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, U.S.
Genres Bluegrass, gospel
Occupation(s) 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 6-man group Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver. Lawson was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2012.

Biography

Doyle Lawson was born in Ford Town, Sullivan County, Tennessee, the son of Leonard and Minnie Lawson. The Lawson family moved to Sneedville in 1954, around the time that Doyle acted upon his love for music. Lawson 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".[1]

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]

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 to play the banjo with Jimmy Martin and the Sunny Mountain Boys. In 1966, he started playing with J.D. Crowe and the Kentucky Mountain Boys (later the New South), in Lexington, Kentucky. He went back to play the mandolin and sing tenor with Jimmy Martin in 1969 for six months. After he left the Sunny Mountain Boys, he returned 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 1977, he backed up U.S. Senator Robert Byrd on his "Mountain Fiddler" album. 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, 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 & Quicksilver on stage at the 2015 Tottenham Bluegrass Festival in Ontario, Canada

Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver performed in Ontario, Canada at the Tottenham Bluegrass Festival in June 2001[4] and again in June 2015. Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver provided the background vocals to the song "Dazzling Blue" on Paul Simon's 2011 album "So Beautiful or So What".

In 2015, "In Session"was nominated for Best Bluegrass Album at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards.

Original and current lineup of Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver

Original:

Current:

Discography

Studio albums

Year Album US Bluegrass Label
1977 Tennessee Dream County
1979 Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver Sugar Hill
1981 Heavenly Treasures
Quicksilver Rides Again
Rock My Soul
1985 Once and for Always
1986 Beyond the Shadows
1987 The News Is Out
1988 Heaven's Joy Awaits
Hymn Time in the Country
I'll Wander Back Someday
1989 I Heard the Angels Singing
1990 My Heart Is Yours
1991 Merry Christmas from Our House to Your House
1992 Pressing on Regardless Brentwood
Treasures Money Can't Buy
1995 Doyle Lawson with Bobby Hicks & Jerry Douglas Koch
Never Walk Away Sugar Hill
1996 There's a Light Guiding Me
1997 Kept & Protected
1998 Gospel Radio Gems
1999 Original Band
Winding Through Life
2000 Just Over in Heaven
2001 Gospel Parade
2002 The Hard Game of Love
1994 Hallelujah in My Heart Music Mill
Thank God Crossroads
2005 You Gotta Dig a Little Deeper 4 Rounder
2006 He Lives in Me 4 Crossroads
2007 More Behind the Picture Than the Wall 2 Rounder
2008 Help Is On the Way 4 Horizon
2009 Lonely Street Rounder
2010 Light On My Feet, Ready to Fly 11 Horizon
2011 Drive Time 15 Crossroads
2012 Sing Me a Song About Jesus 9
2013 Roads Well Traveled 14 Mountain Home
2014 Open Carefully, Message Inside[5] 10
2015 In Session[6] 8

Compilation albums

Year Album US Bluegrass Label
1990 The Gospel Collection 1 Sugar Hill
1999 A School of Bluegrass 9 Crossroads
Once and for Always/The News Is Out Sugar Hill
2007 Best of the Sugar Hill Years

Awards

International Bluegrass Music Association

References

  1. ↑ Profile, ibmaawards.org; accessed October 30, 2015.
  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
  5. ↑ "Open Carefully. Message Inside. from Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver". Cybergrass Bluegrass Music News Network, 07/09/2014
  6. 1 2 "Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver In Session". Pop Matters, Jonathan Frahm 20 February 2015.
  7. ↑ https://ibma.org/awards/recipient-history

External links

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