Pee Wee Lambert (1924 to 1965) was a mandolin player and singer from the coal country of West Virginia. He was a charter member of the Stanley Brothers and the Clinch Mountain Boys, formed in November 1946. He played mandolin and sang on the band’s first records for Rich-R-Tone and Columbia, the records that turned Bill Monroe’s sound into a style other bands could play.
Why Lambert matters
The Stanley Brothers were the second band to play bluegrass, and Lambert was their first mandolin player. He played in Monroe’s style and sang in Monroe’s high voice. On the Stanley trios he added a high baritone part that gave records like The Lonesome River their eerie sound. If you want to hear how bluegrass spread from one band to many, listen to Lambert.
Life and career
Darrell Lambert was born on August 5, 1924, in Thacker, West Virginia, a coal town in Mingo County. Like many Appalachian musicians of his day, he found music a way out of the mines. Before the war he played around home with guitarist Estil Dotson and with fiddler Roy Sykes, who once picked him up hitchhiking with a mandolin under his arm.
After World War II, Carter and Ralph Stanley formed the Clinch Mountain Boys in November 1946, with Lambert on mandolin. In early 1947 the band won a spot on WCYB in Bristol, the station that also hosted Flatt and Scruggs. Lambert sang lead on the band’s Rich-R-Tone version of Molly and Tenbrooks. The Stanleys signed with Columbia in March 1949. Lambert played mandolin on The White Dove that month and on The Lonesome River and Pretty Polly in November 1950. He sang the high baritone part on trio numbers like The Fields Have Turned Brown.
He left when Carter Stanley went to work for Bill Monroe in 1951. He then teamed with Kentucky guitarist Curley Parker as Pee Wee Lambert and Curley Parker with the Pine Ridge Boys, recording Weary Hobo and Just a Memory for Rich-R-Tone. He rejoined the Stanleys for a couple of months in early 1952. He died in 1965 at 40.
Playing style
Lambert played straight Monroe style. He admired Monroe so much that he copied his posture, dress, and expressions on stage as well as his singing. His breaks are short and driving, built around the melody, and his chop holds the Stanley rhythm together. Ricky Skaggs now owns the 1923 Gibson Lloyd Loar mandolin that Lambert played on The White Dove and The Lonesome River.
Influences and legacy
Lambert’s model was Bill Monroe. He played beside Carter Stanley and Ralph Stanley, fiddlers Bobby Sumner and Leslie Keith, and later Curley Parker. Ricky Skaggs, who played in Ralph Stanley’s band as a teenager, now plays Lambert’s mandolin.
Signature tunes and songs
Molly and Tenbrooks The White Dove The Lonesome River Rose of Old Kentucky.
Essential recordings
The White Dove, with the Stanley Brothers (Columbia, recorded 1949) The Lonesome River, with the Stanley Brothers (Columbia, recorded 1950) Weary Hobo and Just a Memory, with Curley Parker (Rich-R-Tone)
Watch and listen
Lambert and Curley Parker sing Just a Memory from their Rich-R-Tone session.
What to learn from Lambert
Learn the mandolin part on The White Dove. It is simple, slow, and all about tone and timing. Then work on a high baritone harmony. Sing the melody’s harmony a third or more above the lead, in the range most singers avoid. Lambert’s high part is a big reason the early Stanley trios sound so lonesome.
Sources
Pee Wee Lambert, Wikipedia The Stanley Brothers, Wikipedia Pee Wee Lambert and Curley Parker with the Pine Ridge Boys, Archives of Appalachia Pee Wee Lambert, Bluegrass Unlimited On This Day #33: Pee Wee Lambert, Bluegrass Today Pee Wee Lambert, Discography of American Historical Recordings Ricky Skaggs’ 100-year-old mandolin once belonged to Pee Wee Lambert, Tennessean via Yahoo News
Related players
See the mandolin players hub and the mandolin guide. Lambert modeled his playing on Bill Monroe. Curly Seckler held the same kind of tenor and mandolin role with Flatt and Scruggs. Ricky Skaggs plays Lambert’s old mandolin today.