Eddie Adcock

All Music Guide:

Among the major-league talent emerging from the folk music boom of the late '50s were the Country Gentlemen, a D.C.-based quartet that introduced bluegrass to a generation of city folks and college students, people who had never heard of Flatt & Scruggs or Bill Monroe or the Stanley Brothers. The Gentlemen, in playing the old bluegrass standards but playing them "different," were in a sense the first newgrass group. Eddie Adcock was the band's banjo player and he was a player of distinction -- his style was as innovative as Don Reno's. Adcock's considerable talent spread to other stringed instruments when he left the Gentlemen in 1970 and began exploring new musical genres. For the next three decades, Eddie Adcock remained one of the most popular musicians in bluegrass.

Adcock was born and raised in Scottsville, VA. He bought his first banjo as child and began performing with his brother Frank shortly afterward. The duo would sing in local churches and radio stations based in the nearby Charlottesville. In his teens, he played in a band called the James River Playboys and worked at a theater in his hometown, where he had the opportunity to see major country artists of the day, including Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper. At the age of 14, he left home after a family crisis and supported himself through semi-professional boxing. For the next seven years, he boxed and played music at nights. A few years later, he began racing cars. As a racer, Adcock racked up 34 straight wins with his car, which he named Mr. Banjo; he also had set two track records at Manassas, VA. Not only did he box and race, he also performed various blue-collar jobs to pay the rent. All the time, he played music at night.

Eddie Adcock didn't begin his professional musical career until 1953, when he joined Smokey Graves & His Blue Star Boys, who had a regular show at a radio station in Crewe, VA. His exposure with Graves led to jobs with other musicians, including Mac Wiseman, Bill Harrell, and Buzz Busby. Between 1953 and 1957, he floated between different bands. Bill Monroe offered a job to Adcock in 1957, and he played with the Blue Grass Boys for a short time -- Monroe had to let him go because the band simply wasn't earning enough money to employ him. Adcock returned to working day jobs, but that was short-lived. After he started working in a sheet metal factory, Jim Cox, John Duffey, and Charlie Waller asked him to join their new band, the Country Gentlemen.

The Country Gentlemen became one of the most popular and respected bluegrass bands of the late '50s and '60s, as well as one of the most progressive. They expanded the repertoire of bluegrass bands to include contemporary country, folk, and rock songwriters, most notably Bob Dylan; usually they added this material at the urging of Adcock. The Country Gentlemen rode to popularity in the late '50s as part of the folk boom and continued to be one of the most popular bluegrass/folk bands in the country throughout the '60s.

At the end of the '60s, Adcock began to feel constrained by the Country Gentlemen. He wanted to experiment with different musical genres, which he felt the band wasn't willing to do. Consequently, he quit the Gentlemen and moved to California, where he formed a country-rock band called the Clinton Special. While he performed with the group he used the pseudonym Clinton Codack. The band recorded only one single, "Just as You Are I Love You"/"Blackberry Fence," which was released on MGM Records; the A-side of the single was featured in the 1971 film The Horsemen.

After the Clinton Special fell apart, Adcock headed back east, where he formed another group, II Generation with Bob White, A.L. Wood, Wendy Thatcher, and Jimmy Gaudreau, who used to play with the Country Gentlemen. II Generation's lineup changed frequently during the '70s, but it gelled around 1974 when Martha Hearon joined the group. Hearon played guitar for the band and wrote a good share of its material; she also married Adcock soon after she joined. II Generation was active throughout the '70, releasing a handful of albums on the Rome, Rebel, and CMH labels.

Adcock and Hearon disbanded the group in 1980 and moved to Tennessee, where they formed a trio called Talk of the Town with bassist Missy Raines. In the mid-'80s, Adcock launched a solo career, releasing a series of cassette-only collections on CMH. In the '90s, he began releasing albums on compact disc, as well as performing with an all-star bluegrass outfit called the Masters. After nearly 40 years in the music business, Eddie Adcock remained as popular as he ever was, touring all around the world.

