The Kentucky Rambler

 by Jerry Wilson Bryant Wilson

Contents



FOREWORD
      In 1965 Norman Carlson, age 22, sat in the audience at the 
Brown County Jamboree in  Bean Blossom, Indiana.  The old barn looked 
like it could have fallen down at any time  even then.  Bill Monroe, 
the "Father of Bluegrass Music" was the headline act.  Bill owned  
the Jamboree which hosted live country and bluegrass entertainment 
every weekend.

      There were four bands appearing before the headline act.  The 
last of these four bands,  (According to Norman, each band was better 
than the one before.), was Bryant Wilson  and the Kentucky Ramblers.

       Norman was a student at Purdue University in West Lafayette, 
Indiana where he  majored in entomology, the study of insects.  He 
needed knowledge of this type because  his father was a farmer near 
Jamestown, New York, where Norman had plans to return  after 
graduation.  Norman, however, had recently became very interested in 
hillbilly music.   He was impressed with the "down home" nature of 
bluegrass and folk.  In fact, he was  president of the Purdue 
University Campus Folksong Club.  He was at Bean Blossom to  write a 
review.

      After the show, Norman met Bryant for the first time.  He 
bought one of the records he  was selling.  After returning to campus 
and playing the record, and also the tape recording  he had made of 
the show, Norman became quite interested in purchasing "all of Bryant  
Wilson's records." He was especially impressed with Bryant's own song 
"Steppin' in  Daddy's Tracks."  Over the next couple of years, Norman 
and Bryant became friends.   Norman was the president of the Indiana 
chapter of the Stanley Brothers fan club, and in  1966 he sampled 
Bryant's album on the Stanley Brothers Tape Club which drew orders 
for the album from several states and overseas.      It was about 
this time that Norman became interested in writing Bryant's 
discography, a  biography of his musical career.

    Norman was a very thorough man:  he needed every  detail of 
Bryant's life to that point, especially if it concerned his music.  
Bryant tried to  accommodate Norman all he could, but he could not 
remember everything Norman  wanted to know.  Norman interviewed 
everyone he could find that might have knowledge  of Bryant's past: 
his wife, Catherine; his foster sister, Ruby; his friend, Leonard 
Burton,  and others.

        Bryant Wilson was my father.  He died in 1992 of 
complications arising from  emphysema, which resulted from years of 
smoking cigarettes.  I have only memories now,  and some of his 
recordings. 

     I remember with fondness the visit he paid to Norman in 1967 at 
Purdue where he was  still a student.  Norman was in the middle of 
his discography and needed some more  information.  Dad collected a 
list of all his old "78's" and took it as well as some of his  very 
first home-made discs to Norman.  Norman cleaned these old records to 
the point  where they played quite well.      That was my first visit 
to a university.  I was in my first year of high school at the time.   
I had always said that I would not go to college, but the campus 
impressed me.  I think it  was this visit that eventually changed my 
mind and made me pursue a college-prep  schedule in high school. 

     I remember we visited Norman and his mom and dad at their 
Jamestown farm in the  summer of 1973.  We were on our way to Niagara 
Falls for the first time and Dad decided  to pay Norman a visit, 
since it was basically on our way.  We spent the night in our  
converted school bus motor home in Norman's yard.

      Norman's work on the farm absorbed most of his time, especially 
after his father died.   Although he remained an avid hillbilly music 
fan, he did not have the time, and probably  lost some of his earlier 
alacrity, for writing my father's discography.  Thanks to his  
research, however, my job of writing the biography of Bryant Wilson 
has been made easier.                                        

     Norman saw Dad from a perspective that I could not.  As his son, 
I was not able to take  an outside view.  Sure, there are many things 
that I remember about my dad that Norman's  research did not 
discover, but as I do my own research, I am beginning to see my 
father  from a new vista.  To be truthful, I have never really cared 
much for old-time bluegrass  music.  It may be because I heard so 
much of it when I was growing up.  I never really  looked at my dad 
as a "musician", but as a man who happened to play music.  It has 
also  been my general dislike of hillbilly music that has cloaked my 
perception of my dad as  being a very talented song writer, singer, 
and guitar player. 

     It was late in Dad's musical career that I came to regard my 
father as a real talent when  it came to bluegrass music.  I always 
said that the main reason I did not like Bluegrass  music was because 
I preferred music that was at least in tune.  I guess I really never  
thought of my dad's music as being "in tune."  Perhaps this was 
because of all the home  recording sessions to which I was an 
audience.  Dad was a perfectionist:  he had to play it,  and play it 
again until it suited him.  Most of the time, it was his band members 
that didn't  get it right.  I remember my dad trying to show one 
member exactly how he wanted a  particular banjo run played while 
instructing his fiddle player to "just play the background  harmony."  
I now realize that my dad usually WAS in tune.

      I also have come to realize that my dad possessed a real 
aptitude for writing bluegrass  songs.  He has brought many-a-tear to 
the eyes of his audience with "Steppin' in Daddy's  Tracks."  Even in 
listening to some of his earliest work, I have noticed a talent I 
never  realized existed before. It may have been fate that prevented 
his rise to the same popularity  as Bill Monroe or Roy Acuff, but it 
certainly was not lack of talent.  

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Chapter One

      Several years after Sarah Lou Wilson's death, Auston, her 
husband, stood over her  grave and uttered these words:  "If I had 
been as good of a man as she was a woman, she  might still be here 
today."  By some accounts, Auston was not a very compassionate man.   
He was often away from home for several days, leaving Sarah Lou to 
fend for herself and  her often-ill children.  Other of Auston's 
descendants paint a different picture of the man.   He apparently got 
religion sometime after his wife's death.

      Sarah Lou, who lived just outside Columbia, Kentucky, had seven 
children, only two of  whom survived into adulthood.  Her first died 
as a premature infant.  She then had twins  that succumbed to the 
same fate.  Later on, a son died at age 4 of meningitis and a  
daughter died at age 3 of whooping cough.  Her only daughter who 
survived was Hallie  Wilson, and her only surviving son was Bryant.      
Sarah Lou died on the morning of April 30, 1924 while giving birth to 
her son. A  midwife was in charge of the delivery.  Auston refused to 
accept responsibility for his new  son.  None of Auston's brothers, 
including John Wilson and his wife who had no children  of their own, 
would take the baby in.  Sarah Lou's sister, Lettie Bryant, and her 
first-cousin  husband, Luther decided they could not simply let the 
infant die, so they accepted  responsibility for his care. 
Auston thought they were crazy for doing so, saying the baby didn't 
have a chance to  survive anyway.  At the suggestion of Lola Hurt, a 
neighbor, the infant was named Bryant,  after his mother's maiden 
name.

        Infant Bryant was the frailest of babies.  According to Ruby 
Bryant, Luther and Lettie's  daughter who was 16 when they took 
Bryant in, his fingers were no bigger than bird's legs.   It seems he 
could not keep food in his stomach.

       Ruby was in the eighth grade when Bryant came.  Her parents 
had ambitions for here to  attend college; she was very bright in 
school.  But the new baby forced her to quit school  and help take 
care of him.

