7 Flat Mountain Boys

Probably setting the stage for actor Russell Crowe’s band Seven Odd Feet of Grunts, or possibly influenced by the sooner old-time outfit Seven Feet Dilly & the Hot Pickles, this historic Kentucky bluegrass outfit’s name immediately provokes questions when photographs of the group are shown or the names from the members listed. No, the issue isn’t “what it really is a flat hill?,” in the end, that might be any Kentucky top that has acquired its best lopped away by aggressive remove miners. No, the issue may be the “seven,” since at greatest the group just experienced five users, sometimes just four. Mandolinist Cuddles Newsome, who was simply the fellow experts could actually locate when the group’s materials was reissued within the Rounder label’s START of Bluegrass series, described the group’s name thusly: “I have no idea. He produced a misnomer there,” therefore moving the blame for the miscalculation onto bandleader Estil Stewart, who was simply himself over from a coronary attack before a fresh era of bluegrass scholars found out the group. Stewart was mostly of the bluegrass bandleaders who didn’t play either acoustic guitar, banjo, or mandolin. The group do be capable of appear to be it contained even more players then it certainly did, predicated on the effectiveness of a number of the Smooth Mountain Boys such as for example fiddler Kenny Baker, the effective rhythm guitarist Jack port Cooke, or the pretty obscure but evidently amusing banjoist Jimmy Braham. In the middle-’50s, this lineup slice several singles for any label referred to as Arrow, area of the legacy of self-employed, regional releases made by bands mainly to market at their very own gigs, which ultimately became something very much bigger; a records of the complete development and development of bluegrass out of old-time music in the first half from the ’50s. Arrow controlled out of Columbia, KY, and even though the individuals who actually committed to the label’s functions have continued to be unaccounted for, the documenting from the 7 Level Mountain Boys came into being due to the group’s group of broadcasts within the Whitesburg place WTCW. The record produces as well as the band’s gig activity in your community had been something along the type of little phenomena feeding one another: the documenting resulting in gigs; the gigs bringing in huge crowds to displays kept at venues such as for example drive-ins; the music group building up a remarkable fan base similarly enamored using the hard traveling music much like the youngsters and exuberance from the users. Distribution from the group’s music and its own status also grew due to a number of the materials being found from the Starday label, who in its quality way released songs hither and yon on numerous repackagings and compilations as though seeking to conceal proof from the authorities. Attendance reports display the 7 Smooth Mountain Kids out-drew some well-known country celebrities of your day which made an appearance at the same types of locations — frequently drive-in films — including Carl Tale or the mainly overlooked Esco Hankins. The 7 Smooth Mountain Kids’ stage display also included humor performed by both Stewart and banjoist Braham, the players alternating as each other’s directly men. Yet, regardless of the achievement and potential of the group, the players drifted off into additional ensembles, Stewart ultimately supporting himself like a disk jockey in Virginia before his untimely loss of life, making great usage of his comedic skills over the air flow. Newsome continuing trilling his mandolin in a number of traditional bluegrass contexts; while fiddler Baker accomplished the greatest achievement of most in the genre, dating country vocalist Don Gibson and eventually sticking to Costs Monroe & His Bluegrass Children for an extended stretch prior to starting his own groupings.