Jesse McReynolds turned 93 years old a couple of days ago. Happy belated birthday, Jesse! Among the luminary founders of the genre we call bluegrass music today, Jesse certainly looms very large. Bill Monroe first took country music in that specific direction and his spin off band, Flatt and Scruggs amplified the concept. Then a so-called imitator band, the Stanley Brothers incorporated their ideas and cemented the bluegrass sound with a mountain and old country flair.
I think of those bands as the bluegrass triumvirate. Without them the whole thing would have never happened. But three great bands is not enough to sustain a musical movement. In my mind the next two bands in the early bluegrass founders hierarchy are Jim and Jesse and the Virginia Boys and the Osborne Brothers. We were fortunate to hear Bobby a couple of years ago at Grass Valley. At 90, he’s a junior contemporary to our birthday boy. And although Bobby is no longer the fretboard wizard he was when he was younger, when I heard that voice at Grass Valley it took me back to records I have listened to and worshipped for decades. I doubt Jesse is anywhere close to the amazing unique crosspicking style of his prime either but the amazing thing is that both of these nonagenarians are still on the road performing, at least as far as I know. Can you believe that?
It was three quarters of a century ago that Jesse began performing. He and his brother Jim recorded for Capitol records. Jesse had to fly home for one recording session while serving in the Korean war. And while serving in Korea he met Charlie Louvin of the Louvin Brothers. They formed a band called the Dusty Roads Boys. Jesse and Charlie played gigs to entertain the troops during the war. Wouldn’t you just love to have some tapes from that band? (Bob Hope had some good shows for the troops but McReynolds and Louvin would for me be even more fun to listen to).
Jesse McReynolds is a true innovator. His cross picking mandolin roll was a revolutionary idea. As a mandolin picker I have studied that roll for years and I try and try to get that sound but I just can’t. In fact I have never heard any other mandolin player who can play those rolls like Jesse. (I have heard some banjo pickers play those rolls though).
Jesse is classified by others as a bluegrass musician but that label is not going to limit a guy like him. He plays and sings what speaks to his heart. He happens to be the oldest member of the Grand Old Opry. Jesse’s music is rooted in that old country sound that made WSM’s signal the go to stop for any music fan with a radio back in the day.
But at the same time Jesse McReynolds is not afraid to try new things, like recording a Grateful Dead tribute album or playing the role of a blind musician on CMT five years ago. Maybe that’s what keeps Jesse young. Don’t know what Bobby’s secret is but they do both play mandolin. They recorded a mandolin album together a while back (Masters of the Mandolin). Maybe I should keep playing the mandolin if I want to find the fountain of youth.
Happy Belated Birthday Jesse McReynolds and Happy Early Birthday (December 7) Bobby Osborne!
