The Lilly Brothers

The Lilly Brothers
Origin West Virginia; Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Genres Bluegrass
Occupation(s) Bluegrass artists
Years active 1950s – 1970s
Past members Mitchell Burt "Bea" Lilly
Charles Everett Lilly
Don Stover
Benjamin F. Logan
Joe Val

The Lilly Brothers, (Bea Lilly, born Michael Burt Lilly, December 15, 1921 – September 18, 2005 and brother Everett Lilly, born July 1, 1924 - May 8, 2012) were bluegrass musicians born in Clear Creek, West Virginia. They have been credited with bringing bluegrass to New England and with influencing such future bluegrass artists as Peter Rowan, Joe Val and Bill Keith, among others.[1]

Biography

Influenced by the traditional music they heard in their youth, Bea began playing the guitar and Everett the mandolin. In 1938, they made their radio debut on the Old Farm Hour show at WCHS in Charleston, West Virginia. Other radio works followed at WJLS in Beckley, West Virginia and on several other Southern radio stations during the 1940s.[2][3] In 1945, they appeared on the Molly O'Day radio show at WNOX in Knoxville, Tennessee.[2] In 1948, the brothers signed with the WWVA Jamboree in Wheeling, West Virginia as members of "Red Belcher's Kentucky Ridge Runners",[4] but they quit two years later because of a financial dispute and the brothers retired temporarily. In 1951, Everett joined Flatt & Scruggs as mandolin player. The next year, in 1952, 'Tex' Logan, whom they had met at the WWVA Jamboree, persuaded the brothers to reunite.[2]

Everett Lilly (center, seated, with mandolin) and the Lilly Mountaineers, in performance in 2009

The Lilly Brothers moved to Boston and formed a group called the "Confederate Mountaineers" who consisted of the brothers on guitar and mandolin, Logan on fiddle, and Don Stover on banjo.[4] They performed on WCOP’s Hayloft Jamboree[3] and as a house band at local clubs such as the Plaza Bar, the Mohawk Ranch, and the Hillbilly Ranch.[4] Soon, they were making records for the Folkways, Prestige and Event labels.[2][5] Somewhere along the line they changed the group's name to the Lilly Brothers.

In the 1960s they appeared in concerts at several major colleges and at folk festivals.[3] The personnel of the Lilly Brothers didn't change between 1952 and 1970 and is considered one of bluegrass music's most stable lineups. The death of Everett Lilly’s son, Giles, in a car crash in 1970 brought to an end the brothers’ career in Boston and Everett left the town. For the remainder of the 1970s, the brothers would reunite on several occasions.[2] In 1973 the Lilly Brothers made a tremendously successful tour of Japan, including the release of three live albums.[6] The Lilly Brothers’ career was later chronicled in a 1979 documentary "True Facts in a Country Song".[5] In the 1980s, as Bea retired, Everett and his son Mark played together in the group "Clear Creek Crossin'".[2]

Everett Lilly continued to play and perform with his sons in a band called Everett Lilly and the Lilly Mountaineers until his death in 2012.

Afterwords

Joe Val once said of the Confederate Mountaineers’ influence on urban Massachusetts, Those guys hit on like a bombshell. Nobody’d ever heard anything like that before.[5]

The Lilly Brothers’ singing has been described as rich, mountain-flavoured bluegrass and their brand of dynamic, no holds barred traditional bluegrass has been noted as haunting and earthy.

Inductions

Discography

78 RPM

Year Song Titles Label Number
1948"What Are They Doing in Heaven" / "They Sleep Now Together at Rest"Page505
1957"Tragic Romance" / "Are You Tired of Me, My Darling"EventE-4261
1959"John Henry" / "Bring Back My Blue-Eyed Boy to Me"EventE-4272

[7] [8]

Albums

Year Title Label Number Notes
1962Folk Songs From the Southern MountainsFolkwaysFA 2433one side with Don Stover
1963Bluegrass BreakdownPrestige FolkloreFL14010with Don Stover
1964The Country Songs of the Lilly BrothersPrestige FolkloreFL14035with Everett Alan Lilly
1970Early RecordingsCounty729with Don Stover, recorded 1956-57
1973What Will I Leave BehindCounty742with Don Stover
1974Holiday in Japan, Part 1TowaTWA 101Swith Don Stover & Everett Alan Lilly live in Japan
1974Holiday in Japan, Part 2TowaTWA 102Swith Don Stover & Everett Alan Lilly live in Japan
1974Holiday in Japan, Part 3TowaTWA 103Swith Don Stover & Everett Alan Lilly live in Japan
1996Live at Hillbilly RanchHay HollerHHCD1333recorded in Boston, July 1967
2001Live at Tamarack 2001Lilly Bros5704with the Lilly Mountaineers
2002On the Radio 1952-1953Rounder1109with Don Stover
2003West Virginia, Oh How I Miss YouLilly Broswith the Lilly Mountaineers

[8] [9] [10] [11]

Compilations and reissues

Year Title Label Number Notes
1977Bluegrass BreakdownRounderSS01reissue of Prestige FL14010
1977The Lilly Brothers - Country SongsRounderSS02reissue of Prestige FL14035
1991Early RecordingsRebel1688reissue of County 729
1999The Prestige/Folklore Years, Vol 5: Have a Feast Here TonightPrestige9919CD reissue of Prestige FL14010 and FL14035
2001Newport Folk Festival - Best Of Bluegrass 1959-66VanguardVCD-187-89-22-CD set, includes 5 live tracks by the Lilly Brothers
2003What Will I Leave BehindRebel1788reissue of County 742
2005Bluegrass at the RootsFolkwaysSWF40158reissue of Folkways FA2433 plus 2 unreleased tracks

Video appearances

Year Title Label Formats Notes
1979"True Facts in a Country Song"Burt/Chadwick16mm/DVD29 minute documentary by Susan Burt & Doug Chadwick
2005Festival!Eagle VisionDVD Newport Folk Festival 1963-66, with Don Stover, Tex Logan, and Everett Alan Lilly
2006Bluegrass Country SoulTime LifeDVDCamp Springs, NC Bluegrass Festival 1971, various artists

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Carr, Munde 1996, p. 108.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Carlin 2003, p. 233.
  3. 1 2 3 Jones 2008, p. 244.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Erbsen 2003, p. 49.
  5. 1 2 3 Wolff, Duane 2000, p. 231.
  6. ↑ Black 2005, p. 50.
  7. ↑ Pennell, Charley (November 10, 2009). "Blue Grass Singles by Artist". Discography of Bluegrass Sound Recordings, 1942 -. ibiblio. Retrieved May 11, 2010.
  8. 1 2 Spottswood, Dick (2005). "Some Notes for This Reissue" (PDF). Bluegrass At The Roots, 1961. Smithsonian Folkways. Retrieved March 17, 2010.
  9. ↑ Pennell, Charley (February 13, 2010). "Blue Grass LPs by Artist, La-Lz". Discography of Bluegrass Sound Recordings, 1942 -. ibiblio. Retrieved May 11, 2010.
  10. ↑ Sparks, Beth. "Discography". Music of The Lilly Mountaineers & The Lilly Brothers. The Lilly Mountaineers. Retrieved March 17, 2010.
  11. ↑ "Prestige Records Catalog". Jazzdisco.org. Retrieved March 17, 2010.

References

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