    Bryant would get very sick at night.  He cried in pain until his 
whole body would turn  purple.  Ruby stayed up with him every other 
night for two years, along with her friend  and neighbor Minnie Holt.  
She would alternate nights staying up with Bryant with her  mother 
and father.  During those two years, very little improvement was 
shown.  One  particular night he got so bad that they thought for 
sure they were going to lose him.  The  next morning, after surviving 
the night, he seemed to be a little better.  This was when he  had 
just turned two.  Ruby said he had gone through the "crisis" that 
night, and started to  improve steadily thereafter.

      It was not until his crisis was over that he began to walk and 
talk.  Although Ruby was  his cousin, he grew to think of her as his 
sister.  He regarded Lettie and Luther as his  mother and father.  
His real father, Auston, would not  help pay for his medication 
during  his illness.  "He's your child now.  I'll never try to take 
him away.  He's yours,"  Auston  told Luther.  Luther had plans to 
legally adopt Bryant, until his death a few days before  Bryant 
turned four.  Luther was the only dad Bryant had known, and he 
grieved for days at  his passing.

      Bryant had a pet red rooster that he taught to obey his 
commands.  Once he painted the  rooster's toenails red.  He told the 
rooster to step high until the paint dried.  Although the  rooster 
would have stepped high anyway because of the foreign substance on 
his feet,  Bryant thought for sure the rooster was obeying his 
commands.  He also taught the rooster  to sit still and listen as he 
sang it songs.

      Bryant's real mother, Sarah Lou Bryant, had been an 
accomplished alto singer.  Sarah  Lou's sister, Lettie, led the 
singing in church and was herself a good singer.  The church  had a 
profound influence on Bryant's life.  One afternoon when he was ten, 
preacher  Conover came by to visit and observed Bryant playing church 
in a clearing in the woods  near the back of their house, singing 
"When the Roll is Called Up Yonder" and preaching  a mock service.  
He had his pet rooster as his congregation and played music with a 
toy  guitar he had made from a lard can and a fence slat.  Another of 
Bryant's favorite songs at  that time was "Lonesome Valley."  Ruby 
noticed his interest in singing and "playing" the  guitar so she 
offered to buy him a real one if he would promise to learn to play it 
and sing  good Christian songs.

      Bryant was about eleven when Ruby bought him his first second-
hand guitar. As  promised he learned to play it.  Some friends, two 
brothers named Rollin and Henry  Combest, taught Bryant a few chords, 
but Bryant learned how to play by himself; he had no  formal 
training.  The first song he ever learned on the guitar was "When 
It's Lamplighting  Time in the Valley."  When he was twelve or 
thirteen, Ruby told him that she would buy  him a brand new guitar 
from the Sears-Roebuck catalog if he would learn some additional  
songs.                         

         He would often sit by his blind Granny's bed in a wood and 
wicker dinning room chair  and sing for her.  His family moved in 
with his grandfather, Franklin Pierce Bryant, and  grandmother, 
Martha Ann who was losing her sight and needed someone to take care 
of  her. 

     Bryant loved singing songs from song books.  His repertoire 
included a few secular  songs, but he mainly sang the church hymns.  
He would search the Sears-Roebuck catalog  for records that he 
wanted.  His favorite songs included Roy Acuff's "The Precious 
Jewel."

    He always listened to the Grand Ole Opry on WSM radio.  His 
favorite performers were  Bill Monroe and Roy Acuff.  After he 
learned to play the guitar well enough, he started  playing regularly 
in churches.  Although he never played at dances or parties (Lettie  
thought these activities were sinful), he occasionally performed 
publicly in downtown  Columbia for tips along with a neighborhood 
Negro fiddler named Bill Taylor.  Some of  the songs in his 
repertoire at the time included "Turn Your Radio On", which he often  
sang in church, "Amazing Grace", "A Beautiful Life", and "How 
Beautiful Heaven Must  Be."

      Bryant did well in school.  He once won a handwriting contest 
and his work was  displayed in public in Columbia.  He had to drop 
out when he was in the eighth grade  because his foster mother, 
Lettie, was not able to handle the chores of the household  without 
his full-time help.  While Ruby worked in a Sewing factory in 
Columbia for the  WPA, Bryant did farm labor and some construction 
work for the highway department.  He  also worked for a while in a 
stave mill.

      When he was in his early teens, he attended a traveling 
medicine show in Columbia.   The star of the show was billed as The 
Duke of Peducah.  He heard Bryant play the guitar  and liked him so 
well that he invited Bryant to join his show which was going to play 
on  the Grand Ole Opry.  He instructed Bryant to meet him in Columbia 
the following Saturday  after he had discussed it with his family.  
Bryant did talk it over with Lettie and Ruby and  they decided that 
Bryant could go.  But when Bryant showed up in Columbia as scheduled,  
the Duke was not there.  Bryant later realized the Duke was probably 
an impostor and had  no plans of actually taking Bryant with him.      
Around 1940, Bryant, being dissatisfied with farm labor, moved to 
Edinburgh, Indiana  where he lived with a cousin, Garnet Bryant.  He 
got a job at Hill Brothers Veneer Mill, a  plant where logs are 
sliced paper thin. After several months, he returned to Kentucky  
where he continued his farm chores and church singing.

      It was around this time that he was summoned to take a physical 
for the draft board.   World War II was under way in Europe and he 
wanted to fulfill his military obligation to  the United States, so 
he got on the army bus in Columbia and was taken to Louisville for  
his examination.  He was given the status of "4F" due to a slight 
heart ailment and was not  drafted into service. He was disappointed 
at not being able to serve his country, so he  decided to return to 
Indiana to work for a defense plant, Cummins Diesel, in Columbus.   
Unfortunately, he also failed their physical, so he got a job at Camp 
Atterbury, a U.S.  army camp where he stoked the boiler.  At the same 
time, he got work at Amos Molded  Plastics, in Edinburgh.  Edinburgh 
at the time had three large veneer mills, the plastic  factory, and a 
canning factory.  It was around 1944 that he coaxed Ruby and Lettie 
into  coming to Edinburgh to live with him.  His interest in music 
far from waning, he would  frequently visit the park in Edinburgh 
where he would play and sing in hopes of attracting  other hillbilly 
musicians.  

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Chapter Two

      In October of 1945, Bryant made his first appearance at the 
Brown County Jamboree in  Bean Blossom, Indiana.  It was owned then 
by Francis Rund and featured local bands.

   Bryant was backed by a well-known regional band, the Kentucky 
Ridge Runners.  The  leader of the Ridge Runners, Homer Newland, 
invited Bryant to join with them as a lead  singer.  They played 
several shows around southern Indiana, but Bryant became  
disenchanted with the excessive drinking of some of the band members 
and dropped out.   He did, however, continue his appearances at Bean 
Blossom using pick-up bands as back  up.

      Bryant became acquainted with a local grocer, Orville Streeval, 
whose hobby was  playing the tenor (4-string) banjo.  He formed a 
band with Streeval and a fiddle player by  the name of Thomas 
"Curly" Goodman, and another Edinburgh fellow, Paul Meade, who  
accompanied on bass.  In addition to these men, Clarence Woods, a 
rhythm guitar player,  and Howard Fuller, another fiddle player, 
would occasionally be present.  The band was a  rather loose 
association, with different members playing with Bryant at different 
times.  At  the suggestion of Woods, the band went by the name of The 
Blue River Ramblers, after  the river that flowed through Edinburgh.  
Each member had a rather different preference  for the style of music 
they would play as well as for what type of shows they would book.   
Bryant preferred vocals of current country songs, primarily in the 
style of Roy Acuff and  Hank Williams.  In fact, Bryant had the Hank 
Williams vocal style down perfectly.  The  other members, especially 
Goodman, preferred fast instrumentals and square dance tunes.   They 
preferred to play at dances, bars, and clubs, whereas Bryant's main 
interest was  shows and radio.                             

