Photo by Harold E. Benfield

2006 NEA National Heritage Fellow Doyle Lawson Bristol, TN Gospel and bluegrass singer, arranger, Bandleader

Doyle Lawson grew up in Ford Town, a rural community near Kingsport, Tennessee. His mother, father, and sister all sang gospel music and the family listened faithfully to the radio broadcast of the Grand Ole Opry. Inspired by the radio performances of Bill Monroe, Doyle took up the mandolin at the age of 11. By the time he was 19, Lawson began playing with the incomparable Jimmy Martin, launching a career that included performing with J.D. Crowe and the Country Gentlemen.

In 1979 he decided that he wanted to develop his own sound, so he formed Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver. Although the band has numerous recordings of the classic bluegrass repertoire, the group is best known for Lawson's stunning gospel vocal arrangements. In fact, it might be said that Doyle Lawson's efforts resulted in a renaissance of tight harmony bluegrass singing. For the past five years, Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver have received annually the International Bluegrass Music Association's Vocal Group of the Year award.

 
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NEA Heritage Fellows
1982-2012: 
BY YEAR | ALPHA