Ask Sonny Anything | az-lyrics.music369.com

Ask Sonny Anything… tell us about Lester Flatt

Posted on February 19, 2021 by Azlyrics

Good morning Chief! I’m reminded of The New South’s cover of Gordon Lightfoot’s 10 Degrees And Getting Colder this morning. In fact it was 9º overnight and with this layer of ice, Larry says we’re not taking the Bluebird anywhere today. But that’s not going to keep us from a little storytelling and time travel. We’ve got her all warmed up and a fresh pot of coffee on. Oh, and Professor Dan shoveled a path all the way to your front door. So come on out and let’s get this Music City Winter party underway. Inquiring bluegrass minds have contributed a few questions to stir the conversation and your special place at the table is waiting for you!

Hey Sonny,

Marty Stuart here. I’m pulling out of your driveway. Don’t shoot. I left something for you at your front door.

This was 12:30 p.m. Sunday February 14th.

Well, Marty, I saw that strange car in the driveway and I had a Winchester 30-30 aimed at the radiator. I thought…what the hell, this is Valentine’s Day. So, like David Crow, this was our lucky day.

So I got the package and it contained, not a bomb, nor a bulldozer, but a very long hand-written letter from Marty and also 3 beautifully-made books of photographs Marty has taken. Above everything else, he has become a very good photographer. So, thank you, Marty. I appreciate the thought.

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Hey There Sonny! Thanks for mentioning that You Are My Flower/Wildwood Flower YouTube video. My father, Don Clark, filmed that performance and I’m the one who uploaded it. I’m glad that video brought back memories, and hopefully makes a lot of people happy watching it.

Danny Clark
The Bluegrass Bus Museum

Danny, welcome to our little get-together, and I’m curious as to what a Bluegrass Bus Museum would look like. Man, you would have to have a pretty big building to get buses in so maybe if you could write back and tell us about the museum and what all you’ve got and we’ll talk about it some more.

So, your father Don is the guy who filmed the You Are My Flower video which turned out to be one of the funniest things to ever happen in one of our performances. Bobby was completely unaware of what was happening, and when I changed tunes he just went with the tune that I changed to. It was so funny because I started out playing You Are My Flower and changed to Wildwood Flower and Bobby just heard me playing and I guess he thought that was what he was supposed to sing. So he started singing it, and when he got into it he realized we had changed songs and he didn’t know the words to Wildwood Flower, and it just kinda escalated from there. It turned out to be, as I said before, one of the funniest things to ever happen during one of our shows.

I look forward to hearing from you again, Danny.

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Greetings Chief!

Jim and Jesse were inducted into the Opry on March 2, 1964 – five months later on August 8th, you and Bobby received that distinguished honor. Two bluegrass bands inducted in the same year, I guess times have changed as we’re incredibly fortunate to have one every few years now, i.e. Del McCoury, Dailey and Vincent, Rhonda Vincent, etc. I was hoping you could speak to the importance of keeping strong bluegrass representation on that stage in the era of so called modern country music?

Billy W.

Hey Billy.

Welcome to our little get-together. Glad you could make and I appreciate your participation.

You were curious to know why Jim & Jesse and The Osborne Brothers were made members of the ‘real’ Grand Ole Opry in one year. Well, we were too but I thought both groups deserved to be there, and in 1964 the Grand Ole Opry was a completely different concept as today.

Of course, with our world situation crowds can’t go to the Opry, and so what it turns into is an amateur show with unknown artists singing unknown songs. Seriously, I don’t see how this can be called a country music show, but then they do have Vince Gill or Larry Gatlin come in and sing a couple of songs, and that constitutes a country music extravaganza. Personally, I have not been to the Grand Ole Opry, nor listened to it, nor watched it on TV because it’s just a completely different setup now from what I knew in the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s.

During the time period that I just mentioned, the Grand Ole Opry consisted of the best country and bluegrass music artists in the world. Since then it has turned into what I consider as “no part of nothing!” And when Bill Monroe said “no part of nothing,” I didn’t understand what it meant then or now either, because the Grand Ole Opry now in my opinion as far as country or bluegrass…it is no part of nothing.

Del McCoury made it in luckily when the Grand Ole Opry was still the Opry. And more recently, Rhonda Vincent became a member but I don’t know what she’s a member of. But if she’s happy with it, I am too.

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Hey Sonny

I’m learning to play the banjo. I’ve been working hard to learn the Foggy Mountain Banjo album stuff and I’ve got most of it down pretty well. Where do I go from there? What’s next? What should I learn now?

John G.

John, thank you for participating in our little free-for-all. I see where you’re taking up the banjo and I congratulate you on your choice of instrument to learn to play.

You mentioned that you had been working on Foggy Mountain Banjo and you said that you had most of it down pretty well. And then you said, “where do I go from here?” Well, John, I have some staggering news for you. Unless you have every tune and every note exactly right, you’re not ready to go to the next step. You see John, until you have learned every combination that Earl does with his right hand on that album, your right hand is not ready to go on. And if you do, you will wind up being a mediocre banjo player. Wherein, if you learn every move that Earl does on that album, your right hand will be in a position to play anything you hear in your head…and that is the next step. But before you enter into that next step, you need to take hundreds (yes I said hundreds) of hours on just that Foggy Mountain Banjo album. I think you need to play each tune on that album, perhaps a hundred times, and only then will you be ready to move on. If you do that, you will be a pretty doggone good banjo player.

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Sonny,

I sure am enjoying the column, it’s the highlight of my week. Thank you for sharing all the great memories. You’ve spoken a lot about your reverence for Earl Scruggs, and rightly so, but I’m curious to know if you have any special musings you could share about Lester Flatt?

William H.

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Hey there Chief,

At one point in his career, Earl Scruggs took flying lessons. In fact, he once told me personally that’s where he got the idea for the title to Ground Speed. I’m wondering, did he ever offer to fly you anywhere? Moreover, given the number of famous musicians lost in small aircraft over the years, what are your thoughts about flying on small private planes?

Alan F

William and Alan, beings that both of you asked questions about Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, I will answer both at once.

First, we’ll talk about Lester. Because Earl played the banjo and I did too, we were closer than Lester and I, but that’s not to say that Lester and I were not friendly. We were, very. I’ll just tell you this little story that occurred from about 1965 until Lester’s final words.

Every time I saw Lester, be it at the Opry or on the road, I would say, “How you doin’ you old sonofabitch?” and Lester would say, “That’s MR s’umbitch, if you will.” This continued for nearly 15 years and when I heard that Lester was in the hospital and really sick, I called the hospital and to whomever answered the phone, I identified myself and asked to speak to Lester and she told me I could speak to Lester but it would take a while to get him to the telephone. And it did. Perhaps 5 minutes. Finally this very weak, and barely audible, hello came on the phone and it just about rattled me. And I said, for the want of anything better, “How you doin’ you old sonofabitch?” And there was a long pause and I could hear this shallow breathing and he uttered the words, “That’s MR s’umbitch to you.” That was on a Wednesday and we played Lenoir, NC on Friday night and I was on the way to the concession stand to get coffee, and some guy told me that Lester had died.

About Lester and Earl’s breakup, I asked him and all he ever said was that he wanted to continue with what they were doing and Earl didn’t. And he told me that he just wanted to keep peace in the family.

So Alan, you wanted to know about Earl’s flying and if I had ever ridden with him and the answer is NO!!! I was deathly afraid of flying until 1973, and Earl knew that. We had a discussion about it and he told me that there was no sense of detachment, it was just like sitting in a chair in your living room. And I thought…yeah, right. But then we were in Ft. Worth, TX and we got the call to go the White House and play. I had originally said no to them, but I was not being fair to the other people in our band, so I agreed to go, including flying, and that would be my first time.

Bill Mack was a well-known disc jockey at WBAP in Ft. Worth, and a noted songwriter. We were on his show the night before we were to leave for DC the next morning, and on the way back to the motel we turned the radio on and Bill dedicated a song to me. He knew it was my first time to fly, and he also knew that I was scared. The song he dedicated to me was Patsy Cline’s record of I Fall to Pieces. When I got on the airplane the next morning, I was scared to death. But like Earl said, there was no sense of detachment and it was just like sitting in your living room in your recliner.

I never really got used to flying, although the Brothers had to on several occasions, and I accepted that. Now, it would take a lot to get me on an airplane…in fact, I just wouldn’t do it. As far as flying with Earl, I would never have done it. But he never asked. I don’t know the details, but he had an accident that could have ended his life or career but he was lucky.

I want to thank you guys, all of you, for participating in our little game. I really appreciate it.

If you have something you would like to ask Sonny, be sure to post it in the comments below, or send it to us directly.

Ask Sonny Anything… has bluegrass music gone too far from its roots?

Posted on February 12, 2021 by Azlyrics

Hey Chief, come on out, we’re all ready for another road trip through the pages of time. Take us back to the good ol’ days Sonny. And by the way, you were right. Ol’ Larry backed this monster into the driveway perfectly, just like you said…but I must confess, he had me a little stymied when we flew through the late ’70s straight into the mid ’60s last week. I was watching him carefully and he didn’t appear to change a bit. Time travel on the Bluegrass Express with Larry is strange, he never seems to age. He looks the same today as he did then. What’s up with that?
T.

So, what’s up with the fact that Larry … can I say this?… he never grows old. But, he told me last week that he could back that bus into a mouse hole. So the fact that he never grows old or he can back that bus into a mouse hole both mean the same thing. So what’s up with that?

My grandmother had a little red tricycle and Daddy’s uncle Will had a Radio Flyer wagon that he got from Western Auto, which there wasn’t one within 350 miles of Thousandsticks but he, John Sandlin and Fred Napper, still pulled that little red wagon up and down the creek. And me and Bobby, just little boys at the time, jumped out into the creek and followed them and after that…. So, what’s up with that Terry?

You know, this reminds me a great deal of the Louis L’Amour books that involved the Sacketts. Years ago Raymond Huffmaster got me into reading 27 of L’Amour’s books. What I meant by this reminding me of those books, is that one of the Sacketts who lived in NH would hear that another Sackett who lived in Fort Forth, TX was in trouble. They rode horses, yet one would reach the other the next day. So, Larry can get the bus started and out of his driveway, and immediately we can be in Grass Valley, CA or we can be in Tokyo, Japan or Miami, FL etc etc etc.

You know, going back to Grass Valley, CA and we’re onstage and I’m playing the guitar and as I remember, I was playing You Are My Flower. Suddenly, during one of the breaks, I started playing The Wildwood Flower and Bobby didn’t know that I had changed songs and went to singing The Wildwood Flower which he didn’t know the words to. And that little ordeal went viral on Facebook.
S

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Sonny:

You may or may not remember me. I played mandolin for the Goins Brothers throughout the ’90s, and the night before I got married you gave me a father/talk, I think it was at Paradise Lake in Ohio (still married to that gal, btw). I remember one time a fella asked you to sign a $2 bill and you refused. Melvin asked you why you didn’t touch it and you said they were bad luck. Melvin grumped, “bad luck if you don’t have any.” Just wondered why the thing with two-dollar bills.

John Keith

I remember you, John, playing mandolin with the Goins Brothers, Melvin and Ray. I also remember giving you a little heads-up the night before you got married, and yes that was at the great Paradise Lake in the great state of Ohio. And you say you’re still married to that same gal, and brother I’ve got news for you…I consider myself an expert on the subject because I married a womern from Ohio in 1958 and I’m still married to her, 63 years later. And she’s in the other room yellin’ and screamin’ at me, the same as yours is at you!!!! Or will be, shortly.

Now to get on to the $2 bill subject. I was asked to autograph more than one $2 bill over the years, which I refused to do. It just seems that every time I saw one of those damn things something bad happened. So I just assumed, for the rest of my life, they were just bad luck, and I can understand why Melvin would have said, grumpily, “Bad luck if you don’t have any!”

To say that Melvin was frugal, would be a complete stretch of the imagination, in fact to the breaking point.

I first met Melvin and Ray in Bluefield, WV when I was 11 yr old. Ray had an RB-3 wreath pattern Mastertone borrowed. That was the first REAL Mastertone that I had ever seen.

Nicer men were never born. (Borned …. Charlie Louvin)

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Hi Sonny,

The Osborne Brothers seemed to push boundaries musically without leaving the core sound of bluegrass. Is that still a possibility in today’s bluegrass scene or have we gone too far as a genre to keep a foot in tradition while reaching the next musical frontier within the acoustic music spectrum simultaneously? If it is possible, where would we draw the line? If not, how will the music continue to grow if we curtail innovation?

Just Pondering,

Greg J.

Hey, Greg. Thank you for your time and participation. You asked whether we bluegrass people have taken it too far, and I say yes and no.

You are correct in saying that we stepped way out of the boundaries but I’ve always been of the notion that if you have something that can’t be duplicated, take advantage of it. And that is what we did.

My opinion was that we had Bobby’s voice, and our trio starting with Benny Birchfield, Dale Sledd, Ronnie Reno, Paul Brewster, Terry Eldredge, Terry Smith, and Darryl Moseley. None of which could be duplicated, in my opinion, and also in the opinion of the CMA awards people. The people who are playing bluegrass music today that would know something about the old way of doing it would be Jens Kruger, Sam Bush, Tony Trischka, and a few others that could play No Mother or Dad just like ole Earl.

Several others are either not good enough or too good to go back and play the original 1950-1954 bluegrass music, in my opinion.
When you hear a banjo player playing notes that don’t mean anything, that means he ‘doesn’t get it.’ Several years ago, I was sitting backstage at the IBMA awards show and this fellow came up behind me and began playing No Mother or Dad. That guy was Béla Fleck. He ‘gets it.’

Aaron, Kenny, Lincoln, Derek, and others that I could go on for half a page, they understand what it takes to play that way and why.
So to get back to your original question… “Have we gone too far?” Yes, as a matter of fact, I think we probably went too far but the bottom line is success and selling a product, which we did as did a few others. If you want to call that ‘too far’ so be it.
S

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Hi Sonny, just wondered if you ever stayed at the Rocky Top Motel and in Gatlinburg owned by Boudleaux Bryant? I’m 62 and remember him there sometime when we stayed there when I was a child.

Thanks, Tommy

Tommy, thank you for your time. I appreciate it. You asked about the Rocky Top Motel in Gatlinburg. The Bryants retired from TN and moved the whole operation to Gatlinburg. Boudleaux and Felice bought two motels and joined them, and that became the Rocky Top Motel. Why did they call it the Rocky Top Motel? Because Rocky Top the song was written right down the street and it became one of their most profitable and most popular songs. A state song, the University of Tennessee fight song, and right up there with Foggy Mountain Breakdown and Blue Moon of Kentucky being one of the most popular bluegrass songs in history.

And no, we never stayed at the Rocky Top Motel. The Bryants lived a short distance from there, and they had an apartment above their garage, which is where me and her of 63 years stayed. It helps to have friends in higher places. Yuck Yuck
S

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Sonny, having grown up in the Pacific Northwest, I wasn’t afforded the opportunity to see as many touring bluegrass bands as east coasters. Make’s me rather jealous. I will say, though, whenever a band like the Osborne Brothers came through, the bluegrass fans out here didn’t take it for granted. All the shows I’ve been able to attend over the years were filled with highly enthusiastically appreciative bluegrass fans. So my question is simple: You’ve toured all over the world, how did the warmth of the crowds out here compare with the many places you’ve performed?

Kory T.

Kory T…..So Kory, what does the T stand for?

Man, the Pacific Northwest is a long bus ride from here. But we made that trip more than once to Portland, Seattle, and on up into British Columbia and Alberta.

You are correct when you say the crowds were large, but it was kinda funny, because although they enjoyed the music that we did they were more concerned with how we looked, because they stared at us most of the time we were there. It reminded me a lot of riding through Hyden, KY in the ’50s. They almost lined the streets to see a strange car drive through town. It also reminded me that we listened to the Grand Ole Opry on radio and we heard Eddy Arnold, Bill Monroe, Roy Acuff, etc and wondered what they actually looked like.

My dad thought Bill Monroe would be a little bitty guy, but he turned out to be 6-4 and 275 lbs. That was when everything at the Grand Ole Opry was a myth. Too bad it’s not like that anymore. Now we know what size shoes everybody wears. So goes the greatest days of the greatest country show that ever existed…the Grand Ole Opry.

Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Muncton, New Brunswick the crowds were large and appreciative. But Munich and Berlin, Germany and Tokyo, Japan and Sweden….all those places, the crowds were good. They would line up for several blocks to get autographs after our shows.

So you asked how the crowds compared elsewhere in the world with the crowds in the Pacific Northwest. Well, I’m fixin’ to tell you.

In the eastern part of the United States, there were more bluegrass festivals and the crowds were larger. This is where we played most. These crowds saw us more often, and knew what to expect from us, songwise. The appreciation level was still pretty good. Then in the western part of the United States, which includes the great Northwest, where we didn’t appear on a regular basis, and although the crowds were slightly smaller, the appreciation level for our music was actually higher.

Bands like Doyle Lawson, the Seldom Scene, Rhonda Vincent, and some group of brothers would bring the house down no matter where they were playing.
S

If you have something you would like to ask Sonny, be sure to post it in the comments below, or send it to us directly.

Ask Sonny Anything… why did Rocky Top release on Christmas Day?

Posted on February 5, 2021 by Azlyrics

Good morning Chief, I know you said it would be a cold day before you ever got back onstage again, but according to Larry’s super fancy Apple watch, it’s 29.8º out here this morning…does that qualify?

Ahhhh okay, you don’t really need to get back onstage, but come on out to the bus and tell us about the days you spent there. We’re heading back to the ’60s today with a question about Rocky Top and some of your memories of brother Mac Wiseman. Boy, we sure do miss him. Larry’s got the heater turned up to a cozy 74 in here and Lincoln just grabbed your box lunch from Judy. You know, you’ve got a good woman there Chief!

Well I’m gettin’ ready to get on the bus once again. And I see that we have Trent, and Jake, Rob, Billy and over there sits ole Pete. Boys, I’m gonna tell you something right now. You’re gonna have the surprise of your life when you watch Larry get this ’45 monster down that driveway without tearing trees up, and then when we get back, to watch him back it up this same driveway. Frightening. But he can do it. All them boys and my crew is here too. Lincoln, Aynsley, Derek, and Dan, and I’m well aware of how important Judy has been. See, I’m in one room dictating what to type and she’s in another room typing it. Try doing that sometime with a Hungarian-tempered woman…. ‘taint easy boys, ‘taint easy.

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Hi again Sonny, I have been digging back into old Starday records recently, and I’m wondering your opinion of them as a label, particularly in the early to mid ’60s with all the zany album covers and concept albums. They surely put out a lot of bluegrass material. What was the perception of them in the industry back then?

Trent J.

Trent, you asked me about Starday Records and I know a little bit about Starday, not a lot. It was started in Beaumont, TX in 1952 by Pappy Dailey and Jack Starnes. Starnes was Lefty Frizzel’s manager, Pappy Dailey managed George Jones’ early career. I’m not going to go into the full history, but Starday had some monster hits in the ’50s and ’60s. Bluegrass-wise, they had The Stanley Brothers, The Country Gentlemen, and I think Don Reno and Bill Harrell.

When Starday opened in Nashville it was run by Don Pierce, and Tommy Hill worked there (Goldie Hill’s brother), and Martin Haerle first came onto the scene. Starday resurrected the careers of Red Sovine, Johnny Bond, Cowboy Copas, The Stanley Brothers, and others. They were big during the ’50s and ’60s.

Martin and Guitar Boogie Smith were the founders and owners of CMH Records, and of course we know CMH had Don Reno, Benny Martin, Eddie and Martha Adcock, Mac Wiseman, The Osborne Brothers….. CMH Records sounded professionally produced while Starday did not. This is strictly my opinion.

Thank you Trent for your participation.
S

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Sonny,

In the years since you retired, do you miss playing your banjo – just for yourself, just for the pleasure? (I understand that physically you are no longer able to play). Or, as a professional with decades of picking under your belt as your job, did you have enough banjo playing by the time you stopped and retirement means retirement? I ask because, as a complete amateur banjo player for the last 48 years, I would really miss playing my banjos if I had to stop and could never play again. Just wondering how it is for you professionals.

Peter M.

Now old Pete asked me about being retired and did I miss playing the banjo, specifically a 1934 Granada

I do miss the sound of that banjo. I can’t play at all due to shoulder problems and other health issues. But occasionally Lincoln and Derek happen by and they play it for a little while, and I can hear its beautiful sound through them.

As a lifetime professional banjo player, for nearly 60 years, at times it was a job and at other times it was just the love of hearing that sound. And you also wondered whether I ever just had enough banjo playing, and I’ll have to answer that yes and no, because when it got to the point where I couldn’t go on, I started hearing that sound in my head again and I wound up playing a little more.

I’ll tell you though, Pete, when I first realized I could play no more, for a short time it was a problem, but then with all that said in the end I was ready to retire. And I knew it because things that were relatively easy to play became a bit more difficult, and other than just playing, I had to think about it.

But, retirement is good.
S

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Sonny,

I hope you are doing well, sir. I appreciate you taking the time to answer all of our questions each week.
I noticed that Rocky Top was released on Christmas Day in 1967. I thought Christmas was an interesting release day for any song, much less one that is not related to the holidays in any way. What was the reasoning behind Decca releasing it on Christmas Day, and did you ever have any reservations or ambitions about this release date?

With all of the many artists that have covered it, recognitions, awards, and attention around college football, FBI missions, and state songs, it has to be one of the best Christmas presents ever!

Thank you for your time, sir.

Jacob H.

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Jacob, I’m glad you’re here with us today, and I’ll try to answer your question. Rocky Top was released on Christmas day 1967 and to this day, no one knows why. I’ve been involved with record companies for over 65 years, and have yet to see a release date of December 25. I have asked, with no answer, as to why Rocky Top was released on that day. I wish I could be more helpful, but I can’t.

My honest opinion is that Decca did not realize what they were doing. In retrospect, and looking at what Rocky Top did for us, and bluegrass music in general, I would say that the December 25th Christmas release date was the greatest gift anyone could ever receive, especially if your business is music and selling records. That being the case, it was a game-changer.

Thank you for participating in our little free-for-all.
S

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Dear Sonny,

Greetings from British Columbia, Canada. I love bluegrass and your music in particular, especially that great The Essential Bluegrass Album you guys made with Mac Wiseman. I was only 5 years old at the time and discovered it as an adult. It sounds unlike anything else and is one of my favorite albums of all time. How did that collaboration come about? And how did you feel at the time about the “New Grass” movement that was emerging in the late ’70s? Thank you and long may you run.

Rob L.
Salmon Arm, BC

OK Rob, from Salmon Arm, BC. You know what Rob? I don’t know where that is. You mentioned the Mac Wiseman album we did together and you said you were only 5 years old at the time? And you discovered it as an adult? Well Sir Rob… How’d you do that? Man when I was 5 years old… well I don’t want to talk about that.

The Mac Wiseman album gave Bobby and me the golden opportunity to sing again with Benny Birchfield. Benny helped us in the early ’60s to establish The Osborne Brothers trio as one of the best. He and Dale Sledd helped us win the CMA Vocal Group of the Year award in 1971. It was an extreme pleasure to have Benny sing with us on this album.

That too is one of my favorite all-time albums that we ever did. It was fun recording it, and I would imagine I’ve listened to that album at least a hundred times and it never gets old.

One of my all-time favorite songs is Shackles and Chains, especially how Bobby and Mac did it. Blaine Sprouse played fiddle and the great Bob Moore played bass. Everything on that album just came together perfectly.

You asked how that collaboration came about? It was quite simple. We asked Mac if he’d do it. He said yes. Period.

You also asked how I felt about “New Grass,” and honestly, I never listened because I was so focused on what we were doing, nothing else was important to me and our career.

Thank you, Rob, for joining in here. (Salmon Arm, BC wonder where that really is?)
S

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Sonny,

Having seen you, Bobby and the boys numerous times down through the years, I was always impressed with how much fun you were having on stage. I’m curious, which song (or songs) did you look forward to the most each performance – and why?

Billy

You wondered how we had so much fun onstage. So imagine yourself onstage with some of the best musicians in the world and they happen to be YOUR band. So tell me, Bill, how could you not have a good time when everyone up there was the best at what they did?

So, you also asked which songs that I looked forward to playing almost every night. I’ll tell you now, there were many. Paul Brewster singing Shackles and Chains or Too Old to Die Young; Terry Eldredge singing Green Light; our trio doing My Favorite Memory and Today I Started Loving You Again; and having Gene Wooten doing a break on that last one. David Crow playing Listen to the Mocking Bird or Terry Smith standing back there playing the bass fiddle better than anybody else in the world. J.D.Brock taking that break on Hear the Whistle Blow. Or getting on the bus and being able to relax while Raymond Huffmaster drove you to the next date.

With all those things considered, how could you not have fun on a nightly basis? …. and how about Pathway of Teardrops? Lawd how moicy…Git away’m hyer!!

Thank y’all for a wonderful ride.

Now we get to watch Larry back this monster up his driveway.

See you next week.
S

If you have something you would like to ask Sonny, be sure to post it in the comments below, or send it to us directly

Ask Sonny Anything… let’s talk about Little Roy Lewis

Posted on January 15, 2021 by Azlyrics

Good morning Chief!

Hey, looks like Larry just pulled up in the bus. Put on your warmest coat and galoshes (that’s Southern for fur lined Birkenstocks) and take these questions/comments with you from your fans and friends. Enjoy the ride and let us know how it went.

BTW, we’re heading back to the ’50s today, so your iPhone won’t do you any good if you need to text Judy about dinner.

Hey Terry…Beings we’re going back, how ’bout getting ole Lawrence to pick up Derek and Nick. See if Aynsley, Lincoln, and Professor Dan would want to see where we used to fill all 9300 seats, St. Louis, MO. Old Kiel Auditorium…or rather the spot where it was til 1992…where Waylon Jennings sneaked up behind me and whispered to me, “Trust not a man who talks through hair.” He hadn’t seen my facial hair till that day. Lord, the memories. What would we do without ‘um? St. Louis is only bout 400 miles. Larry’s got that series 60 in his bus and man, it will go yonder!

Roger that. Mr. Peabody, you heard the Chief…

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Sonny,

I have been a big fan of bluegrass and you and your brother as long as I can remember. Thank you. I grew up and still live in the Detroit area, and would like to hear more about your times/experiences in Detroit. Really love the stories, thank you!

Doug G.

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Doug the Detroit man….had some fun times in Detroit. Thank you Doug, for sharing a few minutes with us. First went to Detroit as a member of The Blue Grass Boys…bout 1952 or 53. I remember that there had been a tornado, and where we were going was pretty much leveled, except a church and it hadn’t been touched. We came back to Detroit in August ’54 till August ’55. Lived on St. Jean, about 3 blocks off Mack Ave. Me, Bobby, and Jimmy Martin joined the Casey Clark Lazy Ranch Boys Jamboree show held at 12101 Mack Ave.

Casey had a very top notch band. Good band. Buddy Emmons played steel, Hoppy Hopkins guitar, Herb Williams, Brownie, Dick Cobb played piano. That guy could play true banjo licks on the piano. Foggy Mountain Breakdown and Flint Hill Special were no problem. He got every note too. Only guy I ever saw do that. He also had perfect pitch. Hum a note, he could tell you what it was..G, A, C#…Dude could play some piano too…also if it was not on pitch, flat or sharp.

