CURTIS BLACKWELL AND THE DIXIE BLUEGRASS BOYS
- From Long Creek, South Carolina.
- Formed in 1960 when seventeen-year-old guitarist/singer Curtis Blackwell with his brother Haskell (bass) and Junior Crowe (banjo; father of The Crowe Brothers). They won a talent competition sponsored by WNEG in Toccoa, Georgia. The prize was a performance on The Grand Ole Opry.
- 1964, band included Sam Cobb (bass) Larry Jefferson (mandolin), Martin Beckman (guitar), Al Osteen (banjo), and Randall Collins (fiddle).
- 1965, won first place at Asheville’s Bascom Lamar Lunsford’s Mountain Dance and Folk Festival.
- 1970, won first place in the band contest at Union Grove Fiddler’s Convention.
- During the mid 70’s, Curtis Blackwell and the Dixie Bluegrass Boys regrouped with South Carolina fiddler Verner Foster joining the band and Curtis’s son Terry Blackwell (mandolin) and Tom Roach (banjo). Wallace Crowe of the Crowe Brothers also worked with them on occasion.
- 2010 lineup: Curtis Blackwell (guitar), Sam Cobb (bass), Vic Blackwell (mandolin), Charles Wood (banjo), and Chuck Nation (fiddle).