       For awhile, the band played a compromise repertoire which 
included prewar  instrumentals and fast tunes such as "Bile Them 
Cabbage Down," "Down Yonder," and  "Black Mountain Rag," plus current 
vocals by Williams and Acuff.  They also played a  variety of shows, 
and, in fact, went by two different names, depending upon who did the  
booking.  Bryant had suggested the Johnson County Ramblers, because 
all the members  were from that county.  Woods would continue to book 
shows under the Blue River  Ramblers name.  Bryant was never 
completely happy with the arrangement, not only  because of the 
aesthetic differences, but because his perception was that the other 
band  members did not share in his dedication to music.  

      He continued to play with the Johnson County Ramblers 
sporadically from the late  1940's through the mid-1950's.  They 
played various venues which included some square  dances, lodges, 
parties, and taverns.  Occasionally, they would play a bar for 
"drinks  only", which meant that Bryant did not get paid at all since 
he was an abstainer. 

     In the early 1950's, Streeval sponsored the band along with 
Schaffer Drugs on WCSI  radio in Columbus for a 13-week run of half-
hour shows.  Bryant broke from the band  partially because of the 
over indulgence in alcohol by some of the band members and  partially 
because he could not acquire the sound he wanted.

      Around 1948, Bryant purchased a home recording machine.  It 
would make 78-rpm  single-cut disc recordings.  Bryant was always 
interested in making a record.  Before he  moved to Indiana, he had 
heard of a recording studio in Columbia, Kentucky.  He sought  
information on this studio, but it did not pan out.  He cut several 
home recordings of Roy  Acuff and Hank Williams songs, but what he 
really wanted to do was to cut a professional  record in a studio. 
Someone had given him the faulty notion that he could not record a 
song that was  written by someone else without their permission.  He, 
therefore, accepted the inevitable  responsibility of writing his own 
songs.  Occasionally at first, he would write lyrics and  sing them 
to the tune of an already-established song.  Later, he would start 
using his own  tunes to go with the lyrics he wrote.  The first song 
he ever wrote was "What a Happy  Morning" around 1951.  He wrote 
"You'll Pay for the Heart You've Broken Today"  shortly thereafter.      
About this time he had learned of a recording studio owned by Ted 
Dolen in  Indianapolis.  Bryant cut his first record on the Arrow 
label with the Johnson County  Ramblers, "What a Happy Morning" / 
"You'll Pay for the Heart You've Broken Today" in  the summer of 
1952.  He ordered 200 78-rpm records which were pressed in Cincinnati 
by  the Shaw record company.

      He gave a copy of his new record to WCSI radio in Columbus, 
Indiana where he and  the Johnson County Ramblers had their series of 
live shows.  The record soon became the  number-one requested song at 
the station.  

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Chapter Three

      It was in 1948 that Bryant took his newly-purchased home disc 
recorder to Taylorsville,  Kentucky with a friend of his, Charles 
Norton, whom he lived with at the time in an  apartment above Main 
Street in Edinburgh.  Charles went to visit his cousins in  
Taylorsville -- Catherine Sharp, age 15, and her older brother, 
Leonard.  Catherine and  Leonard often sang together in churches near 
Taylorsville.  This was the first time that  Bryant had met Catherine 
Sharp.  She was very impressed with his recording machine, but  after 
Bryant returned to Indiana, they would soon forget each other, not 
realizing that they  would eventually end up as husband and wife.      
Catherine was the daughter of Clarence Sharp, a carpenter and house 
builder, and his  wife, Alpha.  Clarence died when Catherine was a 
child.  Alpha died in 1990.

    Catherine moved to Edinburgh in 1950 to baby-sit for her brother, 
Leonard, who worked  at Amos Plastics with Bryant.  Leonard and 
Bryant were good friends, and Catherine got to  know Bryant through 
his visits to her brother.  A year later, on November 24th, 1951, 
they  were married in a civil ceremony in Jeffersonville, Indiana.  
Catherine moved in with Bryant  at his Main Street address where he 
lived with Ruby and Lettie.  They later moved to a  small cabin on 
the east side of the railroad tracks near downtown Edinburgh.  It was 
while  they lived in this cabin that Bryant and Catherine had their 
first child, a son whom they  named Jerry.  This happened in May of 
1953.  The next year, they moved to a small  upstairs apartment on 
Holland Street, and a year after that to a small house on the same  
street owned by Orville Streeval.

      It was during this time period that Bryant began writing songs 
and recording them at  Dolen's studio in Indianapolis.  He learned he 
could save money by sending the tapes he  made at Dolen's to 
Cincinnati for pressing himself.  He chose Comet as his label.

    Bryant  surprised Catherine with his first song that he had 
written by presenting it to her in  manuscript form.  She was 
delighted to know that he displayed a talent unknown to her  before 
then.

    After his first record, "What a Happy Morning," became a hit on 
WCSI in 1952, Bryant  decided he wanted to cut another record.  This 
time, he would not use the rest of the  band; he went to 
Indianapolis, accompanied by Catherine and Ruby, on a hot summer  
afternoon.  He had a bad cold, and Catherine questioned his ability 
to sing.  He explained  that on these particular songs, it would be 
better not to have a lot of instruments.  His goal  was a new sound.  
One that would come closer to the kind of heart songs sung by Roy  
Acuff, a style that was to better reflect his own taste.

      Both sides of the recording contained Bryant's own 
compositions:  "Long Distance  From Heaven", and "The Life of Jesus."  
Of this recording, Norman Carlson writes in his  review:  "The 
recording is straight singing with a voice and talent comparable 
only to such  names as Acuff."  He also calls it "the most unusual record 
of his career."  This time,  Bryant paid Dolen for the recording and 
sent the tapes himself to Shaw records in  Cincinnati to be pressed.      
During this time period, Bryant continued to play shows with the 
Johnson County  Ramblers.  He, along with Fuller, Streeval, and 
Woods, played two songs on an  Indianapolis television station, WFBM-
TV.  Bryant also continued to sing at the Brown  County Jamboree 
using pick-up bands.  He continued to reflect the Hank Williams style  
until Williams' death in 1953, after which time he retreated some 
from this style of singing.

      Bryant's music was probably influenced by Hank Williams and Roy 
Acuff more than  anyone else, although there was another person who 
may have had an equal impact on  him.  Leonard Burton, who was also 
born in Adair County Kentucky (Columbia is the  county seat of Adair 
County), came to Edinburgh in 1954.

    Bryant had first heard Leonard play, with his wife and daughter, 
the Adair County Trio, on  a radio program in Kentucky.  After 
Leonard got a divorce, and after his daughter got  married, he came 
to Edinburgh and looked up Bryant at his upstairs Holland Street  
address.  Later that same year, he settled in Edinburgh and bought a 
small grocery store.