I watched Buddy Emmons come undone when he saw Earl play Flint Hill Special. I’d been telling him about Earl, and he didn’t believe me ’till that day. Cobo Hall was another place like Kiel in St Louis.

I completely lost Doug’s question…let me see hyer….Oh yeah…Cobo is where Liberace’s brother George came to hear Hank Snow and a few others. He also just came to hang out and shoot the s… with us hillbilly people. Like not playing, just standing back stage at the Opry in full dress, George came to Cobo in FULL STAGE ATTIRE. Looked like he was ready to go on with Ray Charles…or some such! We did a Sal Hepatica commercial, got standing ovations for singing “SLOWLY” and enjoyed doing CKLW TV in Windsor, and of course WJR. 50,000 watts of power in Detroit.

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Sonny, I want to tell you that I am really enjoying this column each week.

The Osborne Brothers and the Lewis Family used to play at a school here in Winston Salem, NC each year. Please let us know about those shows, the Lewis Family and Little Roy.

Thanks again.
Dean S.

Dean, welcome. Thank you. Originally, that show was either them or us who had it first. Next year requesting the other join the show. Enjoyed the times we worked with the Lewis Family. That was a good show…good mixture. They went on first and just destroyed the crowd…then we tried to follow them…of course, the reasoning for this timing was so Little Roy Lewis JR could come out and mess with us…which he did lots. It was all in fun and entertaining like no other for the audience.

I remember so many things…many I have told you about…and I hate to keep telling them over…it’s hard to remember which ones I have told already. I’ll try to press on though. You ask, I’ll tell. I know.

This actually happened. Roy Lewis is one hell of a bus driver. So, now remember I might not have these cities right but the deed is correct. We’ll just say they were coming out of Oklahoma, or Texas. Winter time. Late November, colder than a well digger’s… in January.

So they’re headed for Myrtle Beach. Roy is going along at a safe speed, it might have some slick spots, so he’s careful and he starts across this 200 foot bridge. Common knowledge tells us that ice will freeze on a bridge before anywhere else. But the road is dry and as soon as he hits the bridge the bus starts slipping…woah..sideways. It’s turning and amidst holler’n and shout’n he realizes the bus is going to make a complete turn. 360°…(I bet you’re wondering how I did that. Thank you Judy)

Folks he’s on solid ice in a 45ft. 40,000-50,000lb bus and it’s probably going at least 40 mph. It came full circle and still headed the way they were going. They made it to Myrtle Beach and when he told me about this thing that happened, I just looked at my little friend standing here and I remember the feeling I had. Had it been me I would have been so scared, and I realized he must have been that scared too.

Once in Davenport, Iowa… 2:00-3:00 a.m., cold and pitch dark. Every inside and outside light on the bus went out. Headlights, interior lights, everything. I’m doing about 75 mph and I still had air for the brakes. I literally stood up on that pedal. 20-30 seconds later everything came back on. I was scared. For me, who or what I hit, and for the men on that bus with me. Roy had to be that scared. I felt so sorry for him.

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Hi Sonny. Longtime O’Bros fan here. I have recently learned that my Morgan ancestors come from Hardy Bottom/Stinnett/Wendover, KY. The Osborne Brothers Pavilion sits at the entrance to territory that my Morgan ancestors settled in the early 1800s. This is all news to me, and pretty exciting stuff. Friends often joke that I “try to make us kin.” Did you know of any Morgans from the area coming up, and were any of them musicians? Thanks for your time, and for this great article. I look forward to it every Friday.

Roscoe Morgan Jr.

Roscoe…thank you for jumping right on in here. Man, I wish I could help out but I can’t. I remember hearing my parents mention the Morgan name, and my wife has done some extensive genealogy studies and she too remembers the name being mentioned by my parents, but neither of us knows who, what, when, nor where. We’ll keep trying though. I’m, sorry. I will mention this bit though, Mary Breckinridge, who started the Frontier Nursing Service, built it, and I came and stayed in her house in Wendover…you mentioned Wendover.

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Sonny, I’m a long time fan and admirer of your very unique style of 3 Fanger Banjer pickin’… I appreciate the parameters established by Mr. Scruggs, but also delight in those – like yourself – that have crafted a unique style from within those parameters. 🙂 BTW, this column is serving to highlight some things that have never been published and once it ceases some incredible stories will perish with it. Long live Ask Sonny Anything!!

That being said, I am also a big fan of Little Roy Lewis. In my view, he too has developed a most unique style (that is immediately recognizable) from within the strict parameters of the Scruggs method. My question is this; what is your opinion of Little Roy Lewis as a musician (not necessarily the entertainer). I know that the “Brothers” have shared the stage with “The Family” and Little Roy on many, many occasions. I would love to hear your honest assessment… and perhaps a story or three about your appearances with Little Roy. Thanks again for the time and effort you put into this column!

Terry E. K.

Terry EK…thank you for your time and know that it’s appreciated.

You made some very complimentary statements concerning my banjo playing. Well, sorry to say I don’t play at all since 2003, but what you have said makes an old man feel mighty good. I thank you for that. Bless you.

Little Roy’s banjo style is the most unique. It’s not so much different than anything else you may hear, but what he hears and plays is very different, in that it fit the Lewis Family’s choice of songs and the way a 5 string banjo is made, or forced to fit that style of vocals. That in turn will tend to make The Lewis Family sound different than any other that I’ve heard..Roy has a very fast right hand and he just simply plays their songs.

I have not heard Roy and Lizzy so I can’t comment on their sound. They’re both pretty good players so I would imagine it’s pretty good music. I will add this about his ability to play the first string with his index finger in a normal forward or backward roll would be kinda hard to do, I think. But he makes it work for him and that’s all that is necessary. Wherever he is and who he’s with, that crowd of people is getting entertained.

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Sonny,

Based on accounts documented in your Bluegrass Today articles, Ask Sonny Anything, the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History interview you did in 2009, and observations provided by others as documented in Dennis Satterlee’s Teardrops In My Eyes biography, the relationship between my father (Red Allen) and you and Bobby followed the same pattern of many bands throughout Blue Grass, Country and Rock & Roll history. Make good music together and enjoy the success and notoriety that comes with that. But then egos get in the way and before you know it the band blows up. It sure seems that the Red Allen and Osborne Brothers era became victims of this same pattern. Nothing new. Egos, jealousy, all those negative human expressions that left unchecked, will certainly crater the best of the best.

The breakup of The Osborne Brothers and Red Allen is documented to be in June of 1958. Some 63 years ago. An unfortunate turn of events that makes one wonder what would have happened if things were different. Further, my father died in April of 1993, 28 years ago. Time has a funny way of affecting our memory.

So, what we are reading and hearing from you today is your account of how certain events occurred that you refer to in ways that disparage my father’s contributions and tarnish his memory. And what makes it hard to accept is that we are without the benefit of hearing Red’s side of the story. We are hearing only one side and as the Scripture says:

“Any story sounds true until someone tells the other side and sets the record straight.” (Proverbs 18:17 TLB)

I am reminded that there are always two sides to every story so I would appeal to you to refrain from disparagingly bringing my father’s name into your public accounts of the Osborne’s history with Red Allen.

Greg Allen, Red Allen’s Son

Greg, I’ve known you a very long time. I knew your brothers, Ronnie, Neil, Harley, and you , Greg. I’m sorry, I can’t remember your sister’s name. Delores comes to mind. You 5five and your devoted Mom, Clara, were the nicest people a person would want to be around.

You are correct Greg. There are two sides to every story. However, I know both sides. That’s all I’ll ever say. Red’s name will not be mentioned again by me. If the truths I told hurt you or anyone, I’m sorry. I will repeat. Red Allen’s name will not be mentioned by me in this column, or anyplace else, again.

If you have something you would like to ask Sonny, be sure to post it in the comments below, or send it to us directly.

Ask Sonny Anything… did you play a melodic lick on Kaw-liga?

Posted on January 8, 2021 by Azlyrics

Good morning Chief, and welcome to a brand new year. Let’s hope this one is a little better than the last. Mercy. In the meantime, the fans below are waiting in the bus out front to take you back to the good ol’ days. Enjoy the ride my brother!

Terry

I want you to look over there driving us back to 1953…That’s Larry Stephenson. Turn the heat on Lawrence and get us outa hyer…Howdy Huffy, how you doin’?
s

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Sonny, I know you have disdain for melodic style banjo playing, but I’m pretty sure I heard you play a melodic style lick near the end of Kaw-Liga!! You want to comment?

Bro 2a

So, howdy there Bro 2…Thank you for participating…glad to have your company for a few minutes. The thing you are talking about is something I came up with when I recorded some Gospel song. I liked it, and have used it on a numerous amount of songs. I showed it to Kristin Benson, and she used it on Larry Stephenson’s record of Me and My Old Banjo. It’s a good lick, sorry, not melodic. Play that for Brothers Béla Fleck, Tony Trischka, or Jens Krüger… they would laugh I bet. I was shamed (by Grady Martin) into doing a melodic ending on Cut The Cornbread. Dammitttttttt! He said I couldn’t. WRONG….

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Hey Sonny, I got to see you live at the Milan Bluegrass festival around 2004-2006. J.D. Crowe and Paul Williams were there. It was a blast. I was in my early 20s at the time, and was so stoked to hear ya’ll play. I let J.D. Crowe sign my banjo, and later on you saw me standing off to the side, you grinned and asked if I would like an autograph. I whipped out a piece of paper cause I actually didn’t want you to sign my banjo, I’m embarrassed to say, ’cause I was new to bluegrass, and all I knew was I was solid traditional and had been told you went electric back in the day. I regret that now. You were very gracious to a confused young man and truly made feel comfortable.

Your show was awesome and I have since learned musicians have families who need to eat and you are as traditional as they come in your banjo playing. A true disciple of Earl. Thank you for the years of blessing us with your talent.

Now my question…I really enjoyed the multi faceted banjo playing of Cia Cherryholmes. I’ve heard her play half a roll of Earl and end up in Reno style, go melodic and then back to Earl, all while sounding as old as the hills. Did you ever get to hear her and what were your thoughts?

Caleb

Well, look at it this way. If you didn’t want me to sign your banjo, then I shouldn’t have signed it…and I hope I didn’t…..HAHAHAHA. The electric thing, the drums, the type material we did, that decision might not have been popular with some, but it sent Judy to the bank every Monday and put us on tour a lot more… and we found a way to put more people in the seats, and that put kids through college, bought houses, farms, and new cars, etc!

It was Bobby, The Grand Ole Opry, Roll Muddy River, Benny Birchfield doing that killer harmony with us on Pathway of Teardrops, ROCKY TOP. If that sounds big headed, conceited, well… listen to this. This’ll blow your hat in the creek….Bluegrass Junction just released a list: “75 of the most important songs of the last 75 years.” With great pride I wish to inform you that Rocky Top came in first and we Brothers had 5 of those 75… So, maybe that is proper grounds to strut and be big headed for a minute or two, huh?… Naw, I think not, I don’t know how to do that!! (Pride is the word. I’ve assured you that there is not a drop of conceit or big headed blood in my body and there still isn’t. BY GOD, it was just too hard and it took it’s toll on us, just getting here.)

So, let us talk about Cia for a moment. I’m actually not familiar with her banjo work. I knew them, and as a family band they were quite popular for a minute there, but for some reason that went away quickly. You say she would play a partial E roll and switch to a Don Reno roll. This tells me the Earl roll got too complicated, so she went to a much more simple right hand roll, and then to the dreaded “melodic.” So that tells me this…. This might be HER thinking whils’t playing. “That roll coming in the next line, I didn’t take the time to learn that funny sounding roll thingy he did, so I’ll switch and start playing like Don…that’s all forward, much easier, wait though…. Here, dang it, I don’t remember how his left hand goes in this next part, I better throw in a couple hundred quick melodic notes that mean nothing…whew, that was a rough one!” Or, perhaps she was just showing her prowess in being able to switch, as I said, I’m not that familiar with her playing. I love making up stuff and having fun doing it. NO HARM INTENDED.

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Sonny, I am from Freetown Indiana. My grandfather’s brother was Tommy Sutton. He was a singer, songwriter, DJ in the ’40s through ’60s! Thought you might appreciate this story. In the sixties (my grandfather, Alvin Sutton, was in the hospital (we thought dying, but he rallied that time). They called the family in (a big family with other musical renown). One night, Uncle Tommy and I were the only ones at his bedside all night. Tommy ask me, “Larry, did you ever hear of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band?” I said, “Yessir I have!” He said, “Well, I don’t know who they are, but they send me a really nice check every once in a while!”

Do you remember Tommy Sutton from around Youngstown, Ohio? Did you work with him or play at festivals with him? Do you have any interesting stories with him?

Thanks,
Mary E.

Mary, thank you for your time. The Tommy Sutton I thought I knew happens to be the same person you knew. He was a DJ at WPFB in Middletown, Ohio and then moved to WONE, WING, WHIO in Dayton when I knew Tommy and Mary Lou. However, I googled Sutton and learned a great deal about Tommy Sutton.

My Sutton was very instrumental in acquiring our MGM record contract in 1956. He worked in Youngstown, Ohio, Wheeling, WV, St Louis, Indianapolis, he was all over. Yes he did play the bass, sang, acted a little bit. I am not aware of Tommy as being a songwriter, although his name is on quite a few songs…some that we recorded. I know he did not write those songs.

Here is/was the process. A person would promise the writer that if they would give up half the writer credit, this person would get it recorded. This was done as a common practice. Also a songwriter would sell songs when they needed money. Some mighty big songs were sold to artists who would put their name on it as writer. This practice goes back to and before the ’30s, and I suppose it happens now…. I’m telling you of the times of which I am certain.

A name appeared on several songs which Wade Birchfield was the sole writer. Songs he wrote while living in the same apartment in Detroit, 1954-55, with Jimmy and I. (or is it me, Sandy?) Does this surprise you. It shouldn’t. If there is money involved, every kind of scheme imaginable will happen. Just any way to get it to go from a needy/GREEDY person to a recipient of the same ilk. (thank you, Judy)

After Dayton, Tommy Sutton retired and moved to Gallatin, Tennessee…I assume, where he and his wife resided until his death…in 1992..

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1) Hi Sonny. I’m a big fan! Had the privilege to see you a few times growing up both at Bean Blossom and Renfro Valley in the ’70s and early ’80s. I’m wondering if you have an opinion on Sturgill Simpson as a singer/song writer/picker (not strictly bluegrass, but he cut his teeth on it). He’s a good ol’ Eastern Kentucky boy like yourself, and covered, Listening to the Rain. I’m wondering if you have heard his version of this song or anything off of his new bluegrass Album, Cuttin’ Grass (seems to me I’ve heard that album title before). I know you’ve already shared your opinion on some other newer artists like Billy Strings…wondering if you have an opinion on Sturgill. If not him, are there any new artists that you have taken a shine to?

2) Next question, I’ve had the privilege to spend some time with George Gruhn and done some business with him over the past couple years. Do you know George and, in your opinion is there a more knowledgeable individual on stringed instruments (guitars, mandolins, and banjos)? If so, who? Ever do business with George or spend any time with him?

Scott

Scott. Welcome and thank you for joining us. I am not familiar with Sturgill Simpson nor his recording of Listening To The Rain. I am aware however, of the use of Cuttin’ Grass for his album title. Which was a title used years ago by an up and coming act from the hills of Kentucky, Hyden to be more specific, Thousand Sticks, to be absolutely correct, how about Bull Creek (Thank you, Karen).

I don’t know very many new artists, mainly because I just don’t listen very much. You mentioned Billy Strings. I don’t personally know him as an adult, and I have seen very few TV clips, not enough to actually form an opinion other than he seems to be one hellacious guitar player. I heard his Opry debut. I believe it was from 2018. His band played a bluegrass song and honestly, I was not impressed.

The disc jockey of this day plays the records and never tells you the artist’s name, side men, nor song title most of the time. I detest that and if I were able to meet one I would have two words for him!!! I wish I understood their idea of playing records, but I do not. If I’m listening to a radio program and he/she plays one song and doesn’t give the artist credit, “cu-lick uh”…oh…what is that sound? That’s the show being turned off.

I’ll tell you a few great new players, in my opinion. Brandon Hinson, Ronnie and Robin Floyd McCoury, and we can’t leave out Jason Carter…all part of the Del McCoury band and the Traveling McCoury’s band…. Derek Vaden (works with The Larry Stephenson Band) and Lincoln Hensley. You can hear these guys on Facebook. Brandon recently posted a series of tunes, and Derek posts some things also and when we get back to normal (if ever), you can hear him with Larry’s band.

Lincoln ‘bigmouth’ Hensley, plays some great banjo with Aynsley Porchak (Fiddle_) and Lieutenant Professor Dan’l Boner. (Guitar and my favorite vocal) They do a thing every Tuesday called Tone Tuesday featuring some old bluegrass songs and instrumentals that’ll take you back to 1954 if you’re not careful. That girl Aynsley can play some fiddle. Think not? Get this: She won the Grand Masters here in Nashville in 2018, and…how about the Canadian Grand Masters in 2017. Git away’m hy’er! If you like old style bluegrass music done right, you won’t go wrong with these people. Lincoln, Brandon, and Derek will remind you of a traditional day when music was just plain good. You can understand what they are playing…without a degree in something or other.

George Gruhn. My friend for nigh onto 50 years. Good business man. I think George is the most knowledgeable, always honest with me, authority on vintage instruments I have known. Personally, I would not so much as consider the purchase of any instrument without contacting and showing it to George, and getting his approval. (I even have his cell number!!!!! {;-o)

If you have something you would like to ask Sonny, be sure to post it in the comments below, or send it to us directly.

Ask Sonny Anything… on Tony Rice, Merle Travis, and the goatee

Posted on January 1, 2021 by Azlyrics

Good morning Chief. What a strange and sad week we’ve all had, both here in Nashville with the bombing, as well as the larger worldwide music community with the loss of Tony Rice. You had several questions about him, which we’ve narrowed down to the first one contributed by Charles Cornett.

Terry Herd

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One of these days I’m going to retell for the umpteenth time, when I played America The Beautiful at IBMA, alone. For the second time in my life I needed a Divine intervention that night, and received it. I don’t want to bore you with it, but I just like to tell it, I guess so you won’t forget it. OK, maybe some of you, or all for that matter, think I’m a dumbass, but I believe! I love to tell the story!

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Sonny, we are all reminiscing and recognizing the passing of Tony Rice this week. While a million or so second generation bluegrass players have talked about his influence, how did Tony Rice affect the first generation of stars? For example, did your guitar players begin to include TR style licks after he emerged so prominently? Did you ever “kick a Tony Rice lick” off one of your songs? How about your own guitar playing? Thanks for considering.

Charles C.

Charles…how ’bout going through this day without reminding me of my guitar playing. I checked with the authorities on such matters….I’m listed as the worst guitar player for this time period. Well first off, we never had a guitar player who did the things Tony did. Ours was strictly rhythm and a few runs here and there. Dale Sledd could play some Merle Travis things. Steve Thomas was the closest musician we had who could play that style guitar, but he was our fiddle player. Robert Bowling knew about a million chords which would have fit in with a jazz band….

You asked what the first generation thought of Tony. See, they had already gotten a taste of that style from Clarence White, but I don’t know, nor did I ever hear, anyone say a cross word concerning Tony, about his personality or guitar playing. Me, personally, I thought the world of the guy. I didn’t know him all that well, but he was always the same. I recorded on a Tony Trischka album that Tony Rice, Béla, Tony T, Blaine Sprouse, Sam Bush, and I were present. With that lineup, you ask yourself, what in the hell were you (me) doing there. My answer is, I don’t know. I was happy to be there if just to get my name associated with that group of people. I can tell you this. I came away with a much deeper respect for all, Tony Rice especially, for how calm he was while playing some very unplayable things on the guitar.

I saw Clarence White play once in Newport, Rhode Island and was carried away by the fact that his guitar had no position markers. Tony acquired that guitar after Clarence’s untimely death…it remained the same with no position markers. Tony played it with the same confident air displayed by his predecessor. My opinion…Mr. White, Mr Rice…what can I say, they had nor have no equal. For this day, and in my opinion which I have stated on several occasions, Josh Williams is in that category….along with several others. They play in any key, and what pops into their head, miraculously and immediately comes out of the guitar. Amazing. If I’m not mistaken, and I stand corrected if I’m wrong, but folks, Josh closes his eyes when he plays. REST IN PEACE DAVID ANTHONY RICE. REST IN PEACE MY BROTHER.

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Hi Sonny,

In 1972, the Osborne Brothers recorded the Paul Craft song, Midnight Flyer, which was a hit on Billboard’s country charts. Two years later,the Eagles covered your version of the song on their On the Border album. Bernie Leadon must have liked your banjo playing so much that it sounds like he tripled his banjo part. I’m curious to know how you felt about the Eagles doing one of your songs. I’m pretty sure that Paul Craft didn’t mind the extra mailbox money.

Orin Friesen

Orin….It’s been a very long time since we’ve seen one another. So good to hear from you.

Midnight Flyer was a very good record for us. Yes, Paul Craft wrote it and Rocky Top Music, a publishing company owned by Bobby and I, Published The Flyer. We sold about 60K and thought, man that’s pretty good for a bluegrass song…so Bernie Leaden told me, they, The Eagles, were getting songs together for that album, and had run out of ideas. He mentioned The Flyer to them, he played it and they liked it, or was just tired of looking, but regardless of the how it occurred, The Eagles recorded it and we had 100% publishing.

I saw Bernie at Banjo Thon and he told me The Eagles had recorded Midnight Flyer. Bernie is one of the really good guys..and a pretty good banjo player. I thought he was just playing around. But when those checks started coming in, I knew he wasn’t joking. I think they sold upwards of 24 million. That’s a whole lotta albums folks.

How did we feel about it? Well, to hear them saying the words of the song, one must remember that they were one of the biggest rock groups in the world, and they were singing Midnight Flyer, a song written by my friend Paul Craft, and recorded by the Osborne Brothers. We were barely over Rocky Top, (if one ever gets over something like that) Georgia Pineywoods, Tennessee Hound Dog and then along comes The Eagles doing Midnight Flyer and 24 plus Million. How did we feel? GIT AWAY’M HYER!!!!!!

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Hi Sonny,

Here’s something I’ve wondered about for quite sometime. Back in the early days of The Osborne Brothers, you sported a beard. It reminded me of a jazz musician or a beatnik. I can’t think of any other bluegrass musician that sported any facial hair during that period. Did you ever catch any grief for wearing that goatee in the ’60s?

I wonder if you remember playing a little show back in 1984 near Millington, TN called the Lucy Opry. I was just a few months into a 20 year career in the US Navy at the time. I watched many of your shows in Renfro Valley, KY. It’s only a few miles from where I was raised, Orlando, KY. Many thanks for the great music and inspiration!

Martin T.
Kennesaw, GA

Martin T… thank you for the loan of a bit of your time, and letting us hear what’s on your mind. Hey man, thank you for serving our country in the US Navy. Bobby was a Marine during the Korean Conflict….that’s what they called it.

My Goatee… The day we took the picture for the Cutting Grass album that Bobby, and I with Benny Birchfield recorded for MGM in 1963. I was on the way home from a club we played that night. I was driving a ’63 Corvair Greenbrier vehicle. Too fast around a curve that was too much for the van. I turned it over three times cutting my chin pretty bad. I couldn’t shave for a few weeks. During that time we were to go to Nashville to record for Decca and take pictures for an upcoming Decca album. Doyle Wilburn saw my growth and asked if I was going to leave it there during the photo shoot. I couldn’t shave so it stayed, and has remained to this day. Yeah, I took some heat for looking like a Beatnick but, a line I learned from Charlie Pride, “If you’re not one, it shouldn’t bother you…” Thank you Charlie!

I remember the Lucy Opry. Not much comes to mind about it, but yes, Millington and Lucy.

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Hi Sonny! I saw you playing a Stelling banjo a few times on video. Was that one Geoff lent you, or was it yours? I know you are Gibson Granada thru and thru, but what did you think of it? I have a Staghorn I bought from Geoff in 1975, and have always thought it sounded great. I am 79 now and losing it, but the banjo still sounds good.

Thanks,
Paul Mc

Paul… thank you, so good to hear from you. I hope you are well and staying safe. I got you by 4 years. I’m 83 and my better days are back there somewhere too.

The Stelling. I made a deal with Geoff, if he would make a banjo for me when I had to fly or leave the USA, I would take it and play it then. Actually, I think Geoff made the deal. Get that right. While he was still in San Diego, had dinner with them. Stelling is one of the good guys, folks. Straight shooter. He made the banjo, called it a SON FLOWER. Great banjo.

I played it on a video I did from Stockholm, Sweden that has been viewed by several millions. (To me, that’s really something.) My problem with the banjo was that I had trouble keeping it in tune. That was probably the first appearance of KRAKO. Anyhow, I took it back to Geoff, he and several more people tried to fix it, to no avail. I think it was finally determined that the fingerboard was the problem. Geoff paid me for my endorsement, fixed it, and sold the banjo to Wayne Rice in San Diego, who has had it for nearly 40 years and he tells me he has not had a tuning problem. That being the case, he has one great banjo. Stelling Son Flower. One of a kind.

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Hi Sonny, did you ever have the chance to work with Merle Travis?

Yes, worked on shows with Merle. Good old country boy from Kentucky. Great song writer. 16 Tons: “You load 16 ton and whada you get, another day older and deeper in debt, Saint Peter don’t you call me cause I cain’t go. I owe my soul to the company store!” Nine Pound Hammer, Re Enlisment Blues….and dozens more.

He was in the movie From Here To Eternity. But I bet you didn’t know this little tidbit. We were on a show with Merle in Asheville, NC. Between shows I was sitting in my dressing room when a knock came on the door. It was Merle. I said howdy and all that. He asked to see my banjo…he actually said, “Where’s yi banjer?” I gave it to him and he proceeded to play some good claw hammer. He was good. I mean really good. He played it for at least 30 minutes. He put it back in the case, thanked me, and said, “I love a banjer.”

We talked a few minutes and he left. Several weeks later, at the Opry House, he came in dressing room number 2, we talked about 5 minutes. He had a manila envelope, out of which he took a picture of Merle and me. (I know, it’s supposed to be Merle and I) He had signed it…Now get this…”To Sonny, the ugliest man on the Opry, ‘cept me”…Merle Travis!

If you have something you would like to ask Sonny, be sure to post it in the comments below, or send it to us directly.

Ask Sonny Anything… tell us about your Guitjo getting stolen

Posted on December 18, 2020 by Azlyrics

Good morning Chief and welcome to Time Machine Day! Enjoy the trip and don’t forget to come back…we need your answers to these questions!

