Red Allen (bluegrass)
Encyclopedia
Harley Allen better known as Red Allen, was an American bluegrass singer and guitarist known for his powerful tenor voice.
, near Hazard, Kentucky
, grew up in the music-rich hills of eastern Kentucky, and following a stint in the Marines, settled in Dayton Ohio in 1949, where he began performing professionally. In 1952, Allen discovered a young teenaged mandolin virtuoso named Frank Wakefield
who had moved to Dayton from Harriman Tennessee and soon Wakefield became a member of Allen's first band, The Blue Ridge Mountain Boys. The band also included the legendary Ohio 5-string banjo player Noah Crase. They worked the local bars along Dayton's Fifth Street as well as the rough blue collar taverns which made up the Ohio and Michigan bluegrass circuit at that time. Allen first came to broader public attention in 1956, when he joined the Osborne Brothers
to fill out one of the most influential vocal trios in the history of country music. Allen made his first recordings with the Osborne Brothers on July 1, 1956 when they recorded four songs, including "Ruby," "Ho Honey Ho," and "Once More." The Osbornes and Red Allen were featured cast members on the World's Original Jamboree radio show over WWVA in Wheeling, WV at this time. Allen left the Osborne Brothers in 1958 and returned to Dayton.
Frank Wakefield, meanwhile, had also returned to Dayton, having himself garnered national exposure with the release of some hot-selling 45 rpm singles recorded in Detroit the year before—including the seminal mandolin instrumental, "New Camptown Races," and also touring with Jimmy Martin and the Sunny Mountain Boys. Allen and Wakefield then formed their second partnership, resulting in some 45 rpm single recordings made with local fiddler Red Spurlock and released under the professional name of "The Red Heads" on the BMC label. The records were poorly marketed, and Wakefield left Ohio in late 1959 to explore better career opportunities in the Bluegrass-rich DC-Baltimore area. In 1960 Allen followed suit, and the two reunited to form Red Allen, Frank Wakefield and The Kentuckians. The Washington, D.C. area had a thriving bluegrass scene including such artists as Buzz Busby and His Bayou Bluegrass Boys, the Country Gentlemen
, Don Reno and Red Smiley and the Tennessee Cutups, The Stoneman Family, and Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper. Allen and Wakefield were soon performing regularly at DC-area night spots and also secured a regular Sunday afternoon broadcast over station WDON in Wheaton, Maryland. On July 4, 1961, the band was among a small handful invited to perform at Bill Clifton's first-ever one day "bluegrass festival" held at Luray Virginia. In November 1961, Allen and Wakefield recorded six sides in Nashville that included banjo legend Don Reno, fiddle master Chubby Wise and bassist John Palmer on the Starday label including the popular "Trouble 'Round My Door," and "Beautiful Blue Eyes." By 1963 Allen, Wakefield and their band had performed at both Carnegie Hall and at the trendy Gerde's Folk City club in New York. In addition to Wakefield, at various times the touring version of The Kentuckians included Tom Morgan on bass, Peter Kuykendal, Bill Keith or Ralph Robinson on banjo and Scott Stoneman or Billy Baker on fiddle,
In 1964 Allen, Wakefield and their band made a much-admired album for Folkways
, entitled simply Bluegrass, produced by young David Grisman, an admirer of Allen and mandolin student of Wakefield's. The recording showed a larger public that Allen was a true disciple of "the high lonesome sound" associated with Bill Monroe
. At his best, Allen drenched his material in emotion, each song propelled by his surging rhythm guitar playing. As he later said, "Bluegrass is sad music. It's always been sad and the people that's never lived it, it'll take them a long time to know what it is."
After Frank Wakefield's departure from the band in 1965 to join the Greenbriar Boys, Allen replaced him with Wakefield protege'David Grisman
and later recorded for County Records
and King Records
with noted banjo player J.D. Crowe. David Grisman, who would later invent a contemporary style of acoustic music called "DAWG music," later said that by hiring him for the Kentuckians, Allen gave the younger man "a college education in bluegrass music."
Allen's sons Ronnie, Greg, Neal, and Harley
performed and recorded as the Allen Brothers, both with and without their father, in the 1970s and 1980s.
Allen was inducted into the IBMA Bluegrass Hall of Fame in 2005.
.
Biography
Allen, born in Pigeon Roost HollowPerry County, Kentucky
Perry County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of 2000, the population was 29,390. Its county seat is Hazard. The county is named for Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, a naval hero in the War of 1812.- Geography :...
