Johnson Mountain Boys, The

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THE JOHNSON MOUNTAIN BOYS

  • From Washington, D.C. area (Gaithersburg, Maryland).
  • Formed in 1975 as a duet featuring Dudley Connell on banjo and Ron Welch on guitar. Connell eventually switched to guitar and added other musicians to form a full bluegrass band: Ed D’Zmura (guitar, mandolin), Eddie Stubbs (fiddle), Richard Underwood (banjo), Larry Robbins (bass). Over the years, the band also included David McLaughlin (mandolin), Tom Adams (banjo) and Marshall Wilborn (bass).
  • There is no such place as Johnson Mountain. Connell originally named the band The Johnson Boys because it just sounded good, but later added “Mountain” because he discovered a folk group already had the Johnson Boys name.
  • While they were together, they performed in some of the nation’s most prestigious venues: Madison Square Garden, The White House, the Lincoln Center and the Grand Ole Opry. Also toured England, Japan, and Africa.
  • 1981, released “The Johnson Mountain Boys” album (Rounder).
  • 1982, released “Walls of Time” album (Rounder).
  • 1983, released Working Close album (Rounder).
  • 1983, released Live At the Birchmere album (Rounder).
  • 1985, released “We’ll Still Sing On” album (Rounder).
  • 1987, released Let the Whole World Talk album (Rounder).
  • 1987, released Favorites album (Rounder).
  • 1988, released Requests album (Rounder).
  • 1988, broke up and recorded a “final” performance in Lucketts, VA, released as At the Old School House (Rounder).
  • 1991, After doing several reunion shows, the group decided to re-emerge as a part-time band.
  • 1993, released Blue Diamond album (Rounder).
  • 1994, broke up for good.
  • Connell (guitar) took a job with the Smithsonian Institution as director of the Folkways Record Collection. In 1995 he joined the Seldom Scene as guitarist and lead singer. He also worked with Hazel Dickens and the part-time band Longview.
  • Eddie Stubbs (fiddle) moved to Nashville in 1995 where he took a job as fiddle player with Johnny Wright and Kitty Wells, and also became a DJ and Grand Ole Opry announcer on WSM-AM. He won the CMA award for Broadcast Personality of the Year in 2002. He has also won that award twice from the IBMA (1996, 2002).
  • David McLaughlin (mandolin) formed a duo with Josh Crowe and has worked with several other bands.
  • Tom Adams (banjo) went on to work with the Lynn Morris Band, Blue Highway, Rhonda Vincent, Dale Ann Bradley, Bill Emerson and other bands.