Steve Sutton

He grew up in Haywood County, and when he took up the banjo Raymond Fairchild, a native of Maggie Valley, took him under his wing. He was on stage with Fairchild from the age of eleven. In high school he had nearly simultaneous offers from Bill Monroe and Jimmy Martin, and both hired him to tour before he turned eighteen. He chose Martin, going on the road with him in 1974, and he always credited Martin with teaching him to play with close rhythmic precision. He later studied trumpet and marketing at Western Carolina University.

In October 1979 he joined the newly formed Marc Pruett Band, with Randy Davis on bass, Mike Hunter on mandolin and Arvil Freeman on fiddle. Sutton played guitar and banjo, and for nine years the group was the house band at Bill Stanley’s BBQ and Bluegrass restaurant in Asheville. He was also a longtime member of the Whitewater Bluegrass Company, a regular at Ghost Town in the Sky in Maggie Valley, and he toured with Alecia Nugent.

He played and recorded with Rhonda Vincent and the Rage. On her Rounder album Back Home Again (2000), made at Lighthouse Sound Studio in Nashville, he plays banjo on “Jolene” and other tracks. He also appears on the 2006 benefit album Celebration of Life: Musicians Against Childhood Cancer, which includes Rhonda Vincent and the Rage’s “Jolene.” He is the banjo player on most of the Crowe Brothers’ Brothers-N-Harmony (Rural Rhythm, 2008) and on their Bridging the Gap (2011). In his last years he played banjo in the Darren Nicholson Band in western North Carolina, which made regular Grand Ole Opry appearances.

Sutton died unexpectedly at his home in Waynesville, North Carolina, in May 2017, at 61. The Steve Sutton Fest and a memorial trust were set up in his name.