Allen Shelton
Musician · 1936–2009 · Rockingham County, North Carolina
Best known for
Banjo
Allen Shelton was one of the great innovators of bluegrass banjo — the bouncy, swing-influenced "Shelton Style" picker who spent more than a decade as Jim & Jesse's signature banjoist and who Don Reno once named the third-greatest banjo player after himself and Earl Scruggs.
- Born July 2, 1936 in Rockingham County, North Carolina.
- Took his first full-time gig at age 16 with Jim Eanes and the Shenandoah Valley Boys in 1952; played on most of Eanes's Starday recordings between 1956 and 1960.
- Joined Jim & Jesse and the Virginia Boys in 1960 and stayed through 1966, recording 89 sides with the band including the Capitol and Columbia/Epic catalog of the early 1960s.
- Left Jim & Jesse in 1966 in protest of a Nashville Symphony recording project; retired from full-time music to work as a machinist and welder in Louisiana for roughly a decade.
- Rejoined Jim & Jesse from 1983 to 1988 for a second tour with the band.
- Released the solo album Shelton Special on Rounder in 1977, plus Mr. Original Banjo Man (Outlet, 1977) and 5 String Dobro & Banjo (Atteiram, 1985).
- Invented a banjo-resonator hybrid he called the "five-string Dobro" or "Dojo," and devised a "pedal banjo" tailpiece that emulated pedal-steel pitch bends; signature compositions include "Banjo Bounce" and "Shelton Special."
- Died of leukemia at Nashville's Centennial Medical Center on November 21, 2009 at age 73; inducted posthumously into the IBMA Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2018.
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Jim and Jesse and the Virginia BoysPlayed on recordings with Jim and Jesse and the Virginia Boys
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Jim EanesPlayed on recordings with Jim Eanes
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Hazel DickensPlayed on recording with Hazel Dickens
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Mac WisemanPlayed on recording with Mac Wiseman