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). But after doing several reunion shows, the group decided to re-emerge as a part-time band in 1991.
  • 1994, 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 was also a member of 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.