Doyle Lawson

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Doyle Lawson
Doyle Lawson and his band.jpg
Lawson (left) and his band harmonize during the 2006 NEA National Heritage Fellows concert
Background information
Born (1944-04-20) April 20, 1944 (age 80)
Sullivan County, Tennessee, U.S.
Genres Bluegrass, gospel
Occupation Singer
Instrument Mandolin
Years active1963–2021
Website www.doylelawson.com

Doyle Wayne Lawson [1] (born April 20, 1944) is an American traditional bluegrass and Southern gospel musician. [2] He is best known as a mandolin player, vocalist, producer, and leader of the 6-man group Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver. [3] Lawson was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2012.

Contents

Early life

Doyle Lawson was born in Fordtown, Sullivan County, Tennessee, [4] the son of Leonard and Minnie Lawson. The Lawson family moved to Sneedville in 1954. [5] Lawson grew up listening to the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday nights. This is where he heard mandolinist Bill Monroe, the "founding father" of bluegrass, and his band the Blue Grass Boys.

Lawson became interested in playing the mandolin around the age of eleven so his father borrowed a mandolin from Willis Byrd, a family friend and fellow musician. Doyle taught himself how to play the mandolin by listening to the radio and records, and watching an occasional TV show. [2] Later Lawson learned to play the guitar and banjo as well. [4]

Career

Early career

In 1963, aged 18 or 19, Lawson went to Nashville to play the banjo with Jimmy Martin and the Sunny Mountain Boys. [6]

In 1966, he started playing with J.D. Crowe and the Kentucky Mountain Boys (later called the New South) in Lexington, Kentucky. He returned to play the mandolin and sing tenor with Martin in 1969 for six months, and then played again with Crowe until August 1971. [5] [7]

In September, 1971, Lawson started playing with The Country Gentlemen and remained part of the band for almost eight years. During that time, in 1977, he backed up U.S. Senator Robert Byrd on his Mountain Fiddler album. In March 1979, Lawson left the Country Gentlemen with the intention of forming a band and creating his own sound. [5] [4]

Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver

Within a month Lawson had formed Doyle Lawson and Foxfire, with Jimmy Haley on guitar, Lou Reid on bass, and Terry Baucom on banjo. [4] The band name was soon changed to Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver. [8] [9] In 1981, through Sugar Hill Records, Lawson with this lineup released the critically acclaimed Rock My Soul, an album that would become a landmark bluegrass gospel project. [6] [10] [11] With a new bassist, Randy Graham, the band recorded a second gospel album, Heavenly Treasures, also on Sugar Hill. [4] [8]

Shortly thereafter, Graham, Baucom and Haley left to form their own band. Lawson hired guitarist Russell Moore, banjoist Scott Vestal and bassist Curtis Vestal, and continued to perform. After a time Ray Deaton took over on bass. [4]

In 1989 the band won song of the year at the International Bluegrass Music Awards for "Little Mountain Church House". In 1997, There's a Light Guiding Me was a 39th Annual Grammy Award nominee for Best Southern Gospel, Country Gospel or Bluegrass Gospel Album. [12] Through the years, Quicksilver toured regularly, performing at festivals concerts and other musical events. [13]

In 1998, Lawson and Quicksilver became the first bluegrass band to perform at the National Quartet Convention. Lawson and Quicksilver performed in Ontario, Canada at the Tottenham Bluegrass Festival in June 2001 [14] and again in June 2015. Lawson and Quicksilver provided the background vocals to the song "Dazzling Blue" on Paul Simon's 2011 album So Beautiful or So What. In 2015, In Session was nominated for Best Bluegrass Album at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards. [15]

Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver on stage at the 2015 Tottenham Bluegrass Festival in Ontario, Canada Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver on stage at the 2015 Tottenham Bluegrass Festival in Ontario, Canada.jpg
Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver on stage at the 2015 Tottenham Bluegrass Festival in Ontario, Canada

Lawson composed a number of the band's songs and tunes. His instrumental piece "Rosine", is a tribute to Monroe's birthplace and features, among other things, strains from the singer's 1967 instrumental "Kentucky Mandolin". [16] Lawson hosts the annual Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver Festival in Denton, North Carolina. In 2021, Lawson announced his retirement as a bandleader. Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver played their last show in the winter of 2021.

