RANDALL HYLTON
- From Old Hickory, Tennessee. Grew up in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
- Learned to play guitar at age 5.
- Best known as a songwriter. He wrote more than 200 songs which were recorded by such artists as Mac Wiseman, the Osborne Brothers, the Bluegrass Cardinals, the Lewis Family, Doyle Lawson, Larry Sparks, and many others. Notable songs: “Room at the Top of the Stairs,” “Slippers With Wings” and “Hallelujah Turnpike.”
- As a performer, he was one of the few artists in bluegrass to work solo often wearing period costumes and mixing his serious material with parodies and impressions.
- He gave his guitars names: Denise, Michelle the Blonde Bombshell, Sylvia, Henrietta and Lakeisha.
- 2001, died at the age of 56.
- 2022, was inducted into the Blue Ridge Hall of Fame.