Lynwood Lunsford

This North Carolina banjo player was brought up on a family diet of country & western and old-time music but was not exposed to bluegrass until the Camp Springs Bluegrass Festival became established about an hour's drive from where Lunsford grew up. The festival, run by musician Carlton Haney, helped make bluegrass incredibly popular in the region in the early 70s, to the point where Lunsford remembered being something of a fad to start one's own bluegrass band. A good example was right at home. His father and two of his cousins formed a bluegrass outfit called the Country Cousins. The rambunctious practice sessions in the house were Lunsford's first real exposure to the music. His whole family on his father's side did play music, including relatives that picked both mandolin and banjo. But this was strictly old-time music, and while some listeners might not be able to discern the difference, the preteen Lunsford certainly could. When he heard bluegrass banjo he fell in love with the instrument and decided to try and figure out how to play it himself. The clawhammer style favored by his great grandfather Bascam Lamar Lunsford hadn't had such an inspirational effect on him. The younger Lunsford played in professional and semi-professional bands since the late '70s. His credits include two years with Jimmy Martin, five years in the band Lost and Found, and one year with the Alabama band Sand Mountain. In 1998, the latter band recorded the album Molly Rose for the Hay Holler label. The title cut was a Lynwood original, possibly revealing the touch of a populist. As the rose is one of the most popular flowers in the world and "Molly," a variant of "Mary," one of the most widespread English names, a bluegrass tune called "Molly Rose" had built-in potential to stay on...