Wikipedia:

Eddie Adcock was born in Scottsville, Virginia, USA, on June 21, 1938. His professional musical career as a 5 string banjoist began in 1953 when he joined Smokey Graves & His Blue Star Boys, who had a regular show at a radio station in Crewe, VA. His exposure with Graves led to jobs with other musicians, including Mac Wiseman, Bill Harrell, and Buzz Busby. Between 1953 and 1957, he floated between different bands. Bill Monroe offered a job to Adcock in 1957, and he played with the Blue Grass Boys until Monroe had to let him go because the band simply wasn't earning enough money to employ him. Adcock returned to working day jobs, but that was short-lived. After he started working in a sheet metal factory, Jim Cox, John Duffey, and Charlie Waller asked him to join their new band, The Country Gentlemen. He now performs almost exclusively with his wife Martha and calls Lebanon, Tennessee his home. Eddie belongs to a number of business organizations, including IBMA and the Folk Alliance. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Tennessee Banjo Institute. He and Martha also created and ran (off and on) Adcock Audio, a large, state-of-the-art sound company until 2006.

Early years

He bought his first banjo as a child and began performing with his brother Frank shortly afterward. The duo would sing in local churches and radio stations based in the nearby Charlottesville. He left home when he was 14 years old and supported himself through semi-professional boxing. For the next seven years, he boxed and played music at nights. A few years later, he began racing cars. As a racer, Adcock racked up 34 straight wins with his car, which he named Mr. Banjo; he also had set two track records at Manassas, Virginia. Not only did he box and race, he also performed various blue-collar jobs to pay the rent. All the time, he played music at night.

With the Country Gentlemen

The Country Gentlemen originated in Washington, D.C.. The band’s original members were Charlie Waller on guitar and lead vocals, John Duffey on mandolin and tenor vocals, Bill Emerson on banjo and baritone vocals, and Larry Lahey on bass. Soon after Adcock's arrival the band settled into a somewhat permanent lineup consisting of Waller, Duffey, Eddie Adcock on banjo, and Tom Gray on bass.

Then Eddie met Martha

In 1970 Eddie quit The Country Gentlemen and moved to California, where he formed a country-rock band called The Clinton Special. While he performed with the group he used the pseudonym Clinton Codack. The band recorded only one single, "Just as You Are I Love You"/"Blackberry Fence," which was released on MGM Records. In 1973 he met Martha Hearon whom he would marry three years later. They have remained partners in music and life for over three decades. The dynamic duo of Eddie and Martha Adcock has become known as “the biggest little band in Bluegrass”. Cashbox magazine and Billboard magazine have both named them “one of the Bluegrass circuit's top acts”. Eddie and Martha now concentrate on performing as a duo, as well as doing some concerts with Tom Gray and a few shows with Adcock-Gaudreau-Waller & Gray: (The Country Gentlemen Reunion Band), and on producing themselves and others both outside and in-house at their own SunFall Studio. Eddie and Martha AKA The Adcocks have appeared on Austin City Limits, Ernest Tubb's Midnite Jamboree, TNN's 'Nashville Now' and Wildhorse Saloon, Grassroots To Bluegrass, and a host of NPR specials, as well as syndicated, Internet, and local TV and radio shows worldwide. Their video Dog aired on TNN, CMT, and CNN. They have released a number of popular recordings, appearing on several bluegrass, Americana, college, rock, and country charts, and have recorded with quite a few other artists as well. They currently record for the Pinecastle Records label.

Surgery

In October 2008, concerns about hand-tremors, which could have compromised his performing career, led to Eddie having deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. A local anaesthetic was used during the surgery, and he was encouraged to play banjo during the procedure in order to check the effectiveness of the treatment. During the brain implantation surgery, the patient is kept conscious so they may assist the doctors in properly placing the leads. They do this by experiencing its immediate effects on their fine motor skills. In Eddie’s case, this would be his right hand picking the banjo. Eddie has related that this was not an easy process to experience.

"When I first noticed, his skills were not the same and we were trying to figure out what was going on," she said. "It was distressing because this has been his whole life."