CURLY SECKLER

• From China Grove, North Carolina..
• Real name: John Ray Sechler.
• First band: The Yodeling Rangers, with his brothers (1935).
• 1939, was one of the original members of Charlie Monroe’s Kentucky Partners.
• 1945, first played on the Grand Ole Opry, with Danny Bailey.
• 1946, recorded with Charlie Monroe (first recordings by the Kentucky Partners).
• 1949, joined Flatt & Scruggs, over the next dozen years he sang tenor and played mandolin on many of their biggest hits of the day and their most popular classics all of have stood the test of time.
• 1952, recorded with Jim & Jesse McReynolds on their first Capitol records.
• 1955-1962, appeared with Flatt & Scruggs on television across the southeast, and on the Grand Ole Opry.
• 1962, retired from music (temporarily) and started a trucking business.
• 1971, recorded “Curly Seckler Sings Again” (Country Records).
• 1973, un-retired to join Lester Flatt and The Nashville Grass. Lester died in 1979, but at Lester’s request, took over the Nashville Grass and kept the group going until 1994 (He formed a partnership with lead singer Willis Spears, who joined the group in 1981).
• 1994, released 60 Years of Bluegrass album (Vine Street Records). This album was later re-issued by Copper Creek Records (in 2005).
• 1996, received a Distinguished Achievement Award from IBMA.
• 2004, inducted into IBMA Hall of Fame.
• 2005, released That Old Book of Mine album (County).
• 2005, released Down in Caroline album (Copper Creek).
• 2006, released Bluegrass Don’t You Know album (Copper Creek).
• 2008, performed on the PBS show, Song of the Mountains, accompanied by the Steep Canyon Rangers.
• 2010, inducted into North Carolina Music Hall of Fame.
• 2010, celebrated his 90th birthday and his 75th anniversary in music.
• 2011, inducted into Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Hall of Fame.
• 2016, his biography was published Foggy Mountain Troubador (Univ. of Illinois Press), written by Penny Parsons.
• 2017, died at the age of 98 (on 12/27)