Terry

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Red Allen story… When we worked at The Wheeling Jamboree in 1957, The Louvin Brothers had voluntarily quit the Opry and come to WWVA for a spell. We most always did a Midnight spot on WWVA, and then hurry to a restaurant called Clyde’s Fine Day. It was about 20 miles from Wheeling. Red, always looking for something, went in and told us to pay careful attention. An older lady was waitress at this time. Red called her Mom. We went in and he asked for MOM.…. “Guess what Mom, today is my birthday.” She proceeded to send out a great looking steak for Red, and they sang Happy Birthday to Red. Was it his birthday, no of course not but he got a free steak. Ira and Charlie, not used to such, just smiled and shook their heads. When the steak arrived, it had a sprig of parsley on the plate. Red said “What in the hell is this damn grass?” So he took his fork and hooked the parsley just right, proceeded to flip the parsley three tables over. It landed squarely in this older gentleman’s plate. He just stared at it…like where did this parsley come from. You had to be there I reckon!

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Hey Sonny! Quick question…with the back-and-forth discussion as to who is the “father” of bluegrass, what do you say? Did bluegrass really “start” when Earl joined the Blue Grass Boys?

Michael O.

Michael….thank you for being here. Frankly, I can’t see what difference it makes one way or the other. But, obviously it does matter to a great many. So, here are my thoughts on the matter. Bill Monroe had been to the Opry 6 years before Earl came into the band. Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys. The music he played was surely Bluegrass Music, although it was not known as bluegrass music until much later. The first person I heard use that term was Frank Wakefield in Dayton, Ohio…about 1949. He was talking to Dorcey Harvey. As best I can remember his words, he was asking Dorcey to “Come on over and let’s play some grass.” It just kinda mushroomed after that. And in not too distant time it was called bluegrass. So that makes Bill the originator of that style music.

I know Flatt nor Scruggs wanted the music they played to be called bluegrass. Bill knew what he wanted also. He offered the job to Don Reno first, before he knew of Earl. Don couldn’t take the job because the military had called him to service. (They made Don an offer he could not refuse). Jim Shumate was playing fiddle with Bill at the time and he mentioned Earl to Bill. They got Earl an audition with Bill and Earl got the job. This definitely tells me Bill knew what he wanted his style of Hillbilly Music to sound like. Three finger banjo.

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Hey Sonny, There seems to be an interesting story behind the theft of your Greg Rich built Guitjo, and how you came to reacquire said instrument. I wonder if you could fill us all in on the details. Thanks, Dan Kintner, National Banjo Association founder.

Dan K.

Howdy Dan’l…welcome. The Guitjo was left on our bus. On our old silver eagle, beside the driver was a small window. Big enough for a small child (Lincoln Hensley) could go through and open the door. I was first to the bus and saw that we had been invaded. I called the police and the detective immediately said because I had entered the bus, the scene had been compromised and there was not much they could do. True? Maybe. Not true? Maybe.

Several days later a lady from CMH records called and asked me if I had anything stolen in the past few days. I said yes. She asked for a description of the item stolen. I described Bobby’s rings, and the Guitjo. She stopped me and told me that that instrument had been found in Columbus, Georgia. I was going after it one way or the other. I didn’t know what to expect…whether it was a scam, a hold up, or what.

Larry Perkins heard of the incident and offered to go with me, saying something like “I’ve had experience on handling situations like this!” I couldn’t jeopardize Larry, so I thanked him, loaded every “friend” I had and took off for Columbus, Georgia. I got there about midnight, found a closed Sears store in a shopping center and backed my car right up to the front entrance. (So no one could get behind me.) Called the guy and told him where I was.

Now to backtrack a bit. How did the dude that had the Guitjo, get it? A friend of his brought it to his house and he saw my name on it, at which time he ran a search on me and found that I recorded for the CMH label. He then placed a call to them and asked if they could find out if I had had an instrument stolen recently. Now back to the Sears store. He brought the Guitjo to the store, I identified it, and I was ready to get the hell out of Dodge. He came back from his car and I thought, ‘Uh Oh, here it comes.’ Was I scared a little bit? Yep. When he got to my car He said, “Hey, I write some songs, would you take this tape and listen to them. Maybe record one!!!!”

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Since you’ve been playing professionally since you were 14 years old, you’ve probably seen it all during different time periods in your life. From my perspective most first generation players were revered their entire lives, gray hair or not. I’m not sure that is still true anymore for musicians as they age. Did you and Bobby ever run into a situation where you felt you were passed by because you were getting a little older? I always thought the Osborne Brothers were superb your entire careers.

L. J. Cunningham

L J…good to hear from you. The only time in my professional career that I had that feeling was at The Grand Ole Opry after Hal Durham (1996) retired. He treated Opry people like they were special, and they were. Each act had something which was completely different from anyone else. Dissect 90% of every act at the Opry, you’ll find them special – until the mid to late ’90s when Hal was replaced by Bob Whitaker. With that move all the perks, and prestige for that matter, of being an Opry member disappeared. Especially for the people who had been there for a long time. Up until that change if you were in town, you automatically were on. After the change I felt the Opry played favorites. At times Mr. Whitaker would have guests no one had ever heard or knew… taking a spot from an artist who helped build the Opry. This might not have been all Whitaker’s fault…but, with the power of leadership goes win or lose…accolade or blame.

Also, about that time, they hired Pete Fisher…he finished it off. Whether planned or not, the artists who were members stopped drawing crowds. The name…Grand Ole Opry became the draw. The legendary name replaced the artists. Now, they can have anyone on the show, (and they do, with regularity) and the seats are filled, I reckon. I haven’t been there since I retired. The Opry I knew is gone, but my goodness, what a great time it was. To walk down the hall and see Marty Robbins, Carl Smith, Roy Acuff, Bill Monroe, Bobby Osborne or his Brother. Then you might see Robert Duvall, Andy Griffith, Ann Margaret, or Elvis Presley, Pat and Richard Nixon……

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Sonny,

You receive countless questions about technique, but I’m hoping you could talk a little about style. Starting with you, there are only a handful of players I can instantly recognize, Sammy Shelor, Bela Fleck, Jens Kruger, Ron Block, J.D. Crowe and of course Earl (among others) for example. To my ear, it’s their style that makes them such standouts. Is style something that is intentionally created, or eventually emerges on its own as a player matures?

Ben W.

Ben….Man, I’m glad you loaned us some of your time. Thank you. In my case, I was so deep into Earl you wouldn’t believe. Earl and Rudy Lyle (before 1954). I’m not sure I know what style, in this case, really means. I actually think style and attitude might be the same thing, in my way of thinking.

I could listen to Earl on the radio and almost tell you what he had for lunch. (I said almost) Fact is, I could hear him play and tell what mood he was in. That’s attitude, isn’t it? Interest in what the instrument can do, your attitude or creativity is what you can make it do. Never tested, but I certainly believe this…(Not the smartest chicken in the coop might explain my belief) Until, 1957 when he recorded Randy Lynn Rag, and missed a part in the chorus. They didn’t have to let that go, it could have been fixed or recorded again. Sorta told me he had lost interest, and right then I thought I had better do something else. Which I did and that evolved into what I played the rest of my career.

I trained myself to play anything I could hear. If I could hear it, I could play it!!! Now, the names you mentioned…I couldn’t tell you one from the other but they are, and were great, wonderful, banjo players. Cream of the crop, but see, I kinda had my own thing going and I truly didn’t want to hear anyone else, or know what they were doing. Big headed? Conceited? You’re free to think that if you choose, but I will tell you neither of those attitudes exist within me. They just don’t.

Right now…I think I can tell Derek Vaden from anyone when he plays what he hears in his head….Lincoln Hensley, likewise! Robin Floyd McCoury. He is probably the most originally oriented banjo player out there right now. What he plays is his. But, those other two are closing the gap on you, Rob. You better get a move on son, look over your shoulder, they might be closing the gap quicker than….never mind. You’re still the best in my opinion.

If you have something you would like to ask Sonny, be sure to post it in the comments below, or send it to us directly

Ask Sonny Anything… tell us about Tater Tate

Posted on December 11, 2020 by Azlyrics

Good morning Chief! I hope all finds you well and staying safe in these perilous times. In going through the many questions your fans sent this week, I’m continually reminded of the friendships, love, and respect you’ve built in your travels. It should warm your heart knowing the admiration we all hold for your contribution, will continue for decades to come – even by those who never saw you perform and/or weren’t even alive during the time you were performing. I think that speaks volumes, not only to the value of your work but your commitment to excellence. Enjoy these questions Sonny, as much as our readers have clearly enjoyed the music you’ve given all of us.

Terry Herd

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Hello Sonny. In my opinion, one of the most underrated fiddle players in the history of bluegrass music was Tater Tate. I’ve heard that he was a great singer, as well. What can you say about Tater’s playing and singing? Also, what were some of your experiences with him?

Eli P.

Eli…Thank you for joining in. You wanted to talk about Clarence Tater Tate. First off, I don’t know how he got that “Tater” nickname, but started hearing about him in the ’50s. He was working with The Bailey Brothers in Knoxville. BAILEY…CHARLIE AND DAN. I first met him in Nashville in the ’70s. After the Flatt/Scruggs split, he was playing bass with Lester….You can’t mark this down as fact…I don’t actually remember the first time I actually met him, personally. That seems about right though. Later he played fiddle or bass with Bill…actually he did whatever Bill needed and/or wanted.

Tate story, told to me by Tater on a trip to Germany and Switzerland. Approximately 1987. This happened one night in Nashville. Three o’clock in the morning. Tate is home in bed asleep when the telephone rings. He stumbles awake…Hello! Ah…Tater…(It was Mr. Bill.) what’s wrong Bill? He thought Bill had fallen. “Ah…Do you know where my razor is?” Tate, says..”I reckon it’s in the bathroom.” Bill..”Could you come over here and see if you can find it for me?” Tate…”Right now?” Bill…”Yeah, I need it.” Tate…”well, I’ll be there in about 45 minutes.” Tate lived in Hendersonville, Monroe on a farm between Goodlettsville and Gallatin. Tater got up and went to Bill’s house…went in and went straight to the bathroom, opened the medicine cabinet, and there in plain sight was????? You guessed it, Bill’s razor. Tater took the razor, handed it to Bill. Bill…”Ah..where was it? Boy I looked all over this house for it! Where’d you say it was..in the bathroom medicine cabinet? Boy I’m glad you found it, I thought sure I’d lost it!” I asked Tate what he did then. He said he went home and got back in the bed.

Tater was a very good fiddle player. Played clear, clean, true notes. He played louder than most. He told me he had lost some hearing. True? I reckon. Why else would he volunteer that information. Clarence Tate was one of the finest gentlemen you would ever want to meet! S

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Hey Sonny,

I was listening to a transcribed radio program, with advertisements from 1974. A few minutes into it, the first of the advertisements came on and it was by a favorite “country music group,” the Osborne Brothers. It was for Red Man chewing tobacco. Definitely good banjo, good music, good harmonies, and a good pitch by Bobby for Red Man chew. I know Bill Monroe and Grandpa Jones did Dr. Peppers commercials, but I just wondered how the Red Man chew gig came about.

Jim R.

Jim…thank you for taking the time to join in. We had an agent in New York, Geoff Berne, who got those commercial accounts for us, and also booked our orchestra dates. We did the Big Red chewing tobacco and one for the Chevrolet Nova automobile. They were done in New York, and that of course meant first class air…the companies paid our flight tickets..first class. I took the RB 3 banjo with me and it had a ticket for the seat beside me…yep, you heard right. It had its seat belts securely fastened.

Presently a lady came and wanted me to remove the instrument so she could sit there and converse with her friend who had the seat in front of me. She insisted and asked the flight attendant to remove the banjo. I asked for the captain. He came and after I showed the boarding pass for our two seats. The lady got real hot when he told her to move…or he would have her moved…….!

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Dear Sonny,

First, God bless you and Merry Christmas!

I was listening to you and Bobby from the day I was born (and probably even before). I have since listened to your albums multiple times and watched as many videos as I could online. I am a newbie to playing banjo and enjoy the heck out of it.

My question is, how can anyone not like banjo? It makes me happy, it makes me smile. You have said that you played a few other instruments, as do I, but nothing brings me as much joy. How can anyone NOT like banjo?

Thanks

Jerry

Jerry…. Thanks for spending some of your time with us.

Your question about ‘”how can anyone not like the banjo?”…. I’ve got a little story to tell you. We, the Brother and I, were playing a state fair in NC, I believe it was Raleigh (Dale Sledd called it ‘Rowly’). We were on the stage doing a sound check in the afternoon, in preparation for the show that night. It’s a huge auditorium and people are milling around in the back of the auditorium, and I’m at the microphone and it is turned on. At the same instant, a group of young people, white and black, are strolling across the back of the auditorium and at the same time I hit the 1st, 3rd, and 5th strings on the banjo into this hot mike. That group of about 8 kids, teenagers, stopped dead in their tracks and looked toward the stage and as fast as I could say, “they got out of Dodge”…they were out of Dodge! They ran at the sound of the banjo. So to say that some people are irritated by the sound of the banjo, that would be correct.

The banjo was my living for over 50 years and it did me quite well. However, the instrument that makes me most happy is one that I can’t play. That is the piano. I have a piano and my wife bought me an electric keyboard, and I’ve tried…I had Derek Deekins, a well-known fiddle player, come to the house and he being a very good piano player also…he tried to teach me. As I remember, he left in the middle of the first lesson…swiftly shaking his head in disgust.

So, back to the original answer…I love the banjo, always have, and it makes me happiest when Judy goes to the bank every Monday. But I would have loved it a great deal, if I could have learned how to play the piano. But, like the clawhammer banjo that Grandpa Jones tried so hard to teach me, and could not, I would imagine that Derek Deekins felt the same way as Grandpa — who didn’t speak to me for over a year. So my calling was the banjo, and it treated me nicely. Even gave me one of its best….a 1934 Granada.

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Sonny,

To say you are a great banjo player is an understatement to the level of talent and professionalism you attained in your day, but I’m wondering at what point in your journey you crossed over from being merely good — to being great? And moreover, what is the difference between a good musician and a great musician?

Thank you for the years of enjoyment and…well, for being “great.”

Bill W.

Bill.

I appreciate your kind words a lot more than you will ever know. Things like that make old 83-yr old retired people feel good.

To say I am a great banjo player is an understatement to the level of talent and professionalism I attained in my day. Now…Bill, you said that…I didn’t. But you are wondering at what point in my journey I crossed over from being merely good to being great. Again, that’s your words not mine, because I don’t look at it the same as you.

There was a point in 1957 when Earl recorded Randy Lynn Rag and made a noticeable mistake and they let it go on record like that. At that time, I was really wrapped up in Earl Scruggs and Rudy Lyle. So much that when I heard that record I realized that I needed to do something else if I was going to make this a life’s work. And so I started listening to every other kind of music and instrumentations that I could find, and then try to transpose what I heard to the banjo. In a couple of years of doing this, I had created a little thing of my own. And whether that was the decisive point, I can’t say yay or nay. I just know that it changed my way of looking at the banjo.

And you ask what is the difference between a good musician and a great musician. So if you can visualize a line of music….a good musician learns to play the crust of what he hears. A great one is one who digs down under that crust and hears all the little nuances, and complete notes and slides, etc. To me, that’s a great musician and the difference between great and good. Nothing wrong with good, but it’s a great deal like 1st place and 2nd place.

If you have something you would like to ask Sonny, be sure to post it in the comments below, or send it to us directly.

Ask Sonny Anything… tell us about the Banjo Medley

Posted on December 4, 2020 by Azlyrics

Good morning Chief, as I look out the window on our first dusting of snow here in middle Tennessee, I’ve come to the realization that your weekly trip through bluegrass’ past might best be conducted this week in a sleigh. Hoping you picked up some nice Pre-War Granadas during Amazon’s Cyber Monday sale…they were going oh so cheap. Enjoy!

Terry Herd

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With all the travel you and Bobby had, did you ever have an incident, such as in a hotel with thin walls, where someone next door complained about your banjo playing? Being a banjo player myself, it’s hard to imagine someone not enjoying the music, but not everyone appreciates the musical artistry or sound of a banjo….even a world class Granada.

Billy Joe Grundy

Billy Joe….thank you for loaning a moment of your time. You know, truthfully, I only took my banjo into a room when it was extremely hot or cold, or I needed to work on it for some reason. Strings, head, adjustment of some kind…I was never a tinkering person, and I never remember being so loud that I needed to be called down. I do remember once, in Culpeper, we found the Stanley Brothers at a motel one Sunday morning, on our way back from a date somewhere. Bobby, Benny, and I just barged in, woke Carter, Ralph, and George Shuffler up and proceeded to talk and that turned into a hymn singing. ‘Bout 25 minutes into the session, the motel guy knocked on the door and asked could we hold it down because the folks next door were there to attend a funeral and the hymns were pretty and uplifting for them, but they would like a little quiet time. I reckon we had gotten a bit loud, so we toned down, actually just stopped. Later that day we joined them at American Legion Park….that’s another story. Probably been told already.

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Hey Sonny,

I wondered if you had any good Harley Gabbard and/or Art Stamper stories? I believe they both were in your band at different points and both were characters. Love the article each week!

Wes V
Lakewood Colorado

Wes Vanderpool…thank you out there in Colorado. Folks, if you don’t know already, Wes is Kenny Vanderpool’s boy, and Kenny was Dale Vanderpool’s brother. Dale, of course was the great traditional banjo player who worked in the Larry Stephenson Band, and one of my best friends. Dale went home a few years ago and Wes has taken up the banjo and become pretty good, actually.

I can tell you a Harley Gabbard thing. Harley had not been away from home very much when he went to work with us…bout 1969 (approximately). There was a place in Rockwood, Tennessee at which we almost always stopped at if we were headed that way. The Peggy Ann Truck Stop and restaurant. They had a country cooking smorgasbord for about $3 or $4 that was very good. All you could eat…and man, Harley had not seen one of those places before and he took advantage of it…big time. He went back and filled his plate 4 (at least) times. Harley ate until he was sick and barely was able to play that night… He waddled back out to the bus and went directly to his bunk…where he stayed all afternoon.

Art was a quiet guy, didn’t say much. He could fiddle though. He was pretty well seasoned when he worked with us. He had worked and recorded with The Stanley Brothers…he played twin with Gordon Terry on our first MGM records. By the time Art was with us, he had a pretty good business going in Louisville and he couldn’t take the time away to work full time with us. Fact is, we weren’t working enough to pay him…we were just barely making it ourselves.

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It’s me again Sonny, quick question: What was the wildest show you ever performed, funny or not? God bless!!!

Jacob P.

Jacob… .welcome. There were so many times that I had rather be somewhere else. The Grand Ole Opry 1952…the White House 1973…The Grand Ole Opry 1964…Seeing Earl the first time Knoxville, TN. 1953…The Gary Burton Jazz album (Tennessee Firebird) I was asked to participate in… Neyland Stadium 105,000 crowd Alabama-Tennessee homecoming game 1987….San Antonio Texas Symphony about 1985, Grass Valley California 1987 (funniest ever) …The most frightened I guess had to be playing at The White House for President Nixon’s wife Pat’s birthday, and his crew, two weeks before Watergate broke out for real. It’s been an interesting trip…for sure!

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I have watched your Banjo Medley video on UTube many times. It is one of my favorite videos. Can you tell us a little background on the song? Did you come up with the idea of stringing these tunes together? How hard is it to play that precise for that long? You look like you are really concentrating. I love it at the end of the song when you shake your right hand and blow on your fingertips!😄

Papaw J.

Hey there Papaw….thank you for coming right on in there. Glad you could make it….Well, that medley is not a song, it’s several tunes put together. I started playing it in 1954, in Detroit… After the Saturday night show there was a square dance and sometimes those things would last 20 minutes….other than play one tune, I would switch to several and play them all the same speed…the dancers wouldn’t know the difference and for us it wouldn’t get so monotonous.

I think the original thought might have come from some old fiddle player in the ’30s… although I wouldn’t take an oath on that. Could have been…I honestly don’t know. It was a learning time for me, to try different right hand moves and try to place them in different parts of a tune. Like Lonesome Road Blues. Take a lick from that tune and put it in Sally Anne…or maybe play Cumberland Gap from the 1 to the 4 chord and back to the 1. (1 is A. 4 is D) It can get tiring but you work on that too…by concentration.

Keep telling yourself throughout, if you’re feeling fatigue in your right hand, keep telling yourself it will go away. When I got through my hand was almost cramped, but I won this time. I wished it away and it left…I got to finish the tune. Incidentally, that YouTube Medley was done in Stockholm, Sweden and I’m playing a Stelling Sonflower banjo.

If you have something you would like to ask Sonny, be sure to post it in the comments below, or send it to us directly.

Ask Sonny Anything… did you ever play clawhammer style?

Posted on November 27, 2020 by Azlyrics

Ask Sonny Anything is a recurring feature where our readers pose questions to the great Sonny Osborne, one half of the iconic Osborne Brothers who redefined bluegrass music in the 1960s, and noted banjo maven and collector of fine prewar instruments. Everyone is encouraged to pose queries of your own each week in the comments, about his history in the music, his wealth of banjo knowledge, or regarding any life advice you might be needing.

Well Chief, here you go! Welcome to your Tuesday drive through the pages of time. Enjoy the journey and have a safe and wonderful Holiday season my friend. I count it as such a blessing and privilege to be part of this thing you do every week.

Terry Herd

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Sonny,

Yesterday was Thanksgiving and I found myself thinking about you and Judy. In these pandemic times, many of us chose to forego the usual gathering of family and friends, but not our memories of past years – or our hopes and plans for future gatherings. I’m wondering if you could take us down memory lane and perhaps revisit one or more of your favorite bluegrass Thanksgiving memories?

Wendell T.

Wendell, sir…thank you for your time. Totally appreciated. Our Thanksgivings have almost always been just immediate family, which has grown over the past few years. It now consists of 11 fine folks. Daughter Karen, son Steve and his wife Jennifer, grandsons Joseph (Jessica), Matthew (Savannah), great grandson 10 year old Michael, and great grand daughter, Adalyn. Just wonderful, beautiful people.

We don’t go for the huge gatherings, with all kinds of turkey food. There is an abundance of food available, and they know they can all come at once, or just when their schedule’s permit. They have obligations too, we know that, and adjust accordingly. We are happy and thankful for their health and safety. Naturally, I wish we could see all of them more, but as I said, they have lives…we respect that and try very hard to not make any of them feel differently…how do we adjust? Simple…Christmas is just a few weeks away and they don’t show up in November, they can expect a thin December…See, that way, all the stuff (clean up) woik out!

November is a memorable month in that my Dad passed from this life on November 2, 39 years ago, on the 6th The Osborne Brothers became full time at WROL in Knoxville, JD Brock’s birthday is the 16th, Rocky Top and 20-20 Vision were recorded on the 22nd, Kennedy was murdered – we were obligated to play that night in Oxford PA…which we did. Thought there was no use going…no one would be there…wrong. We had a full house, all Amish kids.

On the 23rd, 2003 Myrtle Beach, SC, I played my beloved Granada for the last time. My left shoulder came undone. Couldn’t be repaired 100%…I would guess, about 80%. The part that was gone was the part that made it possible to move my arm to the left. Going UP the neck was no problem, it wouldn’t come back down.

Memorable dates in November… 22nd we unloaded our families, (6 at the time) at my house…Bobby and I left for Dayton to pick up Benny Birchfield, and from there we headed for California. We three had Thanksgiving dinner in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I wonder if Benny remembers that…or Bobby for that matter. We were gone 23 days…and Judy, Steve, Karen, Pat, Robbie, and Wynn….why, they had a big time all crammed into my house at 219 Harbor Drive…all the furniture was in my garage…with the exception of the refrigerator. One thing good though, when we got back we had some money, when we left we didn’t, and if we didn’t…they didn’t.
s

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Sonny,

We all know you as a proficient 3-finger style banjo picker, but did you ever learn clawhammer? Are there any particular clawhammer style pickers that you enjoy listening to or have taken inspiration from? Finally, does the clawhammer style have a place in bluegrass music?

Drew from WV

Drew. From West, By God, Virginia. Home of old route 52. Before the W.VA turnpike. It was the most treacherous stretch of highway on the planet. Best you could do was average about 30 MPH. The real fun came in the winter and snow. Beautiful state though. You see the Smokeys and you’re impressed and then you go through West Virginia and you think, I golly, these h’yer is mountains. Then by chance you go to Colorado and they take your breath away. THESE ARE MOUNTAINS…and they are.

Drew wanted to know if I ever learned to play clawhammer style banjo. No, I did not. My Dad played pretty good, but I just couldn’t get it…One night at the Opry I asked Grandpa Jones to show me how…we got in a dressing room back there at the Ryman…he with his banjo, me with mine. He told me exactly how it was done. I tried my best to get that rhythm going but I just couldn’t do it. Paw had a pretty good temper…he found it whilst sitting there. He looked up at me right wild eyed and said, “A man that can do what you do with your fingers and can’t do this!” He jumped up and stormed out of the room. He didn’t speak to me for a solid year after that. I didn’t ask him anything else about clawhammer either.

My favorite players. I have two. Mike Seeger and Merle Travis. Mike (PAMS) Snyder here at the Opry is good, but he plays more melodic style. I know, it’s good but like melodic three finger style, it just hain’t my cuppa tea. Matter of fact a thimble full would be a gallon too much. Yet I love Béla, Jens, Tony…and others who seem to know what their million notes really mean to a song…… Does it have a place in the bluegrass world? Good thought. I guess I would have to say No. It’s too closely associated with old time music.

With the media as it is, everything is right out there and available, and folks are too knowledgeable. Man, Lincoln has a million songs on/in his phone, Dan Boner has a U87 and a U47 and 1967 Chrysler, Aynsley is playing so much like Shumate you think it’s him, and all I have is a 1934 five string Granada. Woe is me….oh woe is me!!! {;-O>
s

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Hello again Mr. Sonny. I would like to know how you and Vega collaborated together to come up with your Vega banjo, or if there’s any interesting stories behind any of that? God bless!

Jacob P.

Hey, Jacob. Hello again to you. Thank you for joining into my free for all. My deal with VEGA. It started with a letter from the owner, Mr. Bill Nelson. Asking in a roundabout way if I would be interested in the Vega Company building a Sonny O model. He stated that they had dealt with Earl and would like very much to build a banjo, The Sonny Osborne model, which I would design for Vega. (Funny, everyone calls it VAGA…he owned the Company, and he called it VEEGA.) Which I do to this day.

He briefly went over the business part of the de,,l and of course I agreed. They held up their end of the deal in that they changed everything I wanted changed. Four banjos later I held in my hands a genuine Vega Sonny Osborne Model five string banjo. During the process in 1965 they sent a Pro 2, 1966 Gold one of a kind, 1966 The Fat Banjo which I used for one song…The Kind of Woman I Wanted, 1967 the finished product. Sounded pretty good. But the Gold One of a Kind was, and is the best sounding Vega banjo ever made under the Vega name. I recorded Roll Muddy River with it…pretty good sound. Shortly after that, Nelson sold the company to Martin Guitar company, thus drawing an end to The Sonny Osborne model banjo.

I’m told there were 12 made. If you can find one it will be priced in the $15,000 range. That One of a Kind Gold banjo I would guestimate it would be nearing the $100k mark.
S

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Sonny:

It’s probably safe to say that every Scruggs style banjo player in the world would like to have an old Granada like Earl’s, and the one you own. In the 1950’s when you began these instruments would have only been twenty years old or less. At what point in your career did you become aware of these great instruments and start to desire one? Were luthiers converting tenors and plectrums to five strings back then. Were folks converting tube and plate instruments to one piece flange instruments back then? Were any manufacturers, like Gibson, endorsing any professional players back then or was it just you and your wallet?

