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Mills, Jim

WR

JIM MILLS

  • From Raleigh, North Carolina.
  • Has been playing banjo all his life (says he can’t remember not playing the banjo.)
  • After high school, joined Summer Wages with Barry Berrier.
  • 1988-1993, worked with Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver.
  • 1993, was the shipping manager for Sugar Hill Records.
  • 1994-1997, worked with the Bass Mountain Boys.
  • 1997-2010, worked with Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder.
  • 1998, released Bound To Ride album (Sugar Hill).
  • 1999, won IBMA award for “Instrumental Recording of the Year” (“Bound to Ride”).
  • 2002, released My Dixie Home album (Sugar Hill).
  • 2005, released Hide Head Blues album (Sugar Hill).
  • 2006, won his sixth IBMA award for Banjo Player of the Year (also won in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2005).
  • 2010, left Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder to work full time as a collector and dealer of vintage pre-war Gibson banjos. He owns the Jim Mill Banjo Showroom in Durham, North Carolina.
  • 2024, died at the age of 57 (heart attack).