   Leonard had a very high singing voice.  He played banjo and 
guitar.  He and Bryant  became good friends after his move to 
Edinburgh.  They would often play in "jam  sessions" together.       
One night, while Leonard and Bryant were practicing, Catherine joined 
in with them just  for fun.  Catherine had sung a little with her 
brother, Leonard, while in Kentucky, but  Bryant didn't think her 
voice matched his style of music very well.  But Leonard noticed  
that she could sing very nicely and advised Bryant to teach her more 
about it.  That  evening, Bryant, Leonard, and Catherine worked on 
one song:  "Walk in the Gospel Way",  which had been previously 
recorded by the Adair County Trio.  Leonard and Bryant acted  as her 
coach that night.  They began to talk about reforming the Adair 
County Trio with  Bryant and Catherine as new members.

      They sang under that name at churches around the area.  They 
were not exclusively  gospel, however.  They also performed at dances 
and at Bean Blossom.  In 1956, the trio  recorded their first 45-rpm 
on Bryant's own Comet record label, which he started using  after he 
figured out he could save money by sending the tape to Cincinnati for 
pressing  himself.  The cuts on the single were  "You Better Watch 
Your Steppin'" and "My Main  Trial is Yet to Come."  After the 
recording of this record, they decided not to use the  name Adair 
County Trio anymore out of respect for the wishes of Leonard's former 
wife,  Virginia.  They began using the name, Wilson Family Trio, 
instead.

      Bryant wrote "You Better Watch Your Steppin'" shortly after 
getting Catherine a job in  a local grill.  It was the environment of 
the place, not really anything about Catherine's  behavior, that gave 
him the idea for the song.  Bryant took some copies of his new record  
to a local juke box jobber.  The jobber placed at least ten of these 
records in juke boxes  around the area. Nearly every single that 
Bryant ever recorded has been on the juke box.   At one time, his 
records were on perhaps a hundred juke boxes in Indiana and parts of  
Ohio.

       In September, 1957, Lettie died at their home on Holland 
Street.  Bryant was  understandably devastated, since she was the 
only "mom" he had known.  Ruby said it was  the only time since he 
was a child that he cried out loud.  Lettie's dying words to Bryant  
and Ruby were: "Be sweet to each other, and meet me up yonder in 
heaven someday."   Bryant wrote a song in memory of Lettie, titling 
it "Meet Me Up Yonder" (See Appendix).   He wanted to make it a 
suiting tribute to her.

      In the spring of 1958, Bryant, Catherine, and Leonard Burton 
traveled to Cincinnati to  make the recording at Rite Record's studio 
using their new group name, the Wilson Family  Trio, and a new label, 
Adair.  Unfortunately, the record turned out to be his worst selling.   
The flip side contained an instrumental composition by Leonard called 
the "James L.  Special."  It was a preview of things to come as 
Bryant began to switch from the Williams  and Acuff style to bluegrass.

      During these years of the mid- and late 1950's, Bryant and 
Catherine had two more  children.  Rickey Dale was born in December 
of 1955, and Anita Darlene was born in  October of 1957.

    Bryant played several times at Mockingbird Hill Park near 
Anderson, Indiana.  Jerry, their  eldest son, often accompanied him 
and Catherine.  Once, during the late 1950's, while they  were at 
Mockingbird hill, the storm clouds began to grow fierce.  A tornado 
appeared in  the sky but didn't touch down.  Upon their return home, 
they found that Edinburgh had  also been struck with severe weather, 
though no family member was injured.

      A few months after the recording of "Meet Me Up Yonder" Bryant, 
Catherine, and  Leonard returned to Cincinnati along with a mandolin 
player whose last name Bryant could  remember only as Price.  They 
recorded "Walk in the Gospel Way", and "What about  You" as the 
Wilson Family Trio on the Adair label.  Bryant sent a copy of the 
record to a  disc jockey, Paul Kellinger, at a radio station in Del 
Rio, Texas, XERF.  It was a  150,000-watt station with its 
transmitter in Mexico.  Kellinger played the song almost  every night 
for about a year.

      Bryant's greatest hope for fame began one day when he noticed a 
small boy standing on  the sidewalk outside a tavern in downtown 
Edinburgh.  The child was crying for his  parents inside to buy him 
some ice cream.  They said they did not have the money.  It was  
obvious to Bryant that they could afford to buy liquor.  This 
incident touched Bryant.   Some time later, he composed his best 
selling song, "Steppin' in Daddy's Tracks."  The  Trio, along with 
their regular fiddle player, John Carney, recorded the song on 
Bryant's  own equipment at his home on Russell Street in Edinburgh, 
where they had moved in  1958.  Although they thought the recording 
was acceptable, Bryant realized when he got  the discs back from 
Rite, that it was one of his worst efforts.  He, in fact, withheld 
them  from release. 

       The Wilson Family Trio began to fold after this time as 
Leonard would be late or absent  more frequently and Bryant became 
discouraged.  In July of 1959, Bryant again recorded  "Tracks" along 
with "My Time Will Come Some Day."  This time, the record was judged  
good enough to release.  It was in this year that he took his new 
recording to Mockingbird  Hill and sold over a hundred copies in one 
day.  The new recording featured the fiddle  played by Charlie Gore, 
who was much superior to Carney.  The record was released on  the 
Adair label with Bryant's new band, The Kentucky Ramblers.  

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Chapter Four  

        Between the two recordings of "Steppin' in Daddy's Tracks", a 
rift of sorts developed in  the style of music Bryant preferred to 
sing.  With the incarnation of the Kentucky  Ramblers, Bryant's style 
became distinctly bluegrass-oriented, and moved away from the  gospel 
trio style.  In thinking about a new name for his band, Bryant 
definitely wanted to  include the word Kentucky for several reasons:  
First, this was his home state which he  thought about with fondness.  
Secondly, assumedly he wanted to emphasize the fact that  he had 
switched to the bluegrass style.  He settled for the "Rambler" part 
of the name, not  because he was especially happy with it, but 
because it was a popular name style and he  could not think of 
anything better.  At one time, he thought of changing the name  
Kentucky Ramblers to Kentucky Cardinals--the cardinal is a favorite 
bird of his.  He found  out that the Cardinals was already in use so 
he aborted the name change.

      During the period of the late 1950's and early 1960's, Bryant 
was introduced to the  hazards of dealing with unscrupulous song 
publishers.  He developed a habit of taking any  new song to a 
Columbus music store owner and song publisher who published songs  
under the pseudonym, H. Gibson.  Gibson offered to publish Bryant's 
songs in exchange  for half ownership.  Bryant was unaware at the 
time that this was non-standard procedure  in the publishing 
business, so he agreed to the terms.  Gibson saw the potential of  
"Daddy's Tracks" immediately.  He, in fact, arranged his own version 
of the song and tried  to suppress the jointly owned version.      
Rite Records and Starday Records both attempted to deal with Gibson, 
and Bryant offered him $500 for his half of the song, but he refused 
all offers.  At that point, Bryant  offered Gibson full rights to 
"Daddy's Tracks" if he would give up his half of all the other  songs 
Bryant had written, as well as cancel a small debt on a guitar.  
Gibson agreed to the  deal.  Bryant now owned clear title to all his 
own songs with the exception of the only one  that could possibly 
make him famous.

