He may be a legend, but while Doyle Lawson takes pride in a career that’s stood at the center of bluegrass and bluegrass gospel for over 40 years, he’s hardly resting on his laurels. Look at his schedule and the point is unmistakable – at the same time he’s garnering new acclaim for his historic contributions, he’s plowing new ground alongside artists half his age. At once one of the busiest marquee acts in bluegrass and an iconic figure in its history – that’s Doyle Lawson.
Lawson released his 34th album, Lonely Street, in 2009 to critical acclaim, reconfirming his role as one of the music’s most vital and dynamic artists. No stranger to awards, Lawson has acquired numerous IBMA awards and nominations, including 7 consecutive "Vocal Group of the Year" awards, as well as several Grammy nominations and four Dove nominations over the last decade. His influential and powerful work, as well as his growing list of appearances at venues ranging from A Prairie Home Companion, Mountain Stage and the Grand Ole Opry to New York City’s Joe’s Pub and B. B. King’s Blues Club, testify to the continuing growth of Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver’s impact – and popularity – beyond traditional bluegrass audiences.
Born near Kingsport, Tennessee in 1944, he began his career as a bluegrass musician in 1963 with IBMA Hall of Honor member and bluegrass pioneer Jimmy Martin. Over the next 15 years, he became increasingly prominent as a powerful, expressive singer and distinctive mandolin stylist while working with the Kentucky Mountain Boys and the Country Gentlemen.
Lawson established his own group, Quicksilver, in 1979, and quickly moved to the forefront of the bluegrass scene, releasing a series of acclaimed albums – including the pioneering all-gospel Rock My Soul in 1981 – and influencing generations of younger musicians with a sound that blended traditional bluegrass and gospel elements with progressive material and superb execution. Drawing on the bottomless well of material contained within his father’s shape-note hymnbook collection and on the sounds of African-American gospel quartets and southern gospel groups he heard as a youngster, he made a particularly powerful impression with more than 15 all-gospel bluegrass albums that featured a wide range of styles, including influential a cappella quartets. At the same time, as a member of the Bluegrass Album Band, he helped to bring the repertoire and musical approaches of the music’s early giants to new generations of musicians and fans in a series of acclaimed albums made between 1980 and 1996.
Having established himself as a towering figure in bluegrass, Lawson turned his attention more closely to the world of gospel in the 1990s, issuing a series of sacred albums that earned him regular appearances at the National Quartet Convention, his first Dove nominations and the admiration and enthusiasm of a new generation of gospel artists. Yet at the beginning of the new decade he re-asserted himself in the bluegrass realm, reverting to his earlier practice of alternating sacred with bluegrass albums and earning the renewed admiration of the IBMA’s voters with 2002’s The Hard Game Of Love, which won the organization’s Song of the Year award for “Blue Train (Of The Heartbreak Line).”
While his own devotion to bluegrass stretches back to the genre’s Golden Era of the 1950s, Doyle Lawson has been an artistic leader and innovator almost as long – and a mentor, too, to generations of musicians who have gone through his 30 year old Quicksilver “school of bluegrass” to emerge as some of the music’s biggest names. The future of bluegrass is well represented in his current lineup.
Corey Hensley began playing the guitar at age 6 and formerly played in a band with his father and a friend called "The Christian Echoes" as well as another group called "Change of Heart." After about 7 years of playing Southern Gospel he decided to return to bluegrass and worked with a band called "The Jim and Valerie Gabehart Bluegrass Show" for 3 years before joining Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver in 2009. Corey lives with his wife Mandie and their two kids.
Bassist and vocalist Carl White comes from a family that sang gospel music for 20 years. Carl joined Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver in 2007 after stints with The Whites, Chosen Generation, the Nippers, the Jeff Treece Band, and Young Harmony.
Banjoist Joey Cox started playing when he was 12 years old. Before joining Quicksilver in 2007, he played with Lou Reid, Blue Ridge and Kenny and Amanda Smith.
Before fiddler Jason Barie joined the group in 2009 the six time Florida State Fiddle Champion had already played with the legendary Bobby Osborne and the Rocky Top Express, Carolina Road, The Churchmen, and The Larry Stephenson Band. He has been nominated three times for Fiddle Player of the Year by SPBGMA.
Resophonic guitarist Josh Swift joined the band in 2007 at the IBMA gathering. Born into a musical family, Josh played with Carrie Hassler & Hard Rain and a Gospel group called Set Apart before becoming a member of Quicksilver.
Admired, respected and beloved by gospel enthusiasts, long-time bluegrass followers and a growing number of newly-acquired fans from across the musical spectrum, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver have truly become a bluegrass band for the ages.
