The Tradition

Q: I was a big fan of the Greenbriar Boys and was good friends with all of them, especially John Herald. Listening again to some cuts recently I came across “Way Down in the Country.” I assumed it was a Grandpa Jones tune because it sounds exactly like something he’d do. But I can’t find…

Photos by Jeromie Stephens Franklin Delano Roosevelt “Frank” Wakefield (June 26, 1934 – April 26, 2024) was an “authentic certified musical genius. He is the only man to build a complete, original mandolin style on the Monroe base.” Columnist Bill Vernon made that assessment in the pages of Muleskinner News magazine in 1972 when he…

Q: Chubby Collier played some awesome hardcore fiddle on several Charlie Bailey songs that I like extremely well. I believe he was from far southwest Virginia. I wonder if he recorded on more songs; I can’t think of any. Can you come up with anything about him? I’d love to learn as much as I…

Photos Courtesy of the Earl Scruggs Center Collection [Editor’s Note:  In our January, 2024 issue we ran an article about the new Earl Scruggs exhibit at the Earl Scruggs Center in Shelby, North Carolina.  Part of that exhibit includes information from a 17,000 word document that Earl had written about his life.  In our previous…

Bluegrass Music Loses Another Banjo Legend Photo by Dan Miller Benjamin Rolfe “Ben” Eldridge (August 15, 1938 – April 14, 2024) was a co-founder of the Seldom Scene and served as the group’s banjoist and longest-tenured member; he logged a total of 44 years with the band from 1971 until 2015. As an instrumentalist in what…

“I’ll Be True to the One I Love” – The Rest of the Story In the June 2001 “Notes & Queries,” Walt Saunders fielded a question from a reader who was seeking the title of a song for which they recalled only a verse of lyric. The song was identified as “I’ll Be True to…