Red Allen (bluegrass)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Red Allen | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Harley Allen |
| Also known as | Red |
| Born | February 12, 1930 |
| Origin | Pigeon Roost Hollow, Kentucky, USA |
| Died | April 15, 1993 (aged 63) |
| Genre(s) | Bluegrass |
| Occupation(s) | Bluegrass artist |
| Instrument(s) | Guitar |
| Years active | 1950s – 1980s |
| Notable instrument(s) | |
| Guitar | |
Harley "Red" Allen (born February 12, 1930 Pigeon Roost Hollow, near Hazard, Kentucky - died April 15, 1993) was a bluegrass singer and guitarist known for his powerful tenor voice.
[edit] Biography
Allen grew up in the music-rich hills of eastern Kentucky, and in the early 1950s began performing in and around Dayton, Ohio. He first came to broad public attention in 1956, when he signed on with the Osborne Brothers to fill out one of the most influential vocal trios in the history of country music. Allen made his first recordings with the Osborne Brothers on July 1, 1956 when they recorded four songs.
Allen left the Osborne Brothers in 1958 and resettled in the Washington, D.C. area, which had a thriving bluegrass scene including the Country Gentlemen. There, with the innovative mandolin player Frank Wakefield, he formed the Kentuckians. During this period he and Wakefield made a much-admired record for Folkways, entitled simply "Bluegrass," which showed a larger public that he was a true disciple of "the high lonesome sound" associated with Bill Monroe. At his best, Allen drenched his material in emotion, each song propelled by his surging rhythm guitar playing. As he later said, "Bluegrass is sad music. It's always been sad and the people that's never lived it, it'll take them a long time to know what it is."
He later recorded for County records and King Bluegrass, with noted banjo player J.D. Crowe. Among his proteges was mandolinist David Grisman, the inventor of "dawg music," who said that by hiring him for the Kentuckians, Allen gave the younger man "a college education in bluegrass music."
Allen's sons, Ronnie, Greg, Neal, and Harley, performed and recorded (with and without their father) as the Allen Brothers in the 1970s and 1980s.
[edit] Afterwords
Until the Osbornes' 1958 hit "Once More," the typical arrangement called for a "lead" singer to provide the melody with a "tenor" singing a higher part, and a "baritone" below. "Once More," which reached number 13 on the charts, had the lead sung by the band's highest voice, mandolinist Bobby Osborne. Allen sang the "baritone" just below the melody and banjo player Sonny Osborne provided the "tenor" a full octave below its place in a traditional arrangement. The result, as the Osbornes themselves observed, allowed singers to mimic the sliding tonal effects of the pedal-steel guitar. Contemporary singers using this device include Rhonda Vincent.
