Doyle Lawson

Doyle Lawson
Doyle Lawson (left) and his band harmonize during the 2006 NEA National Heritage Fellows concert.
Background information
Born	(1944-04-20) April 20, 1944 Sullivan County, Tennessee
Genres	Bluegrass, gospel
Occupations	Singer
Instruments	Mandolin
Years active	1977–present
Website	www.doylelawson.com

Doyle Lawson (born April 20, 1944) is an American bluegrass and gospel musician. He is best known as an accomplished mandolin player, vocalist, producer, and leader of the 5-man group Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver. Doyle Lawson was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2012.^[1]

Biography

Doyle Lawson was born in Ford Town, Sullivan County, Tennessee, near Kingsport, the son of Leonard and Minnie Lawson. The Lawson family moved to Sneedville, Tennessee in 1954, around the time that Doyle acted upon his love for music.

Doyle grew up listening to the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday nights. This is where he became inspired by Bill Monroe, the "founding father" of bluegrass, and his band the Blue Grass Boys. His own instrumental piece, "Rosine," is a tribute to Monroe's birthplace and features, among other things, strains from the singer's 1967 instrumental "Kentucky Mandolin."

Doyle 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. His love for music grew and Doyle decided to learn to play the guitar and banjo as well.^[2]

Doyle’s perseverance and hard work style has shown through over forty albums since 1977 and through his band’s schedule, which includes over sixty concerts in one year. His hard work and high expectations for his band seem kind of humorous to some with Doyle’s recollection of one practice when he "instructed each member to go to a separate room in the house and continue singing. If the individual members were no longer in pitch when they rejoined their leader, they'd start over again. ‘Of course, they thought I was crazy,’ he told John Wooley in Tulsa World, ‘but I told 'em that if it'd work for the banjo, it'd work for vocals. What it does is, it gets you to do things without being conscious of it, because we all were being programmed the same way.’" Doyle expects a lot from his band and it shows with numerous awards and nine nominations for this year’s International Bluegrass Music Association Awards.

Every year Doyle hosts the Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver Festival in Denton, North Carolina.

He has one son, Robbie,and two daughters Suzi and Kristi. Kristi gave birth to the Lawson’s first grandchild, Spencer, in July 2007.

Doyle rededicated his life to Christianity in May 1985 and is a practicing member of Cold Spring Presbyterian Church.

1960s

In 1963, at the age of eighteen, Doyle went to Nashville, Tennessee to play the banjo with Jimmy Martin and the Sunny Mountain Boys.

In 1966, Doyle started playing with J.D. Crowe and the Kentucky Mountain Boys (later the New South), in Lexington, Kentucky.

Doyle went back to play the mandolin and sing tenor with Jimmy Martin in 1969 for six months. After he left Martin’s band he went back to play with Crowe until August 1971.

1970s

On September 1, 1971, Doyle started playing with the Country Gentlemen and remained part of the band for almost eight years, when in March 1979 Doyle left the band.

Doyle states that at that time in his career he wanted to make his own sound and that he has done.

In April 1979 Doyle formed his own band and called them Doyle Lawson and Foxfire, which quickly changed to Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver.

"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 ^[3]

1980s

In 1981, Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver released the critically acclaimed "Rock My Soul," an album that would become a landmark bluegrass gospel project.

In 1989 they won IBMA song of the year for "Little Mountain Church House."

1990s

in 1996, "There's a Light Guiding Me" was nominated for a Grammy.

In 1998 Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver became the first bluegrass band to perform at the National Quartet Convention.

2000s

Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver performed in Ontario, Canada at the Tottenham Bluegrass Festival in June, 2001.^[4]

Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver provided the background vocals to the song "Dazzling Blue" on Paul Simon's 2011 album "So Beautiful or So What."

Original and current lineup of Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver

Original:

• Terry Baucom-Banjo, Vocal
• Doyle Lawson-Mandolin, Vocal
• Jimmy Haley-Guitar, Vocal
• Lou Reid-Bass, Vocal

Current:

• Jason Barie-Fiddle
• Joe Dean-Banjo
• Doyle Lawson-Mandolin, Vocal
• Dustin Pyrtle-Guitar, Vocal
• Josh Swift-Dobro, Vocal
• Eli Johnston-Bass, Vocal

Discography

Studio albums

Compilation albums

References

1. ↑ http://ibmaawards.org/node/43#2012
2. ↑ Liner notes by Dave Freeman on Tennessee Dream. CD. Rebel REB-CD-1778
3. ↑ Liner notes by Tim Stafford on The Original Band. CD. Sugar Hill SHCD-2210
4. ↑ Strings, newsletter of the Pineridge Bluegrass Folklore Society, May/June 2001

External links

• Doyle Lawson Official Website
• Rounder Records
• CMT Artist
• Commotion Public Relations
• Musician Guide

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