Thanks,

Mike E

Mike… .thank you for participating, I’ve been waiting for this. I was 11 years old…Earl was 24 (JD was 12). I saw a picture of Earl, poor quality photo. The banjo he was holding was the 75 he traded to Don for the Granada. It looked like an X on the first fret. Well, laugh, if you will. A dumbass 11 year old kid who had just heard the name of Earl.

I had an RB100 and I wanted to be like that, so I got some white paint and what do you think I did with it. I painted me an X on that first fret. When I bought the 3 Aaron has, well hell, I thought it was an RB4. Information was not the same then as it is now. Those Gibson Masterpieces were 20 years old in 1954, about the time I realized the difference in tone. But up until then I was only interested in playing….every note and string in it’s place. Play Play Play…play til your fingers bleed then grit your teeth and go forward…and keep on playing, practicing.

I doubt I knew the word luthier. At the Opry David Akeman (String Bean) told me my banjo wasn’t “worth a shit!” I had an RB150. He gave me an address for a man named Shorty Fincher in Hallum, PA. He had a Gibson Mastertone for sale. I bought it, with my Dad’s help. $125.00…a 1929 Raised head RB3. That would be 1953. So, by April 1955 I was more into flat head….saw the 3 Aaron has and bought it.

I was not aware even then of people converting and changing tone rings..etc. I still don’t think it’s a necessity. If you have a good one, leave it alone. Gibson in the ’50s… I wasn’t aware of endorsements, converting plectrum or tenor to five string. I was not a tinkerer. I got it to sound good and just played…left it alone and played. GOOD SUBJECT. Thank you.
S

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Hi Sonny,

I was just curious if you remember a story you told on stage years ago at Bean Blossom? This particular story would have been back in the days when you still had to park your bus up by the front gate. Due to the distance back to the stage they would transport you, your instruments, and merchandise in a white work style van that was empty in the back. Without giving the story away, lets just say it was an interesting ride for you and Bobby from the bus back to the stage in that white van one day.

I still get a kick out of this particular story to this day because the way you told the story on stage at Bean Blossom. It created a mental image for me of this particular event as you described it. If you do in fact remember what I am talking about, you thought it was hilarious as well. I remember you could hardly tell the story because you got so tickled over it. Thank you for a moment of your time sir, wish you well!

Jason B.

Jason, I have not ignored your question. There were so many funny things if I tried to single one out we would be here a while. Send a private email to me at chiefbanjo@comcast.net and remind me, and I’ll jump right on it. Man, thank you for getting in here. I appreciate you.

Send me the email now and I’ll get on it this week.
s

If you have something you would like to ask Sonny, be sure to post it in the comments below, or send it to us directly.

Ask Sonny Anything… tell us about recording with Ira Louvin

Posted on November 20, 2020 by Azlyrics

All you’ns guys and gals keep telling me, and Terry and John, that you look forward to this thing every week. Man, you don’t realize how much I love doing this little thing. It’s like waking up to another world for me to spend these days in, and you all are helping. Now, a word about The Real Deal Bluegrass Music. I have heard it the last several weeks. Lieutenant Professor Dan Boner, (ETSU) guitar, vocal, bass. Anysley Porchak, fiddle, beyond words, and Lincoln Hensley banjo and guitar. Playing Krako K1 and occasionally 1966 Gold Vega, (Roll Muddy River). They’re doing a thing every Tuesday. Sounds like the ’50s again. s

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Sonny,

I look forward to your column every week. I have been a big fan of the ‘brothers’ since I was a kid, and remember seeing you at the first festival we went to which was in Berryville, VA. Watermelon Park in 1970. Such an experience for a family from Maine striking out to the ‘wilds’ of Virginia. Can it be 50 years ago already??

I have always been a huge fan of the Louvin Brothers, thanks to my parents constantly playing their albums. I would go to sleep by Alabama or Nobody’s Darling but Mine, among so many others. Oh those vocals!! Then dad would slap on your rendition of Kentucky. Wow!!

My question is about the recording Ira Louvin did with you. I believe the album was Yesterday, Today and The Osborne Brothers and the song was Give This Message To Your Heart. Will you talk about that recording? What it was like to have Ira in the studio with you? Anything you could share about that experience would be wonderful. Did you do any other recordings with Ira?

Thanks from a Yankee gal.

RB, Maine

Hey there Yankee gal RB from Maine….Charlie and Ira were as good as it gets. We patterned our harmonies from their ideas. The way they switched and changed parts was something to hear and try to understand. Then we found a way to add that idea to our thing, and it worked wonders.

The Ira story is typical of Ira…we were rehearsing to record at a 6:00 p.m. session. We didn’t have a third guy…Red Allen would not sign a release so we couldn’t record for a year after he left. Nice guy, huh? We had Johnny Dacus playing the guitar and singing the third part, but when we left Dayton for Nashville to record for MGM, Johnny had left town, and we didn’t see him again for two years. He never mentioned a reason for his sudden departure and we didn’t either. So, we went to Nashville and the FAMOUS RED ALLEN ONE YEAR DELAY was a week or so from coming to the end of our experience with Red Allen. Bobby’s and mine were the only names to ever appear on another contract. The Red Allen era was officially over. Thankfully!

Back to the Ira story. He was in the office and heard us going over some duet songs the we had chosen to do. He came into the studio and mentioned that he had a great song for our harmony. We relayed the above predicament and he offered to sing it with us if we wanted to do the song. The song was Give This Message To Your Heart. They (THE LOUVINS) were supposed to leave at 5:00 p.m. for South Dakota. He asked if we would do his song first on the session, of course we said YES. (In harmony I bet).

Anyhow, I asked Ira what part he wanted. His reply was, “Just do your normal part and I’ll do the other one.” I’ll bet no one can tell where his part is. One half line he would be under my part and the other half would be over Bobby. Absolute genius…He got to the session and we started on time. 6:00 p.m.. Our positioning was the same. Bobby and I facing one another and Ira to my right seeing both of us. If my memory serves me right, we went through it twice and he said he had to run, and we had a masterpiece…why do I place it that high? How often would we ever get the opportunity to sing with one of our HERO people. Never happened again…that’s how often! That was 1959.
s

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Sonny, Could you comment on Allen Shelton’s style of picking? Did you know him personally? Any other tidbits about him would be welcome! Thanks.

Sam G.

Sam. Thank you for joining us today. Good question about a friend. Allen Shelton was truly an original, I first met him when I was 14 or 15. He had two things against him. Strictly my opinion of course. NUMBER One was his choice of banjo. A Gibson RB-250 was not good enough to produce what Allen put into it, wanted, and needed to hear back. I don’t know the answer, nor do I know his thoughts. I didn’t ask and he never offered. Obviously he heard something that I didn’t. He should have gotten far more recognition than he did. He deserved far more than he received.

SHELTON STORY….of which there are many. One night at the Opry he asked if he could use my banjo. I said absolutely, and he did. He explained that he had been working on his banjo and when he left for the Opry he picked up the wrong case, which contained banjo parts, etc. Jim and Jesse were leaving right after the show and I told him to stay there 30 minutes and I would bring a banjo for him to play next day, and I could be back by the time they were ready to leave and he wouldn’t have to drive to Gallatin, which I sensed he didn’t want to do anyhow. He did, and I did. Brought double 00 or a new Chief. I can’t tell you more about the missing banjo.

The second reason Allen is not held in higher esteem is because the material Jim and Jesse played was not conducive to the style banjo Allen played. More so, the mandolin style Jesse played. Jesse wrote a lot of their material. They kinda fought with one another. (Not Allen and Jesse, the mandolin and banjo) Allen was always far back in the mix on their records.

ALLEN SHELTON was one of the nicer gentlemen I have ever known. You want to know who loved Allen’s playing… Marty Robins. Marty notoriously did not like the banjo. But he and I were great friends. He told me one night, “That ole red headed boy that plays for Jim and Jesse can flat play!” I wish Marty had hired him.

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Sonny,

You’ve had some of the best singers in your band over the years such as Paul Brewster, Terry Eldridge, Ronnie Reno, and so many others.

Can you tell us how you and Bobby found them or did they seek you all out? They were all an important part of the incredible harmonies you all had.

Thanks for your time!

Sean M.

Sean M. Man you have hit on one of my favorite subjects. Benny Birchfield, Dale Sledd, Ronnie Reno, Paul Brewster, Terry Eldredge, Terry Smith, and Daryl Mosely. You couldn’t ask for any better than that group of harmony singers and guitar pickers. They were the best for and what we were trying to accomplish. In the end, we did everything we set out to do. These guys helped push us and they made us sound as good as we could sound.

To be quite honest with you, for the most part they found us. Each time we needed someone, one showed up and wanted the job. With one exception it happened this way. And, get this, each of them needed no rehearsing. They knew the lyrics to every song and they knew the harmony part they were required to do. Absolutely amazing. That’s not the way it’s supposed to happen, but it did.

I left one guy out, Robby Osborne, Bobby’s oldest son. Rob, at one time or another played electric bass, guitar, sang the third part, then we wanted him to play snare drum…that’s right “just” snare.

By adding the drum, we knew we would catch hell and we wanted to tread lightly in the beginning. Well, as time moved right along, we worked several country package shows with George Jones. Drummer for George’s band…The Jones Boys…was a great little guy named Freddie…forgive me, I don’t remember his last name. Rob is left handed and so was Freddie so naturally they became good friends. Clinton, South Carolina. Rob came to me and asked if he could play the full set on the show. I asked if he had cleared it with his Dad. He said Bobby was all in, so I told him to go ahead but DO NOT MESS UP. (I cleaned that up a little bit right there) He promised he would not, and that day he became the best Bluegrass Drummer EVER. He might have been the only one at the time.

Robby Osborne convinced me, over time, that he could do just about anything. He could too. Owned and piloted his airplane, layed brick, built a recording studio, built our on-stage sound system, Built an EMT Echo Plate..I tell you, he can do anything. Anything he sets his mind to do, Boy can do it.
s

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Hello Sonny, Zach From Edmonton Alberta CA, hope you’re doing well! I know back in the day the Osborne Brothers were played on radio stations known for country music and not bluegrass, by disc jockeys who didn’t know better. They played you boys because of the steel guitar (and perhaps drums) heard, but I wanted to ask you if given the chance would you and Bobby have switched to country music solely instead of the bluegrass/country mix you both were known for?

Thanks Sonny, take care!

Zack W.

Hey there Zack W…Welcome in h’yer. Hello to you in Edmonton. My first Chinese food was with Blaine Sprouse and JD Brock. In Edmonton. Back yonder in the ’80s. My favorite TV show is Heartland which is filmed in High River Alberta. Beautiful Alberta Canada. I love it.

Zack, I thought about the country thing quite a bit. But to do it successfully we would have to abandon the banjo completely. Then rely on Bobby’s vocal and the strength of our harmony. I wasn’t sure that we could have been as successful doing all country as we were a bluegrass band ‘gone country.’ That would have been fun to try, but by doing so our bluegrass fans would have abandoned us completely, and we were afraid of that very thing happening. And, we were selling records, drawing large enough crowds, so we did ok. I bet Bobby would agree with our decision….just keep on keeping on.
s

If you have something you would like to ask Sonny, be sure to post it in the comments below, or send it to us directly.

Ask Sonny Anything… did you ever see Bill Monroe laugh?

Posted on November 13, 2020 by Azlyrics

As we reach our 75th edition of Ask Sonny Anything, a word of thanks to all who read, share, and participate in making this column such a fun part of everyone’s week here at our little BT cabin home in cyberspace. This edition nearly missed deadline due to an unexpected appearance by Sonny’s pal Kraco. A big shoutout to Luke, Katie, and the entire Apple Business team at Cool Springs Galleria in Franklin, TN for their herculean efforts in getting us back up and running. At Sonny’s insistence, I’m including my explanation of what happened – which accompanied this week’s list of questions forwarded to him for this column.

Terry Herd

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Whew Chief, I’ve been in computer purgatory for 24 hours. Laptop died yesterday and I had to buy a new one. It was defective. No joke. They exchanged it for…yep, you guessed it ANOTHER DEFECTIVE ONE. LOL. Finally (as they say), third time was a charm. Just got everything restored about an hour ago and here we are with your new set of questions…I certainly hope you enjoy working through these more than I did wallowing in techno Hell yesterday! Hahahaha.

Terry

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Larry Stephenson (Larry Stephenson Band) asked me a question a couple weeks ago that I’m kinda reluctant to get into because it becomes a personal thing which in reality is nobody’s bidness! The question had to do with keeping a good band together during this Chinese Breakdown Virus we are all suffering through as best we can.

Ok…the question was this: “Who, and how many band leaders were able to keep their bands together during this trying time when no one worked much of anything.” I ran this question by several people and got basically the same response from nearly all. “What could we do? There were no places to work, crowds were not suggested, actually no gatherings of over 10.” The folks who could afford it, paid their band members….at a reduced rate, which was expected… most would not, and did not elaborate. Insinuating that it wasn’t anyone’s affair how they ran their business.

So, I found the longest being paid was through May of 2020. How many band leaders did this? ONE. This was designed to create some sort of loyalty amongst the aforementioned band members. Which I’m sure it did…I imagine there were a precious few grateful pickers right there…you reckon? I bet when this is all said and done, returned to normal, the folks who had the jobs, were welcomed back. At the time though, the fact was, like all of us musician or not, what else could we do but get a job, anywhere any kind of job was available. etc, etc.

Bottom line…support yourself and/or your family as best you can. It appears that people are trying to get back to a semblance of a normal existence, it may be returning. Personally, I think it will take a very long time getting back to the worry free existence we enjoyed in the past. We didn’t know how good we had it. We were living the good life, and it was not known…by most.
s

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Dear Sonny,

It’s been a pleasure to read this column of yours every Friday. Your memory, expertise, and feedback are all a treasure to the bluegrass world.

My question to you pertains to another famed prewar RB-Granada banjo, this one owned for a period of time by the great Buddy Rose. Serial #9526-13. The story for years goes that Buddy, in an effort to increase the tone and volume of his Granada, took his DeWalt drill to the holes in the tonering, enlarging them as a result. I’ve heard clips of him playing this banjo with the Sauceman Brothers, and it’s a mighty fine sounding banjo, and Buddy Rose is as underrated a player as they come.

Would you point to this as an example of the average banjo player always looking for ways to improve the perceived tone of their instrument? Here was a bonafide Holy Grail banjo and he thought that it could sound better.

Thank you for doing this column; long live Sonny Osborne!

– Andy in NC

Andy…I loved North Carolina.. except Dean Smith and his four corners offense and his ability to beat Kentucky basketball. GRRRR!

I don’t have the particulars concerning Bud’s Granada. Do you know if he was the one who enlarged the holes in his tone ring? I remember hearing about that banjo with the enlarged tone ring holes. However I never heard who actually did the deed.

Bud was a gifted player, but I can’t say as much for his sound engineering ability. In today’s market, he made a $300,000 banjo into a $100,000 banjo. Rudy Lyle, who recorded many tunes with Bill Monroe in the early ’50s had an original Wreath Pattern RB3. I always thought that banjo sounded terrible when Rudy played it on the Monroe recordings. I found out later, the tone ring had been drilled to add 20 more holes to the great original tone ring. That completely destroyed a beautiful banjo. I don’t quite understand the reasoning here.

My Granada, Earl’s Granada both were loud, I don’t know about JD’s banjo, but I’d bet it was loud enough. I know where there’s another Granada, original 5 string…some clown has drilled 20 more holes. Andy, that’s the part I don’t quite get. To me, the Granada was the Gibson Masterpiece. BEST OF THE BEST. What is it that could possibly be better.

Hey, I have some more information on the Bud Rose banjo. My friend and Brother, Jerry Keys, great banjo player himself…knew Bud, and passes this along. Doesn’t remember the driller, knows that Bud had it nickel plated. After Bud passed from this life, his family sold it to Gordon Reid who lives here in Nashville. Brother Steve Huber, another great banjo player and builder, plated it back to gold a few years ago. So, my friends and brothers of the banjo….That’s the rest of the story.
s

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Sonny:

I’ve watched several Osborne Brothers performances and always noticed you had a good sense of humor, always smiling and joking and having fun on stage. On the other side of the coin Monroe always seemed pretty serious. Did Bill have a good sense of humor, and did you ever see him really laugh hard?

Hoskins S.

Hoskins S….Thank you for sharing a bit of your time. I’m always laughing and seemingly having a good time. Well, look at it this way. I’m a little overweight, and surely ain’t gonna win any beauty contests…so funny is all that’s left. I try to be funny, and sometimes fail miserably. So, the banjo is left, but every time I look at it for help, what do you think pops up…Stupid KRAKO. No win situation. I do try though.

Bill Monroe. Did I ever see him just get ripped right out of the frame? Not really. I’ve seen him laugh, but a fall out on the floor funny, I would have to say no. If one of us did something stupid, like getting stopped for speeding…90 in a 50 zone, 14 and no drivers license, like going to jail. He thought that was funny. I even thought the funny part was that he sat right there and told the officer that he didn’t know I was 14 with no license…Yeah, right…”he didn’t know!” Give me a break!!! Funny, yeah, as the cell door closed…that was funny. Ha Ha Ha.

Hey Carlton P… You asked the same thing basically so I’ll try to answer it. Talking about humor and Bill Monroe. Bill Monroe’s bus was the joke. I never rode on The Bluegrass Special. I don’t think I was ever invited to take the tour. Dana Cupp could relate some stories though. One was Bill played solitaire constantly. And, according to Dana, Bill played so that he always won. That’s hard to do, if you play it straight.

There was one incident concerning John Madden, Dana Cupp, and Bill’s bus. Dana was driving at this particular time. The bus was at the entrance of this rather plush hotel. They were waiting for someone to get on the bus, ready to leave. Get this picture now, Coach John Madden is standing by the curb waiting for his ride. Bill’s bus was ready to leave. So, on the floor beside the driver are two plunger switches. One is the emergency, or parking brake…the other is the release valve for the holding tank. HOLDING TANK? You might ask. It is a 50-100 gallon tank designed to hold waste water, sinks, and bathroom waste. When Dana started to leave, he pulled the plunger switch for what he thought was the emergency-parking breaks…WRONG…he pulled the waste water (etc.) and many gallons of waste water came out and guess who it soaked quite thoroughly. If you said John Madden, head coach of The Oakland Raiders NFL Football team,…you would be right. Dana said he quickly released the brakes and got the hell out of Dodge. Bill was looking out the window and as they moved away from the hotel entrance, not realizing that the chemically treated waste water was coming from his bus, was heard to comment…”Oh, look at that pretty blue water!”

Now, I won’t swear on this all being true, but I’m telling it like it was told to me. I wasn’t there so honestly, is it all true, can’t say for sure…but it was a good story, wouldn’t you agree. Good reading, huh?
s

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Sonny, I really enjoy your column each week. Thank you for your contributions to the bluegrass industry. My question is, have you or are you interested in writing a book of your life experiences in bluegrass. You have such a remarkable memory it would definitely be a shame for all your knowledge to be lost. I for one would love to buy a book. Thanks again.

Lanier L.

Lanier a book was once, about 10 years ago a top priority. It was the idea of a good banjo player, an attorney, very good friend…among a dozen other accomplishments. SCOTT STREET. Just a great human being. Had he lived the book would have been out for a number of years. But unfortunately such was not the plan. I lost a good friend. Several people asked to finish it but unavoidable circumstances made the book an impossible task for several people so, the box of contents sits in my attorney’s office waiting to be brought home to wait a generation or two, or three from now when……?
s

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Sonny, do you have any memories/stories from the album Tennessee Firebird with vibraphonist Gary Burton? Particularly about the title song or just the vibe of the session? I think that was one of the first attempts to mix jazz sensibilities with country/bluegrass sounds. Thanks for your reply and love your playing… best…

Orville J

Orville…thank you for asking. I appreciate your time. Tennessee Firebird was a project from the mind of Gary Burton. Genius musician and surely one of the greatest Vibraphone players ever, or at least the best I was ever to come in contact with. You might ask; “How many Vibe players have you seen in person?” Well, leta me see hyer…none…would be close..oh no…answer is one. Genius named Gary Burton.

Every great player in Nashville was there for that fusion of jazz, country, bluegrass and I won’t attempt to understand why I was called nor what to call the outcome. Mr. Burton asked me after the first cut, “Well, what do you think, sound ok?” My answer was, “I have no idea. You tell me!” Things were going along pretty well, until the drum guy and saxophone guy came full volume and from that point on, it was purely a matter of concentration, and silently praying that you make it to the end of this tune, whatever and whenever that will be. Thankfully they faded the ending. The jazz guys were all high fiving each other, The country guys were saying “Yeah man” and the bluegrass guy was putting his banjo in the case and trying to find the exit….OK. That was good reading.

Truth is, it was a trying experience for we who had not been exposed to live jazz, but I’ll bet not one would have missed it for the world, me among them. I wouldn’t choose to do it again, but if I were asked, I most certainly would shout “YES, WHERE DO I SIGN.” Quite an honor it was, to be included. I’m reasonably sure that all present would agree.
s

If you have something you would like to ask Sonny, be sure to post it in the comments below, or send it to us directly.

Ask Sonny Anything… why did Bill Monroe scratch up his mandolin so bad?

Posted on November 6, 2020 by Azlyrics

Sonny my dad is Boyce Edwards. I am the youngest of his daughters. I remember him playing fiddle with you and Bobby. My question is do you know of any songs that you guys recorded with him playing the fiddle? I love all your guy’s music. And people don’t believe me when I say I know you all…lol. But I’m trying to get any albums that he’s playing on while he was playing in different bands. And I remember him saying with you and Sonny the most. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Judy H.

Judy….Nice name. My wife has the same one. Welcome to our weakly get together. A good time is had by all…mostly! We do try.

To get to your question. Boyce Edwards played the fiddle with us when his work would permit. On some weekends he would go with us when we played the WWVA Jamboree in Wheeling, WVA. Sometimes, his Brother Billy would also go and play bass. At those times, we would appear to have a full band. {;-0> Which was a joke within itself…We just barely could afford us…what was it Roger Miller said..’We were so broke we could barely pay attention!’

When we recorded it was always during the week and in Nashville. We would be gone for most of a week so that would eliminate Boyce doing any recording with us. I remember those two so well.

Did you know that your uncle Bill was terrified of tunnels? He would hide his face if you went through one. And, did Boyce ever tell you about the time on the stage of The Worlds Original Jamboree which is how they would do their publicity for the WWVA Jamboree. Sounds pretty good.

My mind just wandered…but I’m back now…Bobby, Red, and I are singing Precious Memories, a Gospel song, and we heard this cracking noise. It came from our right, in the neighborhood of where your Dad (Boyce) would be standing. He had dropped his fiddle bow and was on the way, bending over, to pick it up. If you can visualize this, he was in the process of picking the fiddle bow up from the floor and was looking up at us and at the same time his hand was feeling all over a 12 inch area of the stage of The Worlds Original……! You get the idea I reckon. One of the funniest things to ever happen. If you knew Boyce, he was one of the nicest people you would ever meet…but, if you asked him anything you had better be ready for a direct answer. We thought the world of Boyce and Bill Edwards.

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Sonny, much attention and admiration, and rightly so has been given to Bobby’s wonderful voice. However, you had a very good voice too. Sometimes I think fans overlook that and mostly focus on you as a banjo player; which is understandable because you are one of the greats.

My question: what was the highest and hardest notes you had to sing to give Bobby the harmony he needed? I have heard you hit many F and F# notes. Did you ever have to sing higher? G, G#? Anything you can tell us about you as a singer would be appreciated.

Neil – Cleveland, NC

Neil…Wow, you came right on in there didn’t you. The highest notes I was required to hit would be on the ending of Sweet Thing…The third note, second line of the bridge of Take This Hammer…(Note: I sang the high, tenor on the first two lines of the bridge) and quite possibly an A flat or A note on Never Grow Old. Maybe a note on Give This Message To Your Heart.

Man, you bring up a good subject here because, you made me think about it some, That’s something we never talked about. Where best we could play it, is where we sang it, so I’m not sure there was a limit. It was just where we sang it and my job was to sing my harmony note, as was EL, Smitty, Daryl, Paul Brewster, Dale, Benny and Ronnie to sing their note. Of course, when we grew older it became more of an issue that when we were 40 years old.

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Hi Sonny,

I’ve been going to Bean Blossom (June & September) for 29 consecutive years. I remember when Bill (Monroe) would make Dana Cupp do the MC work. It seemed Dana was always looking at his watch, but Bill didn’t care!! Did Dana ever share any stories when he did the MC work?

What memory of Bean Blossom or Bill sticks out in your mind?

I enjoy your column and hold the Osborne Brothers as one of the tops in bluegrass. I’m happy to say I’ve enjoyed several shows 🙂

Thanks for your time,

Randy P.

Randy… glad to hear from you. I appreciate your presence. Thank you for participating.

You asked about something that would have occurred while Dana was doing MC work. I don’t remember Dana saying anything that would have happened during his time doing that job, other than doing it free. Saving Birch an MC fee. However, there was a Terry Smith thing that happened that was quite funny, at least it was when it happened. I wasn’t there but I knew Bill, and the Monroe’s pretty well.

So Terry and Archie Martin were supposed to bring the mules pulling a wagon by the stage while Bill sang The Mule Skinner Blues. Very thoughtful added thingy. They did their chore on the first show but surely he wouldn’t do the Mule thing on the second go ’round. But he did. So they were out by the park entrance and heard Bill do The Mule. They hurried and got the wagon hooked up, but by the time they got to the stage with the wagon, Bill was singing “There’s an Old, Old House,” so here comes young Terry Smith and Archie Martin herding the Mules and wagon by the stage. The story goes that he didn’t say a word about the wagon or Mules, that was completely out of character for Bill…truth be known I would bet a few greenbacks that someone got chastised for doing their job, or the lack of….!

I’m fortunate to have known Bill, and several parts of his family, although I was a 14 year old child who certainly didn’t belong there, musically or mentally. But I was. I will never know why the good Lord put me in that position, but he did.

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Sonny, Back when you worked for Bill Monroe, you were playing in Kingsport, TN. You said you went out back and Mr. Monroe was scratching his mandolin all over. What did he use to do this with and why was he doing that?

Mark K.

Hey Mark…Thanks for joining us. Sit right over there by the fire and tell me your story…(ask me anything) by golly!

There are conflicting stories about this incident. I remember Jimmy Martin, and perhaps Charlie Cline, and going to eat between shows. We were playing at a theater in Grundy, Virginia. When we got back we heard this scraping noise as we got closer to the back stage area. Bill was scraping the front of the mandolin with a small knife. Neither of us had the nerve to ask him what he was doing, but that’s the story of what I saw.

Some have said they saw him using a bottle cap, piece of glass, etc. Everything short of a shotgun with bird shot in it. I can only tell you what I saw. If Frog or Charlie were here they would tell you the same…or maybe they wouldn’t. That would depend.

