Country Store, The

THE COUNTRY STORE

  • From Virginia.
  • Formed in 1973 by Keith Whitley (guitar), Jimmy Gaudreau (mandolin), Carl Jackson (banjo) and Bill Rawlings (bass). Later, Jackson was replaced by Jimmy Arnold and Whitley was replaced by Chris Stifel.
  • They were originally known as The New Tradition but changed their name to the Country Store.
  • They recorded two albums, one of them a live 1973 performance recorded at Bill Grant’s Hugo, Oklahoma bluegrass festival. It featured Whitley, Gaudreau and Rawlings, with Alan Munde (of the Country Gazette) on banjo, subbing for an ailing Jimmy Arnold.
  • Broke up in 1975.