      Bryant, however, continued to order new pressings of the second 
recording of "Daddy's  Tracks" to sell at shows.  Sales remained 
strong and steady.  The original copyright on  "Daddy's Tracks" 
(1958), remained in both names.  In 1987, Bryant requested a 
copyright  search to verify that 1) the copyright had not expired (if 
it had, the song would have  converted to public domain), and 2) that 
Bryant's name remained as one of the copyright  owners.  Both these 
situations existed.  At that point, Bryant called Gibson, who was now  
out of the publishing business, to ask one more time if he would make 
a deal and allow  Bryant clear title to the song.  Gibson told Bryant 
that he had no further plans for the song  after all these years and 
that Bryant could do what he wished.  With that, Bryant  immediately 
filed for a new copyright under his own name, which is the current 
status of  the song.  Had he waited another eight months, the song 
would have become public  domain, never again eligible for copyright.      
Bryant had always enjoyed listening to bluegrass music.  While still 
living in Kentucky,  he was impressed with Bill Monroe and his 
ability to sing so high.  Although he had seen  Monroe play in 
Kentucky, he became acquainted with him at the Brown County Jamboree  
at Bean Blossom.  Until then, Bryant had broken many-a-string on his 
guitar trying to tune  it to the pitch of Monroe's singing on records 
that Bryant owned.  At Bean Blossom, he  realized that his record 
player was running too fast!

      Bryant was reluctant to make a total switch to bluegrass at 
first, thinking that he did not  have the ability to sing in the 
style.  This was proven wrong after he got with a band and  actually 
tried it.  At the time, bluegrass was growing in popularity 
accompanied by an  increase in number of bluegrass musicians.  These 
were some of the factors that  encouraged Bryant to make the switch.        
His first bluegrass band was a rather loose unit, consisting of 
Ernest Kerns, who played  with Bryant on some of his early 
recordings; Charlie Gore who played at Bean Blossom  but not on road 
shows; as well as Bobby Jewel and Delmer Sexton of Indianapolis, who  
also did not do road shows with Bryant.

      During the early 1960's, Bryant continued to play regularly at 
Mockingbird Hill where  he met such country and bluegrass greats as 
Roy Acuff, Johnny and Jack, Wilma Lee and  Stony Cooper, The Stanley 
Brothers, and Carl Butler.  Around this same time, Bryant  became 
close friends with Carl Story from South Carolina.  Carl was one of 
Bryant's  favorite singers; he had a style close to what Bryant was 
striving for:  a bluegrass singer  with a large gospel repertoire.  
They often were booked to play at the same shows.  When  Carl heard 
Bryant's "My Time Will Come Some Day", he asked Bryant's permission 
to  record it, and asked if Bryant would write additional material 
for him.

      Carl took Bryant, for the first time, to Nashville, Tennessee, 
where they visited Starday  Records, Carl's label.  This resulted in 
contracts for three of Bryant's songs: "My Time  Will Come Some Day", 
"Church in the Valley,", and "Won't That be a happy Day."  A few  
years later, Carl and Bryant were both booked at Bean Blossom.  There 
they sung "My  Lord Keeps a Record" on stage together for the first 
time.  According to Norman Carlson,  "It was one of country music's 
unheralded great moments."

      Bryant had been working at Como Plastics in Columbus, Indiana 
since 1953 when he left  Amos Plastics.  He played shows at Como for 
their company picnics and parties several  times.  He would 
occasionally take his two oldest sons, Jerry and Rickey along with 
him  when he and Catherine would sing.  In the mean time, they 
changed residences several  times, though remaining in Edinburgh.  
They moved from their Holland Street address  owned by Orville 
Streeval into a larger house on Russell Street.  Catherine had 
started  working at Webb Veneer when they lived on Holland Street, 
but later, she would join  Bryant at Como Plastics.  Bryant worked in 
the molding room, where the plastic parts are  made, and Catherine 
worked in the finishing room, where the parts are trimmed and  
painted.  She would often come home covered with paint and with 
calluses on her thumb  where she had to "snap" the lining of a toy 
plastic helmet in place.  Although they always  had food on the 
table, they were far from being affluent.  Many times, they had to 
settle  for gravy over light bread with fried potatoes for supper.  
While both Bryant and Catherine  worked, Ruby would stay at home and 
baby-sit their three children, Jerry, Rickey, and  infant Anita 
Darlene.

      It was on Russell Street that Jerry, age 5, developed an 
interest in singing.  His favorite  tune at the time was "I've Laid 
Around and Played Around."  His father once took him to  a radio show 
he was playing live on a Salem, Indiana station.  Jerry sung his 
favorite song  accompanied by his father on guitar, over the air, the 
one and only time he was to do so. 

     From Russell Street, they moved back to Holland Street, across 
from the Streeval  house they had previously occupied.  Then, around 
1962, Bryant bought a house from a  friend of Ruby's.  It was a 
large, two-story house on Kyle Street and it needed some work,  but 
was quite livable.  He has remodeled it in stages over the years.      
In 1960, Bryant and Catherine had a fourth child.  They named him 
Robert Dean  although he was called "Deannie" all through his 
childhood.   Robert was the smallest baby of the six they would 
finally have.  Catherine had a difficult  delivery with Robert and 
the doctors advised her not to have any more children, but  three-
and-a-half years later, in April of 1964, along came Gregory Wayne.  
Greg was born  with deformed feet; they were twisted backward and 
doubled up on his legs.  After many  trips to Riley Children's 
Hospital in Indianapolis, where Greg had several surgeries, he was  
able to walk normally using special shoes, which he continued to wear 
until he was a teen.

      Sixteen months after Greg was born, in August of 1965, Bryant 
and Catherine had their  last child, Kenneth Durand.  After checking 
that he was normal, Catherine decided she  would take the necessary 
steps to prevent any future children.  At the close of 1965, they  
had six kids, ranging in age from twelve years to 4 months; only one 
of them, Anita  Darlene, was a girl.  

Return to Top  


 
Chapter Five 

     In July of 1964, Bryant recorded a set of four songs in a back 
room of Hedrick's Radio  and TV shop.  The Kentucky Ramblers at the 
time consisted of Roger Smith, a truck  driver from Columbus, 
Indiana, singing baritone and playing fiddle; Elmer Rooks, a  long-
time friend of Bryant's from Kentucky whom Bryant coaxed into singing 
with him  although he had no prior musical experience; Neil 
Rosenberg, playing banjo, who had  grown up on the west coast and had 
been a member of The Plum Creek Boys, a college  bluegrass group; and 
Marvin Hedrick and his son playing guitar and mandolin,  
respectively.  The songs recorded consisted of "Church in the 
Valley," which Bryant had  written with Carl Story in mind; "I'll Be 
Satisfied," from one of Bryant's song books;  "Somebody Touched Me;" 
and a song written by Bryant a few days after John Kennedy  was 
assassinated, "A Tribute to J. F. K." 

     It was during the mid-1960's, while playing at bean blossom, 
that someone stole  Bryant's treasured Martin guitar.  This guitar 
had the best tone quality he had ever heard in  a guitar.  It 
disappeared from backstage while Bryant was taking a break between 
shows.   He figured it may have been a member of one of the bands 
from Nashville, Tennessee that  were booked that weekend.  He even 
went so far as to take a trip to Nashville to search  the pawn shops 
in a desperate attempt to retain possession of the Martin, but to no 
avail.  

