Compiled by Les McIntire - (06.26.29 - 04.28.11)

One of the niceties about a phonograph record is that it can become an instant time machine allowing us to excape on monentary journeys into our musical past. Over the years The Country Gentlemen have given us many memorable moments on record, and as they celebated their silver anniversary in bluegrass, they leave behind a carreer that has literally changed the character and direction of bluegrass music. Their records now enjoy worldwide popularity and are copied by bluegrass bands in far away places like Sweden and Japan. From that first primitavie recording session in the autiom of 1957, to their latest long play album, The Country Gentlemen have left behind a prolific stream of trendsetting bluegrass classics like "Bringing Mary Home", "Two Little Boys", "Fox On The Run", "Sunrise", and "The Legend of the Rebel Soldier".

The faces in the group may have changed now and then, but through it all, there is an underlying thread of unity that renders their music uniquiely Country Gentlemen. This discography covers the commercial recordings of The Country Gentlemen from 1957 to 1982 and is the culmination of several years of research. While there is much information still lerf to be covered, these next few pages provide an overview of the recording career of a genuine bluegrass legend, The Country Gentlemen.

 

The Country Gentlemen's First Studio Recording

 

 

Dixie Records

Song Tracks:

Released: 1957

Personnel:

The first Country Gentlemen recording session took place in October 1957, at the studios of WARL in Arlington, Virginia (now WAVA). The first song was a Carter Stanley composition with Joh Duffey singing lead on the verses and switching to tenor on the on the chorus. The second song was a gospel number penned by John Duffey. The record was a custom pressing distributed locally in the Washington, D.C. area and is asought after piece of Country Gentlemen memorabilia.

 

Starday # 347 (1958) - It's The Blues / Backwood Blues

Starday # 367 (1958) - High Lonesome / Hey Little Girl

Starday # 415 (1958) - Rollin' Stone / The Devil's Own

Starday # 434 (1959) - I'll Never Marry / Traveling Dobro Blues

Starday # 455 (1959) - The Hills and Home / New Freedom Bell

Starday # 487 ( 1960) - A Letter to Tom / Darling Alalee

Starday # 515 (1960) - Helen / Ellen Smith

Starday # 558 (1961) - Red Rocking Chair / I Know I've Lost You

Starday # 628 (1961) - Copper Kettle / Sunrise

Starday # EP45-440 (Extended Play) - Dixie Lookaway (Intrumental Version of "Dixie"

 

John Duffey, Bill Emerson, Charlie Waller

Country Songs Old and New - Folkways Records FA-2409

Recorded at Capitol Transcriptions, Inc., Washington, D.C.

Released: 1960

Song Tracks:

Personnel:

Charlie Waller - Guitar and Vocals
John Duffey - Mandolin, Dobro, and Vocals
Eddie Adcock - Banjo and Vocals
Jim Cox - Bass

The Country Gentlemen's first long-play album was cut shortly after Eddie Adcock joined the group. The album was on the Folkway label and the sessions recorded by Mike Seeger in Washington, D.C. studio. The songs were a mixture of folk, country, and bluegrass tunes that were gaining in popularity with the onset of the 1960's folk boom.

One of the most notable entries was "The Long Black Veil", recorded in 1959, by Lefty Frizzell. The trio was John Duffey singing a high lead, Eddie Adcock on baritone, and Charlie Waller singing the low tenor part. This harmony pattern repeated in many later Country Gentlemen songs.

 

The Country Gentlemen Sing and Play Folk Songs and Bluegrass
Folkway Records FA-2410

Recorded at Capitol Transcriptions, Inc., Washington, D.C.

Released: 1961

01. Train 45
02. Little Bessie
03. The Fields Have Turned Brown
04. They're At Rest Together
05. Strutting On The Strings
06. Rememberance Of You
07. Red Rocking Chair
08. Will The Circle Be Unbroken
09. Handsome Molly
10. Victim To The Tomb
11. Behind These Prison Walls Of Love
12. Wear A Red Rose
13. I'm Coming Back (But I Don't Know When)
14. Southbound
15. Come All Ye Tenderhearted
16. Standing In The Need Of Prayer

Personnel:

Charlie Waller - Guitar and Vocals
John Duffey - Mandolin, Dobro, and Vocals
Eddie Adcock - Banjo and Vocals
Jim Cox - Bass
Tom Gray - Bass
Kenny Haddock - Dobro
Wayne Yates - Mandolin

The second Folkway album is similar to the first in content. Included was Carter Stanley's immortal "The Fields Have Turned Brown" and Charlie Monroe's "I'm Coming Back, But I Don't Know When".

"Behind These Prison Walls" features a mandolin duet by John Duffey and Wayne Yates, brother of current Country Gentlemen bass player, Bill Yates. "Rememberance of You" was composed by Pete "Roberts" Kuykendall, now (at the time of this writing), is Editor and general manager of Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine.

Besides playing banjo for a brief period, Kuykendall was a main source for musck of the Gentlemen's early material and engineered many of their recording sessions.

 

Bluegrass At Carnegie Hall With The Country Gentlemen - Starday Records SLP-174

Recorded at Capitol Transcriptions, Inc., Washington, D.C.

Released: 1962

01. I Know I've Lost You
02. Nobody's Business
03. Down Where the Still Waters Flow
04. Country Concert [Instrumental]
05. Letter to Tom
06. Two Little Boys
07. These Men of Gold
08. Red Rockin' Chair
09. I'll Never Marry
10. Willie Roy, the Crippled Boy
11. Sunrise [Instrumental]
12. Silence of Tears
13. New Freedom Bell
14. Church Back Home

Personnel:

The title here is somewhat misleading, for the album consists entirely of studio cuts and released in commemoration of teh Country Gentlemen's 1961 appearance at Carnegie Hall. Only in print for a short time, the Carnegie Hall album is another Country Gentlemen collector's item. The selections include material from several Starday singles plus songs like "Two Little Boys", "Willie Roy The Cripple Boy", and "Down Where The Still Waters Flow", which were recorded especially for the album.

* "Country Concert" is actually "John Hardy" which the Gentlemen often used as a theme song on personal appearances.

** "Two Little Boys" dates from the American Civil War. The Gentlemen obtained the song from a recording by Mickey and Roger Woodward, owners of the Shamrock, a downtown Washington, D.C. nightspot where the Gentlemen performed for many years.

*** "Willie Roy The Cripple Boy" was written by WWVA country music personality Doc Williams and inspired by a visit to a hospital where he had met a 9-year old boy who had both legs amputated in an effort to halt the spread of cancer.