Billy Edwards
Musician · b. 1936 · Tazewell County, Virginia
Best known for
Banjo
Billy Edwards is a Virginia-born banjoist and lead singer whose career runs through Cousin Ezra Cline's Lonesome Pine Fiddlers in the 1950s and a long tenure with Red Smiley's Bluegrass Cut-Ups and the Shenandoah Cut-Ups, the band that carried that lineage through the 1970s and 80s.
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- Born 1936 in Tazewell County, Virginia.
- Worked on radio at WHIS Bluefield, West Virginia from childhood.
- Played banjo and sang with Cousin Ezra Cline's Lonesome Pine Fiddlers from 1955–1958 at WSLI in Pikeville, Kentucky.
- Played in the early 1960s with the Friendly City Playboys and Sunny Mountain Pardners based in High Point, North Carolina.
- Joined Red Smiley's Bluegrass Cut-Ups in July 1966; continued with the Shenandoah Cut-Ups, the successor group active 1969–1987 based in Roanoke, Virginia.
- Noted for crisp, early-Scruggs-influenced banjo style and authoritative tone on a flathead Gibson; served as group's lead singer with notable duets alongside Udell McPeak.
- Took a hiatus from full-time music in 1973 and returned in fall of that year.
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Red Smiley and the Bluegrass CutupsPlayed on recordings with Red Smiley and the Bluegrass Cutups
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Jim EanesPlayed on recordings with Jim Eanes
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Bill Clifton and Red RectorPlayed on recording with Bill Clifton and Red Rector
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Curly SecklerPlayed on recording with Curly Seckler