     In 1965, he released his first LP on the Adair label.  It 
consisted of a collection of  songs, some of which had been 
previously released as singles, such as "Steppin' in Daddy's  
Tracks" and "Meet Me Up Yonder."  It also contained "Amazing Grace," 
which included  James Crabtree on fiddle and Paul Johnson on banjo.  
Crabtree and Johnson occasionally  played with Bryant, but were never 
considered regular members of the Kentucky Ramblers.   In fact, the 
band did not really have any "regular" members until the mid-1960's 
when  Bryant put together a band consisting of Elmer Rooks, Hiram 
Gist, and Frank Neat.  This  was to be his stage band for several 
years, although he continued to cut records and tapes  using various 
other personnel. 

     Elmer, who had performed a vocal with Bryant in 1964 learned, 
with Bryant's help, to  play the bass.  Although Frank Neat hails 
from Adair County, Kentucky, Bryant met him  for the first time at 
the Johnson County Conservation club, near Trafalgar, where Bryant  
was playing a square dance.  Leonard Burton, who still occasionally 
played banjo for  Bryant, couldn't make it one night, so he 
recommended Frank.  Bryant offered Frank a  regular position as a 
Kentucky Rambler, although he could only play the banjo "claw  
hammer" style.  Frank quickly picked up the Scruggs style after a few 
lessons with Roger Smith.

      A little later, Bryant recruited Hiram Gist, originally from 
Clay County, Tennessee, but  who was currently living in Scotsburg, 
Indiana, to play fiddle for the band.  They played  shows regularly 
at Bean Blossom, and at the Conservation Club.  They were the host 
band  for a square dance every Saturday night at the club.  It was 
here that Bryant's oldest son,  Jerry, who was about twelve at the 
time, learned to "call" square dances.  The regular  caller would let 
him do two or three dances each week.

      Just prior to Elmer Rooks' joining the band as a bass player, 
Bryant tried to teach Jerry  to play the bass and to accompany him on 
stage.  Although Jerry did learn how to play  bass, his interest was 
never high enough in playing bluegrass to keep him on as part of the  
band.   Jerry often did attend the dances and shows his dad played, 
however. 

     The Kentucky Ramblers was the staff band at the Brown County 
Jamboree during this  time period.  The Jamboree was run by Birch 
Monroe, brother to Bill who still owned it.

   They would play every Sunday afternoon and evening.  They also did 
a Sunday morning  gospel show from Bean Blossom which was broadcast 
on a Martinsville radio station for  awhile.  Bryant met many famous 
country stars there over the years, including Loretta Lynn, the  
Stoneman Family, Crystal Gayle, who at the time was Brenda Gayle, 
Loretta Lynn's little  sister, the Osborn Brothers, and many others 
that were not-so-famous.  

      His son, Robert, at one time had a pronunciation problem.  
Until he was about five or  six he could not pronounce his "R's" 
correctly.  One weekend while Bryant was playing at  Bean Blossom, 
the Stoneman's were the featured band.  Ronnie Stoneman, of "Hee 
Haw"  fame, spent over an hour trying to teach Robert how to speak 
better.  She had a similar  problem when she was his age.  From then 
on, Robert could pronounce his "R's." 

     From time to time, Bryant would venture into the promotion and 
booking business by  hiring some of the talent from Bean Blossom to 
play in Edinburgh.  He did a show with  Hi-Lo Brown at the Pixie 
Theater sometime during the mid-1960's.

      Bryant had made arrangements with Birch and Bill to host a 
weekly square dance on  Saturday nights at the jamboree barn.  It was 
only marginally successful.  Bryant also  played a benefit show along 
with Bill Monroe in Edinburgh at the high school gymnasium.   The 
benefit was for Bill Merchant's ill daughter. 

     But it was during this time that a rift developed in the 
heretofore close friendship  between Bryant and Bill Monroe.  Bill 
became upset with Bryant over something that Bryant  was never able 
to pinpoint.  In fact, Bryant went to Nashville in 1988 to find out 
from Bill  exactly what was wrong.  Although Bill admitted being 
angry at Bryant, even he could not  remember the exact circumstances 
that caused it.  He could only narrow it down to the  time Bryant was 
hosting the square dance at Bean Blossom.  In any event, they shook  
hands as a gesture of mutual friendship, although they were not 
nearly as close as they had  been before the incident took place.      
During the days when the Kentucky Ramblers were playing at the 
Conservation Club,  they became very enthusiastic about adding a 
comedy routine to their show.  Bryant and  Elmer worked up this bit 
where Elmer would get dressed up like a hillbilly drunk and they  
would "pretend" to make up a song about members of the audience set 
to the tune of "Hot  Time in the Old Town Tonight."  In reality, they 
wrote the song together well in advance  of their performance, about 
audience members who were regularly there!

    Humor was always a part of the Kentucky Ramblers' stage show.  
They would do a  standard routine where they would pretend to argue 
over a woman named "Bureau."    "You mean Beula, don't you?" Bryant 
asked.   "No, Bureau," was Elmer's reply.    "A bureau is about this 
high, this wide, and has drawers.....(pause)."   "THAT'S Bureau!"        
During the fall of 1967, Bryant began a series of recordings in his 
home that resulted in  the production of three more singles.

    Participating in the session were Bryant, Catherine,  Jerry, (who 
sang and played bass), Ruby Bryant, Elmer Rooks and his wife Geneva, 
who  accompanied Bryant in a duet of "Dreamin' of a Little Cabin."  
One of the songs, "Won't  That Be a Happy Day" included Ruby Bryant 
singing alto.  This represents the only  recording she ever made with 
Bryant.  Another song, "There is Coming a Day," was  written by 
Catherine, her first recorded composition, and was accompanied by 
Bryant on  guitar and by Leonard Burton playing his newly-purchased 
dobro.  The first recording  ever made with Bryant's Kentucky 
Ramblers' stage band of Frank Neat, Hiram Gist, and  Elmer Rooks was 
also produced that same month.  The single contained two 
instrumentals  highlighting the talents of Hiram and Frank.  The 
instrumental pieces were "Clay County  Breakdown," featuring Hiram, 
and "Adair County Breakdown," featuring Frank. 

     In the late 1960's and early 1970's the 8-track tape was a new 
and popular medium.  In  1973, Bryant decided that, rather than 
another album, he wanted to record an 8-track tape.

   So he took the Kentucky Ramblers, accompanied by Catherine, Jerry, 
and Rickey  to  Cincinnati to record at Rite Record's studio.  The 
difference is that Roger Smith replaced  Hiram Gist on the fiddle. 
Hiram had moved to Kentucky and, although he continued to  play stage 
shows occasionally, he gradually began to drop out of the band.  It 
was about  this same time that Rick began to help out with the bass 
playing on some recordings.  The  8-track included a mixture of 
secular bluegrass tunes and gospel songs.  A fine version of  
"Hummingbird" leads it off. 

     It was during the fall of 1970 that Rick, who had become a 
decent bass player, joined  with Danny, David, and Doug Harden of 
Nashville, Indiana (in Brown County), to form  the Brown County Boys 
bluegrass band.  The Harden brothers had played at the Brown  County 
Jamboree using the same name but without a bass player.  Rick, having 
learned to  play bass so that he could accompany his dad, decided to 
accepted the Harden's invitation  to join with them.  Although the 
Brown County Boys played mostly old standard tunes,  being young 
(they were mostly in their early to mid teens), they did show a 
tendency to  play an occasional progressive bluegrass number.  They 
worked up a bluegrass version of  "Ain't No Sunshine," a Bill Withers 
rock song, although they don't remember ever  performing it in 
public.  In 1977, Doug married Rick's sister, Darlene. 

