John Rigsby

Musician · b. 1975 · Sandy Hook, Kentucky
Best known for Mandolin

John Rigsby is an Eastern Kentucky multi-instrumentalist who held the mandolin (and later fiddle) chair in Ralph Stanley's Clinch Mountain Boys for parts of three decades, and who co-founded the Rounder-recording band Summertown Road.

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  • From Sandy Hook in Elliott County, Kentucky — the same Eastern Kentucky community as bluegrass mandolinist Don Rigsby.
  • Played early on with Dwight Whitley and the Sideroads in high school before joining Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys in 1995.
  • Anchored the Clinch Mountain Boys mandolin chair through 1998, returned in 1999, and switched to fiddle in 2004 when he replaced James Price; stayed with Ralph Stanley through 2008.
  • Played briefly with Melvin Goins & Windy Mountain and the Goins Brothers between Stanley stints.
  • Recorded the duet album Clinch Mountain Echoes: Songs in the Stanley Tradition (1996) with Ralph Stanley II during the early Stanley years.
  • Released the solo album Forks of the Ivy on Hay Holler in 2000 — a tribute to the Sloas Brothers, Charlie Monroe, and Charlie Moore, with guests including Don Rigsby and Kenny Sloas.
  • Co-founded Summertown Road in 2008 with banjoist Jack Hicks, Bo Isaac, and Randy Thomas; the band's self-titled Rounder Records debut (2010) was produced by Don Rigsby.
  • Sang an a cappella spiritual at Ralph Stanley's funeral in 2016.

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