Vernon “Boatwhistle” McIntyre
Vernon “Boatwhistle” McIntyre was the bass player in Earl Taylor’s Stoney Mountain Boys on the band’s records from its first sessions in 1958 through 1969, and sang with the band as well. He was the father of the banjo player Vernon McIntyre Jr., who joined him in Taylor’s band in the 1960s and later led the Appalachian Grass in Cincinnati.
He played bass in the band that Taylor, the singer and guitarist Jim McCall and the banjo player Walt Hensley put together in Baltimore, and his young son rode along in the car to the clubs where they played. With Sam Hutchins on guitar and Hensley on banjo, the Stoney Mountain Boys recorded for Folkways in 1958, and those sides came out in 1959 on Mountain Music Bluegrass Style. In the spring of 1959, with Curtis Cody added on fiddle, the same group made Folk Songs from the Blue Grass for United Artists, with “Cripple Creek,” “John Henry,” “The Children Are Cryin’” and “Prisoner’s Song.”
On 30 January 1963 he sang as well as playing bass when Ken Nelson recorded the band in Nashville for Capitol’s Bluegrass Taylor Made, with Frankie Short on guitar, Hensley on banjo, Benny Martin on fiddle and his son on a second banjo for four of the songs, among them “I’ve Lived a Lot in My Time.” Around 1966 father and son were again Taylor’s bass and banjo players when he and Jim McCall recorded for Rural Rhythm, with Paul Mullins on fiddle. On 27 February 1969 he played bass when Taylor recorded Bluegrass Touch for Vetco at Lange’s studio in Azusa, California, with Charlie Hoskins on guitar, Sandy Rothman on banjo and Jack Carter on fiddle.
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Earl Taylor and His Stoney Mountain BoysPlayed on recordings with Earl Taylor and His Stoney Mountain Boys
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Earl Taylor and His Bluegrass MountaineersPlayed on recording with Earl Taylor and His Bluegrass Mountaineers