      Meanwhile, The Kentucky Ramblers was in the midst of another 
change, albeit gradual.   Hiram had already moved to Kentucky, and 
Frank Neat followed suit a few years later.   Bryant was thus without 
a banjo and fiddle player again.  Ronnie Carnes was added as the  
banjo player after Frank left.  During the latter part of the 1970's, 
Bryant recruited Lucian  Johnson, a dobro player who lived across 
Kyle Street from him, to play some shows and  make a few recordings.  
Bryant also recorded a couple of 8-track tapes which he mass  
produced using home equipment with Lucian and his sister, Ruby Curry, 
singing trios of  gospel songs. Lucian's brother, Ural, also helped 
with the vocals occasionally.  Most of  their bookings were local, 
such as picnics or Memorial Day celebrations at the Irwin Park  in 
Edinburgh.    

Return to Top 


 
Chapter Six 

     As the Kentucky Ramblers again became disarrayed, The Brown 
County Boys began to  evolve and become more diversified in their 
repertoire.  Early in the 1980's, they adopted a  slight name change 
to Brown County Band, thinking that "Boys" sounded too juvenile, or  
too much like a typical hillbilly band, which they endeavored not to 
be.  David Harden got  married and dropped out of the band in the 
late 1970's.  Rick, who had learned to play the  guitar quite 
adequately, took over as the guitar player and lead vocalist.  Rick's 
voice,  although much weaker than his father's, was maturing nicely.  
Shortly after Rick took over  lead vocals and guitar, Greg Wilson, 
Rick's younger brother, began learning the bass.  He  picked it up 
very quickly and developed a style that added significantly to the 
band's  sound.  At first, he played the upright, but after a while, 
the band members agreed that an  electric bass would increase the 
"fullness" of their sound. 

       The changes just mentioned marked a sudden and drastic 
improvement in the Brown  County sound.  They experimented with a 
sound generally termed "newgrass," or  progressive bluegrass, a sort 
of blend of pop rock and bluegrass.  A particularly well-done  piece 
was an instrumental version of "Yesterday," a Beatle's hit which they 
played in the  bluegrass style.  Their first album included mostly 
original works written by Rick and  Roland VanWye, a friend of 
Rick's.  The song "Pine Mountain" was written by Doug's  father, Web 
Harden.  The album also included "Church in the Valley," written by 
Bryant.   Although the sound was quite good, the style was not in 
keeping with the bluegrass  tradition.  Rick said a few years later 
that he was not pleased with the material on the  album.

       Agreeing it was time for another change, The Brown County Band 
decided to go back to the more traditional style of bluegrass, yet 
keep their own particular brand of harmony and chord changes that 
made them stand out as above average.  They also  decided to change 
banjo players, replacing Danny Harden with John Smith, from  
Edinburgh.  They had several banjo players over the years, including 
Wayne Wyatt from  Indianapolis who got a rave review in Bluegrass 
Unlimited magazine for his work on their  second album.  They also 
added a dobro player from Edinburgh, Jerry Gadberry, whose  strong 
point was his lack of "whiney runs" in favor of a clearer, crisper 
segue.

      At the time of these personnel changes, they also opted for a 
new band name.  They  chose Pine Mountain, from a song on their first 
album.  Pine Mountain's repertoire  included a rich mixture of 
traditional bluegrass and country songs such as "When I Stop  
Dreaming," and "Hard Hearted;" some of Rick's own compositions, such 
as "Don't Make  Your Love a Memory" and "I Sit Alone;" as well as 
some of Bryant's compositions like "A  Path That's Hard to Travel," 
and "Church in the Valley."  Most of these songs were  included on 
Pine Mountain's album, Memory Avenue, that was released in 1987.      
After the advent of Pine Mountain, the Kentucky Ramblers became 
totally defunct.   Instead of recruiting new members to replace the 
ones that had left the Kentucky  Ramblers, Bryant used Pine Mountain 
as his permanent pick-up band.  The show bookings  were billed as 
"Pine Mountain, with Bryant Wilson."  Pine Mountain did not really 
have a  leader.  Rick handled most of the bookings and Doug handled 
the finances.

    They acquired  a Silver Eagle bus in the mid-1980's and used it 
to travel to shows around the eastern  quarter of the nation.  Most 
of their bookings were at bluegrass festivals in the South,  although 
they have also played festivals in Canada.  They played regularly at 
the fall  festival in Earl Park, Indiana for several years.  In of 
1989, their stage show consisted of a  mixture of secular and gospel 
tunes with a segment of the show devoted to Bryant.  The  audience's 
reception of Pine Mountain was outstanding.  Their superb harmony and 
their  upbeat stage presence combined to make their show one of the 
better acts on the  bluegrass festival circuit.  They were frequently 
called back for encores at the demand of  the audience.

       It was in the early 1980's that Bryant learned he had 
rheumatoid arthritis.  Over the next  several years, he gradually 
lost the ability to play the guitar adequately enough for stage  
shows.  His segment of the Pine Mountain stage show consisted of 
vocals backed by the  other members of the band.  Pine Mountain 
developed a four-part harmony that was  unsurpassed.  They used the 
quartet of Rick (lead), Jerry Gadberry (baritone), Doug  (tenor), and 
Greg (bass).  On Byrant's segment, he sang lead and was backed by two 
or  three other members of the band singing harmony.

      One of Bryant's early goals was to tour with a bluegrass band.  
His goal was realized  with the advent of Pine Mountain.  He enjoyed 
traveling to different parts of the country  and singing for 
different audiences.  He also used Pine Mountain to make recordings 
of  cassette tapes which he sold at the stage shows and festivals.  
Pine Mountain went out of existence in 1989.  A combination of 
factors, primarily related  to the fact that some of the band members 
wanted to concentrate on their families,  resulted in the break up of 
the band.  They no longer toured, but continued to play a single  
show each year -- a Bluegrass festival just north of Indianapolis.    
Although Pine Mountain disbanded, two of its members, Greg and Doug, 
continued to  play music with other bands.  And Rick learned how to 
play the piano and began to sing  Gospel music at the First Christian 
Church in Edinburgh.  

Return to Top  

 
Chapter 7

    Bryant was somewhat disappointed that Pine Mountain decided to 
call it quits.  He enjoyed  touring with them.  Bryant was beginning 
to show his age, having to contend not only with  the painful and 
crippling arthritis, but also with his worsening emphysema.  About a 
year before his scheduled retirement from Como, he was the victim of 
an accident  at work.  He was hit by a tow-motor, which crushed the 
lower portion of his leg.   Although he eventually recovered to the 
point where he could walk, he was forced into  early retirement.  He 
did not enjoy his retirement.  He was always looking for something to 
do, but was  limited by his injury.  Touring with Pine Mountain was 
just about the only thing that kept  him in reasonably good spirits.  
And when Pine Mountain quit touring, his health began to  worsen 
almost immediately.  Whether or not the deterioration in his health 
was a direct  result of Pine Mountain's break-up is only conjecture, 
but the two incidents did take place  at about the same time.  During 
the next few years, Bryant became more and more surly in his 
attitude.  His arthritis  flared up occasionally, and his emphysema 
was making it harder and harder for him to  breathe.  Near the end of 
his life, he became a virtual invalid.  Catherine was tireless in her 
efforts to keep him as comfortable as possible.  She continued  to 
work at Como during the day, while spending all evening taking care 
of Bryant.  On the first day of Winter, December 21, 1992, at the age 
of 68, Bryant succumbed to his  long illness.  But just as he was 
gasping his last few breaths of life, the telephone rang.