Sometime later, in my house in Dayton, Ohio, I heard Bill tell my Dad, who had nerve enough to ask; “Why did you scrape the finish off your mandolin and take the Gibson name out of the peg head.” Bill said, and I quote: “I did it to keep people from asking to let them see, hold, and/or play it. Now what they see is an ugly THE Mandolin. People don’t want to see it no more.” End of quote and story. I know this is true because I was standing right beside them, in our dining room, on our farm, on Olt Road, off Dayton Farmersville Road, which is off Germantown Pike…a few miles West of Dayton. That happened!

Fast forward to 1980s. I bought my Granada banjo from Tom McKinney for a staggering $5,000. It was quickly being called he best of the best, and people wanted to see, hold, and play it, but other than tear my inlay or the peg head up with a pocket knife, I just insulted several people and said no. Politely I might add. Folks don’t ask a mechanic to see his tools, or a carpenter his golden hammer. I looked at it as my work tool. Now, end of story.

—–

Sonny, I know Carlton Haney was quite a personality!

Could you tell some favorite stories about yours and Bobby’s interactions with him?

Sammy D

Sammy. Have you got several days? First though, thank you for participating in our free for all. Without all you guys and girls, this wouldn’t happen. I appreciate that. I love doing it…you probably know that. Thanks to Terry and John.

Carlton Haney… Interesting man. My friend. Weird ideas. Some good, some not so good. He was using his brain in the God given sense it was given. Aren’t we, as musicians, given the same thing? In our world it’s called talent. Some ideas (called licks) work and some do not.

If not for Carlton Haney, the time period from about 1960 to the late ’80s would have been many more hungry days for us without the bluegrass festivals, ‘twould have been a different era than it was. So, like Earl, Rudy, Benny, Monroe, and more who used their “talent” to create something, so did Carlton. He booked The Brothers at Luray Virginia, Maybe 1962-63…and between shows we went to a restaurant and Carlton sat there and told us of his idea of booking every bluegrass band and have it happen at Berryville, or Culpeper…We laughed at his plan, told him that they would kill one another.

In those days there was jealousy galore between bands…the haves and the have nots. The haves were few and far between. BUT THEN…Friday, September 3-4-5, 1965, Fincastle, Virginia…The first Bluegrass Festival happened and Carlton was the dude that made it happen. We didn’t play the first one, we were playing in Texas, although we were on the list of entertainers scheduled to appear.

So, we, as musicians who create music, the same happened with the festival. We create, others replicate. Carlton Haney created, and VOILA, within a few summers there was a festival everywhere. We have worked huge festivals in Japan, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Beautiful Canada and more. The Carlton Haney idea gave us all a lucrative business in which we could survive, and the more creative would thrive. Thank you Lord, please take care of Carlton. Amen.

Hey, Enough for now. If you want to hear more Carlton, let us know. I’ll talk.

If you have something you would like to ask Sonny, be sure to post it in the comments below, or send it to us directly.

Ask Sonny Anything… did you ever work with Grandpa Jones?

Posted on October 30, 2020 by Azlyrics

Jamie Grascal Johnson, formerly of The Grascals, (I bet you guessed that didn’t you) wanted to know if I knew Claude Stewart. Maybe his whereabouts. I believe he has passed from this life. But yes, I knew him around the Dayton area when I first began my Journey with the Banjo. Claude was the mandolin player in the first little band in which I played. Claude Stewart, Jerry Williams, Carl Eldredge, and me. The very first time I played on the radio…WPFB in Middletown Ohio…they were doing a remote from a clothing store in Miamisburg, Ohio, Bout 1949-51. I was scared. Funny, wonder what it is you’re scared of. Reckon I was afraid KRAKO was gonna jump out of the radio and do things???
s

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Sonny… I read your description about playing with the symphony and got a good laugh. My question has to do with bridging the gap between the formal music world and bluegrass. Bluegrass seems to struggle getting booked into places like Art Centers because they think it’s beneath them…except when they need your services for free for a fundraiser. Have you ever been snubbed other than that symphony experience?

Nigel W.

Nigel, come in and sit right there. If I don’t answer your question specifically, I promise I will next week. Please bear with me while I relive that San Antonio experience. I’m not proud of that, but you must understand the strain and stress we were under at the time. And when we started playing, I guess they had never heard such garbage that they were being asked to play…being downgraded…I mean with all the hours they spent learning to read what is put in front of them, and up there stands five people playing funny sounding “music” (or some would call it that), and they’re just standing there, without music…and they are going what does “that garbage” have to do with us?

The violin section was right behind me, and they laughed. All this was going through my mind and I couldn’t take it any more. A gasket in my brain blew!!

I really don’t see that gap being closed because it is really so involved. We were lucky that we knew BUDDY SPICHER, AND HE KNEW KRIS WILKENSON. The expense to do all they did for us was staggering. And before a performance are rehearsals. *80+ people get paid for that too.

So, I don’t think the bluegrass world will ever have the desire to co-exist with formal music…just that, It’s much too involved. We like to have Raymond park the bus as close to the back door as possible, he gets his “plunder” out and sets it up, we “get dressed” go do our show, (yell at the sound person) do autographs at the “Plunder table,” and while they are tearing down, I go get paid, get back on the bus and Raymond takes us to the next day. Simple.

We Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, Kentucky, Kansas, Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Tennessee, Georgia….that type old boys…I don’t know if we want the challenge, to bridge that gap. What do you think? ‘Course, nowadays there is so much sophisticism (that ain’t a word) it might…could happen, I reckon!
s

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Sonny, I’m sure this happened pretty often but were there times, do you recall, when Bobby sang a note in a live performance that dropped your jaw? I thought the show in Japan (Country Gold – YouTube) was exceptional. Another example that caught me by surprise was a live performance of Ruby. Instead of hitting the high D in falsetto Bobby hit it in full voice.

Neil
Cleveland, NC

Neil, we got plenty room, thank you for taking the time to be with us today. Bobby and his voice…man, he did that to us thousands of times. He was simply the best. I know this is like me bragging … or anything else you can come up with.

Tell you what, I have approximately 70 albums that are proof. Brother was in a world of 1. Funny, when this happened, you could hear Terry Eldredge, or one of the others say Golly…(cleaned up a little) really more like “Damn,” or just a laugh. I just looked at him. Really, you know…I don’t think he had a limit.

I remember when we recorded Mule Skinner Blues, He asked me where the old man…Monroe…did it, I told him G. He said let’s do it in A. We recorded it in A. It’s higher, yes. That’s for his ego. But for reality he’s doing it higher but he isn’t losing quality, or tone…Paul Williams and Ira Louvin retained their tone. My opinion…. s

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Sonny, thanks so much for explaining the studio layout. You’ve got a great memory—and those have got to be some favorite memories, too! Could I ask just a few more details?

1) In the older sessions, did you use the same triangle vocal setup, and would I be right to guess in those early sessions the third singer played guitar?

2) Was a click-track used, and if so, about when did that start? Finally:

3) Were headphones used by anybody? Many thanks.

Sandy R.

—–

Sandy, Going back to the Jimmy Martin days, no we did not, Red Harley Allen, Yes we did. After that, about 1959…we started using that configuration exclusively, I don’t remember our studio setup during the time on MGM with John Slagle (Jimmy Brown) period.

When we recorded with Benny Birchfield, yes, we used it from that time, 1963 to 2005. Benny, Dale, Ronnie Reno, Paul Brewster and Terry Eldredge all played the guitar except on a difficult song. Ronnie Reno played some mandolin twin with Bobby.

I remember one thing, I believe it was on Son of a Sawmill Man, Ronnie played rhythm on the mandolin. During the mid ’60s is when we got into using the Neuman U87 microphones, for vocal, my banjo and Bobby’s mandolin. Hal Rugg on steel, Grady Martin and Leon Rhodes on electric guitars, Ray Edenton rhythm guitar, Buddy Spicher, Vassar Clements, and Willie Ackerman on drums, and Hargis (pig) Robinson on piano periodically all used head phones, but as a rule, it was all recorded live and, we never used a click track.
s

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Hello Mr. Sonny, my name is Jacob Pattison. I met you in Canton, Texas years ago. I know you said you worked with Stringbean years ago, did you ever work with Grandpa and if you did, do you have a Grandpa story to share? Thank you so much for sharing these stories with us! God Bless!

Jacob

Jacob….Thank you for the entering the gang of “know everything.” Was Canton the place where I had the ceiling fan ordeal???? Oh well, yes we worked some with Beans…and a few dates with Grandpa Jones.

Mark, Pa’s son, told a funny story about he and his dad putting fence up on their property. When they got it finished they discovered the Jeep was inside the fenced in area, and there was no gate. Pa was not happy.

We played a date with the Great Grandpa Jones in Watertown, Tennessee I believe at the fairgrounds. The stage was set up on the infield and the crowd was in the bleachers. A track was around the infield, which put it between the entertainment stage and the crowd. While Pa was on, a lady was exercising her horse by riding around the track. Wouldn’t you know, that horse stopped right directly in front of Grandpa Jones and relieved herself by unloading at least 5 gallons right there…you might ask, “what did Grandpa Jones say?”….so use your imagination. Oh my goodness, was he mad!!!!!!
s

If you have something you would like to ask Sonny, be sure to post it in the comments below, or send it to us directly.

Ask Sonny Anything… tell us about working with the symphony

Posted on October 23, 2020 by Azlyrics

Chief,

Can you tell us about the recording of Gal You’ve Got A Job to Do? How did the song come about?

Jarrod C

Jarrod…come on in hyer boy…who wrote Gal You Got A Job To Do? Sorry to say I don’t know and couldn’t find out. I can tell you it was recorded in 1968 at Bradley’s Barn Studio and it was sent to, and given to us by Teddy Wilburn. I was asked to use a sort of black dialect which I regretted. It’s poking fun at someone for the way they talk, if you’ve ever heard me talk, my God they oughta be making fun of me.

I got to thinking about that after it was recorded, however, once it goes on tape you don’t have any more to say about it, or at least that’s how it was inn 1968. Consequently, we never performed that song. I’m sorry I did it the way I did!

—–

Sonny, I’m from Georgia but living in Breathitt Co, KY. I noticed you always call your close friends “Brother.” Just curious, is that a Masonic reference? Love y’all’s music. It’s a part of my life.

Tommy

Tommy….come in and park right over here…Thank you for asking. Calling friends Brother came originally from a great friend and follower named “Cadillac Jack Collins.” Always drove a sharp Cadillac and followed us around. He called Bobby brother…always referred to Bobby as “BROTHER.” It just started with Jack and eventually everyone in our band started referring to Bobby as Brother. Including me. It’s not a Masonic, or anything else related to anything. I kinda like it, so I’ll keep right on as long as no one is offended….in that case, I’ll just keep on doing it.

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Sonny:

In the modern era of banjo equipment a player has the choice of hundreds of different products from bridges, to strings, to capos, to heads, etc. Could you comment on what was available when you started to play professionally? I have heard that playing with a hide head makes it difficult to keep the banjo in tune. What kind of banjo equipment did you use back then, and what was available? I have heard that you could even buy banjo strings in drug stores back in the day. Did you ever struggle to find strings or break a string and not have a replacement and have to use one of Bobby’s mandolin strings?

Thanks, Mike

Mike. Thank you for joining us. You are correct, this day and time, people who want to learn to play have everything a person would need to become a great player, if they want to apply the time. Back in the day, not so. We had nothing but Gibson ropes and Rogers 3 star heads…which were a complete pain to even try and have your banjo sound half way decent.

It seemed as though one degree of temp change would have an astounding affect on that very expensive 3 star head. Grover bridges was about it, until Silvio Feretti in Italy (builds great banjo bridges), Remo and KRAKO, saved the day. Don’t laugh, Derek Vaden (Larry Stephenson Band,) Lincoln Hensley, Lizzy (Elizebeth) Long (Little Roy and Lizzy). They’re playing Krako. They are good banjos. Don’t look like much but will sound better than anything since 1934. I just had to say that.

I digress…sorry. The plastic head arrived…must be ’60 or ’61. Earl told me that a feller would never have to buy another head, which was about the truth. We had Gibson, Black Diamond, Mapes, and a couple more for strings. On Sunday if you broke one and couldn’t tie it back, you got out to find a drug store and get a set of Bell Brand Strings. Yep, a drug store. We guessed at the tightness (No drum Dial) of that $26.00 Rogers head, sometimes lay the banjo in the back window so it could get dry from the sun. Gibson Mastertones were selling for as much as $75.00…that’s true, I paid (my Dad) $125 for one…later Butch paid $5700 for an RB 4. I’ve heard of one now priced at 1.2 mil. The times they are a changing.

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Hi there Sonny.

I remember a while back you had said you’d get into discussing the symphony work that the band did at some other time. …is now a good time? I’m curious as to how that all started and any other bits of info you’d like to pass on.

It’s always a pleasure hearing what you have to say.

Ayns

Ayns…thank you for your time. Folks…Aynsley Porchak is a great fiddle player. Ayns, Lincoln Hensley, and Lieutenant Dan Boner are playing some great East Tennessee Bluegrass Music.

Now is as good as any to tell my gruesome story. It all started back in ‘22, yep it’s all coming back to me now…. I was born in ‘37…no, forget all that. The whole orchestra idea came from The McClain Family Band. They were to do a date in Indianapolis with the symphony, and I was just full of curiosity on just how that worked, and how I could apply that to The Brothers. Understand though, I had NO idea of the amount of protocol that was involved…but it was so intriguing to me, and a huge challenge, that after seeing the crowd and the response they received, I just had to check it out.

I called Raymond and set up a meeting with the McClains, and off I went to their home in Berea Kentucky, with about 100 questions. They were kind enough to tell me what I needed to know. I contacted Buddy Spicher, and he in turn contacted Chris Wilkenson, both who were former members of the Nashville Symphony. I’m making a very long story into a much shorter one. We had a meeting in which all was explained to them both, and they agreed to write the music for 7 songs…actually it’s called The Score. This is such a complex ordeal…if I told you all of it you wouldn’t continue reading…I would venture to say that half of you have already went about doing something else. Oh well. IT says ASK ANYTHING.

Then, I called Geoff Berne and asked him to be our “Symphony Agent.” So, a bunch of rehearsals with our band and Buddy/Chris and dozens of problems solved. All except one monster…. None of us read music…Bad news…so you improvise…right? So I did. It was at this point that it dawned on me just how sharp the conductor had to be. See, each member has what he plays…and we’re talking about 50-100 people. The conductor guy must know all the parts and be able to ….never mind that…just ..Keep in mind that if you make one blunder then you have what they call “A Train Wreck!” So we had a deal.

I devised a system where I counted the number of banjo licks between line one and two, nodded to Bobby, he watched me so he would come in at the right time, the other guys watched Bobby and so they knew when to come in. So, we’re ready to try it out though scared shitless! (I bet you know how that is.)

We did about 20 of these dates from children’s orchestras to San Antonio, Texas. The real deal. Man, they were good. James Saderas was the MAN. Conductor. The violin section was right behind me. In rehearsal, when we started playing, they giggled. I took it as long as could. I stopped and verbally unloaded on them. I ended the profanity laced tirade by saying “when you make a record that becomes a state song and 6 million people buy the record, then you M….f…..ers may laugh, until then, shut the f…up and work at doing your jobs!” They looked at Mr. Saderas and he said, “Don’t look at me…shut the f… up and do your jobs…tap tap..LINE 21!”

When Blaine Sprouse and JD Brock finished their rendition of an electric bass solo, and then Blaine killed ‘em with The Orange Blossom Special, this bunch that giggled…. and the audience, stood…the next night at the performance. So we figured that was a good place, there in sight of The Alamo, to call a close to that experiment.

Wait, we had one more on the books to do. That would be Owensboro, Kentucky. Heavily promoted. I was told that we had 18,000 souls there that night. I know that standing on the stage you could look left and see people, look in front of us and you could see more people, then look to the right and you saw more people. I know, there was a bunch of folks there that night. Wish you could have been there! Hit was a site, brother…I sware hit wuz!!!!!

Oh, one other thing I wanted to tell you is how we did our show. We were to do 45 minutes. We had 7 songs written. We went on and played a few, then did one or two with the orchestra…then a couple more alone. And more of the same ending with Rocky Top. Man, I was glad that phase was over.

If you have something you would like to ask Sonny, be sure to post it in the comments below, or send it to us directly

Ask Sonny Anything… you are missing the boat on Billy Strings

Posted on October 9, 2020 by Azlyrics

Hello Brother Sonny!!! I spend some time on you tube and watch old footage of “The Brothers,” and lament the fact that I never got to see you all live. Well Thanks for your contribution to the greatest music in the greatest Era.

I was wondering your thoughts about the soul of bluegrass music. The music is an outpouring of a musicians life and upbringing and beliefs and struggles etc. Can a man (or woman) brought up in today’s world have the same “purity of stuff” in the soul to produce genuine bluegrass. I guess it might never be the same as it was because the world has changed so much????

Also, do you think Don Reno was a better guitar player than a banjo player (not putting down his banjo playing of course) He was just a darn good guitar man. Also did you ever jam any or run across Doc Watson on the road ?? Thanks.

John E.

Hey my Brother John, I welcome you in. Glad you’re participating in our little To Do! I knew Doc Watson and we worked several places with Doc, but we never played a note with him, sorry to say. I respected his playing and Raymond E Huffmaster loved Doc’s playing. The soul of Bluegrass Music. I am grateful to my God to have let me live during the greatest era of real Bluegrass Music. We were there when it started, thankfully able to participate, and I’m afraid we saw that era pass.

You’re right it comes from folks who were brought up during a time when life was much different than now. The ’30s, ’40s and even into the ’50s, didn’t have the technical advantages as young folks have now. Only a few being cell phones, internet, being able to call anywhere free, and the ability to find the answer to darn near anything in seconds… and then musically, the ability to slow down an original banjo break or idea that came right out of someone’s head, why… they can slow that down to one note at a time and be able to do it in record time… I mean like minutes instead of days or months. So that takes originality right on out of playing an instrument.

People never heard of Rudy Lyle, one of the great innovators ever… when it comes to doing completely different things on a five string banjo…. and I simply must say that banjo tone and/or setup escaped him, but up until 1954, before going into military, his ability to innovate was mighty good. I would be inclined to agree with you that it will never be the same because our world has changed.

Was Don Reno a better guitar player than banjo? I will not answer that the way you asked or maybe expect, but I will say this… can I say this…. He recorded Home Sweet Home and played every instrument and sang all the parts. And, the banjo didn’t have D tuners. I hope that answers your question. Don Reno was one hell of a musician, singer, songwriter, and one of the best, closest friends this old man ever had…and I miss him! s

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Hi Sonny, glad you’re doing OK again.

Back in the late 1980s or early 1990s you were booked on a new bluegrass festival in the eastern Pennsylvania country. Wilma Lee Cooper and Ricky Skaggs were also booked. We New Englanders and New Yorkers were eager to support a new bluegrass festival so we hauled our campers out to this brand newly prepared festival site in a big pasture. I wish I could remember the name of the town.

Anyway, a very small crowd showed up; I guess advertising was neglected. We were stunned to see a HUGE brand new wooden stage as big as a respectable barn, or maybe Shakespeare’s old Globe Theater. The buzz was, it had been a requirement of Skaggs’ contract or some such thing. Well the show went on to a SMALL crowd. I remember the lady promoter was in tears to have Wilma Lee on her stage. By the time you and Bobby took the stage the word had gone ’round the promoter had gone bust and only Wilma Lee was getting paid, or something like that. You all took the stage looking mad as wet hens and announced you would play both of your scheduled sets, but back-to-back, for your fans, and then would be leaving.

As far as the crowd knew, you had been stiffed. But you hung in there for your fans and did a 90 minute full show that was great. We in the crowd had a lot of respect for your good attitude toward the fans.

If you can remember that event, any comments on it, or similar experiences of satisfying your fans in a bad situation?

Thanks, Dick in New York

Come right on in Dick. We have plenty room. Now, I don’t remember the town in Pennsylvania but I do remember the place, the massive stage, and time.

The woman who booked the date just ran out of money and didn’t advertise…. I mean at all. I will have to rely on your memory about who played and seems like one, Wilma or Skaggs refused to go on… may be wrong. I know I discussed it with Bobby and we decided to do our shows for the 20 folks who were there.

The lady was in tears… but she just ran out of money. We all do sometimes. I felt sorry for her, she was so disappointed. That wasn’t the only time that was to happen, so be it… it is what it is.

Once we played In Georgia and the guy just said, “boys, I don’t have all of it. I think he gave me $300 and told us to take all the hot dogs, buns, and everything else we wanted from the concession stand. We did… we left there with quite a load. I think I remember the guy’s name because I went to school in Ohio with a kid… 5th and 6th grades… with the same name. John Cable. Never forget it!

Once in a place outside San Diego we had a pretty good crowd and the guy left between shows… with the money. Folks, it ain’t all peaches and cream, but when everything is right and hitting on all cylinders, man, it takes you to another world. To be on the stage with Gene Wooten, Terry Smith, Terry Eldredge, David Crow, every night for about 13 years, and the likes of Benny Birchfield, Ronnie Blackwell, Dale Sledd, Ronnie Reno, Jimmy D Brock, Paul Brewster, Blaine Sprouse, Raymond E Huffmaster, and my Brother Bobby. So good it hurts…..
s

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Great memories, as usual, Sonny. I like your comment about Bill Emerson’s praise swelling your head. My head hasn’t come down since I picked some with Bill at NashCamp Banjo Camp many years ago back when Bill Evans used to lead it, and when Bill (Emerson) learned that I lived at that time about a half hour from him in Northern Virginia commented, “you’re really good on that banjo. How come I haven’t heard of you?” Well, that was it! I had arrived and had nowhere else to go! And my hat still doesn’t fit. Good memories.

Re: Chinese Breakdown, my Dad used to play that tune on the mandolin – do you know where it originated? Keep at it, Sonny. You are the best, and I HAVE heard of you!

Mark B.

Hello Mark. Thank you for sharing a few moments with us. You mentioned a bestest friend. Man, Don, Bill, JD, Dana, Lincoln, Derek, Tony, Earl, few of my best friends. But for now the spotlight is on Bill Emerson. One of the nicest Gentlemen ever.

I think the banjo camp with Bill E was the camp Bill Evans and I had several years ago. We had Mr. Emerson with us twice I think. His banjo playing speaks for itself. His character is something else. Always squared away, most of the time he has a smile for you. For him to compliment you is the real deal. I’ve known Bill and Lola for a very long time. I’m talking about a lot of years… perhaps 40+. He’s always the same. Every time you see him. I’ve heard the Chinese Breakdown for a long time too. Trouble is, I couldn’t hum a note of it if my life depended on it, which it might.
s

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Regarding Billy Strings:

Well, Sonny, you will be missing out if you don’t listen to Mr. Apostol. He knows and loves the roots of our music, and like Bill Monroe and the Osborne Brothers, is taking it new places. The old fuddy-duddies of your youth didn’t necessarily like the drums and steel guitar in your music 50 years ago.

Mitchell R.

Mitchell. Glad you could join us. Come in. Billy Strings… Apostol, if you will. That’s his name and that’s what I’ll call him. I just might be missing the greatest that’s ever graced the face of the earth, but I’ve heard Josh Williams, Tony Rice, Clarence White, Grady Martin, Hank Garland, Leon Rhodes… and throw Buddy Emmons in there for good measure. Charlie Byrd, Chet Atkins, Jerry Reed, I think I’ve made my point, which is… I’ve heard and played with the best in the world and I’m not easily impressed. And so far Mr. Apostol is a good guitar player. Maybe in time my mind will change. Maybe Billy Boy will be the greatest bluegrass picker of all time, and if I’m still here and not assumed room temperature, I’ll be the first in line to sing his praises.

50 years ago…nahh, they didn’t like it that we “sold out,” but they bought the records. Whether it was to make fun of, or enjoy what we did, they bought the records, and for the most part they bought tickets and filled the seats at most places we played. I’m not bragging but I’m just telling you fact and truth. Matter of FACT, this whole thing that I write is based on FACT and TRUTH!
s

If you have something you would like to ask Sonny, be sure to post it in the comments below, or send it to us directly.

Ask Sonny Anything… the future of bluegrass?

Posted on September 25, 2020 by Azlyrics

But first a personal note from Sonny…

I had a letter from one of my best friends on this planet, Bill Emerson. He told me that he reads “Ask Sonny Anything” every week, which impressed me and caused my hat not to fit me and Judy to slap the XXXX out of me 3 times and she said “How do you like that, you big-headed )#(*$*@)?” So anyway, it impressed me that Bill Emerson would read my little jack leg column. I guess I don’t realize that Bluegrass Today is a pretty big deal. Folks, I am one of the more fortunate people on this earth, and the position I’m in to do this is like a lifesaver…..I love it.

Bill confirmed a suspicion I’ve had for 50 years. Bill are a good feller.

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Sonny:

I can remember the era when country music sort of changed from a rural based music to one that was trying to cross over to a more urban sound. Someone decided that symphony orchestras should replace fiddles and pedal steel guitars. My take on it is the same thing happened to bluegrass music. I heard that the Stanley Brothers quit carrying a fiddle player because their record label thought it was too “hillbilly,” but I wasn’t there so I don’t know if it’s true. I have also heard that people in powerful positions, such as Chet Atkins with RCA, had a lot to do with the change in direction of country music. Could you comment on this from your perspective, and does it still exist today in the industry?

It seems as if some organizations and record labels are trying to suppress the rural roots of the music.

Thanks,
Mike E

Hey Mike…welcome and thank you for your time. I couldn’t agree with you more. I fear that bluegrass music is about to go the same route that country has taken, and if they’re not careful they’ll wind up in the same junk yard that I moved my interest in country/pop/rock/filthy dressed/needs a shower/country singers… that is if we can still call them country.

You know, why don’t we start a new thing and call it “Hillbilly Music” just for the sake of being different and more identifiable…huh? So, wait… that leaves us with the final remnants of what we now know and loved as Bluegrass Music. OH, What shall we call it? Lets see…how about BLUEGRASS. Reckon anyone would know what we’re talking about?

I wonder if anyone other than me remembers what the progression was in the beginning. At least as I remember. The ’40s it was Hillbilly Music… then they started calling banjos and fiddles “Shit Kickin’” music…that would be in the mid to late ’40s. Then about 1950 I overheard Frank Wakefield tell Little David Harvey to “Come over and let’s play some GRASS.” I’m sure he heard it somewhere, but that was the first time I had heard that word used as a reference to our music.

From there the word bluegrass caught on like wildfire. It separated us from country/hillbilly and then just country. I don’t believe the story about the Stanley Brothers being told by a record company to drop the fiddle. If anyone would have been told to drop anything it would have been Lester and Earl or Bill. They were hot sellers in the late ’40s and into the mid ’50s.

—–

Sonny, do you possibly remember playing a little town in South Georgia called Blackshear in 1967? It was in the Fall in the old school auditorium. There were only about 15 people in attendance, including my friend and myself. The only thing I had ever seen of the Osborne Brothers at that time was an album cover. When I walked in I spied Sonny sitting in a wooden school desk taking up the money. I wonder how you got out of that desk. Few in attendance but the best performance I ever saw from the Osborne Brothers, and will never be forgotten.

