Uptown Blues” and “Living Like A Fool” for Decca, 1967

Feb. 8 Merle Watson born in Deep Gap, North Carolina, 1949
Steve Scruggs born in Nashville, Tennessee, 1958
Don Wayne Reno born in Roanoke, VA, 1963

Feb.10 Flatt and Scruggs recorded their “Songs of the Famous Carter Family” album which featured Mother Maybelle on the autoharp, 1961

Feb.11 Rudy Lyle, banjo player, died 1985

Feb.12 Red Allen born in Perry County, Kentucky, 1930
Jimmy Martin recorded “There’s More Pretty Girls Than One” and “Truck Drivin Man” for Decca, 1964

Feb.13 Boudleaux Bryant, songwriter, born in Shellman, Georgia, 1920
Jim McReynolds of Jim and Jessie, born in Coeburn, VA, 1927
Janis Lewis Phillips of the Lewis Family born in Lincoln County, GA. 1939
Bill Monroe recorded “Kentucky Waltz” at his first Columbia session, 1945

Feb.14 Wendy Holcombe, banjo player, died in Alabaster, Alabama, 1987

Feb.15 Jimmy Martin and his Sunny Mountain Boys joined the Louisiana Hayride, 1958
The Carter Family recorded “Foggy Mountain Top” for Victor, 1929

Feb.17 Buck Trent, banjo player, born in Spartenburg, South Carolina, 1938
Tennessee Legislature declared “The Tennessee Waltz” a state song, 1965
Monroe Brothers made first recordings for Bluebird, 1936

Feb.18 Dudley Cornell of bluegrass band Seldom Scene, born 1956
Don Rigsby, mandolin player for the Lonesome River Band, born 1968

Feb.19 Grandpa Jones died, 1998
Roy Acuff’s first appearance as a Grand Ole Opry member, 1938
Jimmy Martin recorded “Rock Hearts” and “Ocean of Diamonds” for Decca, 1958

Feb.20 Claire Lynch born in Poughkeepsie, NY, 1954
Louvin Brothers join Grand Ole Opry, 1955

Feb.20 Don Reno born in Buffalo, South Carolina, 1926

Feb.22 Flatt and Scruggs first performance on Grand Ole Opry, 1969
Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys recorded their first sides for Rebel Records, 1971

Feb.23 Carter Family recorded “Mid The Green Fields of Virginia” for Victor, 1932

Feb.24 “Little” Roy Lewis of the Lewis Family, born in Lincolnton, Georgia, 1942

Feb.25 Ralph Stanley born in Stratton, Virginia, 1927

Feb.28 Fiddlin’ Arthur Smith died at age 72, 1971
 

March in Bluegrass History

March 1 Doc Watson born in Deep Gap, Virginia, 1923
Jim and Jesse McReynolds joined the Grand Ole Opry, 1964
The Whites joined the Grand Ole Opry, 1984

March 3 Bouldleaux and Felice Bryant inducted into the National Songwriters Hall of Fame in New York City, 1986

March 4 John Duffy, founding member of The Country Gentlemen, born in Washington, D.C., 1934
Scotty Stoneman, died at age 40, 1973
Coal Miner’s Daughter, starring Sissy Spacek and Tommy Lee Jones,premiered in Nashville, 1980

March 5 The first major college bluegrass concert featuring the Osborne Brothers was staged at Antioch College, 1960.
George Wilkerson, fiddler for early Grand Ole Opry string band “The Fruit Jar Drinkers” died, 1954

March 6 Pioneering bluegrass musician Carl Saucerman of The Saucerman Brothers, born, 1922
Banjo player Doug Dillard born in Salem, Missouri, 1937

March 8 Jimmy Stoneman of the bluegrass band The Stoneman Family, born in Washington, D.C., 1937

March 9 The last Saturday night performance of the Grand Ole Opry at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, 1974

March 10 Kenneth “Jethro” Burns, born in Knoxville, Tennessee, 1920
Norman Blake, born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, 1938
Fiddler Ricky Simpkins, born 1955

March 13 Jimmy Martin recorded “Sunny Side of the Mountain” for Decca, 1964

March 14 Fiddle Dale Potter died at the age of 66, 1996

March 15 Banjo player, Raymond Fairchild born, 1939
Bill Monroe’s final performance on the Friday Night Opry, 1996
Flatt and Scruggs released “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” on Mercury, 1950

March 16 Tim O’Brien born, Wheeling, West Virginia, 1954
Ronnie McCoury, mandolin player for the Del McCoury Band, born 1967
Jimmy Martin recorded “Mary Ann” for MCA, 1973

March 17 Bill Monroe recorded “Kentucky Waltz” for Decca, 1951

March 19 Fiddlin’ Sid Harkreader, early Grand Ole Opry performer, died 1988

March 20 Riders in the Sky (and former Blue Grass Boy) Ranger Doug Green born in Waukegan, IL., 1946

March 23 Fiddlin’ John Carson born in Fannin County, Georgia, 1868
Jim Anglin, writer of “Ashes of Love”, born in Franklin, Tennessee, 1913

March 25 Billboard published its first “Hillbilly Records Chart”, 1939
The Louvin Brothers recorded the Top 10 single, “Hoping That You’re Hoping” for Capitol, 1956

March 28 Dean Webb, mandolin player for the Dillards, born in Independence, Missouri, 1937

March 31 Howdy Forrester, fiddler with the Blue Grass Boys and The Smoky Mountain Boys, born in Vernon, Tennessee, 1922
Tommy Jackson, Nashville session fiddler, born in Birmingham, Alabama, 1926
Carl Story died at age 78, 1995
 

Information from This Day in Country Music. www.cmt.com