Personal life

Doyle has been married to Suzanne Lawson since 1978. He has one son, two daughters and a grandchild. Doyle rededicated his life to Christianity in May 1985 and is a practicing member of Cold Spring Presbyterian Church.[ citation needed ]

Band members

Final lineup

Discography

Studio albums

YearAlbum US Bluegrass Label
1977Tennessee DreamCounty
1979Doyle Lawson & QuicksilverSugar Hill
1981Heavenly Treasures
Quicksilver Rides Again
Rock My Soul
1985Once and for Always
1986Beyond the Shadows
1987The News Is Out
1988Heaven's Joy Awaits
Hymn Time in the Country
I'll Wander Back Someday
1989I Heard the Angels Singing
1990My Heart Is Yours [7]
1991Merry Christmas from Our House to Your House
1992Pressing on RegardlessBrentwood
Treasures Money Can't Buy
1995Doyle Lawson with Bobby Hicks & Jerry DouglasKoch
Never Walk AwaySugar Hill
1996There's a Light Guiding Me
1997Kept & Protected
1998Gospel Radio Gems
1999Original Band
Winding Through Life
2000Just Over in Heaven
2001Gospel Parade
2002The Hard Game of Love
1994Hallelujah in My HeartMusic Mill
Thank GodCrossroads
2005You Gotta Dig a Little Deeper [17] 4Rounder
2006He Lives in Me4Crossroads
2007More Behind the Picture Than the Wall2Rounder
2008Help Is On the Way4Horizon
2009Lonely StreetRounder
2010Light On My Feet, Ready to Fly11Horizon
2011Drive Time15Crossroads
2012Sing Me a Song About Jesus9
2013Roads Well Traveled14 Mountain Home
2014Open Carefully, Message Inside [18] 10
2015In Session [19] 8
2016 Burden Bearer 4
2017Life is a StoryMountain Home
2019Live in Prague, Czech RepublicBilly Blue Records
2022Roundtable

Compilation albums

YearAlbum US Bluegrass Label
1990The Gospel Collection 1Sugar Hill
1999A School of Bluegrass9Crossroads
Once and for Always/The News Is OutSugar Hill
2007Best of the Sugar Hill Years

Awards

Lawson is a recipient of a 2006 National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the United States government's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts. [20]

International Bluegrass Music Association

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References

  1. ↑ "Brother Have You Heard". ASCAP. American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. Retrieved April 26, 2023.
  2. 1 2 Appalachian Journal. 1980. pp. 331–332.
  3. ↑ Loyal Jones (October 8, 2008). Country Music Humorists and Comedians. University of Illinois Press. pp. 238–. ISBN   978-0-252-03369-8.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 W. K. McNeil (October 18, 2013). Encyclopedia of American Gospel Music. Routledge. pp. 226–. ISBN   978-1-135-37700-7.
  5. 1 2 3 Stephanie P. Ledgin (2004). Homegrown Music: Discovering Bluegrass. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 47–. ISBN   978-0-275-98115-0.
  6. 1 2 Kurt Wolff; Orla Duane (2000). Country Music: The Rough Guide. Rough Guides. pp. 228–. ISBN   978-1-85828-534-4.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Contemporary Musicians. Gale Research, Incorporated. 2006. pp. 101–102. ISBN   978-0-7876-8068-8.
  8. 1 2 Thomas Goldsmith (2004). The Bluegrass Reader. University of Illinois Press. pp. 248–. ISBN   978-0-252-02914-1.
  9. ↑ "No one since the late great Bill Monroe melds bluegrass with gospel music quite like the former Country Gentlemen member Doyle Lawson…" Memphis Commercial Appeal (what date?).
  10. ↑ Neil V. Rosenberg (2005). Bluegrass: A History. University of Illinois Press. pp. 376–. ISBN   978-0-252-07245-1.
  11. ↑ Option. Sonic Options Network. 1987. p. 64.
  12. ↑ "The Complete List of Nominees". Los Angeles Times. January 8, 1997. ISSN   0458-3035 . Retrieved January 27, 2017.
  13. ↑ No Depression. No Depression. 2004. pp. 22, issues 49–54.
  14. ↑ Strings, newsletter of the Pineridge Bluegrass Folklore Society, May/June 2001
  15. ↑ "58th Annual Grammy Awards". Grammy Awards . Retrieved June 14, 2024.
  16. ↑ Profile Archived December 3, 2012, at the Wayback Machine , ibmaawards.org; accessed October 30, 2015.
  17. ↑ "Billboard Picks". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. April 16, 2005. pp. 44–. ISSN   0006-2510.
  18. ↑ "Open Carefully. Message Inside. from Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver" Archived September 8, 2015, at the Wayback Machine . Cybergrass Bluegrass Music News Network, 07/09/2014
  19. 1 2 "Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver In Session". Pop Matters, Jonathan Frahm 20 February 2015.
  20. ↑ "NEA National Heritage Fellowships 2006". www.arts.gov. National Endowment for the Arts. Archived from the original on May 21, 2020. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  21. ↑ Profile Archived January 3, 2018, at the Wayback Machine , ibma.org; accessed August 16, 2016.
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