ERNIE THACKER (AND ROUTE 23)
- From Cleveland, Ohio. Lived in Haysi, Virginia (near Ralph Stanley’s hometown of McClure).
- 1988-1994, sang lead and played both mandolin and guitar with Ralph Stanley’s Clinch Mountain Boys.
- At age 13, had a band called the Country Cousins. Two years later, a band called the Bluegrass Revelators.
- He has two sons named Keith and Whitley.
- 1994, left Stanley’s band to form a group with another Clinch Mountain Boy, Junior Blankenship.
- 1995, released Tennessee Blues
album (Copper Creek).
- 1997, formed his own band called Route 23, named for a scenic highway in Virginia.
- 2002, released Chill of Lonesome
album (Doobie Shea).
- 2006, was seriously injured in an auto accident, leaving him paralyzed. One of his legs was amputated.
- 2008, confined to a wheelchair, he recorded and released a new album Hangman
(Pinecastle).
- 2018, after a long battle with various physical problems, he passed away on April 10.