Jim and Jesse McReynolds were a brother duet of unusual polish: Jim's high tenor and Jesse's lead voice blended with a smoothness that owed something to the Louvins and the Blue Sky Boys, while Jesse's mandolin playing was pure innovation. He had developed a cross-picking technique — using a flat pick to roll across the strings the way a banjo player rolls — that gave the Virginia Boys a shimmering, instantly recognizable sound.
Their recording career tracked the singles era's restless label economy almost exactly. They began with Capitol in 1952, cutting their first sides at Castle Studio in Nashville. After Capitol came a stretch with the Florida-based Starday label in the late 1950s, then Columbia, and finally Epic, where they settled in for the long run. The brothers worked steadily with Nashville's top producers — Don Law, Frank Jones, Jerry Kennedy — and top session players, including fiddler Vassar Clements.
The Jim and Jesse singles balanced tight bluegrass with a clear eye on the country market. They cut gospel, brother-duet ballads, hard instrumentals, and — memorably — a string of train and truck-driving numbers that suited the era. By the early 1960s they were edging toward Nashville's smoother country sound, and in 1964 they were welcomed into the Grand Ole Opry.
What never changed was the quality of the singing and Jesse's mandolin. Long after the singles era closed, the McReynolds brothers remained one of the most elegant acts in bluegrass — proof that the music could be refined and gentle without losing its backbone.
Session details drawn in part from the Bluegrass Discography.
Tracklist
- 1 Stormy Horizons alt version
- 2 My Empty Arms