Lanier L

Lanier… Thank you for participating in our fiasco. I believe that’s the first Lanier we have had. Pretty good name. Welcome.

I do, in fact remember the name Blackshear but I don’t find it listed in 1967. That date was booked for us by The Louvin Brothers X manager. I purposefully do not remember his name… much the same as he did not see to it that we were advertised as going to be there, not that it would have mattered. We had a few and at least 2… you and a friend….. who enjoyed our performance. Thank you for publicly admitting it!!!!

Incidentally, that little school desk was not designed to fit 6’2″, 240 lb grown men. (67? maybe 200) Matter of fact, I didn’t get out of that little desk until 1971. It stuck with me till it rotted away. {;-)>

—–

Sonny, what do you want to do in your next life?

Sam A.

Well Sam, I just read today that Billy Strings is THE FUTURE of bluegrass music. So, not to put Mr. Apostol… or Strings… down at all, but after hearing a sample of the Future, I won’t be listening to much bluegrass if I’m permitted a “next life.” Mr. Strings is a great guitar player, granted… but I heard Clarence White, Tony Rice, Josh Williams, and several more at their best. Vocally, I heard Mr. String do that. I’m reminded that I heard Ronnie Bowman, Bobby Osborne, Lester Flatt and scores of others who were responsible for building bluegrass music where it was before the Chinese Breakdown, or Mr. Billy.

—–

Sonny, what’s the closest you ever came to walking off stage and clobbering a rude, unruly audience member?

Billy T.

Billy, jump right on in here. Thank you for coming. Sit right over there by the fire and tell me what’s on your mind.

HAVE I EVER WANTED TO, YES! Have I ever done the deed? No.

Once in Kentucky. The stage was at one end of a large concrete slab which served as a dance floor. Most people respect the fact that we were never to be booked to play for a dance. It happened though, many times more than I care to remember. On this particular night a man was intent on showing his *ss to everyone and he really irritated me. I asked him to meet me at the edge of the stage when we were done. I gave my banjo to Dale Sledd and asked him to take care of it. While I was looking for him a guy came up behind me and said, “We’ll take care of this.”

My friend Dale Vanderpool was there that night so I went to the bus a had a pleasant visit with Dale.

If you have something you would like to ask Sonny, be sure to post it in the comments below, or send it to us directly.

Ask Sonny Anything… what did you think of The Country Gentlemen?

Posted on September 18, 2020 by Azlyrics

Given your mixed feelings (emotions) about Jimmy Martin, can you listen to the music you recorded together and hear how good it is? There are some current groups that been recording for years and have not recorded a single song as good as your work with Jimmy (in my opinion). Thanks as as always for answering these questions. By the way, if I lived near you, I would happily drive you and your better half anywhere you need to.

James P.

Thank you, James, for your time. I really appreciate it. And I also want to thank you for your offer to drive me and what’s-her-name anywhere we wanted to go. That’s really strong, and I know it, so thank you for that.

You asked about Jimmy Martin and whether or not I could listen to the records we made in 1954. They were on RCA and we did 6 sides. But before that, Bobby and Jimmy made some records for KING that go unheralded, and they shouldn’t. They were recorded in Cincinnati about 1950 or ’51 and had Curly Ray Cline playing fiddle, and Charlie Cline playing banjo… excuse me, playing AT banjo (sorry Charlie). And I don’t know who played bass. Those records were really good, especially the vocals. Bobby and Jimmy sang together as well as two people, who were not brothers.

Now back to Osborne Brothers and Jimmy Martin in 1954. When Jimmy was in the hospital, he sent for me to come and visit and, because of past history, originally I balked. But after I sat and thought about it, Jimmy was pretty sick and I realized that he might not come back. So I went. And it was kinda funny because when I got to the hospital, Jimmy was lying in bed and he immediately cleared the room.

I thought that it was so like Jimmy Martin to do just that. And after everyone left, he looked up and said, “Sonny, I love you and Bob. We made some of the best bluegrass music that was ever made,” and we laughed a little bit and we cried a little bit and we talked about 1954 and how it was. And we talked about the good times and the bad times and there was a lot of bad times.

And it was obvious that Jimmy didn’t want to talk about the bad times but they were still in my mind. About how relentless he was about telling me how to play the banjo as opposed to how I was going to play the banjo, and how our association ended one night in Pontiac, MI when before the show he told Bobby our names wouldn’t be on the next records.

Bobby came straight and told me. When Jimmy came into the dressing room, I confronted him with what he had said. And he said, that’s right, your name won’t be on the next records. And I told him that as far as we were concerned, then there wouldn’t be any more records. And 2 weeks from today, we won’t be in Detroit. That’s what happened. There were no more RCA records for Jimmy nor us, and we immediately went to work for Charlie Bailey at WWVA in Wheeling in August of 1955. We stayed there until Christmas, and in April 1956 our first MGM record of Ruby, Are You Man came out.

From that point, I know our history but it doesn’t keep me from thinking and wondering what would have happened had we stayed together with Jimmy, because … and not to sound conceited or big-headed … the Brothers and Jimmy were the best of the best.

Case closed.

—–

One of my most favorite groups of all time was the Country Gentlemen. Did the Brothers work with them much, and what were your thoughts on their progressive style?

Tim L.

Tim L. thank you for your participation. Without you guys, this wouldn’t work.

Speaking of the Country Gentlemen, one of my very best friends is Bill Emerson, and he was in the original group as one of the founders. I really liked what they did, but then when he left, they took on a ‘them against us’ attitude, which I didn’t understand at the time and I don’t now. It kinda remained that way and still I never understood why.

You mentioned their progressive style…well what was progressive about it? I never could figure that out. With their attitude change, it was more aggressive than progressive. I realize that what I’ve said here will hurt some feelings and create some resentment, but I’m just telling you how it was from my point of view.

I want to tell you a story. We were on Decca Records and I got them, the Country Gentlemen, an appointment with Owen Bradley hopefully to get them signed with Decca. So, in the meeting, which I attended, Charlie was the spokesman for the Gentlemen, and he mentioned their fan base. Owen asked him to explain what he had said about a fan base…. Like, how many?…Like, what number are we looking at? Like 350 or 15,000? Charlie didn’t have an answer and that was the end of the conversation.

So attitude, Nashville, Decca recording contract……..floated out the window on the air created when Owen stood up indicating the meeting was over.

One other thing to prove there was no anything on our part…. Once we were doing a date at the American Legion Park in Culpeper, VA and the Jets were also there that day. They were on and I couldn’t tell you who their members were at the time, other than Doyle Lawson. They sang a religious-type song and it was so good. I asked Doyle who sang the high part and he said it was him. I loved that song and, as of this day, I couldn’t tell you the title.

Doyle just got back to me and told me the whole thing. Thank you brother Doyle. … Song title was Lord Don’t Leave Me Here .. members were Bill Yates, lead .. Charlie Waller, bass .. Bill Holden, baritone .. and brother Doyle Lawson, tenor. That was as good as it gets. I stood out beside a tree and it hurt, it was so good.

—–

Sonny,

Lots of folks have mixed feelings about the IBMA. Some love it, others don’t. I’m curious what you think about it, and perhaps more importantly, is bluegrass music better off with such an organization or not? If you were 21 and touring, would you be a member, and what would you expect in return?

Carl P.

Carl. Good to hear from you. The IBMA (International Bluegrass Music Association)…

I can’t tell you much about the organization itself, except for the Trust Fund. I worked like you wouldn’t believe, almost to the begging stage, for the IBMA to have a Fund to help bluegrass people who were in need. I had been on a Country Music Trust Fund board for 11 years, and I saw it as a really good and necessary part of IBMA. I couldn’t understand, even to this day, why I had to convince them. They voted to do it and it is one of the really good parts of IBMA.

Now, I must be straight with you all…you asked me for an answer and I’ll give it to you as I see it. Whether IBMA is a good thing, I can’t tell you. I was doing pretty good before it existed, and I did pretty good after it became a reality. Money-wise I couldn’t see any more or less, before or after.

Dates? We worked about 200 a year before, and 200 a year after. Now don’t come at me with “you only worked 179 in this year and 193 in this….!” I’m talking in general, and those reading this who are smart enough will have already realized that. When IBMA has the get-together once a year and the awards show, etc etc .. well, that’s a good thing, isn’t it? It is.

Bobby and I were honored one year on the 50th anniversary of Rocky Top. They had all those banjo players, mandolin players, guitar players, bass men and women… I don’t know what her name was but one lady didn’t have any shoes on. Doyle Lawson stood beside me and played that great rhythm. I think I told him how much I missed that. That was a good thing. Right? Wasn’t it?

So, all things considered, I guess IBMA is a good thing.

—–

Sonny, this is going to be a hard question. I think. If you could only choose one song (okay, if you really insist make it two) to share with us, which summarizes the Osborne Brothers sound for someone who has never heard the band perform, what would it (they) be?

Bret W.

Bret. Thanks for taking the time. You all ask me questions…if you didn’t do that, I’d have to say Sayonara.

Rocky Top and Pathway of Teardrops. I choose them because in my mind, that is some of the best we can do. Notice I said ‘some of the best … not ‘the best’ … because there are so many of those I wouldn’t know what to say. (Now that’s strange within itself)

I would like to also add Never Grow Old, Ruby, Up This Hill and Down, Nearer My God, When the Grass Grows Over You …. see? It doesn’t end.

Then to pick just 2 or 3 out of about 1,000 songs we recorded…I just can’t do it. That’s the best I can do.

If you have something you would like to ask Sonny, be sure to post it in the comments below, or send it to us directly.

Ask Sonny Anything… tell us about Live in Germany

Posted on September 11, 2020 by Azlyrics

We wonder, sometimes, who our actual friends are, and which ones that say, “You ever need anything, I’ll help you,” and you never actually know until you need one.

Recently, my wife of over 62 years had some minor surgery, and because of my recent problems and being confined to the house and obviously can’t drive, we had to call on friends. Larry Stephenson gave me a flat-out NO (come to find out Larry was drying out…..no, the truth is it just so happened that Larry was playing his first show this year, hahahaha) I AIN’T GONNA LET UP ON YOU, LAWRENCE…. OK in all honesty, Larry was out of town and he IS one of my best friends. Mike Bubb, another of my close friends, has offered help when and if I needed it… and I did…. and he did. So I want to thank both of those gentlemen. Larry for being able to play a date and Bubb for driving Judy to the other side of Nashville. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU

—–

Hey Sonny, glad you’re back on the mend from the tumble you took. We’ll keep sending prayers your way. I have a question about the Stoneman family. did you know them and/or did you ever play shows with them?

Dave R.

Thank you Dave for your time and interest.

Your question has to do with whether I knew or we had worked with the Stoneman family. The answer to both of those is yes. While we were about music, the Stoneman family was about show, and they were very good at what they did. Between Ronnie, Donna, Patsy, Jack, and especially Scotty when he was with them… they put on quite a show. And if you were on the show with them, you might as well forget it because they were going to steal the show.

They dressed well, and folks… they put on a show! We found this out the hard way at Sunset Park, West Grove, PA. When they hit the stage it was like major thunder. Were they my favorite band? No. But they were awfully good at what they did, including Pop Stoneman who fathered 23 children.

A lot of people classify Scotty Stoneman as a great fiddle player. I don’t agree. Fiddle player, he was. Consumer of alcohol, he was. A path several well-known fiddle players, among others, have taken and that path took their talent with it when it left. Scotty died in 1973 of alcohol poisoning and we were robbed of a damn good musical mind, and it is common knowledge that I was headed down that same road until September 2, 1968. And from that day to this, I’ve probably had 3 drinks. I woke up on September 2nd and realized I owed a whole lot to my wife and children, and to Bobby and the good things that had happened for us, and what would lie ahead.

Which is a lesson…stay away from alkyholl. (That from my grandmother who was 95 years old).

—–

In the 1950s Tom Riggs (founder of Pinecastle Records) and I worked at the local Boy Scout Summer Camp near Louisville, KY. Tom worked in the kitchen and I worked at the swimming pool. We quickly learned of our mutual love of country and bluegrass music. In fact, we played our guitars around the visitor’s campfire each week. I know you also worked with Tom. Please share some of your memories of working with him. Any special memories of the CD/DVD package, Live in Germany?

Bob M.

Thank you Bob, I appreciate it.

My association with Tom Riggs began in New York at a bluegrass festival. I sat beside him while some act was on and we just talked, and the subject came up about his founding of Pinecastle Records, and he had done some research and he asked if we were free at the moment, and I said yes we were. He asked if I would be interested in recording for Pinecastle. I told him that, yes we would be, if we did things our way, because we were used to this method of making records. He said, “Well, wait a minute you are spending my money, making records for my company, and you want complete control while you’re spending my money?” And I said, “I promise you that I won’t spend a penny of your money that you won’t get value. I also promise you that you won’t get junk, and if you are familiar with who we are, which you seem to be, then I want you to tell me one piece of junk we had.” And he said, “Well, beings you put it that way, I think we can work together.” Thus began a very successful period of time in the career of The Osborne Brothers, and Tom Riggs proved to be an absolute joy to work with.

I don’t know the exact number of albums we did for Pinecastle, but there were many. And one in particular needs to be talked about… Live in Germany. To start with, this recording was done in Streekermore illegally. There wasn’t supposed to be any recordings made. So now, fast forward a few months, and Tom called me one day and he said, “What do you know about Streekermore, Germany?” I said that we had played a festival there a couple months ago. Tom said, “Did you know that it was recorded, and did you know that that ‘gentleman’ has contacted me and wants to sell me the tape?” The price staggered me, and Tom was informed that if he didn’t want to buy it, it was going to be sold to somebody else as is.

I told Tom, that we’d better think about buying that because it’s not worth being released in its present form. He bought it. When we got the tape, it wouldn’t play on our system. So then, Tom had to spend another considerable amount for a machine that would play it. He found one in New York and had it shipped to Tennessee. I didn’t count the hours, but I spent the better part of 2 years fixing that Live in Germany CD to where it was pleasant to listen to. And with the help of my brother Bobby, Glen Duncan, Steve Chandler, John Eberle, Terry Eldredge, and Terry Smith … we fixed it. And to tell you that it took some mighty fixin’ would be an understatement.

—–

When IBMA was held in Louisville, I attended a panel discussion related to “Health and the musician.” You were on the panel. At one point the focus of the session related to alcohol, cigarettes, and drug abuse. You delivered a powerful message about the devastating effects for musicians. I recall your story about being with Ernest Tubb during his final days. Perhaps, this forum is a good place for you to repeat your message. If you agree, what is your advice for the current generation of musicians?

Bob M.

When IBMA was held in Louisville, there was a panel discussion related to health and musicians. I was on that panel. At one point alcohol, cigarettes, and drug abuse was the main topic we were focused on. Having been a victim to these 3 boogers, I considered myself qualified to answer. And you would think that I would have a long dissertation concerning these addictions, but I don’t. I can just tell you that I have seen some of the best musicians in the world, banjo players, steel guitar players, electric guitar players, and fiddle players almost literally crawl to get to this junk.

We talked earlier about Scotty Stonemen… but folks, he was just one. And I’m talking about great, great musicians. So the most powerful words I can think of are, “stay the hell away from that junk.” Two of the greatest fiddle players I ever saw… one was begging for beer on a Sunday morning in Cherokee, NC and the temperature at least 100 degrees and he finally found a beer that was also that hot, and literally sucked it out of the can. The other fiddle player, the last time I saw him was at the Grand Ole Opry with another star, and they were both so drunk they could barely walk and had to be led out the side door of the Opry house for fear somebody would see and recognize them.

I saw emphysema literally take the life of one of the biggest stars in country music history, a member of the Hall of Fame.

See what we’ve got here? This junk has no boundaries.

I can’t begin to tell you how many hundred, maybe thousand times I’ve been asked for advice on how to succeed playing music. Stay away from drugs, alcohol and cigarettes.

If you have something you would like to ask Sonny, be sure to post it in the comments below, or send it to us directly

Ask Sonny Anything… sausage and onion hoagie to go!

Posted on September 4, 2020 by Azlyrics

Sonny,

As this year marks 75 years since Earl Scruggs joined Bill Monroe’s band, I’m wondering if you could reflect on your earliest memories of hearing him play, and what it was that connected so profoundly with you.

Stanley F.

Stanley…

Thank you for your time. At this time, I really really appreciate your participation.

Earl was 21 when he went to work with Bill. I was 8 years old and I hardly remember Earl’s early days with Bill, although we were to find out later that he was the most important thing to ever happen to music. Not just bluegrass music, but to music worldwide. Earl’s banjo playing changed that instrument from a parlor instrument to a lead instrument, and eventually played by millions, including me 3 years later.

When I really started playing the banjo was the year Lester and Earl left Monroe and went to Hickory, NC. I was drawn to Earl by the solid performance of his right hand. About 3 ½ years later, I shook hands with that same right hand and it scared me to death. Jimmy Martin asked Earl if he would show me how he played, and Earl got out of it by saying the winding on his 4th string was broke. And to play, hurt his fingers on the left hand. So that passed.

About 30 minutes later Lester and Earl were called up to the stage to play, and me, a 14 year old, wandered out to the crowd to watch the great Earl, and he and Lester played and that broken winding on the 4th string didn’t seem to hurt him a damn bit. And that 14 year old kid? Well it scared him so bad his knees buckled and he held onto a steel post to keep from falling. That 14 yearyr old kid, that night, learned how to rely on the binding of the 4th string to keep from showing people stuff. 10-4 That lesson was never to be forgotten throughout my career. It seems that I appropriately always had a messed-up 4th string. Later, as we became close friends, I never used that on Earl.

…S

—–

Hi Sonny, hope you’re recovering from your fall… Being 80 I love traditional bluegrass, but it seems to me today’s pickers are getting away from that. They’re very talented, but the songs themselves don’t sound like bluegrass. I hate to see the music I love go the way of country. Would like to know your thoughts on this without putting anyone down. Keep up the good work you’re doing, you are a wealth of information.

Roger A.

Roger…

Thank you for your time, Roger. With your admission to being 80, and that puts me at almost 83, gives me the right to say just about anything. I love traditional music, be it bluegrass or country. I miss Earl, Don, Rudy, Tommy Jackson, Grady Martin ….. those names represent some of the best musicians that ever lived, and these clowns nowadays think they can play. My opinion doesn’t agree, although it doesn’t mean much and I realize that.

To me, a song that you can’t hum or whistle while you work or drive a tractor is not a song….it’s a thing. I’m definitely not in a position to put anyone down, and I won’t mention any names, but the junk they’re putting out there now and calling it country and bluegrass, in my opinion, is just that. When traditional music (bluegrass and country) got out of the ’60s and maybe the ’70s it didn’t make any sense to me anymore. I wonder how many bluegrass songs make it to the national charts (Cashbox, Record World, Billboard … if they still exist) because back in the day we put 21 on the national charts, Lester and Earl put 20 and they were all good songs with melodies that you could hum and whistle while you cut your grass or trimmed bushes around your house. Try that now. I have, and I didn’t get very far. I’m not asking anybody else to agree with me, but that’s my opinion of bluegrass and country music now.

We had a bus driver named Raymond E. Huffmaster, and he and I sat up and listened to WWL in New Orleans all night long. Charlie Douglas and his partner Parker kept us up til 5 or 6 o’clock in the morning many many nights playing solid country and some bluegrass music. Those days were fun and when a song came on that Raymond E. didn’t particularly like… he would reach over to the knob on the radio and say “ka-lick-a” and gently, firmly turn the radio off and silence would ensue until he thought about it and turned the radio back on.

—–

I am a long time Osborne Brothers fan. Particularly enjoyed seeing you up close and personal at several Withlacooche Festivals in Florida. I wonder if you remember a friend who had a food concession there. Leonard Durham had “Leonard’s Lemonade.” It was not just lemonade, but all kinds of food. One of Leonard’s specialities was his sausage and onion hoagie. Leonard tells me that you always ended the evening set by announcing over the sound system, “Hey Leonard, fix me two sausage and onion specials to go.” I thought those were great festivals with lots of great talent. Just wondering what you thought of the Withlacooche festivals and if you remember Leonard’s sausage and onion hoagie?

Tom R.

Tom, you have dug up a bone in my memory. First of all, with your mention of Withlacooche, FL and Leonard’s Lemonade. Leonard Durham had the best sausage and onion hoagies that has ever been in this world. Reminds me a great deal of Tommy Jackson. In my opinion, Tommy was the best fiddle player on this earth … ut oh … I digress.

When we played Withlacooche, we would usually close the show and I would say, on the microphone “Hey, Leonard. Get me 2 sausage and onion specials to go.” And before we left, I would go over to his stand or he would bring them to me. And I would have 2 of those things to eat, as I gently but firmly drove that bus or watched Raymond drive it out of that Withlacooche parking lot.

Witchlacooche is where we saw Terry Eldredge make a fool of himself trying to play the fiddle. Gene Wooten laughed so hard that I wanted to make him look foolish too, so I said, “You go over there and play it if you think you can do any better.” And he did, and he did. None of us knew he could, but he just stepped up, took that fiddle and played it!

Lonnie Knight ran that festival and he knew how to do it. It was truly one of my favorite places to play. Huge crowds, good sound. Oh wait, I remember something else that happened there…….. Jeb Bush was there one night and he was backstage and of course he and his whole family were Republicans, and I was too. But…my favorite president of all time was Harry Truman, so we went onstage and I called Mr Bush out to sing with us. And folks… if you think Terry made a fool out of his self… Jeb Bush could not sing, but bless his heart, he tried to sing Rocky Top with us…..Lord how mercy. I miss that so much.

…S

If you have something you would like to ask Sonny, be sure to post it in the comments below, or send it to us directly.

Ask Sonny Anything… how was it for you when Bobby joined the Marines?

Posted on August 28, 2020 by Azlyrics

Editor’s Note: We just wanted to let readers know how seriously Sonny takes this weekly column. Even though he is still convalescing after suffering a serious head injury, and experiencing some brain haze, he wanted to be sure to answer your questions as promised. Thanks Chief!

Sonny,

I know, in the past, you have said you never cared much for melodic style banjo playing. However, you also have said regarding Béla Fleck, if that boy keeps playing like he plays is destined to become one of the greats. What did you hear in Béla’s playing that brought you to that conclusion? You were definitely correct!

Love your playing and everything the Osborne Bros ever recorded!

Neil A. North Carolina

Neil…

Thank you for sharing your time with us here on this weakened version, of which Judy is typing and I’m trying to dictate.

Melodic banjo playing has never existed in my mind as real banjo playing, because I go back to the 40’s and early 50’s and that kind of playing was done by tenor banjo players or Don Reno. And don’t get me wrong, I’m not putting anybody down, because how can you put down people as talented as Béla Fleck, Jens Kruger, Tony Trischka, Alison Brown, and extremely talented people like that who chose the banjo to show their wares.

That group, and many more people who belong in that group, are some of the most talented people to ever pick up the banjo, but as I said before I’m from the early days, and traditional banjo playing was the monster of the day, and that’s where my focus was. However, in 1959, I saw Bill Keith for the first time and was not blown away because I think I saw a tidal wave coming….and I was right.

Dozens of boys and girls who had been trying to learn traditional banjo playing went to melodic, especially after Bill Keith’s recording of Sailor’s Hornpipe with Bill Monroe. It just kinda lit a flame under them and it looked kinda crazy after that. Now, to say that I’m not a fan of melodic playing is an understatement… as I told Bill Keith in 1959 “Bill, you have set real banjo playing back 25 years and we may not recover.” Bill’s reply was ‘the Bill Keith grin.’

I think I digressed there, but maybe not. What I have said about Béla Fleck has become a reality, and this is what I mean. Pick up one of Béla’s CDs and try to play what he plays. Can’t do it? Then pick up a Jens Kruger CD and try to do that. Well, I couldn’t. These are very talented men and they chose the banjo. I think I better stop there, before I give too much of my psyche away.

—–

Sonny

Mac Wiseman had a song called Goin’ Back to Bristol. Do you have a few stories from your time there?

Virgil P.

Virgil…

Thank you for your precious time.

I didn’t spend any time in Bristol at WCYB, so I can’t honestly answer your question. Bobby, before the Marine Corps called, spent time there with Jimmy Martin and the Stanley Brothers. Your reference to Mac Wiseman’s song, Goin’ Back to Bristol, and you asked if I had a few stories from my time there, and I don’t because when Bobby mustered out of the Marine Corps we chose Knoxville and Wheeling as our path to WSM’s Grand Ole Opry.

—–

Of all the festivals you played in your day, which was the one you most looked forward to every year and why.

Less W.

…thank you Less, although that’s a really hard question you ask. When you ask of all the festivals I played, man you’re talking about hundreds, and to pick one is a near-impossibility. I can list a few that were really good, however.

Sunset Park in Oxford, PA .. Carlton Haney’s Camp Springs BG festival .. Mr Day’s Starvey Creek Festival in Conway, MO .. Fred Sanders’ Family Festival in McCalester, OK .. Bull Grunt Festival in Hugo, OK (Bill Grant) .. SONNY MADE ME TYPE THAT! .. just about all of Norman Adams’ festivals .. Roy Martin had some good festivals although not very successful .. Grass Valley, CA .. and there was a festival in WA state that was run by all people from TN, that was a bit cultish but it was good .. and then of course we had the Canadian Free-For-All made up mostly of hippies and “the flasher.”

Who was The Flasher, you might ask? He was a young man of about 20-25 years old who wore a very long overcoat. Now understand this, this was in the summertime, and he would go around to everyone in this huge crowd of 1000s and people would pay him $5 to go and “flash” a certain person…male, or female child. He would take their $5, stuff it into his well-heeled pockets, proceed to the victim, and stand before them and whilst stark naked open the overcoat fully. And there before the victim stood a well-endowed young man bare-assed naked. That was “The Flasher.”

It was such that for the entertainers’, protection..they had what looked like a 10-12’ chainlink fence between the audience and stage. On the day we were there, it had rained and the audience section was quite muddy. While we were on, one of the brighter audience participants got the brilliant idea to climb over that protective chainlink fence. When he hit the other side, there were 3 hefty gentlemen waiting for him who proceeded to throw his inebriated (high-on-something) ass back over the 10-12’ chainlink fence whereupon he landed flat on his back in a huge mud puddle. We stopped in the middle of the song and laughed at his inebriated muddy ass.

So much for the fun-filled festival days.

—–

Hey Sonny,

What exactly did you do when brother Bobby joined the military? How did it affect you and what went through you mind, Sonny?

Bobby was 6 years older than I, and he left home when he was just past 16 and I was 10, and not yet having started to play the banjo which came at age 11 for me. I’m sure his being absent was hard on my parents, but I was too young to understand what was going on.

When he got his call to service, it was a blow to everyone but I was just too young for it to make any sense. A year and a half later I was playing banjo for Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys, and my mind was in too much of a whirl to think about anything else other than music.

After my first stint with Bill, I went back to school and during that time Bobby was wounded, and I saw my parents who were in their mid-40s go from relatively young to relatively old, and I guess at about that time is when it dawned on me what was actually happening. I never doubted that Bobby would make it OK, and my mind was still trying to figure out what we would do, musically, when he got back.

