Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver's IN SESSION Debuts at #8 on Billboard‏

Bluegrass and Gospel music legends Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver's latest album In Session was released on January 20^th and has debuted at No. 8 on the Billboard Bluegrass Chart.

Lawson's current lineup is stronger than ever with lead vocals handled by Dustin Pyrtle, Eli Johnston and Lawson himself. The harmony work on In Session makes it clear why the group has won multiple IBMA Vocal Group of the Year Awards. A noted mandolin master, Lawson always surrounds himself with top-flight players. In Session boasts the phenomenal Dobro playing and vocals of Josh Swift, the impeccable Joe Dean on banjo and vocals and newcomer Stephen Burwell on fiddle. It's Bluegrass Cum Laude from the master, Doyle Lawson, and his band.

Doyle Lawson was born in 1944 in Ford Town, Tennessee, near Kingsport. As far back as he can remember, he loved the sound of music. His father, mother, and sister were all members of trios and quartets that sang a cappella music in churches and at revivals. "No doubt," he says, "that was where I acquired my love of quartet music."

"Just about everyone listened to The Grand Ole Opry," he recalls, "and our family was no exception. Though I listened to all the stars on the Opry, the group that impressed me most was Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys. His music was different, more intense. High lonesome is the term we used for it. I could hardly wait for Saturday nights to arrive so I could listen. I decided early on that I wanted to play that kind of music."

He taught himself to play mandolin at 11 or 12 years old. Around age fourteen, he decided he wanted to play music for a living. In February 1963, at age 13, he moved to Nashville, and got a job playing banjo with Jimmy Martin. 

He started working with J.D. Crowe in 1966, first playing guitar and later switching back to his first musical love, mandolin. He returned to Jimmy Martin for about six months in 1969, playing mandolin and singing tenor, before going back to work with J.D. Crowe.

He started with the Country Gentlemen on September 1, 1971, and stayed with them until March 1979. "By this time," he said, "I had played in bands for more than 10 years that had their 'sound' before I joined them. I wanted to put together a group that would have 'my sound.' While the sound changes a bit with the introduction of a new band member, it is important to me that people hear what they expect to hear when we take the stage, no matter who is in the group."

He formed Doyle Lawson & Foxfire in April 1979; he soon changed the band's name to Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver. Founding members Terry Baucom, Jimmy Haley, Lou Reid, and Lawson laid the foundation for what has become the Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver sound. 

Gospel music has always been an integral part of Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver concerts. Lawson says, "It is apparent to me that the folks who buy our music and come to our concerts feel, as I do, that there is no better message than the message of Jesus Christ. On the first Sunday of May, in 1985, I rededicated my life to our Lord Jesus. It is my fervent hope that my 'musical mission' will lead others to Him." He attends Cold Spring Presbyterian Church with his wife, Suzanne.

Even the skimpiest version of Doyle's musical resume is enough to reveal the depth of his artistry and the reach of his influence.  The albums he made in the late 1960s with the Kentucky Mountain Boys were the first to introduce songs by alternative country pioneer Gram Parsons into the bluegrass repertoire.  His critical role as mandolin player and tenor singer with the all-star Bluegrass Album Band from 1981 on has served to acquaint more than one generation with the classics of first-generation heroes like Bill Monroe and Flatt & Scruggs.   As a member of the Country Gentlemen, he played an indispensable role in maintaining and deepening the group's "progressive" reputation, while mentoring rising young stars like Ricky Skaggs and Jerry Douglas.  

Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver have nearly forty albums to their credit and enough Grammy, Dove, ICM, IBMA, and SPBGMA nominations and awards to fill a chalkboard. Lawson was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2012.

 

 

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