Doyle Lawson

More Behind The Picture - By Greg Tutwiler

Cream always rises to the top. And, that’s no different in the music world. Longevity doesn’tnecessarily translate into notoriety, but in this case, Bluegrass icon Doyle Lawson has had a longand notable career, and he and his band Quicksilver are one of the bluegrass industries top acts.Doyle and his band have recorded more than 30 albums, and received numerous awardsincluding nearly ten IBMA (International Bluegrass Music Association) awards, and recentlynominated in five categories this year including, Mandolin Player of the Year, Vocal Group of theYear, Album of the Year for More Behind the Picture Than the Wall, Song of the Year for “Sadie's Got Her New Dress On,” Entertainer of the Year Gospel Recorded Performance of the Year.

Doyle was born near Kingsport, Tennessee in 1944, where he began his career as a bluegrassmusician in 1963 with Hall of Honor member and bluegrass pioneer Jimmy Martin. For the next 15years he honed his skills doing what he loved best, singing and playing the mandolin, in emergingbluegrass groups the Kentucky Mountain Boys, and the Country Gentlemen. “From the time I wasa small child I knew this was my life, what I was going to be doing as a career, and I never strayedfrom that,” Doyle told me recently.

And in 1979 he struck out on his own, forming the band Quicksilver. Those formative years paidoff as Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver rose to the top. They released a series of acclaimedalbums—including the pioneering all-gospel Rock My Soul in 1981. Sticking closely to thetraditional bluegrass roots, Lawson developed a style that blended traditional and gospel elementswith some progressive influences that became the distinctive Lawson/Quicksilver sound.

Gospel Beginnings
Much of the groups early music was influenced by drawing on material contained in Doyle’sfather’s shape-note hymnbook collection, and on the sounds of African-American gospel quartetsand southern gospel groups he heard as a young kid. They recorded more than 15 all-gospelbluegrass albums that featured a wide range of styles, making a powerful impression in thebluegrass community. He was also a member of Bluegrass Album Band, which helped bring therepertoire and musical approaches of the music’s early giants to new generations of musiciansand fans in a series of acclaimed albums made between 1980 and 1996. All of that helped tosolidify Doyle Lawson’s position as a major player in bluegrass music today.

I spoke with Doyle about his career and his music, and his take on things recently. I asked him ifhe ever thought his career would lead him to where he is now. “My sights were set on that (acareer), but certainly not the extent it has become. In my early days, I had no intent on becominga band leader. All the good things that have come my way, or the accomplishments; I neverlooked at it that way, I wanted to play music and be on stage with a band,” he said. “But then youmature, and as you mature as a musician, and as an adult. You start looking at things from adifferent perspective, and then it evolves into whatever it becomes. But the more things that starthappening, you seize that moment and you start to see how you can enhance that or broaden it,or do more with it, or take it to the next level.”

One Lucky Guy
After more than 40 years in any industry, one generally contemplates retirement. Not Doyle. “I’m alucky guy. I get to do what I love to do, and earn my living doing it,” he said. “I love to travel, eventhough I’ve been all over the world, I still like the country side. I love the west too. It doesn’t botherme at all if I decide to leave East Tennessee and drive to Southern California. It probably bothersmy driver more than me,” he laughed. “I just love the country, and the views that we have. I enjoythis part of the world that God has allowed me to live in. There’s always something that I can seethat I never noticed before. But the love of music, the being on stage, that’s the reward for all theother stuff I do to stay in this business. My reward is getting to get up on stage and perform, andhopefully bring a smile to people’s faces and put a little joy in their heart, and make them glad thatthey came. Hopefully they’ll go away with less of a load on their shoulders if they had a roughweek or whatever. That’s the reward for me.”

Although the music has changed, Doyle Lawson strives to stay true to what he knows are theroots of bluegrass music, and believes are important to preserve for future generations. “Thereare vast differences in music today,” he said. Not only in our music, but music in general, simplybecause of the passing of time, and the implementation of the computer world, and the internetages that we live in. You know, we’re able to reach people more quickly either by email or our website – people go on it and they can order your recordings, read about the band, and check yourschedule. And of course the venues we play, as far as bluegrass, are bigger and better as far asthe environment and sound capabilities.”

