Red Allen and the Kentuckians
Band · Active 1960–1967 · Washington, D.C. / Baltimore area
Classic Bluegrass
Red Allen and the Kentuckians was one of the most artistically important bluegrass bands of the early 1960s — the D.C.-area group led by Kentucky-born tenor Red Allen (whose earlier work with the Osborne Brothers had already made him famous), featuring mandolin virtuoso Frank Wakefield. Their albums for Folkways, County, Melodeon, and Rebel document a high-lonesome traditional sound at the intersection of old-time Appalachian music and the emerging bluegrass revival.
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- Red Allen (1930–1993, born Harley Allen in Pigeon Roost Hollow, Perry County, Kentucky) and mandolinist Frank Wakefield had first played together in Dayton, Ohio in the early 1950s. Allen spent 1956–1958 in the Osborne Brothers' trio, then reformed the Kentuckians with Wakefield around 1960 in the D.C./Baltimore area.
- Performed at Bill Clifton's first one-day bluegrass festival at Luray, Virginia on July 4, 1961 — one of only a handful of bands invited to what is often called the first bluegrass festival.
- Cut six sides for Starday in November 1961 with Don Reno (banjo), Chubby Wise (fiddle), and John Palmer (bass), including the acclaimed “Trouble 'Round My Door” and “Beautiful Blue Eyes.”
- Played Carnegie Hall and Gerde's Folk City in New York City by 1963 — a mark of their standing in the folk-revival scene.
- Red Allen, Frank Wakefield & the Kentuckians (Folkways FA 2408, 1964) was produced by a young David Grisman, who had been driving from New York to D.C. to take mandolin lessons from Wakefield. Features Bill Keith on banjo (just before he joined Bill Monroe), Chubby Anthony on fiddle. Widely considered one of the greatest bluegrass albums of all time.
- The Solid Bluegrass Sound of the Kentuckians (Melodeon, 1965) followed.
- Other band members across the years included Tom Morgan (bass), Pete “Roberts” Kuykendall (banjo), Bill Emerson (banjo), Ralph Robinson (banjo), Scotty Stoneman and Billy Baker (fiddle).
- Wakefield left in 1965 to join the Greenbriar Boys; Allen replaced him with Wakefield's own protege David Grisman. This lineup cut Bluegrass Country (County, 1966) and Red Allen and the Kentuckians (County, 1967). Grisman later said Allen gave him “a college education in bluegrass music.”
- Allen left D.C. in 1967 as temporary replacement for Lester Flatt in the Foggy Mountain Boys during Flatt's heart-attack recuperation.
- In 1968 Allen and J.D. Crowe formed the Kentucky Mountain Boys (see separate entry) and cut Bluegrass Holiday (Lemco, 1969) at Lexington's Holiday Inn Red Slipper Lounge.
- Kentuckians-era recordings compiled as Keep On Going: The Rebel & Melodeon Recordings (Rebel, 2004) and Lonesome and Blue: The Complete County Recordings (Rebel, 2004). Allen was posthumously inducted into the IBMA Hall of Honor.
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Out on the OceanLive on the Radio 1966 (2011)
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Lonesome and Blue: The Complete County Recordings2004 · Rebel REB 1128
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Live and Let Live1979 · Folkways FTS 31065
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Live at W.A.M.1967 · Storyville SRYP 121153
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Red Allen and the Kentuckians1967 · County 710
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Live on the Radio1966 · Acoustic Disc ACD-AO 50023
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The Solid Bluegrass Sound of The Kentuckians1965 · Melodeon MLP 7325
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Single (Trouble Round My Door / Beautiful Blue Eyes)1961 · Starday 572
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Harley “Red” AllenPlayed on recordings with Red Allen and the Kentuckians
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Porter ChurchPlayed on recordings with Red Allen and the Kentuckians
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David GrismanPlayed on recordings with Red Allen and the Kentuckians
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Bill YatesPlayed on recordings with Red Allen and the Kentuckians
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Wayne YatesPlayed on recordings with Red Allen and the Kentuckians
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Craig WinfieldPlayed on recordings with Red Allen and the Kentuckians
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Jerry McCouryPlayed on recordings with Red Allen and the Kentuckians
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Bobby DiamondPlayed on recordings with Red Allen and the Kentuckians
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Robert Russell “Chubby” WisePlayed on recordings with Red Allen and the Kentuckians
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Bill EmersonPlayed on recording with Red Allen and the Kentuckians
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Bobby SlonePlayed on recording with Red Allen and the Kentuckians
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Buddy GriffinPlayed on recording with Red Allen and the Kentuckians
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Dan KingsbergPlayed on recording with Red Allen and the Kentuckians
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Dennis ParkerPlayed on recording with Red Allen and the Kentuckians
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Don RenoPlayed on recording with Red Allen and the Kentuckians
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Frank WakefieldPlayed on recording with Red Allen and the Kentuckians
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Greg AllenPlayed on recording with Red Allen and the Kentuckians
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John PalmerPlayed on recording with Red Allen and the Kentuckians
