Frank Wakefield (1934 to 2024) was a mandolin player and composer from Tennessee. He partnered with singer Red Allen through the 1950s and 1960s, wrote the jam standard New Camptown Races, and gave David Grisman lessons in Washington, D.C. Grisman later said Wakefield “split the bluegrass mandolin atom.” He recorded and toured for about 70 years.
Why Wakefield matters
Wakefield was the first bluegrass mandolin player to treat the instrument as a composer’s tool. He started in the Monroe school, then wrote tunes with odd turns, long forms, and classical shapes that no one else in bluegrass was trying in the 1960s. His 1972 Rounder album sits beside the records that opened bluegrass to new ideas. Through his student Grisman, his thinking reached a whole generation of newgrass players.
Life and career
Wakefield was born on June 26, 1934, in Emory Gap, Tennessee, into a musical family. By age eight he played harmonica, guitar, and bass. His family moved to Dayton, Ohio, in 1950. Around 16 he picked up his brother-in-law’s mandolin and learned it fast. With his brother Ralph on guitar, he made his first radio appearance on WHIO in Dayton in 1951.
In 1952 he joined Red Allen and the Blue Ridge Mountain Boys for three years. He also worked with Jimmy Martin and with Marvin Cobb, and he cut his first single, which included New Camptown Races. He reunited with Allen in 1958 in the Kentuckians. In 1960 they moved to Washington, D.C., where Frank gave private lessons. One student was a teenage David Grisman, who later produced the 1964 Folkways album Bluegrass by Red Allen and Frank Wakefield.
In the mid-1960s Wakefield played with the Greenbriar Boys and with Ralph Stanley. He also wrote mandolin sonatas and arranged classical pieces for bluegrass instruments. That work led to an appearance with the New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein in 1967. In the 1970s he went solo, toured with Jerry Garcia, opened for the Grateful Dead, and led the Good Ol’ Boys. He led the Frank Wakefield Band from 1989 and played on the Grammy-nominated Bluegrass Mandolin Extravaganza in 1999. He settled in Saratoga Springs, New York, where he taught for years. He died on April 26, 2024, at 89.
Playing style
Wakefield played Monroe’s attack with a composer’s ear. His tunes move through unexpected keys and chord changes. He used double stops (two strings at once), crosspicking, and harmonics, the bell-like tones you get by touching a string over a fret without pressing it down. His long instrumental Jesus Loves His Mandolin Player No. 2 on the 1972 Rounder album uses all three.
His restless approach made him a hero to younger players who wanted to stretch the mandolin past the Monroe model.
Influences and legacy
Wakefield came up on Bill Monroe and worked beside Red Allen, Jimmy Martin, Ralph Stanley, and the Greenbriar Boys. His 1975 album featured Don Reno and Chubby Wise.
His best-known student is David Grisman, who carried Wakefield’s ideas into newgrass and dawg music. On Bluegrass Mandolin Extravaganza he played beside Sam Bush, Grisman, Ronnie McCoury, Jesse McReynolds, Bobby Osborne, and Ricky Skaggs.
Signature tunes and songs
New Camptown Races Jesus Loves His Mandolin Player Rondo.
Essential recordings
Bluegrass, with Red Allen (Folkways, 1964) Frank Wakefield, with Country Cooking (Rounder, 1972) The Kitchen Tapes, with Red Allen (Acoustic Disc, 1994) Bluegrass Mandolin Extravaganza (Acoustic Disc, 1999)
Awards and honors
Grammy nomination, Best Bluegrass Album, Bluegrass Mandolin Extravaganza (1999)
Watch and listen
Wakefield plays Old Joe Clark at home in 2008. Listen for how he reworks a tune every jammer knows.
What to learn from Wakefield
Learn New Camptown Races. It is a fun tune to play fast and it shows how Wakefield built a melody from simple pieces. Then steal his habit of variation. Take a tune you know, like Old Joe Clark, and play it three ways: straight, with double stops, and with one phrase moved an octave. Doing this every day trains you to hear a tune as clay, not stone.
Sources
Frank Wakefield, Wikipedia RIP: Frank Wakefield, Bluegrass Mandolin Innovator, Fretboard Journal
Related players
See the mandolin players hub and the mandolin guide. Wakefield grew out of Bill Monroe and passed his ideas to David Grisman. Andy Statman and Chris Thile also bent bluegrass mandolin toward other forms.