Buzz Busby (1933 to 2003) was a mandolin player and high tenor singer from Louisiana who built the bluegrass scene in Washington, D.C. He came to town in 1951 to work for the FBI and soon led some of the hottest bands in the area. When a car wreck sidelined him in 1957, the musicians who filled his dates became the Country Gentlemen. He is often called the father of Washington, D.C., bluegrass.
Why Busby matters
The D.C. area became the second capital of bluegrass in the 1960s and 1970s, home to the Country Gentlemen, the Seldom Scene, and the Johnson Mountain Boys. Busby was there first. His Bayou Boys played fast, played high, and trained a string of players who went on to shape the music: Charlie Waller, Don Stover, Scotty Stoneman, Eddie Adcock, and later Dudley Connell. His own recordings for Starday, like Lost and Just Me and the Jukebox, are hard-driving and lonesome.
Life and career
Busby was born Bernarr Graham Busbice on September 6, 1933, near Eros, Louisiana. He was the eighth of nine children on a cotton farm. The family listened to the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday nights, and Buzz heard Bill Monroe’s fast mandolin on the radio. He learned guitar from his older brothers, then settled on the mandolin. He was valedictorian of his high school class in 1951, and the FBI recruited him. That June he moved to Washington.
He met fiddler Scotty Stoneman, and the two formed the Tennessee Troupers with Jack Clement. Roy Clark played banjo with them for a while. In 1953 Busby teamed with guitarist Pete Pike as Buzz and Pete and the Bayou Boys, with a weekly radio show and a comedy act called Ham and Scram. In 1954 the band won the National Country Music Championship in Warrenton, Virginia. WRC-TV in Washington then gave them a daily show from September 1954 to March 1955.
Next Busby joined the Louisiana Hayride in Shreveport with Charlie Waller on guitar and Don Stover on banjo. He stayed until May 1956. Back in Washington, he recorded Lost and Just Me and the Jukebox. On July 4, 1957, he was hurt in a serious car accident. To cover his club dates, Waller recruited John Duffey and Bill Emerson, and that band became the Country Gentlemen.
After he recovered, Busby played around Washington and Baltimore into the early 1990s. His Rebel single Mandolin Twist featured Waller and Tom Gray. Later bands included his brother Wayne Busbice, Dudley Connell, and Eddie Stubbs. He died of heart failure on January 5, 2003, in Catonsville, Maryland.
Playing style
Busby played Monroe’s style with even more speed and a bluesy, keening edge. His band often played songs a key or two higher than the original, which put his tenor and his mandolin up near the top of their range. His breaks are short and fierce, full of slides and double stops. On instrumentals like Mandolin Twist and Mandolin Tango he shows a playful side.
Influences and legacy
Busby learned from Bill Monroe on the radio and from his brothers’ Monroe Brothers duets. He played beside Scotty Stoneman, Jack Clement, Roy Clark, Pete Pike, Don Stover, Charlie Waller, and Eddie Adcock.
His accident led straight to the Country Gentlemen and the mandolin chair of John Duffey. His later band gave Dudley Connell an early stage before Connell founded the Johnson Mountain Boys.
Signature tunes and songs
Lost Just Me and the Jukebox Mandolin Twist Mandolin Tango.
Essential recordings
Lost and Just Me and the Jukebox, single (Jiffy, 1955 to 1956) Mandolin Tango, single (Starday, 1958) Mandolin Twist, single (Rebel) A Pioneer of Traditional Bluegrass (1981) Going Home, Starday recordings 1957 to 1959 (2003)
Awards and honors
National Country Music Championship, Warrenton, Virginia, first place with the Bayou Boys (1954)
Watch and listen
Busby plays Mandolin Tango, his 1958 Starday single. Listen for the bluesy slides and how he works the melody.
What to learn from Busby
Learn Lost from his Bayou Boys recording. Then try his habit of pitching songs high. Play a song you know in A, then move it up to B. The mandolin breaks shift up the neck, the open strings drop out, and you have to play with a tight, closed sound. That is the Busby edge.
Sources
Buzz Busby, Wikipedia Buzz Busby session discography, Patuxent Music
Related players
See the mandolin players hub and the mandolin guide. Busby learned from Bill Monroe. John Duffey took the mandolin chair in the band Busby’s accident created. Red Rector was another early stylist who built his own sound.