, near Hazard, Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
, grew up in the music-rich hills of eastern Kentucky, and following a stint in the Marines, settled in Dayton Ohio in 1949, where he began performing professionally. In 1952, Allen discovered a young teenaged mandolin virtuoso named Frank Wakefield
Frank Wakefield
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Wakefield is an innovative American mandolin player in the bluegrass music style. Wakefield is known for his collaborations with a number of important and well-known bands, including Red Allen, Don Reno, Jerry Garcia, David Grisman and the Greenbriar Boys.-Biography:Born...
who had moved to Dayton from Harriman Tennessee and soon Wakefield became a member of Allen's first band, The Blue Ridge Mountain Boys. The band also included the legendary Ohio 5-string banjo player Noah Crase. They worked the local bars along Dayton's Fifth Street as well as the rough blue collar taverns which made up the Ohio and Michigan bluegrass circuit at that time. Allen first came to broader public attention in 1956, when he joined the Osborne Brothers
Osborne Brothers
The Osborne Brothers, Sonny Osborne and Bobby Osborne , were an influential and popular bluegrass act during the 1960s and 1970s...
to fill out one of the most influential vocal trios in the history of country music. Allen made his first recordings with the Osborne Brothers on July 1, 1956 when they recorded four songs, including "Ruby," "Ho Honey Ho," and "Once More." The Osbornes and Red Allen were featured cast members on the World's Original Jamboree radio show over WWVA in Wheeling, WV at this time. Allen left the Osborne Brothers in 1958 and returned to Dayton.
Frank Wakefield, meanwhile, had also returned to Dayton, having himself garnered national exposure with the release of some hot-selling 45 rpm singles recorded in Detroit the year before—including the seminal mandolin instrumental, "New Camptown Races," and also touring with Jimmy Martin and the Sunny Mountain Boys. Allen and Wakefield then formed their second partnership, resulting in some 45 rpm single recordings made with local fiddler Red Spurlock and released under the professional name of "The Red Heads" on the BMC label. The records were poorly marketed, and Wakefield left Ohio in late 1959 to explore better career opportunities in the Bluegrass-rich DC-Baltimore area. In 1960 Allen followed suit, and the two reunited to form Red Allen, Frank Wakefield and The Kentuckians. The Washington, D.C. area had a thriving bluegrass scene including such artists as Buzz Busby and His Bayou Bluegrass Boys, the Country Gentlemen
The Country Gentlemen
The Country Gentlemen were a bluegrass band that originated during the 1950s in the area of Washington, DC, United States, and recorded and toured with various members until the death in 2004 of Charlie Waller, one of the group's founders who in its later years served as the group's "focal point...
, Don Reno and Red Smiley and the Tennessee Cutups, The Stoneman Family, and Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper. Allen and Wakefield were soon performing regularly at DC-area night spots and also secured a regular Sunday afternoon broadcast over station WDON in Wheaton, Maryland. On July 4, 1961, the band was among a small handful invited to perform at Bill Clifton's first-ever one day "bluegrass festival" held at Luray Virginia. In November 1961, Allen and Wakefield recorded six sides in Nashville that included banjo legend Don Reno, fiddle master Chubby Wise and bassist John Palmer on the Starday label including the popular "Trouble 'Round My Door," and "Beautiful Blue Eyes." By 1963 Allen, Wakefield and their band had performed at both Carnegie Hall and at the trendy Gerde's Folk City club in New York. In addition to Wakefield, at various times the touring version of The Kentuckians included Tom Morgan on bass, Peter Kuykendal, Bill Keith or Ralph Robinson on banjo and Scott Stoneman or Billy Baker on fiddle,
In 1964 Allen, Wakefield and their band made a much-admired album for Folkways
Folkways Records
Folkways Records was a record label founded by Moses Asch that documented folk, world, and children's music. It was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution in 1987, and is now part of Smithsonian Folkways.-History:...
, entitled simply Bluegrass, produced by young David Grisman, an admirer of Allen and mandolin student of Wakefield's. The recording showed a larger public that Allen was a true disciple of "the high lonesome sound" associated with Bill Monroe
Bill Monroe
William Smith Monroe was an American musician who created the style of music known as bluegrass, which takes its name from his band, the "Blue Grass Boys," named for Monroe's home state of Kentucky. Monroe's performing career spanned 60 years as a singer, instrumentalist, composer and bandleader...
. At his best, Allen drenched his material in emotion, each song propelled by his surging rhythm guitar playing. As he later said, "Bluegrass is sad music. It's always been sad and the people that's never lived it, it'll take them a long time to know what it is."
After Frank Wakefield's departure from the band in 1965 to join the Greenbriar Boys, Allen replaced him with Wakefield protege'David Grisman
David Grisman
David Grisman is an American bluegrass/newgrass mandolinist and composer of acoustic music. In the early 1990s, he started the Acoustic Disc record label in an effort to preserve and spread acoustic or instrumental music.-Biography:Grisman grew up in Hackensack, New Jersey...
and later recorded for County Records
County Records
County Records also expanded into the bluegrass music genre, although Freeman preferred those artists who stayed the closest to their old-time roots. The label's first bluegrass release was 1965's Blue Ridge Bluegrass featuring Larry Richardson and the Blue Ridge Boys.-Related businesses:Freeman...
and King Records
King Records (USA)
King Records is an American record label, started in 1943 by Syd Nathan and originally headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.-History:At first it specialized in country music, at the time still known as "hillbilly music." King advertised, "If it's a King, It's a Hillbilly -- If it's a Hillbilly, it's a...
with noted banjo player J.D. Crowe. David Grisman, who would later invent a contemporary style of acoustic music called "DAWG music," later said that by hiring him for the Kentuckians, Allen gave the younger man "a college education in bluegrass music."
Allen's sons Ronnie, Greg, Neal, and Harley
Harley Allen
Harley Lee Allen was an American bluegrass and country singer and songwriter.-Early life:He was born in Dayton, Ohio, the son of the bluegrass performer Red Allen.-Film career:...
performed and recorded as the Allen Brothers, both with and without their father, in the 1970s and 1980s.
Allen was inducted into the IBMA Bluegrass Hall of Fame in 2005.
Vocal arrangements
Until the Osbornes' 1958 hit "Once More", the typical arrangement called for a "lead" singer to provide the melody with a tenor singing a higher part, and a baritone below. "Once More", which reached No. 13 on the charts, had the lead sung by the band's highest voice, mandolinist Bobby Osborne. Allen sang the baritone just below the melody and banjo player Sonny Osborne provided the tenor a full octave below its place in a traditional arrangement. The result, as the Osbornes themselves observed, allowed singers to mimic the sliding tonal effects of the pedal-steel guitar. Contemporary singers using this device include Rhonda VincentRhonda Vincent
Rhonda Lea Vincent is a bluegrass singer, songwriter, mandolin player, guitarist, and fiddle player.Her musical career started as a child in her family's band, The Sally Mountain Show, and has spanned almost four decades...
.
Albums
| Year | Title | Label | Number | Notes |
| 1959 | Country Pickin' And Hillside Singin | MGM MGM Records MGM Records was a record label started by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946, for the purpose of releasing soundtrack albums of their musical films. Later it became a pop label, lasting into the 1970s... |
E-3734 | With the Osborne Brothers Osborne Brothers The Osborne Brothers, Sonny Osborne and Bobby Osborne , were an influential and popular bluegrass act during the 1960s and 1970s... , also MGM SL 5069 (Japan) |
| 1964 | Bluegrass | Folkways Folkways Records Folkways Records was a record label founded by Moses Asch that documented folk, world, and children's music. It was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution in 1987, and is now part of Smithsonian Folkways.-History:... |
FTS-02408 | With Frank Wakefield Frank Wakefield Franklin Delano Roosevelt Wakefield is an innovative American mandolin player in the bluegrass music style. Wakefield is known for his collaborations with a number of important and well-known bands, including Red Allen, Don Reno, Jerry Garcia, David Grisman and the Greenbriar Boys.-Biography:Born... and the Kentuckians |
| 1965 | Solid Bluegrass Sound Of The Kentuckians | Melodeon Melodeon Records Melodeon Records is a record label set up in 1964 by Richard K. Spottswood.Melodeon Records issued - among others - the first recordings after his 'rediscovery' of Skip James and the 1940 Library Of Congress Sessions of Blind Willie McTell. In 1970 the label was acquired by Arnold S. Caplin's... |
MLP-7325 | |
| 1966 | Bluegrass Country, Vol. 1 | County County Records County Records also expanded into the bluegrass music genre, although Freeman preferred those artists who stayed the closest to their old-time roots. The label's first bluegrass release was 1965's Blue Ridge Bluegrass featuring Larry Richardson and the Blue Ridge Boys.-Related businesses:Freeman... |
704 | |
| 1967 | Bluegrass Country, Vol. 2 | County County Records County Records also expanded into the bluegrass music genre, although Freeman preferred those artists who stayed the closest to their old-time roots. The label's first bluegrass release was 1965's Blue Ridge Bluegrass featuring Larry Richardson and the Blue Ridge Boys.-Related businesses:Freeman... |