After he was released, in late-October early-November 1953, Enos Johnson who played guitar had called ahead to Cas Walker and secured a job for us on WROL, and we started there on November 6, 1953. So… taking all this into consideration, my mind actually stayed on music and what we were going to do when he got back. It never once dawned on me, until he got back and told me, that he had gotten 7 pieces of shrapnel in his head and the helmet saved his life. Had I known this, I would have been scared $***less. But I was a kid who had dropped out of school to go play with Bill Monroe. Which was stupid on my part.

If you have something you would like to ask Sonny, be sure to post it in the comments below, or send it to us directly.

Ask Sonny Anything… another encore while the Chief recovers

Posted on August 14, 2020 by Azlyrics

Though he is doing much better than last week after a fall about ten days ago, Sonny is still resting and recovering at home this week. His wife, Judy, tells us that he is showing improvement daily, but recovering from a head injury is very slow. She did say that his daily consumption of Tylenol is dropping.

Over this next week we will send her your questions, and see if Sonny can dictate his answers to her from his recliner. If so, we’ll have a new column next week. Here, today, is another encore presentation from last summer.

Whether or not he can send a new batch of answers, we all wish Sonny the best, and hope he is feeling much better soon!

You’ve pretty well seen it all (and created a lot of it) when it comes to bluegrass music. Do you ever get nostalgic for the way the music sounded back in the early/mid 50’s (before it was called bluegrass)? Why does it sound so different? What has it lost, if anything? What has it gained?
– wretchasketch

Just the music. Yes I miss it when Monroe, Flatt, Scruggs, Wise, and Cedric were creating what we called Bluegrass back in the day. They were learning and it was interesting to hear the progress being made. Of course, being able now to look back allows me to think in this manner.

What has it lost? Sincerity. Listen closely (if you can) to Monroe sing Blue Moon of Kentucky, Flatt singing are you Washed in The Blood, Chubby Wise break on Blue Moon, Earl’s background on I’ll Never Love Another. Sincerity… love of what they were doing. I’ve seen Benny Martin stare at the neck of the fiddle whilst playing as if to say; My God, I love how you sound! It sounds different because of the quality of the instruments, the players and the amount of time devoted to practice and the number of things there is to deal with now which was not available in Thousand Sticks, or Flint Hill.

What has it gained? Intelligence. Knowledge. A method in which to reach Point A and get to point B by playing Cripple Creek and not starving to death in the process! KNOWLEDGE AND INTELLIGENCE. We knew that we had something that could not be duplicated…. Bobby’s voice and our unique trio… Knowledge to realize that success would come if you could create a need and be able to fill it. Knowledge of the need to get your records and product, played by the media, and getting your product to the public so they can hear it, and the Intelligence in which to make it happen. All given by the mistakes, and successes of the ones who suffered through “back in the day!” which I was (am) part of both!

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Since so many great banjo players were from North Carolina: Earl Scruggs, Snuffy Jenkins, Terry Baucom, Jim Mills, Steve Dilling, Marc Pruett – how good do you think you would have been if you had been born in North Carolina ???
p.s. I already think you pretty awesome and your Banjo Medley is the background to my sweetest dreams. 🙂
– Cindy B. in NC

Well, Cindy…It all depends on how you define “Great” when it comes to banjo players. To me when someone is “Great,” that means they have reached a point that can’t be surpassed, by anyone. Very few have done that. Of course you realize that this is just my opinion. (Opinions are like a certain part of the anatomy of all creation)

To be serious… Doesn’t matter where you are from or where you’re going… the love for the banjo, the amount of work you are driven to put into the banjo, and how well you are able to concentrate, that intensity is what determines the finished product. That Banjo Medley from Stockholm Sweden, I consider the top of my game. Now you have me wondering if I had been born in North Carolina, if I could have played it better or differently…HMMMM…Answer is YES. I would have left out Cumberland Gap, and maybe played El Paso, Spanish Flea, and maybe ended it with America The Most Beautiful…AMEN!

——————————————–

Sonny, what’s the nicest thing Bobby ever said to you?
– Anna W.

The nicest thing Bobby ever said to me….”If you think you can drive it any better, you get your big … up here and drive it yourself!”

Really, the nicest thing I ever heard Bobby say, concerning me, was in an interview he did, (I don’t remember where). It was his reply when asked about his opinion of my banjo playing. “Sonny took, and takes banjo playing to another level!” I was standing in the other end of the dressing room and I’m sure he didn’t know I overheard him say this.

Bobby and I worked together for 52 years and never had an argument…we had disagreements, I’m sure but that’s as far as it went. Also we never talked much about the others talent nor how we each played our part. Bobby was a much better mandolin player…. he created a style that everyone plays now… he would have gotten more credit but he just so happened to be the best voice ever!

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Sonny, did you ever throw a drunk guys banjo in the pond behind the stage at Bean Blossom? Yes, I actually heard some old dude bloviating about seeing you do that many years ago but I never believed it. LOL!
– Dave R.

Nope, I would never do a thing like that. I loved and respected the banjo more than the drunk that was abusing it. I might have thrown the drunk in, or had Birch sidle down there and escort him out to the parking lot and check out his medicine.

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If you could fill in on banjo with any band touring today, who would it be?
– John G.

We’re talking about if I were on top of my game banjo wise. It would be Rhonda Vincent’s band. She’s got it going as much or more than anyone else right now. I love Rhonda and her music… and everyone in that band. Aaron McDaris is (almost) unbeatable, Josh Williams is the best, Hunter Berry is the best, Mickey Harris is the best for her band…. I would like to play with that quality of people and music.

——————————————–

Tell us how Sledd came into the band…where did you all find him?
Raymond E.H.

Spring or early Summer of 1966. We played at Lake of The Ozarks at a place maybe Austin? something… Gordon Cash was playing guitar and doing vocal with us. The house band consisted of Dale and Patsy Sledd. We were there two days and Dale invited us to their “Trailer House” for a late snack and perhaps pick a bit. Gordon didn’t go.

So we did pick some and it turned out that Dale knew every song we had recorded to that point, and knew the correct third part of our unique harmony. (High lead, Baritone, and low tenor) AND, he just so happened to be the best guitar player a banjo player could wish for. Reason being, he was a pretty good banjo player too. We offered him he job immediately and he took it, but he couldn’t come to Nashville until the place they were playing closed…which was September.

September 10, 1966 Dale Sledd came to Nashville and he became an Osborne Brother for the next 12 years.

If you have something you would like to ask Sonny, be sure to post it in the comments below, or send it to us directly.

Ask Sonny Anything… a bump on the head encore

Posted on August 7, 2020 by Azlyrics

We are running an encore edition of Sonny’s column this week – a second look at his very first contribution over a year ago.

Sonny wanted us to make plain that he isn’t ducking his commitment to answer your questions today. He took a fall earlier in the week and hit his head, resulting in a blinding headache and neck pain. His wife, Judy, says that after a visit to the ER, and a EKG and CAT scan, they found nothing damaged or broken. But he has been told to relax completely for several days and not tax his brain in the slightest – no reading, television, or even phone calls.

So we all wish Sonny a speedy recovery and a quick return to his normal life. Get well soon, Chief!

Sonny, would you mind sharing one of your favorite Opry memories with us?

– Alan K.

Two, to be exact. First time at the Opry, I was 14 years old and scared, and then I walked on the Ryman stage and I immediately knew what FRIGHT really is. I was standing beside Bill Monroe, Jimmy Martin, and Charlie Cline…a Blue Grass Boy…and Bill says we are going to play Rawhide.

Second, Bob Eubanks and I were standing backstage the night President Nixon visited the Opry. I had met Nixon the year before at the White House so I didn’t want to go out on the stage. When The President came off stage he came right by us and he recognized me and walked right up and said “Osborne, from Kentucky,” and proceeded to shake hands and spoke a few things. After he left I remembered I was carrying a 38 revolver in a shoulder holster. I showed it to Eubanks and he called me every name profanity owns. We would probably still be in jail.

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Hey Sonny, how do I get Roland White to stop requesting his own songs on my radio show each week?

-Terry Herd

Deny knowledge of anyone named Roland, and tell him your name is actually Ralph Emery, and you only play Hillbilly music and “that Roland name ain’t no part of nothin’….”

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What is the most memorable thing Bill Monroe ever said to you?

– Kip V.

“I loaned you that hat, now you go find it.” Paintsville, Kentucky. I left the hat he loaned me in a restaurant. Luckily I found it the next day – July 1952. I loved that old man, and he knew it.

DR O

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Dear Sonny, My wife and I have 5 lovely children and she’s insisting I get a vasectomy. Will that affect my banjo playing?

– Nervous in Nebraska

Yes…you will have problems executing the backward roll! But you’re not alone. Most banjo players don’t know whether they’re coming or going anyhow.

——————————————–

Hey Sonny, I wrote a hit song for a hit artist and the record label never paid me my royalties. What should I do?

– A Frustrated Songwriter

Find the name of the publisher. Often the record company is not at fault. Every song has a publisher, the record company pays the publisher and the publisher takes his half and is supposed to then pay the writer. The record company is not at fault,…every time. You should have a contract with the publisher. That’s who you should contact. Ask for a record of sales, and the amount due the writer. Then mention The Better Business Bureau!

See you next week!

Ask Sonny Anything… tell us about Kenny Ingram

Posted on July 31, 2020 by Azlyrics

Sonny, If you don’t mind, please a few words and thoughts about Kenny Ingram. He was such a wonderful guy and I am sure you have some good thoughts to share. Thanks Chief.

– STLIL

Brother STLIL I would be more than happy to share with you all that I know about Kenny Ingram.

I met him in 1973, I don’t rightly remember the actual place but in one of the many hours we shared talking, and discussing “things” he told me exactly where it was but 50 years has slipped past and I have forgotten. I seem to remember Georgia though. I believe he had just started with Lester Flatt where he remained until Flatt’s passing.

We talked about banjo playing… right hands in particular. I had been around the block a few more times than Kenny, and in the beginning he was full of questions, like how did you do this, why did you do this, when do you do this. It went on like this for a couple years and Kenneth kept gaining, growing in confidence when already he had the fastest right hand I had ever seen. Boy could play some kinda fast for sure. But at the same time he was growing into a good man, and making himself into the great banjo player that we remember.

The last time I saw Kenny was one year ago last Sunday I believe. You have to know this part of the story too. The past few times Kenny came to lunch his actions and attitude were changing. But, I need to mention that he was probably the most private person I ever knew. He worked the last 10 years with Larry Stephenson. Larry and I discussed Kenny’s health more than once. He was changing right before us. We kept asking him if he was OK, and he kept assuring that he was, but dammit we could see.

After the last time we saw him, I tried to talk to Kenny, Larry, and Lincoln also tried. But like me, they got no response. Dammit, maybe I should have tried harder but he was so private that I didn’t want to invade his world, whatever it might be. We live with regrets, that will be one of mine.

—–

Hey Sonny, so glad to see you’re still active in the bluegrass world. I so enjoyed the times I spent watching your group and many others at the Snuffy Jenkins festival at Cliffside, NC, and wondered if you had a special memory from those appearances?

– Lane K.

Lane… come right on in. Your question about the Snuffy Jenkins festival brings back a couple of memories. If I’m thinking of the right place, it’s near Earl’s home. Between shows we had several hours and I went to Earl’s house, where he lived as a kid. Where he learned to play a little bit. I got to meet Junie for the first time. Got to meet Snuffy Jenkins for the first time, and got to see and hold his RB4. I got to sit on the porch where Earl told me several years later, that’s where he learned to play Reubin the right way, and Junie heard it for the first time. It actually got a reaction out of Junie and Earl said: “I knew I had something right there!”

I sat on that porch. I SAT ON THAT PORCH, FOLKS. WHERE “THE MAN” STARTED IT ALL. And I believe it because HE told me where it was. As I’ve said many times before. Me and Brother Bobby went on one hellacious ride together.
s

—–

Hi Sonny, Stan here…occasionally known as Jebbh Mixus from The Mixus Brothers (which we named as an homage to you two)…anyhoo, I have three questions for you as you were so kind to answer one for me about singing a few months ago, and now I’m being selfish… first one is: I was listening to the song you did called One Tear and noticed that the internet’s said it was written by someone named Judy Osborne… did that happen to be any relation to you?

Secondly, I have noticed that the YouTube has many live recordings of ya’ll, and in many of them there are moments during and between songs where I say you were absolutely funny as all get out with your comments and shenanigans… do you think having fun on stage is and was one of the most important parts of having as long of a career as you did??

Lastly, and I appreciate your patience with me, when you toured Sweden and recorded one of your shows there for the public consumption that is now on YouTube, you of course played Ruby but I must say that your solo during that song was one of the most god forsaken amazing displays of banjo playing in the history of mankind… in the video you, after the solo, you shook your head and it seemed like you were playing like a man possessed. Do you remember it and do you think you can pinpoint that period or any period as having the best command of the neck and your creative mind for soloing?? Even if you answer even one of these questions or none, I am much obliged to you for letting us delve into your psyche on playing and unabashed memories of your life so, thank you!

– Stan

Stan…good questions. Thank you. First one…Judy is my wife of 62 years. She wrote this poem while she was in the 8th grade. And I’ll let her tell you in her own words.

Sonny was looking for new songs to record. I showed him a poem I had written, he put it to music and Voila!

They began rehearsing the next day at Bobby’s and when they got around to working on One Tear, Sonny called me and asked if I could write another verse. Words came to me as fast as I could write them down. I called him back in just a few minutes.

We ran over it a time or two, and the song came to life. It’s been recorded a dozen times or more. Very good bluegrass tune.

You asked about Sweden and the recordings made of our Stockholm show. I’ve been asked many times when I play certain things am I playing what I have planned to play or does it just happen. It’s just a thing that goes as it goes. I know the fingerboard pretty well so I don’t get lost and from there it just happens.

I’ve heard some things back and wonder what I was thinking, to do stupid things like that. Our shenanigans, as you called it, was not part of our plan but it did come in handy at times. We watched many bluegrass bands through the years and they, for the most part, were dead serious on stage and seemed as though their faces would break if they were to smile. We decided to have a good time and try to see that our audience laughed along with us.
s

—–

Mr. Osborne, Joe Medford was one of the less-heralded first generation bluegrass banjoists, in spite of his ability. He recorded with Mac Wiseman in the early 1950s. Did you ever cross paths with him?

– Bzrdhd

Bzrdhd…Sorry to say I never had the opportunity to meet Joe. Funny thing about him. When he recorded the several tunes with Mac and the several with Charlie Monroe, you would swear at certain points it was Earl, but I heard some other things he did and they were not so… I should say AS good. Wrong phrasing, conflicting background notes. Almost like it was some other guy playing. Strange. I talked with Mac several times about Joe, as to the kind of guy he was, etc. This probably won’t sit to well with some, but Mac said Joe had a tendency to over indulge in adult beverages so from personal experience this would cloud one’s vision…so, maybe that’s the answer.

Great tone out of an RB100..he had that “THING” didn’t he? YES HE DID.
s

—–

Sonny, in my work archiving the decades of recordings and videos my mother left behind, I ran across an Osborne’s set at the Festival of the Bluegrass. On a break between songs, Bobby can be heard off mic giving you a string of jabs about “I don’t know how you ever think you are going to keep a banjo that cheap in tune.” I’m wondering if there is more to that story. This would have been around 1985.

Charles C.

Charles… welcome my brother… Butch Robins and I had just paid $5000 for our banjos… the highest price ever for that time. Butch bought one of the two best RB4 style banjos ever, and I think I got the finest, best sounding banjo Gibson ever made. It is a 1934 flat head Granada original 5 string. The other RB4 that is that good is owned by Dana Cupp. I rarely tune on stage with the exception when KRAKO show his a–! Then there is no tuning.

So Bobby, knowing how much I paid and realizing I did nothing during that show but tune, made his infamous statement. “I don’t know how you ever think you are going to keep a banjo that cheap in tune!”
s

If you have something you would like to ask Sonny, be sure to post it in the comments below, or send it to us directly.

Jack Tottle channels Bob Dylan with Everybody Must Get Masked

Posted on June 11, 2020 by Azlyrics

I came across comments about COVID protective mask-wearing from two of my greatest musical heroes, Dolly Parton and Sonny Osborne.

BE SAFE,
BE RESPECTFUL,
WEAR YOUR MASK,
LEAD WITH LOVE

Dolly Parton – From her recent video, When Life Is Good Again

YOU ALL STAY SAFE, PLAY BY THE RULES, WEAR THOSE DUMB LOOKING BUT LIFE SAVING MASKS. PLEASE REMEMBER, IT’S YOUR LIFE YOU’RE PUTTING At RISK WHEN YOU MIX AND MINGLE TOO CLOSE.

Sonny Osborne – at the conclusion of his always delightful “Ask Sonny Anything” feature in Bluegrass Today for May 29, 2020

Spoken Intro To the Following Song (Internet meme forwarded from a good friend somewhere in cyberspace):

Maaan, all these doctors and nurses and microbiologists and immunologists and epidemiologists and other researchers keep saying that COVID is still dangerous.
But all these dudes I went to high school with who barely passed science say it’s not dangerous.
It’s SO hard to know who to believe any more!

Everybody Must Get Masked — by Jack Tottle

(To the tune of Everybody Must Get Stoned, with apologies to Bob Dylan)

Everybody must get masked
It’s really not the very hardest task
We’re not supposed to wait until we’re asked
But everybody must get masked.

They’ll mask you when you’re going to the store
They’ll mask you when you’re walking in the door.
They’ll mask you when you leave your car.
They’ll mask you when you walk into the bar.

CHORUS:
You may want to go SLOW or FAST,
But EVERYBODY must get masked!

They’ll mask you when you go to work
It doesn’t matter if you go berserk
It doesn’t matter if you make a fuss
It doesn’t matter if you scream and cuss.

They say your mask helps others more than you
Your friend’s safety could depend on what you do.
The Bible doesn’t preach against hard labor
It only asks us all to love our neighbor.

Even when we’re feelin’ mighty fine,
Even when we don’t — show a single sign,
That sneaky virus could be there right inside
Waitin’ for a chance to hitch a ride.

America is the dear land of the free
I’m free — to think of you OR only me.
I’m free to give OR free to only take
I’m free to sacrifice for others’ sake.

It only takes a single sneeze or breath
To make a difference for somebody’s life or death
For some mother, dad, or child or wife.
We’re free to choose the way that favors life.

Everybody needs to get masked
It’s really not the very hardest task
We’re not supposed to wait until we’re asked
But everybody should get masked.

Ask Sonny Anything… did you know Jerry Lee Lewis or Stringbean?

Posted on June 6, 2020 by Azlyrics

Sonny, I’ve been reading Hellfire, a biography of Jerry Lee Lewis. A true madman and a great, great singer, although not bluegrass of course. There’s a hair-raising account of his appearance at the Grand Ole Opry in January 1973. I’m wondering if you happened to witness this or if you ever encountered “the killer.”

A fan for more than 60 (!) years,
Fred G.

Fred G….I knew Jerry pretty well…first name basis. Although I have been present at some of his crazy antics, he always treated me with the greatest respect. I was never a big fan of Jerry’s music although I respected it, and him to the utmost…and I don’t suppose he was much of a fan of our music, but we seemed to co-exist and become pretty good friends.

For sure, I witnessed a lot. Macon, Georgia coliseum… The show promoters went to him before the show started and called him MR Lewis. Explaining that they had just received their Steinway piano back from a complete overhaul and it had been tuned just before it was returned that afternoon, and would he please be gentle with it. He said “why of course!” With that reply, I figured school was out for that Steinway. Sure enough, when he was introduced and with both hands just started beating on the keyboard of the aforementioned Steinway who had been tuned, etc that day. Piano, Jerry, bench, all were mounted on a platform with rollers. Stage hands appeared and proceeded to roll piano and all passengers aboard the platform, right off the stage. I’ll stop right there because it got ugly during the following 20 minutes.

BOWIE MARYLAND RACE TRACK IN THE RAIN. They moved the show to the bleachers. We played to 40 people, Jerry was introduced to the same disgruntled 40. He hit a chord on this antique upright piano which was as out of tune, if not more so than any piano I’ve ever seen or heard…and that includes the Kimball sitting in my living room as we speak. Jerry called a band member to come down and help and they proceeded to literally climb inside that old relic and did a number on the hammers and pieces of felt among what ever else was in there. All 40 people were in the aisle laughing, as was I. When he was finished he said..”Well, nobody else will ever have a problem with that thang!” Only Jerry made that statement a bit more colorful, actually, a whole bunch more!
s

—–

Hello Sonny, can you tell us any stories of Stringbean? And why is he not in the country music hall of fame? One of my heroes.

Jacob P.

Jacob P. welcome, come on in hyer….David Akeman…Stringbean. One of the nicer people I met during my career. I knew him well enough that when he was brutally murdered it hurt. Really hurt. We were sitting at a truck stop a few miles west of Warrenton, VA and heard Grant Turner announced their deaths. We had seen them the night before at the Opry and just like that they were gone.

Bean had approached me the night before and asked if I would be interested in buying some property with him. He would find out on Monday the actual information. We had been members of the Opry 11 years when he was killed…murdered. Guess what, the SOB who did it is walking the streets of Nashville now. Paroled.

They tell me that after a person does a third of their time they become eligible for parole. Big deal. They murdered two innocent, honest, wonderful people and we, through our tax dollars, house and feed them, give free medical, TV, iPads… and after a while turn them loose on society. Oh, they have been rehabbed. TWO WORDS.

More than occasionally he would look me up and stand there holding that pipe. Finally he would ask if I had any extra banjo strings and I would give him a few sets. Over the 11 years I probably gave him 30-50 sets. Why he is not in the Country Music Hall of Fame, or the International Bluegrass Hall of Fame, I’m afraid I can’t answer that. Personally I think he should be but….David was a good man.
s

—–

Sonny, did you ever use any picks, hand made by James R, “Jimmy” Hypes. We were in the Navy together, and he also played banjo back in the early to mid fifties. He was also an Aviation Metalsmith. He later sold his picks all over the world, he was originally from around Princeton, WV.

Dallas H.

Dallas. Thank you for your time. I appreciate it. I did not get to use Hypes picks. I trust from your description of Mr. Hypes, he was pretty smart when it comes to metal work. Sorry to say I didn’t have the opportunity of using, or trying his finger picks.

My choice throughout my career were National picks made in the ’30s-’40s. They were supposed to be made with German Silver. What is German Silver…I don’t know what that would have to do with it, but they were good. The best I used or saw until Dean Hoffmeyer started making finger picks. I liked them so well I asked him to put my name on them. They are as close to the old Nationals as anything I’ve seen. Am I bragging about them because my name is on them? You got that right. I put my name on anything I could use, like GHS Strings, Elliott Capos, The Chief Banjo, and Osborne Hoffmeyer finger picks. They are the real deal.
s

—–

Hi Mr. Sonny,
The post from Karen Artis caught my eye (you mentioned you knew a fellow named Bob). Any-who I print these out weekly to give to my Dad as he is not computer savvy and doesn’t even own one. I grew up with my parents in Calcutta/East Liverpool, Ohio (we now live close to Bakersfield, California) and my Dad was friends with Mac Martin and the Dixie Travelers group along with the Wildwood Express, mainly guilty by association with a fellar named Jim Osborne in the ’70s.

For the most part the Dixie Travelers played at Walsh’s Lounge and various local festivals, along with good ole fashioned back porch pickin’. His favorite banjo player has and will always be Billy Bryant. Also my Dad has a Bill Monroe biography that Bob Artis wrote and signed and is one of his treasures. I’m sure my Dad would get a kick out of any stories you have to tell (I haven’t told him I’m writing this, wanted it to be a surprise when he reads it).

Thank you very much
C. Pezer

C. Pezer….I thank you for your time however I’m not sure I can answer this. The name Mac Martin is vaguely familiar to me but the rest is not. You mentioned stories and that’s 80% of what this thing is about, plus questions folks have concerning my career. Most of the people I write about are those I know or have known. I’m truly sorry because I feel I have let you down, but I just don’t have stories about these folks…not even here-say. Surely, I should know a banjo player by ANY name, but Billy Bryant escapes me. I knew Donnie Bryant but not Billy. I’m sorry but if you have a question I’ll be glad to go for it. I know Herb Pederson, Buck, Merle, Roy Nichols, Norm Hamlet, The Palomino Club in North Hollywood. Sorry.
s

—–

The Chief Banjos first came into existence on June 16, 1998. I received the first one from my builder Frank Neat…it was prototype number 00. I still have it. Great banjo very close to the old Granada sound. This week one friend, Roger Sterry sold 0001 to another friend – Lincoln Hensley. Going back to when this banjo was new, Dale Vanderpool..now deceased…was the original owner. When Dale passed this life his widow sent the banjo to me to sell for her. I took it back to Frank and had him go over and repair anything which he saw that was out of order. When he returned it, Roger bought it from me in 2014. This week he asked me to find a new home for it and I asked Lincoln if he was interested. Long story short, Roger got a great price, Lincoln? he got his “Dream banjo.” And I have two happy friends.

I heard 0001 on Facebook last night and again today I tell you the fact, this is the closest sound to the old banjos, and surpassing some. It’s 22 years old now and maybe like some humans, start to mature at about that age. I better check 00 again….if it’s anywhere near it’s brother, I think the price just went up on 00…maybe add a couple more 00 zeros…like $$$$. That 0001 sound got right on in my head.

Incidentally: Roger is wanting a Sonny Osborne model Vega. If anyone knows where there is one for sale, contact me at through Bluegrass Today and I’ll get the word to him. Thanks..

If you have something you would like to ask Sonny, be sure to post it in the comments below, or send it to us directly.

Ask Sonny Anything… why the decision to go electric?

Posted on May 16, 2020 by Azlyrics

Hey Sonny,

You’ve mentioned a few times that you carried. The moment backstage with Richard Nixon is one for the history (and law) books. I’m curious, in all your travels, did you ever have an accidental misfiring?

– Just curious

Just Curious. Thank you for your interest. I carried a weapon from 1975 to present. We played in St. Paul, Minnesota. While on stage we were robbed. Our limo was broken into and $4340.00 was missing. I decided to go armed after that. I don’t want to hurt anyone, and I’ll run from trouble, but I am not going to allow some low life SOB to take what I worked to earn. It’s too costly on health to get.

Accidental firing, no. I didn’t but Gene Wooten did, in our bus. David Crow is one Lucky man. I’m thankful to God that it turned out as it did. Whoever loaded that round did not crimp the shell and when Gene loaded the pistol the actual bullet fell out. When that round was fired, nothing came out the barrel. It was loud though, gunpowder loud, but no bullet.

Like a true dumbass, he was messing with a loaded gun and it fired. I heard it and ran to the front. Gene was standing there trembling, and most of all, David was standing there too. No one was hurt. We only had three rules. No drinking. No smoking. Don’t be late. After that we added one. Gene Wooten did not bring firearms on our bus ever again. As far as I knew, from that point no one carried a weapon, but me. I always had one in my pocket.
s

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Hi Sonny,

Thanks SO VERY MUCH for you, just always being you, and sharing with us every week!

