Country Artist Doyle Lawson

In 1966, Doyle Lawson started playing with J.D. Crowe and the Kentucky Mountain Boys (later called the New South) in Lexington, Kentucky. He returned to play the mandolin and sing tenor with Martin in 1969 for six months, and then played again with Crowe until August 1971.

In September, 1971, Lawson started playing with The Country Gentlemen and remained part of the band for almost eight years. During that time, in 1977, he backed up U.S. Senator Robert Byrd on his Mountain Fiddler album. In March 1979, Lawson left the Country Gentlemen with the intention of forming a band and creating his own sound.

Within a month Lawson had formed Doyle Lawson and Foxfire, with Jimmy Haley on guitar, Lou Reid on bass, and Terry Baucom on banjo. The band name was soon changed to Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver. In 1981, through Sugar Hill Records, Lawson with this lineup released the critically acclaimed Rock My Soul, an album that would become a landmark Bluegrass Gospel project. With a new bassist, Randy Graham, the band recorded a second Gospel album, Heavenly Treasures, also on Sugar Hill.

In 1989 the band won song of the year at the International Bluegrass Music Awards for “Little Mountain Church House”. In 1997, “There’s a Light Guiding Me” was a 39th Annual Grammy Award nominee for Best Southern Gospel, Country Gospel or Bluegrass Gospel Album. 

In 1998, Lawson and Quicksilver became the first Bluegrass band to perform at the National Quartet Convention. Lawson and Quicksilver provided the background vocals to the song “Dazzling Blue” on Paul Simon’s 2011 album “So Beautiful or So What”. In 2015, “In Session” was nominated for Best Bluegrass Album at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards.

Lawson composed a number of the band’s songs and tunes. His instrumental piece, “Rosine,” is a tribute to Monroe’s birthplace and features, among other things, strains from the singer’s 1967 instrumental “Kentucky Mandolin”. Lawson hosts the annual Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver Festival in Denton, North Carolina. In 2021, Lawson announced his retirement as a bandleader.