Jimmy Stoneman
Musician · 1937–2002 · Washington, DC
Best known for
Bass
Jimmy Stoneman was a D.C.-born bassist who anchored the Blue Grass Champs and the Stoneman Family band — a 1956 Arthur Godfrey Talent Scouts winner whose homemade upright bass "The Whomper" (built by his father from an old drum) became a Stoneman Family signature.
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- Born Oscar James Stoneman on March 8, 1937 in Washington, D.C.; died September 22, 2002 in Smyrna, Tennessee.
- Son of country music pioneer Ernest V. "Pop" Stoneman; one of many musical Stoneman siblings.
- Co-founder of the Blue Grass Champs (mid-1950s) with siblings Scotty and Donna; group later evolved into the Stoneman Family.
- Won the Arthur Godfrey Talent Scouts contest in 1956 with the Blue Grass Champs performing "Salty Dog Blues."
- Took first place in the band category at the 1956 National Country Music Championship in Warrenton, Virginia.
- Started on a homemade upright bass — "The Whomper" — built by his father Ernest from an old drum; played so hard he taped his fingers to keep them from bleeding.
- Performed at the Famous nightclub in Washington, D.C., and on WTTG television in 1958.
- Lived with epilepsy; the band reportedly continued performing during his occasional onstage seizures. Inducted with the Stoneman Family into the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame.
