Harley “Red” Allen, born in Pigeon Roost Hollow, Kentucky, in 1930, was singing on the Kentucky Barn Dance in Lexington by late 1951 and moved to Dayton, Ohio, the next year. His first records were six gospel sides for the Kentucky label, cut in Cincinnati in 1953 with Claude Stewart on mandolin, Noah Crase on banjo and John McKee on fiddle, among them “Paul and Silas” and “White Dove.” From 1956 to 1958 he sang in the trio of the Osborne Brothers and Red Allen, which cut sixteen songs for MGM in Nashville, “Ruby, Are You Mad” and “Once More” among them.
After a divorce in 1959 Allen moved to the Washington, D.C., area, and in 1960 he formed the Kentuckians with Frank Wakefield, the mandolin player he had first worked with in Dayton. The two went to Nashville in November 1961 for a session at Starday Sound Studio on Dickerson Road, produced by Tommy Hill, with Don Reno on banjo, Chubby Wise on fiddle and John Palmer on bass. “Trouble Round My Door,” which Allen and Wakefield wrote, and “Beautiful Blue Eyes,” with Wakefield singing harmony, came out as Starday 45-572 in December 1961, billed to Red Allen and the Kentuckians. Other songs from the date, such as “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” went onto Starday anthologies.
Most of the Kentuckians’ later records were made in the Falls Church, Virginia, basement studio of Pete Kuykendall. “Little Birdie” and “Faded Memory” (Rebel F-242), from about the summer of 1963, had Robbie Robinson on banjo and Jim Cox on bass. By late 1965 Wakefield had gone. “Keep On Going” and “Froggy Went A-Courtin’” (Rebel F-253) were cut with Wayne Yates on mandolin, Porter Church on banjo, Bill Yates on bass and Scotty Stoneman on fiddle. The band also made albums in these years. Bluegrass for Folkways (1963–64) had Bill Keith on banjo. A Melodeon LP followed in January 1965, and two County albums were recorded in New York in December 1965 and September 1966, both produced by David Grisman. The band played Carnegie Hall on 21 September 1963. In 1967 Allen left Washington for Nashville to fill in for Lester Flatt, who was recovering from a heart attack, and his time with the Kentuckians came to an end.
Session details drawn in part from the Bluegrass Discography.
Tracklist
- 1 Trouble Round My Door
- 2 Beautiful Blue Eyes alt version 2:31
