Ezra Cline
Musician · Baisden, West Virginia
Best known for
Bass
Ezra Cline was a West Virginia-born bandleader and bassist who founded the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers in 1938 — the pioneer West Virginia bluegrass band whose WHIS Bluefield base, 1949 shift to bluegrass with Bobby Osborne and Larry Richardson, and 1953 hire of the Goins brothers seeded much of the postwar Appalachian scene.
- Born 1907 in Baisden, Mingo County, West Virginia; died 1984.
- Founded and led the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers, organized in 1938 — West Virginia's pioneer bluegrass band, based for years at WHIS radio in Bluefield, WV.
- One of the earliest musicians to use the upright bass in a mountain-music string-band setting.
- Started the band with his cousins Ireland "Lazy Ned" Cline and Ray "Curly Ray" Cline; Charlie Cline was also a Cline-family cousin.
- Pre-bluegrass early style was closer to the Delmore Brothers than to Bill Monroe; the band fully shifted to bluegrass with the 1949 additions of vocalist Bobby Osborne and banjoist Larry Richardson.
- Hired Melvin and Ray Goins in mid-November 1953 at WLSI in Pikeville, KY; they later carried the LPF sound forward as the Goins Brothers.
- Other notable alumni include Paul Williams and Jimmy Williams.
- Inducted (with the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers) into the IBMA Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2009 and the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame in 2023.
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The Lonesome Pine FiddlersPlayed on recordings with The Lonesome Pine Fiddlers
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Hylo Brown and the Lonesome Pine FiddlersPlayed on recording with Hylo Brown and the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers