Vernon Hughes

By 1986 he had taken over the mandolin in Appalachian Express, whose other members were the singer Cindy West, the banjo player Clyde Bailey, the guitarist Bobby Thompson and the bassist Earl West. On Old Old House (Atteiram), recorded in May 1986 at Bias Recording in Springfield, Virginia, he sang lead on most of the songs, with Cindy West, Bailey and Earl West singing harmony. He stayed for the band’s three Rebel albums, all recorded at Bias with Jim Skelding on fiddle: I’ll Meet You in the Morning (1988), Express Tracks (1989) and Walkin’ the Blues (1990), recorded in February 1990.

He and Eugene Crabtree issued a cassette, Festival Style, in 1995. In 1993 Michelle Nixon joined him in Appalachian Express, and in 1996 the two formed the Virginia band Local Exchange, which made a self-titled album in 1998 and Stepping Out in 1999. Its Copper Creek album Because He Lives (2002), recorded at the Ashland Theater with Bailey on guitar and banjo, Mike Sharp on Dobro and guitar and Stephen Easter on bass, has Hughes singing lead on five songs and harmony on the rest. When Nixon formed Drive, he played mandolin on its Pinecastle albums It’s My Turn (2003) and By Request (2004), singing harmony on the latter.