Dan Paisley

Bob Paisley and banjo picker Ted Lundy formed the Southern Mountain Boys in 1964, specializing in hard-driving traditional bluegrass. They recorded four albums between 1973 and 1978 before serious hip problems forced Paisley to step back. Later he re-formed the group as the Southern Grass, which is where his son, singer and guitarist Dan Paisley, enters the picture. The younger Paisley joined his father's band in 1971 when he was only 15 years old and he developed into one of the finest voices in all of bluegrass, using that familiar high and reedy tone that is so common in the genre, but adding in a sort of raspy sense of phrasing that is as refreshing as it is expressive. Following Bob's death in 2004, Dan carried on the band, its name, and its tradition, working with his brother Michael Paisley (bass); two sons of Ted Lundy, fiddler T.J. Lundy and banjoist Bobby Lundy; and Donnie Eldreth (mandolin), the son of another original Southern Mountain Boys member, Don Eldreth, Sr. The reconstituted group released The Tradition Continues on Brandywine Records in 2005, following it with Forty Years of Trouble on Strictly Country Records in 2007 and The Room Over Mine on Rounder Records in 2008. ~ Steve Leggett, All Music Guide