Larry Sparks (born 1947) is a bluegrass singer and lead guitarist who has led his own band, the Lonesome Ramblers, since 1969. He joined the Stanley Brothers as a teenager in 1964 and became Ralph Stanley’s lead singer after Carter Stanley died. He won IBMA Male Vocalist of the Year in 2004 and 2005 and entered the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2015.
Why Sparks matters
Sparks plays lead guitar the way he sings: slow, bluesy, and on the melody. In a music that prizes fast breaks, he built a fifty-year career on bent notes, space, and tone from a 1954 Martin D-28. He shows a jam guitarist that a break can say more with fewer notes, and that the guitar can carry a song’s feeling as well as its chords.
Life and career
Sparks was born on September 25, 1947, in Lebanon, Ohio, one of nine children in a Kentucky family that had moved north. His father played clawhammer banjo, and his sister Bernice taught him guitar chords in 1952. He heard the Stanley Brothers, Earl Scruggs, Don Reno, and Bill Napier on WCKY out of Cincinnati and on the Grand Ole Opry, and he heard blues on WLAC out of Nashville.
He joined the Stanley Brothers as lead guitarist at the end of November 1964, at age 17, and recorded with them at the University of Chicago Folk Festival in January 1965. After Carter Stanley died on December 1, 1966, Sparks joined Ralph Stanley’s Clinch Mountain Boys on February 7, 1967, as lead singer and guitarist. He stayed until the end of 1969 and recorded five albums with Ralph, including Brand New Country Songs, Over the Sunset Hill, and The Hills of Home.
In 1969 Sparks formed the Lonesome Ramblers. The first lineup included his sister Bernice on rhythm guitar, David Cox on mandolin, Joe Isaacs on banjo, and Neil Bracket on bass. The band’s early records came out on Pine Tree, Old Homestead, and King Bluegrass. Later members included Ricky Skaggs, Wendy Miller, Mike Lilly, and Stuart Duncan.
Sparks signed with Rebel Records and released John Deere Tractor in 1980, the album that holds his best-known song. His 2005 album 40 marked forty years in bluegrass and paired him with guests such as Alison Krauss, Ricky Skaggs, Vince Gill, and Dan Tyminski. It won IBMA Album of the Year. He has released about 60 albums and still tours with the Lonesome Ramblers.
Playing style
Sparks has said he decided to play like he sings. His breaks follow the melody with feeling instead of running scales, and he bends and slides notes the way a blues player would. The result is a bluesy style of bluegrass that few others play.
His guitar is a 1954 Martin D-28 that once belonged to Carter Stanley. Sparks has owned it since 1967. He strings it with heavy-gauge Mapes strings, and Mapes sells a Larry Sparks signature set. The pickguard is a custom design by Hap Hammond. The heavy strings and the old dreadnought give him a thick, dark tone that sits under his voice.
Influences and legacy
Sparks learned from radio and from the Stanley Brothers bandstand. He named Maybelle Carter, Don Reno, Earl Scruggs, and blues players as sources, and he plays the guitar Carter Stanley once owned. He gave early jobs to Ricky Skaggs and Stuart Duncan. Alison Krauss has called him bluegrass music’s Ray Charles.
Signature tunes and songs
John Deere Tractor Love of the Mountains Carter’s Blues Great High Mountain.
Essential recordings
Bluegrass Old and New (Old Homestead, 1972) John Deere Tractor (Rebel, 1980) 40 (Rebel, 2005)
Awards and honors
IBMA Male Vocalist of the Year (2004, 2005) IBMA Album of the Year, 40 (2005) IBMA Collaborative Recording of the Year, 40 (2005) International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame (2015) IBMA Gospel Recorded Performance of the Year, The Scarlet Red Lines (2023)
Watch and listen
Sparks and the Lonesome Ramblers play live in 1977. Watch how few notes he uses in a break and how much space he leaves.
Sparks and the band play at Rosine, Kentucky, in 2003. Listen for the blues bends in his guitar under the vocals.
What to learn from Sparks
Learn John Deere Tractor from the 1980 record. It is a slow song, so there is nowhere to hide, and the guitar break is the melody with a few blues bends. The technique to steal is his note bending. Bend one note on the way into a phrase, then let it sit. That one move gives a plain melody a voice. At a jam, try one bent note in a break instead of a run of eighth notes. People will hear it.
Sources
Larry Sparks, Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum Larry Sparks, IBMA award recipients Larry Sparks, Rebel Records John Deere Tractor (1980), Rebel Records Larry Sparks, 50 years of bluegrass music, Bluegrass Today
Related players
See the guitar players hub and the guitar guide for more bluegrass guitarists. Sparks plays a guitar that belonged to Carter Stanley and grew up on the records of Bill Napier. Dan Tyminski appears on his album 40.