William Hundley "Bill" Emerson, Jr. (born January 22, 1938 in Washington, D.C.) is an American five-string banjo player known for being one of the founding members of the original Country Gentlemen and Emerson & Waldron.
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Beginning in 1957, Bill Emerson established himself as a banjo virtuoso and history maker alike! A founding member of the famed bluegrass ensemble "The Country Gentlemen", billed as a featured artist while with "Jimmy Martin" during the height of that bluegrass legend's career, the man who introduced the classic "Fox on the Run" to bluegrass, founder and shaper of "Country Current" the world renowned bluegrass ensemble of the United States Navy Band. Called "a banjo legend" by the "Washington Post", twice awarded "Banjo player of the Year" by the Muleskinner News Bluegrass Magazine, credited with giving start to the careers of both dobro legends Mike Auldridge and Jerry Douglas, credited by Ricky Skaggs as being responsible for his post Ralph Stanley musical career, Bill Emerson was also inducted into the "Virginia Folk Music Association" Hall of Fame in 1984 and June 10th was proclaimed "Bill Emerson day in Virginia" by Governor Charles S. Robb.
Emerson joined Buzz Busby and the Bayou Boys in the 1950s. In 1957, when Busby was injured in a car accident, Emerson and Charlie Waller - who was also a member of the Bayou Boys - formed the Country Gentlemen.[1] Emerson's stint with the Gentlemen lasted until 1958 when he left the group and began working as a sideman. In 1962, he joined Jimmy Martin's Sunny Mountain Boys where he remained until 1967 with the exception of a brief interlude with Red Allen between 1964-1965. In 1967, Emerson and guitarist Cliff Waldron formed "Emerson & Waldron" recording for Rebel Records.[2] The sound and repertoire of Emerson & Waldron was very similar to the Country Gentlemen often performing songs from contemporary rock, soul and country.[3] Three years later, in 1970, Emerson was back with the Country Gentlemen. In the absence of Emerson, Waldron renamed the group "Cliff Waldron and the New Shades of Grass.[4] When Emerson joined the Navy in 1973 he also joined the Navy Band performing with them for the next twenty years. In 1992, the Stelling Banjo Company issued an Emerson signature banjo model.[2]
During the First annual Oak Leaf Bluegrass and Mountain Music Festival at Luray Caverns on July 4th 2011, Virginia Governor Robert F McDonnell presented a CERTIFICATE OF RECOGNITION to Bill Emerson for his many contributions to the development, popularity and proliferation of Bluegrass Music in the Commonwealth of Virginia and around the world.