Bill Emerson

by Sandra BrennanBill Emerson is one of the most influential musicians in bluegrass. He began playing guitar in 1955 and banjo the following year, which was when he heard a performance by Uncle Bob & the Blue Ridge Partners on a Rockville, Maryland, radio station. He was so captivated by their sound that he went to the station to meet them, and was asked to join them. A few months later, Emerson joined Buzz Busby and the Bayou Boys. When an auto accident put Busby and some of the band members out of commission, Emerson and bandmate Charlie Waller assembled a new band, the Country Gentlemen, to keep their booking at the Admiral Grill in Baileys Cross Roads, Virginia. They recorded three singles for Dixie and Starday, including High Lonesome/Hey Little Girl. In 1958, Emerson left the Gentlemen to play live gigs with the Stonemans, later playing with Bill Harrell, Jimmy Martin and the Sunny Mountain Boys, and Red Allen and the Kentuckians. In 1963, he released the album This World is Not My Home. While playing with Allen, he recorded a few albums as Bill Emerson and his Virginia Mountaineers, including Banjo Pickin n Hot Fiddlin Country Style. In 1965, he left Allens band and rejoined Jimmy Martins for two albums. Emerson left again in 1967 and teamed up with Cliff Waldron to form Emerson & Waldron and the Lee Highway Boys. On Rebel, the group recorded three albums, including Bluegrass Country. He returned to the Country Gentlemen in 1970, playing club dates and recording with them until 1972, when he was hit in the arm during a drive-by shooting as he and the band were leaving the Red Fox Inn in Bethesda, Maryland. He recovered fully and joined the U.S. Navy Band the next year.Emersons 20-year military stint was spent playing music in Washington, D.C., doing outside session work, and performing with his country/bluegrass band, the Country Current. Beginning in 1988, Emerson recorded two solo albums for Rebel, Home of the Red Fox and Gold Plated Banjo (1991). The previous year, he was honored by Sterling Banjo Works, who issued a Signature Series of banjos (Bill Emerson Red Fox Model) and gear after him. Emerson released his Reunion album in 1992, which features various lead singers he has worked with over the years, including Jimmy Martin, Charlie Waller and Tony Rice. He finally left the Navy in 1993 and has since released a duet album with protégé Wayne Taylor. Occasionally, Emerson plays reunion concerts with some of the groups he belonged to, but has declined to rejoin them full-time.