Charlie Cline
Musician · b. 1931 · Baisden, West Virginia
Best known for
Fiddle
Charlie Cline was a West Virginia-born multi-instrumentalist and singer whose tenure with Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys (1952–1955), seat in his cousin Ezra Cline's Lonesome Pine Fiddlers, and wide-ranging sideman résumé with the Stanleys and Osbornes made him one of the most versatile players of bluegrass's first generation.
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- Born June 6, 1931 in Baisden, Mingo County, West Virginia.
- Multi-instrumentalist who reportedly played every instrument except mandolin during his Bill Monroe tenure.
- Joined the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers in the late 1940s after his brother Ireland was killed on D-Day, taking Ireland's place; band led by his cousin Ezra Cline and including his brother Curly Ray Cline.
- Member of Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys 1952–1955, recording roughly 32–38 songs for Decca.
- Worked with the Stanley Brothers in 1956 as lead guitarist.
- Played with the Osborne Brothers (1960) and Jimmy Martin's Sunny Mountain Boys (1980).
- Returned to the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers in 1958 (electric lead guitar, with wife Lee on electric bass) and again in 1970.
- Later in life became an ordained minister and evangelist in Alabama, where he died on November 19, 2004.
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Bill Monroe and His Bluegrass BoysPlayed on recordings with Bill Monroe and His Bluegrass Boys
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The Stanley BrothersPlayed on recording with The Stanley Brothers