Almost completely preoccupied with country music from a very young age, he taught himself how to play the guitar and mandolin. He emerged as a fourteen-year-old instrumentalist, so accomplished that he was invited to join Lester Flatt’s band. After ill-health forced Flatt to break up his band, he worked as a sideman with Vassar Clements and Doc Watson before joining Johnny Cash’s band. He stayed with Cash until 1985 before embarking on his own successful recording and performance career in Nashville. A member of the Grand Ole Opry since 1993, he remains an avid collector of country music memorabilia and a fan himself. He has served on the board of the Country Music Foundation (for a time as its president) and has written numerous magazine articles related to the music and its writers, producers, and performers.
circa 1978
Studio portrait/Nashville
