Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver

About the Artist

Doyle Lawson was born on April 20, 1944 in Ford Town, a part of Sullivan County, near Kingsport, Tennessee. As far back as he can remember, Lawson loved the sound of music, listening to all the stars on the The Grand Ole Opry, and the impressive high lonesome sound of Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys. Lawson’s father, mother, and sister all sang gospel music as members of a cappella trios and quartets that sang music in churches and at revivals. At the age of 11, he expressed an interest in learning to play the mandolin, which his father borrowed from one of the members of his quartet. Doyle Lawson mostly taught himself to play by listening to the radio, a few records, and watching the occasional TV show.

Lawson met Jimmy Martin when he was 14 after moving to. Sneedville, Tennessee in 1954. He made up his mind to play music for a living, and realized that only playing one instrument was somewhat limiting, so he learned to play the banjo and guitar. In February 1963, he went to Nashville and got a job playing banjo with Jimmy Martin. In 1966, he started working with J.D. Crowe in Lexington, Kentucky. In 1969, he was back with Jimmy Martin for six months playing mandolin and singing tenor returning to J.D. Crowe until August of 1971. He began performing with the Country Gentlemen on September 1, 1971 and stayed with them until March 1979.

In April 1979, Lawson formed a group that was first named Doyle Lawson & Foxfire but soon changed to Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver. He was looking for his own sound and that first group tried many different types of songs. Lawson wanted a strong quartet like the ones with whom his dad used to sing. In the next few months, Terry Baucom, Jimmy Haley, Lou Reid, and Lawson laid the foundation for what has become the Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver sound. The makeup of the band has changed many times in the last 27 years. Lawson jokes that Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver is the "farm team" for bluegrass, integrating each member's special talents into the group while not sacrificing the Quicksilver sound.

Suzanne and Doyle Lawson were married June 24, 1978, and have a son, Robbie, and two girls, Suzi and Kristi. Lawson has been hosting the Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver Festival in Denton, North Carolina for more than twenty-five years. The gospel music that Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver record and perform on stage has always been important to Lawson, having made more gospel recordings than secular ones.