Ronnie Blackwell

He first appears on the session of 28 March 1967, produced by Harry Silverstein with Ray Edenton and Grady Martin on guitars, Hargus Robbins on piano and a drummer, which produced “Roll Muddy River,” a single that May, and three other songs for the album Modern Sounds of Bluegrass Music (June 1967). He was back on 2 May, and on 16 November 1967, with Dale Sledd on guitar and Hal Rugg on steel, he played on the session that cut Felice and Boudleaux Bryant’s “Rocky Top” and “My Favorite Memory,” the two sides of the single issued at the turn of 1968. In February 1968 he played on five more sessions: two on the 8th that finished Yesterday, Today and the Osborne Brothers (May 1968), with “I’ll Never Shed Another Tear,” “My Little Girl in Tennessee” and “Drivin’ Nails in My Coffin,” and three, on the 14th, 19th and 20th, with Jimmy Buchanan on fiddle, that made the gospel album Favorite Hymns (March 1969), including “Steal Away and Pray,” “How Great Thou Art” and “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.” By the Osbornes’ next Decca session, in June 1968, Lightnin’ Chance had taken over the bass.