710 | |
| 1972 | Allengrass | Lemco | LLP-612 | also on King Bluegrass |
| 1973 | My Old Kentucky Home | King Bluegrass King Records (USA) King Records is an American record label, started in 1943 by Syd Nathan and originally headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.-History:At first it specialized in country music, at the time still known as "hillbilly music." King advertised, "If it's a King, It's a Hillbilly -- If it's a Hillbilly, it's a... |
523 | With the Allen Brothers |
| 1973 | Favorites | King Bluegrass King Records (USA) King Records is an American record label, started in 1943 by Syd Nathan and originally headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.-History:At first it specialized in country music, at the time still known as "hillbilly music." King advertised, "If it's a King, It's a Hillbilly -- If it's a Hillbilly, it's a... |
542 | With the Allen Brothers |
| 1976 | Red Allen & Frank Wakefield | Red Clay | RC-104 | With the Allen Brothers (Japan) |
| 1979 | Live and Let Live | Folkways Folkways Records Folkways Records was a record label founded by Moses Asch that documented folk, world, and children's music. It was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution in 1987, and is now part of Smithsonian Folkways.-History:... |
FTS-31065 | |
| 197? | Red Allen Live | Storyville Storyville Records Storyville Records is a large international record label based in Copenhagen, Denmark, specializing in jazz and blues music. Besides its original material, Storyville Records has licensed and reissued many vintage jazz recordings that previously appeared on such labels as Paramount Records,... |
SRYP-1211 | 1960s radio transcriptions (Denmark/Japan) |
| 1980 | In Memory of the Man: Dedicated to Lester Flatt | Folkways Folkways Records Folkways Records was a record label founded by Moses Asch that documented folk, world, and children's music. It was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution in 1987, and is now part of Smithsonian Folkways.-History:... |
FTS-31073 | |
| 1981 | Red Allen and Friends | Folkways Folkways Records Folkways Records was a record label founded by Moses Asch that documented folk, world, and children's music. It was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution in 1987, and is now part of Smithsonian Folkways.-History:... |
FTS-31088 | |
| 1983 | The Red Allen Tradition | Folkways Folkways Records Folkways Records was a record label founded by Moses Asch that documented folk, world, and children's music. It was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution in 1987, and is now part of Smithsonian Folkways.-History:... |
FTS-31097 | |
| 198? | Bluegrass & County | Fundamental | SAVE 29 | (UK) |
| 1992 | Bluegrass Reunion | Acoustic Disc Acoustic Disc Acoustic Disc is the name of the record label founded by mandolinist David Grisman, in 1990. This independent record label's focus is acoustic music from all genres of music.... |
ACD-4 | |
| 1994 | The Kitchen Tapes | Acoustic Disc Acoustic Disc Acoustic Disc is the name of the record label founded by mandolinist David Grisman, in 1990. This independent record label's focus is acoustic music from all genres of music.... |
ACD-11 | Recorded 1963 |
Compilations
| Year | Title | Label | Number | Notes |
| 1984 | Classic Recordings, 1954-69 | Collector's Classics | CC LP 21 | (Germany) |
| 2001 | The Folkways Years, 1964-1983 | Smithsonian Folkways Smithsonian Folkways Smithsonian Folkways is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution. It is a part of the Smithsonian's Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, located at Capital Gallery in downtown Washington, D.C. The label was founded in 1987 after the family of Moses Asch, founder of Folkways... |
SFW-40127 | Compilation plus 6 unreleased tracks |
| 2004 | Keep On Going: The Rebel & Melodeon Recordings | Rebel Rebel Records In 1980, Freeland sold the label to David Freeman, the founder of County Records. Rebel currently has 140 titles in print from more than 35 different artists and groups. In 2008, the label released 8 new titles, including ones from Ralph Stanley and Larry Sparks.-Notable artists:... |
1127 | |
| 2004 | Lonesome and Blue: The Complete County Recordings | Rebel Rebel Records In 1980, Freeland sold the label to David Freeman, the founder of County Records. Rebel currently has 140 titles in print from more than 35 different artists and groups. In 2008, the label released 8 new titles, including ones from Ralph Stanley and Larry Sparks.-Notable artists:... |
1128 | |
External links
- Red Allen Discography at Smithsonian FolkwaysSmithsonian FolkwaysSmithsonian Folkways is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution. It is a part of the Smithsonian's Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, located at Capital Gallery in downtown Washington, D.C. The label was founded in 1987 after the family of Moses Asch, founder of Folkways...
- Article by Ivan Tribe
- Bluegrass Museum