“And the music itself has changed somewhat. But that goes hand in hand with the passing of time.With each generation of musicians you have a little bit different outlook on the approach of themusic. There’s a lot of great music being played - new music. Not to take anything away fromanyone’s talent, but there is music being played today that I may not necessarily considerauthentic Bluegrass. It’s very very good acoustic music, but my own take on it is that the musicwas defined with the music of Bill Monroe, when he added Earl Scruggs on the Banjo. That kind ofsolidified the style that became know as Bluegrass.”

“And I think now, some of our music is just a little far to the left, or right. But again, I want toemphasize that I’m not saying that it’s bad music. In fact some of these new folk’s ability arealmost beyond my comprehension, but when you talk about authentic bluegrass, the Monroe styleis the base line. I think we need to be cautious in some ways to not have bluegrass go the sameway country music has as far as drifting from their original roots. You know, progress has its price.I don’t think there’s any sure fire solution, but I hope that bluegrass doesn’t arrive at the pointwhere what people call bluegrass music, and market as bluegrass music, has no kinship at allwith where it started. I believe in progress, and I think there’s room to grow and progress and stillremain within the boundaries of tradition.”

Changes
When I spoke with Doyle, he was rehearsing a new bass player. After 28 years as a band leader, Isuppose you would experience changes in your line-up. “Changes are always going to occur,sometimes more than others,” he said. “Sometimes one will drop out, sometimes a couple will goat once. I’ve had three quit at the same time. But a part of it is that I have always freely featuredpeople in my band by putting them out front. In some ways that could probably shorten their stayhere, but on average you’ll get four to five years from somebody. I’ve had a couple that stayedalmost ten years though.”

“The thing you’ve got to remember is, if the music had stopped with Bill (Monroe), I wouldn’t havea job today. Anything that doesn’t grow will die. So while I would like to keep people in the samespots for the duration of the band, you know it’s not going to happen. I look at the guys who havegone on from Quicksilver, and see their careers now, and it feels good to have been a part of theircareer. I feel like in some way, I helped the music as a whole continue on, and that’s the bottomline. It’s not if some key musician leaves, the music’s going stop. You shouldn’t look at it that way.When changes occur you just go on, wish them the best, and hopefully in turn, they will passalong something to someone else.”

More Behind The Picture
The latest CD, More Behind The Picture Than The Wall, is up for five IBMA awards. That justdoesn’t happen often. And while Doyle doesn’t record a CD to try to win awards, they’re alwaysnice confirmations that what you believed to be a great product is in fact well received. So what’sbehind the wall of a great CD? “I go into a recording session with these songs that I like. I tend tobe theme oriented, so I like one song to compliment the other,” he said. Quite honestly, the titlecut of this CD, I got it half way through the recording session. It just seemed like that song was thekey element to work around. And I decided that as good as the song was, and the story it told, thatthat needed to be the title.”

“We do write some of our songs. I co-wrote a couple with Jamie Daily. But mostly I tend to lookoutside for our material. I have people that are what I consider my favorite writers. They just seemto turn out good songs consistently. Not every song will fit what I do of course, but they’ll fitsomebody. That’s the mark of a good songwriter. They can write songs that will fit more than oneartist.”

Gospel Overtones
Doyle Lawson has established himself in this industry, and has made major contributions to itmusically as well. For Doyle, it is about doing what he loves to do. And it’s about his convictions tohis faith and the tradition of bluegrass. “I don’t ever want to record anything that I would beashamed of for my children or grandchildren to hear, or would be a bad influence on some youngperson,” Doyle said. “But my faith is a very viable part of who I am too. I’m quick to tell anyone thatI’m the instrument that God uses for the good of what He wants to accomplish. So I always try togive Him credit first. I just do what He’s allowed me to do to the best that I know how to do it. Butmy faith and my religious convictions are very important to me.”