   Catherine, sitting with Bryant at his bed, picked up the receiver.  
It was Bill Monroe.  He  had not spoken with Bryant in several years, 
and there was no particular reason why he should  call at that time, 
but he did.  He wanted to talk to Bryant.  Catherine told him that 
Bryant  was dying, but Bill told her to put the receiver up to 
Bryant's ear.  Bryant had a glimmer of  recognition on his face, just 
as he drew his last breath.  Then it was over.  

Return to Top 


  
Discography 
YEAR	TYPE			TITLES  (LABEL)                    

1952	SINGLE      	WHAT A HAPPY MORNING * / YOU'LL PAY FOR THE 	
			HEART YOU'VE BROKEN TODAY   (ARROW)  

1954    SINGLE		LONG DISTANCE FROM HEAVEN / THE LIFE OF JESUS* 	
			(COMET)  

1954    SINGLE      	OLD KENTUCKY* / YOU'RE AFRAID TO LOVE ME  		
			(COMET)  

1955    SINGLE      	BETTER WATCH YOUR STEPPIN'* / MY MAIN TRIAL IS 	
			YET TO COME  (COMET)  

1958    SINGLE      	MEET ME UP YONDER* / JAMES L. SPECIAL  (ADAIR)  

1958    SINGLE      	WALK IN THE GOSPEL WAY / WHAT ABOUT YOU  (ADAIR)  

1959    SINGLE      	STEPPIN' IN DADDY'S TRACKS* / MY TIME WILL COME
			SOME DAY*  (ADAIR)  

1959?   SINGLE      	LITTLE DARLIN' PAL OF MINE / USED TO BE  

1960?   SINGLE      	A PRAYER* / MOTHER IS GONE  1964    SINGLE      
			DREAMIN' OF A LITTLE CABIN / HEAVENLY LIGHT IS 	
			SHINING ON ME  

1964    EP          		CHURCH IN THE VALLEY* / TRIBUTE TO J.F.K.* / 	
			SOMEBODY TOUCHED ME / I'LL BE SATISFIED  

1966    LP          		SIDE 1: 
			MEET ME UP YONDER *                         
			WALK IN THE GOSPEL WAY                         
			DREAMIN' OF A LITTLE CABIN                         
			HEAVENLY LIGHT IS SHINING ON ME                         
			AMAZING GRACE                         
			STEPPIN' IN DADDY'S TRACKS*                     

			SIDE 2:                         
			A PRAYER*                         
			MOTHER IS GONE                         
			TRIBUTE TO J.F.K.*                         
			SOMEBODY TOUCHED ME                         
			CHURCH IN THE VALLEY*                         
			I'LL BE SATISFIED     

1973   8-TRACK     	ADAIR-406:  HUMMINGBIRD / GOD GAVE YOU TO ME / 	
			PANHANDLE COUNTRY / LIVING LIKE A FOOL / 
			ROLLIN' IN MY SWEET BABY'S ARMS / I CRIED AGAIN 
			/ STEPPIN' IN DADDY'S*                         
			TRACKS / WATCHING FOR ME TO COME HOME / THE RICH 
			MAN* / STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN / HALLELUJAH I'M READY 
			/HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN*  

THE FOLLOWING 8-TRACKS WERE HOME-MADE IN THE MID- OR LATE-1970'S.  
THE EXACT DATES ARE NOT KNOWN.                      

			ADAIR-407: IF JESUS CAME TO YOUR HOUSE / JESUS 
			REMEMBERED ME / WHO WILL YOU MEET AT THE END OF 
			THE ROAD* / ONE DAY AT A TIME / I SAW THE LIGHT 
			/ DEAR BROTHER / HOUSE OF GOLD / PRAYER BELLS OF 
			HEAVEN / ASHAMED TO OWN THE BLESSED SAVIOR / 
			PRECIOUS MEMORIES 
					
			ADAIR-408: SOMEONE STOLE MY MARTIN / YOU AIN'T 
			WOMAN ENOUGH / I'VE LOST THE ONLY LOVE I KNEW / 
			WILL YOU VISIT / ME ON SUNDAY / ALL THE GOOD 
			TIMES HAVE PAST AND GONE / SILVER BELLS / 
			RAINBOW AT NIGHT / LONESOME 77203 / GOD GAVE YOU 
			TO ME / BRAND NEW MR. ME / HELP ME UNDERSTAND / 
			PICK ME UP ON YOUR WAY DOWN                      

			ADAIR-409: CHURCH IN THE VALLEY* / MY TIME WILL 
			COME SOME DAY* / IN HEAVEN WE'LL NEVER GROW OLD 
			/ WHAT KIND OF MAN JESUS IS / A BEAUTIFUL LIFE / 
			MEDALS FOR MOTHER / CRYING HOLEY UNTO THE LORD / 
			GREAT JUDGEMENT MORNING / STEAL AWAY AND PRAY / 
			LIGHT AT THE RIVER / WHERE WILL I SHELTER MY 
			SHEEP / LEANING ON JESUS                      

			ADAIR-410: THERE'S COMING A DAY** / WALK IN THE 
			GOSPEL WAY / MOTHER IS GONE / MY MAIN TRIAL IS 
			YET TO COME / STEPPIN' IN DADDY'S TRACKS* / WHAT 
			ABOUT YOU / JAMES L. SPECIAL / LONG DISTANCE 
			FROM HEAVEN* / I AM A PILGRIM / MY LOVED ONES 
			ARE WAITING / WAY FAIRING STRANGER / TAKE MY 
			HAND PRECIOUS LORD / HOW CAN YOU REFUSE JESUS 
			NOW / WILDWOOD FLOWER  

1989    CASSETTE    	ADAIR C-501:  WHO WILL YOU MEET AT THE END OF 
			THE WAY* / WALK IN THE GOSPEL WAY / THERE'S 
			COMING A DAY / MEET ME UP YONDER* / I'M CLIMBING 
			UP THE HILL OF GLORY / ROCK MY SOUL / THANK YOU 
			MOM AND DAD*** / STEPPIN' IN DADDY'S TRACKS / 
			WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN / HELP ME UNDERSTAND

* Written by Bryant Wilson
** Written by Catherine Wilson 
*** Written by Rick Wilson

Sample Music

This song was recorded backstage at the Brown County Jamboree in Bean Blossom, Indiana. It is very poor quality, but is the only recording of Bryant Wilson and Bill Monroe singing a duet. (MP3 - 1.2M)
My Time Will Come Someday

"Steppin' in Daddy's Tracks" was Braynt's biggest hit. This version is accompanied by Pine Mountain, whom Bryant toured with in the 1980s. (MP3 - 2.9M)
Steppin' in Daddy's Tracks

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Text and Audio Samples Copyright © 1989, 1992, 2002, Jerry Wilson

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