Snuffy Jenkins

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DeWitt "Snuffy" Jenkins (born October 27, 1908 , † April 30, 1990 ) was an American old-time musician . He is a pioneer of the Bluegrass - Banjos referred.

Life

Childhood and youth

Jenkins was the youngest of ten children in the Jenkins family. All of his siblings learned to play an instrument. As a small child Jenkins learned to play the fiddle , but since he was not yet big enough, he began to pluck the fiddle like a mandolin . He also learned to play the guitar .

Beginnings

In 1927 he formed his first band with banjo players Smith Hammet and Rex Brooks . From them he adopted the style of playing the three-finger style, which he refined. In the following years he moved across the country and played at square dance festivals. Jenkins moved to Columbia , South Carolina in 1937 . There he founded a band with which he soon made appearances on local radio. Earl Scruggs heard these radio broadcasts and saw him play too.

The breakthrough

In 1939 he founded the Hired Hands together with Homer Sherrill , a former member of the Blue Sky Boys , in which he remained active until his death. Eight years after it was founded, the duo was expanded to include guitarist Julian Medlin and bassist Ira Dimmery. In 1955, the second guitarist Bill Rey followed. They made their first recording in 1962 for the folk lyric label. In the following years they made several successful records. Jenkins made his last recording in 1989 for the Old Homestead label.

Snuffy Jenkins died on April 30, 1990 at the age of 82.

plant

No other musician, apart from Charlie Poole , had as much influence on the later bluegrass as Snuffy Jenkins. His style of playing the banjo was decisive for many later musicians. Above all, he influenced Don Reno and Earl Scruggs, who later played in Bill Monroe's backing band, the Bluegrass Boys .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Earl Scruggs: Earl Scruggs and the 5-string Banjo, New York, 1968, p. 148
  2. http://renoandharrell.com/node/2 page by Reno & Harrell