Music & Dance
DOYLE LAWSON & QUICKSILVER
Nashville, Tennesee
Bluegrass
While Doyle Lawson is revered as a master of the mandolin, he is also credited with popularizing the integration of gospel-style vocals in bluegrass music. Born in Ford Town (near Kingsport), Tennessee, in 1944, Doyle grew up listening to the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday nights and was inspired to play bluegrass music by Bill Monroe’s “high lonesome” sound. He credits his love of quartet music to his parents and his sister, who sang a cappella music in churches and at revivals. At age 11, shortly after his family moved to Sneedville, Tennessee, he became interested in the mandolin, so his father borrowed one from a friend. Doyle taught himself to play from listening to records and music on the radio and television. Eventually, he also taught himself how to play the banjo and guitar.
At 18, he began his career as a bluegrass musician playing banjo for International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Hall of Honor member and bluegrass pioneer Jimmy Martin, then moved on to play with J.D. Crowe and the Kentucky Mountain Boys in 1966. In 1969, he went back to Jimmy Martin to play mandolin and sing tenor; after six months, he went back to J.D. Crowe until 1971. For the next eight years he played with the Country Gentlemen, then finally started his own band Doyle Lawson and Foxfire (which quickly changed to Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver).
In the 1990s Doyle’s faith became a more forceful aspect of his life and music and he turned his attention more closely to gospel. Doyle’s father’s shape-note hymnbook collection contained a wealth of material upon which he drew inspiration. The sounds of African-American gospel quartets and southern gospel groups he heard as a youngster also held sway. He released more than 15 all-gospel bluegrass albums featuring a wide range of styles, including a cappella quartets. This work earned him regular appearances at the National Quartet Convention and his first Gospel Music Awards’ Dove nominations.
More recently, Doyle has reverted to his earlier practice of alternating sacred music with bluegrass albums. In 2002 he won the IBMA’s Song of the Year award for “Blue Train” and Doyle has been honored with a National Endowment for the Arts’ National Heritage Fellowship, the highest honor in America granted to traditional and folk artists. Doyle and his band have also been named IBMA’s “best vocal group” an unprecedented seven years in a row.
Currently joining Lawson on stage are Quicksilver band members Jason Barie (fiddle), Joey Cox (banjo), Darren McGuire (guitar, vocals), Josh Swift (dobro, vocals) and Carl White (bass, vocals).
Links
http://doylelawson.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doyle_Lawson
http://www.singers.com/gospel/doylelawson.html
Return
to Music and Dance page
Go
to Next Artist- Sana NDiaye