My question is about a performance you did at the IBMA awards show back in Louisville literally just days after the horrendous 911 attack. When you walked out alone on that stage in the spotlight and began to play America the Beautiful we could see you trembling, even from way back where our seats were. Made me cry like a baby, and stands to this day as one of the most emotional musical moments of my long bluegrass life. Could you please tell us what was going through your mind as you played that tune for us all?

Karen Artis from Pennsylvania

Karen Artis. I know a Bob Artis. Related? I’m so glad you have given us a bit of your time. I want you to know that I shared this note with Bill Evans, whom I consider to be one of my very best friends. Bill Evans is the person who made that moment in time happen, and a moment in time it was, for a whole bunch of us Hillbillies!

We, as a people were mad, hurt, sad, proud, and ready to defend our country and way of life any way we could. My son was there, only a few blocks from building 2. He had to run, to find his car, and get out as quickly as possible. So, what was I feeling a few days after it happened… every emotion one could imagine.

Back to your question. What I felt… I was pretty good, confident, when I walked out to the mic – but then it all changed. When they turned the spotlights on…from that point on, I was totally lost. As though blind.

See, on top of the banjo neck are small black dots, known as position markers to tell you exactly where you are. I didn’t think I needed them so they were hardly ever used but when those spotlights came on, I really needed them right then, but they weren’t there. The glare from those spots completely blocked the neck. I thought at the time it was going to be a train wreck. Those lights, three or four spotlights, were so bright, I couldn’t see the first row, much less the neck of my banjo.

I thought, before I started playing, that if there is a guiding hand out there, right now would be a great time to make yourself known. I started playing and it was going good…Then the ending came into my mind. Single string notes there to the end. Miss one and you’re done. Well, here it is, somewhere near this spot. I hit the first string and it was the right note. I looked at my hands and they were actually shaking.

I don’t buy into stage fright, you can do it or you can’t… but right then my mind took me back to Bill Monroe, Grand Ole Opry, Rawhide, 14 years old, shaking like a leaf in strong wind. I needed help then and it appeared. I need it NOW. So, from the words above, “What I felt,” to now probably took 20 seconds. I needed the guiding hand and it came for the second time, 49 years and a few days later. Thank you Lord, I don’t think I missed a note of America The Beautiful.

I’ve never heard it played back. That is if IBMA cared enough to record it…which I strongly doubt. Why…. A NOTHING MOMENT LIKE THAT, WHO WOULD CARE? I would, for one. But, That’s the politics baby, I reckon! s

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Hey Sonny,

Hope all is well on your end.

When did you guys decide to electrify you instruments? Did you accept the idea right away, or did you have to grow into it? Love that clip of you all playing Ruby at the Camp Springs festival in 1971. It was awesome!

David R.

David R…thank you for your time. We had been playing country package shows and were not doing well by the lack of crowd response, but so far did not have an answer. We were booked in Minneapolis, MN at the Flame club for a week. The Flame was a prestigious venue that most Grand Ole Opry people played and visited regularly. It was our first time. We did the first night and the crowd sat out there and talked to one another while we were on. I told Bobby and Dale that we had to do something so they went to a music store and bought pickups for their mandolin and guitar.

Ronnie Reno was playing electric bass and I had an instrument with me that Sho-Bud had put some high dollar pickups in, so we borrowed the house band’s amps and we were in business.

I was determined that they were not going to talk while we were on. They might not like us but they were going to hear us. Man, we blew paint off the walls. After that we knew the answer to the package show problem too. We finished in Minneapolis that Saturday and played Greenville, SC the next Friday. It worked like magic. Like Moses Malone going after a rebound. When we did our final Rocky Top it sounded like a jet going over. Problem solved. We just played normal, did our usual stuff.

Those package shows drew 12,000-18,000 people so we were in business. Camp Springs in ’71 with Earl was something we’ll never forget. Our OB performance that day was good too. Brother Bobby was bringing it every time he stepped on stage. Ronnie Reno, Dennis Digby, Robby Osborne, and Dale Sledd. Man! Get away’m hyer!!!! s

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Hi Sonny, we’ve had many conversations about sports. Tell us about your love of sports and did you play any sports? Yes, I still have the Titans tickets!

Miss you and look forward to lunch soon!

Larry S

Lawrence my Bluegrass Brother who hauls me around on his bus… Larry Stephenson who would be doing some festival right now had it not been for China. He mentioned the Titans football tickets. When the Oilers moved to Nashville I bought season tickets. Judy went with me a few times and then I went alone some. Long story shortened… I went until I watched these millionaire football players taking dives.

What is a “dive”? It’s when a player is running with the ball and he sees a tackler 10 yards away who is going to wipe him out, so the aforementioned hits the ground. We fans are paying quite a bit to see these phonies take these dives. I sold my tickets to Larry and never went back.

Man, I’ve always loved baseball, basketball, and football though. If I hadn’t learned to play the banjo I probably would have tried to play football or baseball, then maybe I could have become a diver. (;-)

This sports thing goes back to the times my Dad and I would sit in front of the radio and listen to the Kentucky Wildcats play basketball. 1946 to 1951, then all the way up until 58.. WHAS Louisville’s 50,000 watt powerhouse at the time. Cawood Ledford, Claude Sullivan, and later Ralph Hacker were all good. Cawood was the best.

My Grandmother, who was about 95 at the time… I visited her when she lived on Bear Branch, about 7 miles out of Hyden. I walked in and she had the radio on listening to who else but Kentucky Basketball and Cawood Ledford. I think I would have enjoyed pro and college sports had I been good enough to play. We’ll never know will we, Cripple Creek got in the way.
s

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Sonny,

Can you share some history about your move from MGM to Decca in the early ’60s? I’m curious to know what precipitated the decision and how it all went down.

Wesley V.

Hey Wesley V… thank you for taking time to join this chaotic free for all. I appreciate you.

We noticed that everything we recorded and released sold 11,000 copies. That means only one thing. They are using you as a tax write off. But to us, MGM served it’s purpose because in being there on a mid-major label, and having regular releases on singles and LPs, we got our name established in the country/bluegrass world.

Being on MGM was not to be sneezed upon, they had Hank Williams Junior, Connie Francis, and Conway Twiitty (you know where he got his name? Conway Arkansas and Twitty, Texas…real name? Harold Jenkins) and so that fact alone helped us getting our records played which added to being established.

We had several chart releases on MGM and they also sold 11,000. Once More went to number 11 nationally. Guess how many it sold…huh? You’re right, 11,000. Tax write off. Plain and simple. So when Decca, a major major became a possibility, although they had Bill Monroe and Jimmy Frog Martin, we thought it to be a good move so we made it to Decca. Probably the best most intelligent move of our career because it set us up for the MOVE of our career The Grand Ole Opry.

Decca happened in 1963 and the Opry in 1964. You asked how it all happened. We knew Tommy Sutton, a DJ in Dayton. We bought Tommy a train ticket to Nashville with an audition tape. He knew Wesley Rose, and Wesley knew Jim Vienneau, who was the A and R guy for MGM. That move got us closer to Nashville…and the opry.

Six years later Doyle Wilburn, who orchestrated the Decca deal in ’63 and to whom we told that we needed the Grand Ole Opry to survive. He asked for 18 months to accomplish this major step up the ladder. 13 months later we were made members of the big tater. Was that a large move? Huh, was it? Git Away’m hyer!!! It was THE MOVE. At, some time later in this column, if asked I will tell about the con job of all time, which was common in the recording industry but brand new to two ole boys from Thousand Sticks, Kentucky. I’m not prompting you to ask me….just sayin’…
s

If you have something you would like to ask Sonny, be sure to post it in the comments below, or send it to us directly.

Ask Sonny Anything… how did you set up your banjo?

Posted on May 8, 2020 by Azlyrics

Hey Chief, one thing that always amazed me about your playing, along with the freedom and how easy it looked for you to be playing. was the tone of your banjos. In particular the Granada. I realize just how great that banjo is after being fortunate enough to get to play it thanks, to you. But I’ve always been interested in your setup for banjos, and although we’ve talked about it before, particularly the advice about once you get a banjo right… LEAVE IT ALONE. I’ve noticed some of your heads in some pictures are worn horribly, which I think look great. It shows the instrument is a tool, and not a show pony. How often did you change heads?
Thanks,
Lincoln H.

Lincoln….good to hear from you, although we talk regularly This is a bit different. It was easy for me to play because I had finally gotten a banjo that would produce what I heard, or wanted to hear. I also knew the fingerboard well enough that my hands were in position usually to play the notes I wanted. I never bothered with set up very much and I don’t recall anyone ever saying I got a bad tone out of a banjo. Every time I let someone set my banjos up, usually I had to fix it so it sounded right. I tried to get the head tight enough that it felt like one more turn would break it, then make sure it was level. Let the tailpiece find it’s own spot, go get a 5/8 Grover bridge, and next find the spot where that banjo sounded the best, and after that leave it alone. If it sounded how I wanted it to sound, I didn’t want anyone to touch it, or breathe on it. You know, usually if you let someone play your banjo the first thing they do is tune it. I didn’t like that. Some of these set up guys will tell you that a plastic head will wear out, lose its sound, well to tell you the truth I hardly ever changed heads.. Only when they would come loose from the bead and I had to change. One head in particular on that Granada in the ’80s when we were still working a lot, I must have kept that head on there 10 years or more. If plastic wore out we would be in real trouble huh! Look at all the things we use a bunch every day, the dashboard on our cars, Man, everything is made of plastic. I had a conversation with E and he told me that when the plastic head came out “A feller’d never have to buy another head.” Case closed! . s

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Hi Sonny,
I’ve heard you speak before about banjo players the do or don’t have “attitude” related to their playing and style (not their personality); could you expound on what that idea of “attitude” is?

Derek V.

Hey MR. Derek V….Thank you for wearing a mask and following the rules. We might make it through this Chinese Virisdown. Banjo playing/player attitude. It really should be labeled Aggressive, which would suit the attitude I always try to instill in the playing of an advanced player if they ask me. To be more clear, it’s the image the audience sees when he sees you play. MR. Scruggs, Don Reno, had it. I tried but I’m not sure I ever accomplished exactly what I see and hear in my own appearance and/or playing.

The facial Expression has something to do with it. It’s a Take charge, I own it, I want you to listen to me. I CAN play or I wouldn’t be up here. So, now listen!

Aggression. Confidence. Look at Flatt. Have you ever seen a more confident person?

Jimmy Martin had it. Scruggs, My Brother Bobby, Béla, Jens Kruger. Derek, I know how this might sound to a guy who doesn’t have it…CONCEIT….But man, I assure you it was not conceit. With the banjo I wanted to seem in control of my moment, confident, aggressive, sure of myself to the point that my banjo was screaming ‘I belong here now listen’…hey if you’re getting a house built or concrete patio poured you don’t want some guy that doesn’t know what he is doing, Do you? ‘course not. When you pay hard earned cash to see a bunch of guys come out on the stage and dilly dally around and when they start playing it’s almost like they’re saying to the audience ‘please excuse me for taking up your time, I won’t be very long’… at least I don’t want to see that. I had rather have my banjo scream and say; “Sit down, shut up and listen, cause we own this stage for the next hour. We are in control up in here!!!”
….something like that 😁😝😳….may be a bit harsh, you reckon?

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Hi Sonny:
I greatly appreciate your comments and stories, they remind me of your music – honest, straight forward and offered on a take it or leave it basis. I hope you enjoy writing it as much as we do reading it.

Many of your colleagues were/are superb guitar players, people like Earl, Don Reno, J.D., and Alison Brown. Ralph may be the exception here, as I believe he stuck to the banjo. I assume most pros play several instruments and the guitar being simple to learn, is played by many of them. Do you in fact play guitar, and did you ever play on stage or in the studio? If not guitar, maybe you can tell us about any instrument you play for your own pleasure. I read recently that Bobby played fiddle for his own enjoyment all his life, and that is what brings me to ask you about other instruments.

Thanks
Dick
Ont. Canada

Dick in Ontario, beautiful Canada. We did a TV show at a Chevrolet show room in Winsor for about a year in 1955. Broadcast on CKLW-TV with Casey Clark and the Lazy Ranch Boys and Girls.

Other instruments? I know chords on the mandolin, GUITAR Banjo, and can figure out the bass. I have played Mother Maybelle Carter Guitar breaks on several tunes and even recorded a couple. On stage I played guitar a bit but I stuck with the banjo and guitjo.

Bobby was a better musician than I, in that he could play anything. Fiddle, mandolin, guitar, banjo, and at one time he could play some piano. I believe his favorite would be the fiddle. But his vocal was so good….so good. My opinion, Bobby started a style of mandolin that the majority of players do now. It’s the single string where you don’t necessarily play the melody, rather you kinda play around it. He started playing that stuff in 1952. Because his vocal was so good he was never recognized so much as a mandolin player, but believe me folks, boy could play.

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Sonny, thanks so much for sharing your memories and observations with us. I really enjoy reading your column! A question for you: A while back, you mentioned listening to jazz. I’m curious as to who you listen to in that field. I know you worked with Hank Garland way back when, and there’ve been lots of bluegrass artists working jazz into their recordings, and some jazz folks [Bill Frisell, Cal Collins, Charlie Haden] who wandered into bluegrass and country. Did you explore integrating the styles in your playing, perhaps even for your own curiosity, or did you prefer not to mix the two [OK, two questions]? Thanks for all, and best of health to you!!

Henry K.

Henry K…welcome, good of you to share some of your time with us. Thank you!

Yes, I would have mixed it all together just to see what surfaced IF I thought I had the knowledge to do it and not get booed out of the stadium. Not very many guys I mentioned would wander very far into jazz because really good jazz musicians look right on down on people who proclaim jazz talent, and knowledge, without being able to back it up.

I was told that the Emmons try at a jazz album was not accepted well by the other musicians….and see, man I would run wide open away from that situation. Jazz and I go back to the early ’50s when I was around some folks who delved into some form of jazz. They were not considered top drawer players but I grew to like and admire their talent. Buddy Emmons, who recorded a jazz album (mentioned above) that I never heard. Hank Garland, Jethro Burns and Homer Haynes, and a little Miles Davis, and John Coltrane. I also recorded a fusion album with Gary Burton, Roy Haynes, and a couple more guys I can’t remember their names. Tennessee Firebird was the album.

We played a park in Chicago in 1955 and I had heard that Charlie Byrd was playing just a short few steps from where we were so when I got done I headed that way, (I wanted to head him off cause as soon as he heard I was near he’d be right there, and Charlie was getting right on up in years). Yeah Right, I’m sure of that! I got to see the great Charlie Byrd play. UNREAL.

I liked Charlie Parker and Billy Preston too. It’s a far cry from what made my living, but I really love (and better defined, Admire) Jens Kruger, Tony Trischka, Ned Luberecki, and Béla Fleck, and about a jillion others for what they can do, and what I couldn’t do. I neither have the time nor room to mention all of them. If I mentioned them all, man I’d be here ’til suppertime.
s

If you have something you would like to ask Sonny, be sure to post it in the comments below, or send it to us directly.

Ask Sonny Anything… what was your first banjo?

Posted on May 1, 2020 by Azlyrics

During the past couple weeks I’ve been talking (by text) to Silvio Ferretti, good friend, banjo player, bridge maker. Right now thanks to our Chinese friends who gave us The Chinese Virus Breakdown, he is spending most of his time in his house in Italy. As I’m doing here in Tennessee. He asked me to expound on a subject that I don’t think I’ve ever looked into. My relationship with JD Crowe. Both about the same age (JD is 2 months and 2 days older) Both from Kentucky, both banjo players. (One of us the Real Deal) Sorry Crowe man, it’s my column!!!!!!!!!! Kidding. I love Crowe, he knows it. Nothing I wouldn’t do for him, if possible! If I can’t do it, I’ll get it done…..I’ll call Steve Chandler.

So, yes, I can do this.

At this point in life JD is one of my very best friends. Before all this virus stuff and worn out wheels (knees) I would have a lunch get together and invite my banjo friends and others. Starting with Larry Stephenson, Ronnie Reno, and Robin Smith. It grew into a real deal and Del and his boys Rob and Ronnie, Mike Bub, Skaggs, Bobby, Boj, Rhonda Vincent… we’ve had a bunch of folks. So, get this, Probably 10 – 15 times guess who drives from Lexington, KY and orders his eggs…yep JD Crowe. Steve Chandler, great engineer and friend, always sees to it that JD can get there. I can’t begin to tell you how much I appreciate that little thing right there.

Throughout our careers our paths did not cross often but since his slowdown and my retirement we have become very close friends. One would ask if we talked banjos when we see one another. Strangely enough, no we do not. To me we have never been in competition nor have we been in a place where we would be.

When JD was with Jimmy Martin I thought on a couple of occasions Jimmy wanted JD to show me up, but that never happened. My way of playing the banjo was so different from his that there was actually nothing to compare. I played what I heard in my head and each time may be different from the last time. And, I never listened to banjo players other than Earl up to 1957. After that, I listened to everything but the banjo.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the guys, Sammy, Kruger, Aaron, Kristin, Lincoln, Brandon, Derek, Béla, Tony, Alison, I love them all … we’re brothers. Crowe and I are brothers. But, I don’t listen to their banjo playing. Like to take it apart. Understand, to me, the right hand is the most important part for a person to conquer. A great right hand, with all the correct moves, and the rest will fall into place. All of the above have great right hands that fits perfectly with what they want to accomplish with the banjo. But for me to play what I play, the way I go about it, ‘twould be a detriment to my way of thinking!

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Hello again from Seattle. I grew up in Wisconsin in the 1970s and could often get the Opry on the radio. I dug out some old tapes I made off the Opry at that time. On a Trailblazer Dog Food segment it sounds like Lester Flatt & The Nashville Grass and the Osborne Brothers together on a few songs. Do you recall performing together with Lester on the Opry?

Thanks.

Jeff S.
Seattle, WA

Jeff from Seattle. Thank you for joining us. I don’t remember what year that would be but yes, I do remember doing the Opry and on stage with Lester. We did We’ll Meet Again Sweetheart and Roll in My Sweet Baby’s Arms. Paul Warren played the fiddle and Kenny Ingram played the banjo.

I think, if you were to go to my web page you’ll find a picture taken that night with the three of us at the mic singing. I loved that picture and the actual performance. Lester was a 100% pro and the most relaxed person I have know when he was at the mic. The most “laid back” person you would ever want to meet.

Flatt and Scruggs breakup must have been because of something really bad. Lester told me more than once, and he always said the same words. “I JUST WANTED TO KEEP PEACE IN THE FAMILY!” I won’t discuss their breakup, I loved them both and their contribution to Bluegrass Music is Immeasurable. Trust me, I was there from one end to the other.

If not for Flatt and Scruggs, what we know as Bluegrass Music would not have existed. Oh, for sure there would have been singers and banjo players but the bar would not have been set nearly as high. If you didn’t see them perform on stage, I’m sorry. Class act. From beginning to end. I met them in 1952. And after the breakup, Bill Mack, all-night DJ at WBAP Dallas/Fort Worth said it best. “I just couldn’t imagine waking up every day and there not being a Flatt and Scruggs!”
s

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Hey there Mr Sonny….brother, just wanted to let you know how great of an influence you have been to all things banjo….and you proved time and time again that any music can be capably played if you just think through what you want to do. Especially for all us “unknown” pickers, the banjo is such an important part of our lives, it makes us hopeful that maybe we might be able to express ourselves through music, and the folks who are listening might understand what we’re trying to do.

Secondly, love the ending on Cut the Cornbread; free form jazz. To me,good stuff.

Ned L. asked about you playing any “melodic style,” listen to your ending on Old Joe Clark on the Wade Ray fiddle album on Camden. Again, good stuff.

Now to a question, how was it picking with Homer and Jethro? Thanks, stay safe, and take care.

Danny B.

Dan’l, I’m glad you could make it. Mighty kind words there my brother….Thank you. Good, well thought out banjo playing comes from practice, practice, practice until your fingers bleed. And then do it some more. If you love that sound enough, that much, anything is possible. Being able to play everything you hear in your head…. Man, they hain’t nothing no better. Just like corn bread crumbled up in cold butter milk. Lawd How Moicy!

If one would listen closely, both those endings are Classic Melodic. Cut The Cornbread was the first one I did and it was on a dare from Grady Martin. I’m not proud of it but I did it, it’s mine. The Old Joe Clark ending was done as a suggestion from Ray Edenton who was on both sessions. Man, I was so honored to do that album with the best musicians in Nashville. Maybe in the world.

Jethro Burns is unbelievable on the mandolin, country fiddle tunes, or Miles Davis jazz. He would be comfortable in either setting…and Homer Haynes…probably the best swing, actually any kind of music, guitarist. He can play the most beautiful rhythm you will ever hear. He plays chords that match. Each one leading to the next one. I LOVED doing that Wade Ray album. Homer and Jethro, Ray Edenton, Floyd Cramer, Henry Strezlecki??? and I can’t remember the drummer guy’s name. Maybe Buddy Harmon or Johnny Virgin.

And then there was Wade. Wonderful human being. Just a joy to be around. Great singer who worked on the Ernest Tubb TV show, Tubb called him “Pugg Nose!” How good was he? We took a lunch break and he stayed in the RCA studio and put harmony on the fiddle tunes… did it in one hour folks. Recorded on an Ampex machine direct to 2 inch tape. UNREAL! This comes from practice, practice, practice. When music is like that, that good, it just tears me up inside. It’s that good, and they knew my first name! Every banjo player would pray for this kind of opportunity. Thank you Lord for placing this in my path! s

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Hey Sonny, my name is Nik M. and I’ve basically been a fan my whole life (grant it I’m 14)… My grandpa Earl Ray got me into listening to it, and then I kind of moved into classic country and now it’s kind of a mix of both. I really want to make my grandpa proud so I took up banjo playing. Do you have any beginners tips or suggestions?

Thanks, Nik

Hey young Nik….several tips that would help you. Get the best instrument that is possible. Get the best picks. I recommend Hoffmeyer finger picks, and a plastic thumb pick, or a Blue chip thumb pick which comes in s-m-l sizes.

Select a banjo player that their style of playing best fits what you have in mind. Then find a good teacher. I recommend Kristin Scott Benson, Bill (New Mexico Flash) Evans, or Tony Trischka. Tell them how you want to play and follow instructions. Above all, PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. In a room with NO distractions. IE: phone, TV, Radio…complete silence, focus, and concentration is necessary if you want to learn to play.

If you can’t do any of these during practice time, you shouldn’t waste your time and money. You sound as though you may be somewhat talented. If so, you may be ahead of these recommendations, in that case…PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE, P[RACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE.

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Hi Sonny, Long time listener, first time writer-inner. I interacted with you many years ago on The Banjo Forum and was able to ask you once about singing. You told me you never really liked singing but were graced with the natural ability to harmonize so you got stuck doing it. I always thought you were amazing on the banjo but your singing gets very little credit. I was able to purchase the CD and DVD of the show you did with Rhonda Vincent and thought you once again did a great job. Did you enjoy that experience being back on the stage and what memories can you share from the time you were touring where you did enjoy singing?

Stan

Stan, welcome my friend. Did you ever stop and think, He gets ‘very little credit’ because he doesn’t deserve much, and you can tell that he’s not very good AND the other two guys are thinking something like ‘JJJeesh, I wish Bobby would have gotten someone else to do this’ and man, we would have something. Seriously, all kidding aside, I just didn’t like singing because it took me away from my first love…the banjo.

I was blessed with the ability to recognize harmony parts and could blend well enough to make the other guys sound good. We were fortunate enough to have some pretty good harmony singers too. Benny Birchfield, Dale Sledd, Ronnie Reno, Paul Brewster, Terry Eldredge, Terry Smith, Daryl Mosely. These guys were good, really good. I would classify myself as adequate.

Did I enjoy being back at the Ryman. Partially. It was good until Mac Wiseman backed his scooter into my left leg and it almost knocked me down. But once again, that’s the price you pay for being a hillbilly.

I loved memories of the Ryman, I was standing within 5 feet of where my career started, and I chose to end it there. Full Circle! I also loved working with Rhonda’s band. They are the best. Aaron McDaris, Josh Williams, Mickey Harris, Hunter Berry, and Brent Burke….Good ain’t the right word, but for me, a 10th grade drop out, it’ll work. The singing part, not so much. Good to sing with my brother again. We spent 55 years together. Rhonda sings a high baritone and it was difficult for me and Bobby to focus in on the correct part. So, there were mistakes in the harmony, BUT THE CROWD LOVED IT AND THAT’S WHAT REALLY MATTERS.
s

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Hi Sonny, I’ve always loved the tone you pull out of your banjos, be it The Granada or the RB-75 FON 182-3 (formerly known as an RB-3 or an RB-4, “the one with an X at the first fret”). These two great banjos were recorded with the best technology that was available to the Osborne Brothers through the years, but I’m wondering: what did you play before them? I’m pretty sure you had the RB-75 on the recordings with Red Allen, but I’m curious about the banjo(s) that you played before, with Jimmy Martin, on the Stanley Alpine recordings, and of course with Monroe. Could you shed some light on the Early Sonny Sound, so to say? Thank you!

Silvio F

Silvio….TONE. Everything has a ‘sweet spot’ including every banjo I played. Tone comes from learning to play at the banjo’s sweet spot. Each one is a tiny wee bit different. I takes a small amount of adjusting your right hand position.

I was just talking about you and the conversations we’ve had in the past few weeks.

STORY. My first banjo was a Kay. My Dad paid $100 for it. I had seen the picture of Earl where he was playing the RB 75 that he later traded to Don Reno. It looked like an X on the first fret. I got some white paint and painted an X on the first fret of that Kay!

The banjo used on the Bill Monroe recordings was a Gibson, no tone ring RB 100. That banjo was run over in a drive in theater while I was working with Bill. I sold it to Johnny Whisnent, and he never paid me for it, ha ha.

I had a Gibson RB150, and it was short lived. StringBean gave me the address of Shorty Fincher in Hallum, PA and that’s where my first Gibson Mastertone came into the picture. My Dad paid $125.00 for a 1929 RB3 Raised Head. I used it on the Gateway recordings in 1952. Sunny Mountain Chimes etc. also the RCA records with Jimmy (Frog) Martin, (Stanley Alpine was a fictitious name). Those recordings were made for Gateway and the Kentucky label. I played it on some of the very early MGM records until I bought the RB 3 (182-3) at The Dayton Institute of Music, becoming the second owner. Hershel Measle bought it new at Pop’s Music on East 3rd Street in Dayton..in 1937. I bought it in April 1956. Aaron McDaris has it now. I played it until the Vega era 1965 until the 1970s. This time includes the 6 string period which began in 1970.

C. E. Ward made the first one ever I reckon and after that I think Rual Yarborough made several for different people. I think maybe JD got one made by Rual. It didn’t catch on as I thought it would. I recorded a lot with the 6 string. It was fun to play, but needed adjustment in the right hand because of the string width being wider. The real problem occurred when I went back to the five string.

The speed was gone for the most part. I couldn’t play fast for long stretches. The Granada came in January of 1978. A Godsend for sure. I had played some good ones but that one, 9584-2 took the prize. ‘Twas the best banjo I ever had in my hands. No way to actually compare but if that were possible I bet that banjo would be the best ever. The Chief came to life in 1998, and I basically used 00 chief until the end in 2003.

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