Mitchell Jayne
Musician · 1928–2010 · Hammond, Indiana
Best known for
Bass
Songwriter
Mitchell Jayne was an Indiana-born bassist and Ozark folklorist who founded The Dillards in 1962 with the Dillard brothers and Dean Webb, served as the band's onstage emcee on "The Andy Griffith Show," and co-wrote bluegrass standards including "Dooley," "There Is a Time," and "The Old Home Place."
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- Mitchell Franklin "Mitch" Jayne, born July 5, 1928 in Hammond, Indiana; died August 2, 2010 of cancer.
- Founding member of The Dillards (with brothers Doug and Rodney Dillard and Dean Webb), serving as upright bass player and the band's onstage emcee.
- The Dillards left Missouri for California in the early 1960s and almost immediately landed the recurring role of the Darling family on "The Andy Griffith Show" (1963–1966), reprised in the 1986 "Return to Mayberry" reunion.
- Co-wrote multiple bluegrass standards with The Dillards, including "Dooley," "There Is a Time," "The Old Home Place," and "The Whole World Round."
- Before music, taught in one-room schools in Dent County, Missouri, and documented Elizabethan-English usages still in spoken Ozark dialect; later authored a weekly newspaper column and hosted a satirical radio show in Salem, Missouri.
- Left The Dillards in 1974 due to hearing loss; original members reunited briefly in 1979.
- Authored four books: "Home Grown Stories & Home Fried Lies," "The Forest in the Wind," "Old Fish Hawk," and "Fiddler's Ghost."
- In later years toured Missouri giving humorous talks about Ozark language and its connection to Middle English.
