Bud Brewster
Musician · Knoxville, Tennessee
Bud Brewster is a Tennessee banjoist who, with older brother Willie G., made the Brewster Brothers a Knoxville radio fixture — banjoist on Carl Story's classic 1957 "Mocking Banjo" recording and founding guitarist of The Pinnacle Boys (early 1970s) and The Knoxville Bluegrass Band (1997).
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- Younger half of the Knoxville-based Brewster Brothers; brother of Willie G. and the late Ray Brewster.
- Grew up on a Knoxville-area dairy farm; learned guitar from his sister Betty and took banjo lessons from Joe Stuart.
- Started out on guitar and bass; took up banjo as his primary instrument in 1957, encouraged by Junior Huskey.
- Played banjo on Carl Story & His Rambling Mountaineers' 1957 Mercury session "Mocking Banjo" (a cover of Arthur Smith / Don Reno's "Feudin' Banjo" that anticipated "Dueling Banjos"); cut more than 300 sides with Story.
- Played the Cas Walker Show and Mid-Day Merry-Go-Round in Knoxville with brother Willie.
- Founding guitarist of The Pinnacle Boys (formed early 1970s with Larry Mathis on banjo and Jim Smith on mandolin).
- Reunited with Mathis and Smith in 1997 to form The Knoxville Bluegrass Band.
- Inducted in 2001 alongside brother Willie G. as "First Generation Bluegrass" (IBMA / Bluegrass Hall of Honor).
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Carl Story and His Rambling MountaineersPlayed on recordings with Carl Story and His Rambling Mountaineers