William "Red" Rector
Best known for
Mandolin
William "Red" Rector was a North Carolina-born mandolinist nicknamed "The Mandolin Wizard" whose 1940s start with the Asheville Mountain Boys, long career with Carl Story's Rambling Mountaineers, and later collaborations with Don Reno, Norman Blake, and John Hartford made him one of the first mandolinists to develop a recognizable style distinct from Bill Monroe.
- Born William Eugene Rector on December 15, 1929 in Marshall, North Carolina (Madison County); family moved to Asheville when he was a child.
- Began performing professionally in the early 1940s with the Asheville Mountain Boys, the Morris Brothers, Johnnie & Jack, and Charlie Monroe's Kentucky Pardners.
- Recorded in New York in 1943 for an Alan Lomax-produced CBS/BBC broadcast and again with Charlie Monroe in 1947.
- Sang lead and played mandolin with Carl Story's Rambling Mountaineers on Mercury and Columbia sides in the 1950s, including the Louvin Brothers song "Love and Wealth."
- Long-running duo partnership with cousin Fred Smith as "Red and Fred" / the Spivy Mountain Boys; regular performer on the Cas Walker Show on WBIR-TV Knoxville.
- Recorded with Hylo Brown's Timberliners on four 1958 Capitol Records sessions sponsored by Martha White Mills.
- Considered one of the first bluegrass mandolinists to develop a recognizable style distinct from Bill Monroe's; nicknamed "The Mandolin Wizard" and "The Red Flash."
- Later collaborated and recorded with Reno & Smiley, Don Reno, Grandpa & Ramona Jones, Jethro Burns, Mother Maybelle Carter, Norman Blake, Bill Clifton, and John Hartford. Died May 31, 1990 in Knoxville, Tennessee at age 60.
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Carl Story and His Rambling MountaineersPlayed on recordings with Carl Story and His Rambling Mountaineers
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Norman Blake and Red RectorPlayed on recordings with Norman Blake and Red Rector
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Bill Clifton and Red RectorPlayed on recordings with Bill Clifton and Red Rector
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Hylo BrownPlayed on recordings with Hylo Brown