The Lilly Brothers, (Bea Lilly, born Michael Burt Lilly, December 15, 1921 – September 18, 2005 and brother Everett Lilly, born July 1, 1924 – May 8, 2012) were bluegrass musicians born in
Clear Creek, West Virginia
Clear Creek is an unincorporated community in Raleigh County, West Virginia, United States. Clear Creek is west of Pax. Clear Creek has a post office with ZIP code 25044.
In December 2018, four people seeking to gather copper became trapped f ...
. They have been credited with bringing bluegrass to New England and with influencing such future bluegrass artists as
Peter Rowan
Peter Rowan (born July 4, 1942) is an American bluegrass musician and composer. Rowan plays guitar and mandolin, yodels and sings.
Biography
Rowan was born in Wayland, Massachusetts to a musical family. From an early age, he had an interes ...
,
Joe Val
Joseph 'Val' Valiante (June 26, 1926 - June 11, 1985) was a bluegrass musician and singer from New England, known for his mandolin playing and his high tenor voice.
Life and career
Joe Val was born Joseph Valiante in Everett, Massachusetts. Al ...
and
Bill Keith, among others.
[Carr, Munde 1996, p. 108.]
Biography
Influenced by the traditional music they heard in their youth, Bea began playing the guitar and Everett the mandolin. In 1938, they made their radio debut on the Old Farm Hour show at WCHS in
Charleston, West Virginia
Charleston is the capital and List of cities in West Virginia, most populous city of West Virginia. Located at the confluence of the Elk River (West Virginia), Elk and Kanawha River, Kanawha rivers, the city had a population of 48,864 at the 20 ...
. Other radio works followed at WJLS in
Beckley, West Virginia
Beckley is a city in and the county seat of Raleigh County, West Virginia, United States. It was founded on April 4, 1838. This city is the home of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology or West Virginia University, Beckley Campus.
...
and on several other Southern radio stations during the 1940s.
[Carlin 2003, p. 233.][Jones 2008, p. 244.] In 1945, they appeared on the
Molly O'Day
Molly O'Day (born Suzanne Dobson Noonan; October 16, 1909 – October 22, 1998) was an American film actress and the younger sister of Sally O'Neil.
Biography
Born in Bayonne, New Jersey, she was the youngest of 11 children of Judge Tho ...
radio show at WNOX in
Knoxville, Tennessee
Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County, Tennessee, Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Di ...
.
[ In 1948, the brothers signed with the ]WWVA Jamboree
The ''Wheeling Jamboree'' is the second oldest country music radio broadcast in the United States after the ''Grand Ole Opry''. The Jamboree originated in 1933 in Wheeling, West Virginia on WWVA (AM), WWVA, the first radio station in West Virginia ...
in Wheeling, West Virginia
Wheeling is a city in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Located almost entirely in Ohio County, of which it is the county seat, it lies along the Ohio River in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and also contains a tiny portion extending ...
as members of "Red Belcher's Kentucky Ridge Runners",[Erbsen 2003, p. 49.] but they quit two years later because of a financial dispute and the brothers retired temporarily. In 1951, Everett joined Flatt & Scruggs
Flatt and Scruggs were an American bluegrass music, bluegrass duo. Singer and guitarist Lester Flatt and banjo player Earl Scruggs, both of whom had been members of Bill Monroe's band, the Bluegrass Boys, from 1945 to 1948, formed the duo in 1948 ...
as mandolin player. The next year, in 1952, 'Tex' Logan, whom they had met at the WWVA Jamboree, persuaded the brothers to reunite.[
]
The Lilly Brothers moved to Boston and formed a group called the "Confederate Mountaineers
Confederacy or confederate may refer to:
States or communities
* Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities
* Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...
" who consisted of the brothers on guitar and mandolin, Logan on fiddle, and Don Stover on banjo.[ They performed on WCOP's Hayloft Jamboree][ and as a house band at local clubs such as the Plaza Bar, the Mohawk Ranch, and the Hillbilly Ranch.][ Soon, they were making records for the Folkways, ]Prestige
Prestige refers to a good reputation or high esteem; in earlier usage, ''prestige'' meant "showiness". (19th c.)
Prestige may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Films
* ''Prestige'' (film), a 1932 American film directed by Tay Garnett ...
and Event labels.[Wolff, Duane 2000, p. 231.] Somewhere along the line they changed the group's name to the Lilly Brothers.
In the 1960s they appeared in concerts at several major colleges and at folk festivals.[ The personnel of the Lilly Brothers didn't change between 1952 and 1970 and is considered one of bluegrass music's most stable lineups. The death of Everett Lilly's son, Giles, in a car crash in 1970 brought to an end the brothers’ career in Boston and Everett left the town. For the remainder of the 1970s, the brothers would reunite on several occasions.][ In 1973 the Lilly Brothers made a tremendously successful tour of Japan, including the release of three live albums.][Black 2005, p. 50.] The Lilly Brothers’ career was later chronicled in a 1979 documentary "True Facts in a Country Song".[ In the 1980s, as Bea retired, Everett and his son Mark played together in the group "Clear Creek Crossin'".][
Everett Lilly continued to play and perform with his sons in a band called Everett Lilly and the Lilly Mountaineers until his death in 2012.
]
Afterwards
Joe Val
Joseph 'Val' Valiante (June 26, 1926 - June 11, 1985) was a bluegrass musician and singer from New England, known for his mandolin playing and his high tenor voice.
Life and career
Joe Val was born Joseph Valiante in Everett, Massachusetts. Al ...
once said of the Confederate Mountaineers’ influence on urban Massachusetts, ''Those guys hit on like a bombshell. Nobody’d ever heard anything like that before.''[
The Lilly Brothers’ singing has been described as ''rich, mountain-flavoured bluegrass'' and their brand of dynamic, no holds barred traditional bluegrass has been noted as ''haunting and earthy.''
]
Inductions
* In 1986. the Lilly Brothers were inducted into the Massachusetts Country Music Hall of Fame and Don Stover was inducted the following year.
* On October 17, 2002, the Lilly Brothers and Don Stover were inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame
Induction to the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame, called the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor from its creation in 1991 through 2006, is managed by the International Bluegrass Music Association, and the Hall itself is mainta ...
.[
* In November 2008, the Lilly Brothers were inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame.
]
Discography
78 RPM
Albums
Compilations and reissues
Video appearances
Footnotes
References
* Black, Bob (2005) ''Come Hither To Go Yonder'', University of Illinois Press
* Carlin, Richard (2003) ''Country Music: A Biographical Dictionary'', Taylor & Francis
* Carr, Joe – Munde, Alan (1996) ''Prairie Nights To Neon Lights: The Story of Country Music In West Texas'', Texas Tech University Press
* Erbsen, Wayne (2003) ''Rural Roots of Bluegrass: Songs, Stories and History'', Mel Bay Publications
* Jones, Loyal (2008) ''Country Music Humorists and Comedians'', University of Illinois Press
* Wolff, Kurt – Duane, Orla (2000) ''Country Music: The Rough Guide'', Rough Guides
External links
*
*
Everett Lilly biography at IBMM
B Lilly biography at IBMM
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lilly Brothers, The
American bluegrass music groups
Musicians from West Virginia
Sibling musical duos