The Country Gentlemen
The Country Gentleman is an American bluegrass band that originated in the late 1950s and was a pioneer of progressive bluegrass style.
Career
On July 4, 1957 had the Bayou Boys, a native of Louisiana Bluegrass group, on the way to a concert in a car accident. The uninjured band members Charlie Waller ( born January 19, 1935) and Bill Emerson moved perforce through the show alone. That was the birth of the Country Gentlemen who presented themselves after numerous line-up changes in 1959 in a stable formation. Besides Waller mandolin player John Duffey completed ( born March 4, 1934), the bass guitarist Tom Gray and banjo player Eddie Adcock ( born June 17, 1938), the quartet.
When Starday label a couple of singles and an album were produced. After that, Country Gentlemen switched to Folkways, where further albums were released. The group played a modern version of the Bluegrass Music, The compilation was also folk and country elements. On the use of the fiddle was omitted ( later fiddle player were occasionally consulted ). Native to the group was in Washington, DC, where they played a leading role in the local folk and bluegrass scene. Despite their growing popularity remained of chart success. The bluegrass music was too far away and in its modern variant from the mainstream to be considered by the country radio.
Mid-1960s, they switched to the Rebel label. There have been numerous line-up changes. Charlie Waller was the only constant. It was only in 1971 found himself back together a long-term occupation. With this Bill Emerson was, who had in 1957 one of the founders. The bassist Bill Yates joined the group in 1970. Over the years, many musicians played in the band, some of which, such as Ricky Skaggs, later became famous.
Charlie Waller, the longtime frontman of the group, died in August 2004. His son Randy continued his work. The newly formed band occurred from then on as " Randy Waller & The Country Gentlemen ".