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Composed

BMI’s database credits Don Stover with 30 published compositions, co-compositions, and arrangements including:

  • “Black Diamond”
  • “My Blue Ridge Memories”
  • “The Old Coon Dog”
  • “Things in Life”
  • “West Virginia Coal Miner’s Blues”

Early Influences

  • J.V. Williams
  • Paul Taylor
  • Charlie & Bill Monroe
  • Earl Scruggs
  • Rudy Lyle
  • Don Reno

Came to Fame With

  • The Lilly Brothers & Don Stover, 1952-1996

Performed With

  • Coal River Boys, Artie, WV, late 1940s
  • The Confederate Mountaineers, Boston, MA, 1952-1954
  • Buzz Busby & the Bayou Boys, 1954-1956
  • Bill Monroe & the Blue Grass Boys, 1957
  • The Lilly Brothers & Don Stover, 1957-1965, 1966-1996
  • Bill Harrell & the Virginians, 1965-1966
  • Don Stover & the White Oak Mountain Boys, 1970-1996
  • First Generation, 1978-1995

By the Way

  • A traveling salesman coming through town in 1945 explained that Earl Scruggs was using metal picks; Don made his first ones from a Prince Albert Tobacco tin.
  • Bill Keith credits the genesis of his melodic banjo style to a lick Don played on “Bring Back My Blue-Eyed Boy to Me” (Event Records 1957).
  • “Black Diamond,” the title of one of Don’s banjo instrumentals, refers to a nickname for coal, not the brand of banjo strings.
  • Don’s varied life is reflected in three names he gave to the same banjo tune: “Rockwood Mountain Deer Chase” (referring to a favorite hunting spot in Maine), “Boston After Dark,” and “The Nashville Express.”

Led the Way

  • One of the earliest and most-skilled exponents of the Scruggs style of three-finger banjo picking, as well as the older clawhammer style (Don could switch effortlessly from one to the other), an outgoing entertainer, and a preserver of Appalachian musical tradition.
  • Influenced two generations of bluegrass artists in the northeast, including Bob French, Bill Keith, Tony Trischka, and Bela Fleck.
  • The Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia credited Don as an inspiration, and his recordings continue to inspire banjo players everywhere.
  • Appeared in the movies Festival (1967) and Bluegrass Country Soul (1971).
  • SPBGMA Preservation Hall of Greats, 1993.Massachusetts Country Music Hall of Fame, 1987.
  • Bluegrass Hall of Fame, 2002.
  • West Virginia Music Hall of Fame, 2008.

Composed

BMI’s database credits Don Stover with 30 published compositions, co-compositions, and arrangements including:

  • “Black Diamond”
  • “My Blue Ridge Memories”
  • “The Old Coon Dog”
  • “Things in Life”
  • “West Virginia Coal Miner’s Blues”

Early Influences

  • J.V. Williams
  • Paul Taylor
  • Charlie & Bill Monroe
  • Earl Scruggs
  • Rudy Lyle
  • Don Reno

Came to Fame With

  • The Lilly Brothers & Don Stover, 1952-1996

Performed With

  • Coal River Boys, Artie, WV, late 1940s
  • The Confederate Mountaineers, Boston, MA, 1952-1954
  • Buzz Busby & the Bayou Boys, 1954-1956
  • Bill Monroe & the Blue Grass Boys, 1957
  • The Lilly Brothers & Don Stover, 1957-1965, 1966-1996
  • Bill Harrell & the Virginians, 1965-1966
  • Don Stover & the White Oak Mountain Boys, 1970-1996
  • First Generation, 1978-1995

By the Way

  • A traveling salesman coming through town in 1945 explained that Earl Scruggs was using metal picks; Don made his first ones from a Prince Albert Tobacco tin.
  • Bill Keith credits the genesis of his melodic banjo style to a lick Don played on “Bring Back My Blue-Eyed Boy to Me” (Event Records 1957).
  • “Black Diamond,” the title of one of Don’s banjo instrumentals, refers to a nickname for coal, not the brand of banjo strings.
  • Don’s varied life is reflected in three names he gave to the same banjo tune: “Rockwood Mountain Deer Chase” (referring to a favorite hunting spot in Maine), “Boston After Dark,” and “The Nashville Express.”

Led the Way

  • One of the earliest and most-skilled exponents of the Scruggs style of three-finger banjo picking, as well as the older clawhammer style (Don could switch effortlessly from one to the other), an outgoing entertainer, and a preserver of Appalachian musical tradition.
  • Influenced two generations of bluegrass artists in the northeast, including Bob French, Bill Keith, Tony Trischka, and Bela Fleck.
  • The Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia credited Don as an inspiration, and his recordings continue to inspire banjo players everywhere.
  • Appeared in the movies Festival (1967) and Bluegrass Country Soul (1971).
  • SPBGMA Preservation Hall of Greats, 1993.Massachusetts Country Music Hall of Fame, 1987.
  • Bluegrass Hall of Fame, 2002.
  • West Virginia Music Hall of Fame, 2008.

From the Archives

“Don’s soul was exuberant, motivated, determined, and full of mountain experiences. He never stopped developing and refining his skills. On stage, you never knew what Don was going to do. While my father, Everett Lilly, was the acknowledged leader of the group and emcee, Don often took the microphone and joked with the audience. He had complete faith in his instincts and trusted them completely. I think Don belonged with the Lilly Brothers, because they shared such intensity and passion for the music. It would have been difficult to imagine them without each other.”
Everett Alan Lilly, personal communication, 2009
“Whenever I catch sight of a lonely hero of bluegrass, twisting on his pedestal, I summon up a vision of Don Stover, with a gleam in his eye, to stand just in back of him and to festoon an empty place in whatever is happening with a Chuck Berry lick or perhaps a surf music arpeggio. Don winks to the audience as if to say, ‘You got that, didn’t you?'”
Joe Wilson, personal communication, 2004
“He is the possessor of an instantly recognizable style that is at once unique and thoroughly rooted in tradition. While many ‘contemporary’ banjo-pickers sound like students preparing apprehensively for an examination, Don Stover’s picking always sounds as if school had just let out.”
Bill Vernon in liner notes to Don Stover & the White Oak Mountain Boys, Rounder Records, 1974.
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