James King

l. to r.: Donald Dowdy, James King, Eddie Biggerstaff,
Clay Lillard

During the mid-1980s, James King performed with Ralph Stanley, his musical idol, filling in when Ralph's lead singers couldn't make a show or a tour. Then, in 1988, King formed his own band, and he's been leading a band pretty much ever since.

But he has never forgotten that Stanley influence. The current edition of the James King Band is pictured here at Bradley's Barn, the now-abandoned studio founded by producers Owen and Harold Bradley where greats like Bill Monroe and the Stanley Brothers recorded some legendary songs in the early 1950s.

"I never thought I'd ever be in this studio," King says. "When I found out about it, I got cold chills ... hoping that Carter would say something to me."

November

Who is this singer with the royal name?

This bluegrass singer (pictured second from left) first came to Nashville in 1985 as a member of a band called Dealer's Choice (you think they liked to play cards?). The band participated in that year's SPBGMA band competition, eventually finishing in 16th place (out of how many, I don't know).

Now the leader of his own band, he has been back to the Music City many times, as well as all over the country. I have seen him perform many times through the years at festivals here in the Midwest, and I own two of his fine recordings from the 1990s: These Old Pictures (1993) and Lonesome and Then Some (1995).

The band appears to be pictured in front of an old brick wall, paint peeling off and all. Just where this is located and why the band is there will be revealed when this bluegrass singer's identity is revealed.

Significant November dates in bluegrass history

• 1st: The Seldom Scene formed (1971)
• 8th: Roy Lee Centers, former Clinch Mountain Boy, was born (1944)
• 11th: Banjoist Don Stover died (1996)
• 13th: Bassist Mike Bub, formerly of the Del McCoury Band, was born (1964)
• 16th: The Osborne Brothers recorded "Rocky Top" (1967)
• 20th: Bill Vernon (1996) and Charlie Cline (2004) died
• 21st: Jim Eanes (1995) and Allen Shelton (2009) died

Another Larry

The Larry Stephenson Band (l. to r.: Larry Stephenson, Kenny
Ingram, Danny Stewart, Kevin Richardson)

A member of Virginia's Country Music Hall of Fame, Larry Richardson has won SPGMA's Male Vocalist of the Year award five times during his nearly 40 years in the business. He also had a no. 1 hit ("Clinch Mountain Mystery") during his days with Pinecastle Records.

A few years ago, the Larry Stephenson Band's 20th Anniversary collection won IBMA's Recorded Event of the Year. Just one look at the stellar supporting cast is enough to explain why it won: Sonny Osborne, Dale Ann Bradley, Marty Stuart, Ricky Skaggs, Connie Smith, Del McCoury, and Dudley Connell.

Larry and the band have also appeared on the Grand Ole Opry many times and on the RFD television network.

October

Who is this high-singing mandolin player and his band?

Hailing from Virginia, the leader (pictured at far left) of this foursome cut his musical teeth in the Washington, D.C., area with the likes of Cliff Waldron and Leon Morris. Later, he played mandolin and sang tenor with the Bluegrass Cardinals and Bill Harrell and the Virginians.

In 1989 he formed his own band and, three years later, relocated to Nashville, and has been headquartered there ever since.

After releasing 18 albums on Pinecastle Records during an 18-year-stint with the label, the group recently signed with the Nashville-based Compass Records.

Significant October dates in bluegrass history

• 2nd: Earl Scruggs was involved in a serious auto accident (1955)
• 7th: Bill Monroe recorded "Mule Skinner Blues" (1940)
• 10th: Sammy Shelor, longtime banjoist for the Lonesome River Band, was born (1962)
• 15th: Bill Monroe recorded "Uncle Pen" (1950)
• 16th: Don Reno died (1984)
• 22nd: First Rounder Records LP released (1970) and Maybelle Carter died (1978)
• 23rd: Merle Watson, Doc's guitar-playing son, died in a farming accident (1985)
• 27th: Joe Mullins, formerly of the Traditional Grass, now a Radio Rambler, was born (1965)

Lonesome Larry

Larry Sparks

I saw Larry Sparks perform with his Lonesome Ramblers a few times during the 1990s, and they're still going strong. By the looks of it, the guitar he's holding could easily have been with him all the while -- even when the Lonesome Ramblers recorded one of their first albums, Rambling Bluegrass, in Nashville.

"Nashville," he says, is "an exciting place. When [I] think of Nashville, I think of the Grand Ole Opry and the people that's been there for years."

Larry is one of those peeps who's been there a tol'ably long time, and, before that, he was there -- like so many others -- in spirit, as a young boy sprawled in front of the "big stand-up floor radio."

"We used to listen to WSM every weekend," he recalls.

Earlier this year, he was inducted into the George D. Hay Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville.

September

Who is this "lonesome rambler"?

He has been picking professionally now for nearly half a century, with 50 recorded projects to his name and numerous awards under his belt, including Best Male Vocalist and Album of the Year.

He began the year of my birth -- 1964 -- with the Stanley Brothers, playing lead guitar. He stayed on with Ralph following Carter's death until 1969 when he formed his own band, the Lonesome Ramblers. He has toured extensively, including in Canada and Japan, and appeared on TV programs such as Austin City Limits as well as at the Grand Ole Opry.

He first came to Nashville in 1969 with Ralph Stanley to record the now-legendary album Hills of Home. And like many of today's bluegrass heavyweights, he appears regularly at the Station Inn (where he is pictured above just prior to a performance).

Significant September dates in bluegrass history

• 3rd: The first bluegrass festival took place in Fincastle, Va. (1965)
• 9th: The father of bluegrass, Bill Monroe, died (1996)
• 13th: Bill Monroe was born (1911)
• 16th: Bill Monroe records "Blue Moon of Kentucky" for Columbia Records (1946)
• 21st: Shawn Lane, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist for Blue Highway, was born (1971)
• 24th: Flatt & Scruggs record "The Ballad of Jed Clampett" (1962)
• 27th: Charlie Monroe, Bill's older brother, died (1975)
• 30th: The Stanley Brothers record "How Mountain Girls Can Love" (1958)

JD

J.D. Crowe

As in J.D. Crowe, not the kind of degree lawyers have. If degrees were handed out for bluegrass banjo (and in some places perhaps they are), this man would be at the head of the line.

Back in the 1960s, he three-finger-picked the banjo alongside Jimmy Martin, still considered one of the best rhythm guitarists in the business.

"I got to work the Opry with Jimmy and I met so many of the artists back then [who have] since passed away," he recalls. "That's some of my greatest memories of Nashville."

One of those who has passed is Martin, who died in 2005.

In the 1970s, Crowe relocated to Lexington, Kentucky, where his band, the Kentucky Mountain Boys (later the New South), had a steady, six-nights-a-week gig at the Holiday Inn. There he had the pleasure of picking with another premiere guitarist, Tony Rice, perhaps the best rhythm and lead player of that (or any) era of bluegrass.

In a recently published biography of Rice, Still Inside (Word of Mouth, 2010), Tony speaks highly of his former boss: "One thing's beyond dispute -- playing with Crowe shaped my guitar playing permanently," he says. "He is the guy who made me aware of the fact I have the capability of taking this guitar and having a rhythm section in my hand."