The Larry Sparks Show

bluegrass

Larry Sparks is an American bluegrass singer and guitarist, born September 25, 1947, in Lebanon, Ohio, who has led his band the Lonesome Ramblers since 1969 and tours as the Larry Sparks Show. He turned professional in 1963 and was still a teenager when he joined the Stanley Brothers as lead guitarist in 1964, playing dates around Ohio. After Carter Stanley's death in 1966 he became the lead vocalist and guitarist of Ralph Stanley's Clinch Mountain Boys, appearing on sides that became bluegrass standards, among them Sharecropper's Son. Striking out on his own at the end of the decade, he recorded first for Pine Tree and later for Old Homestead and Starday before beginning a long association with Rebel Records in 1977 that has produced more than fifteen albums; his overall discography runs past thirty releases. Sparks is known for a bluesy, behind-the-beat guitar style and a dark, unhurried lead voice that has made him one of the most imitated singers in the music, and gospel material has remained central to his repertoire throughout. Signature recordings include Bluegrass Old and New, Footsteps of Tradition, John Deere Tractor, the anniversary set 40 (2005), which was named IBMA Album of the Year, and later collections such as Almost Home (2011) and Ministry in Song (2021). He was voted IBMA Male Vocalist of the Year in 2004 and 2005 and was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2015. The Lonesome Ramblers have served as a proving ground for other players over the decades, with alumni including fiddlers Stuart Duncan and Kirk Brandenberger and banjoists Dave Evans and Scott Vestal, and Sparks's son has held the bass chair. He continues to work theaters, festivals and performing arts centers across the Ohio Valley and the Southeast.

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Upcoming shows in Tennessee

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