As a Southern gospel performer steeped in tradition, Buddy Greene weaves multiple strands of American musical heritage into his work, drawing equally from country, bluegrass, folk, and blues. Beyond his accomplishments as a composer and vocalist, his exceptional skill on the harmonica has led many fellow practitioners in the Southern gospel field to seek him out as a session musician. Raised in Macon, Georgia, Greene first explored music through folk songs on the ukulele before moving on to guitar and absorbing the mainstream sounds of Elvis Presley, the Beatles, and Motown, an exposure that soon sparked a deeper fascination with the music’s foundational sources. His earliest releases appeared only on cassette and centered primarily on harmonica performances; the projects Praise You Lord and Praise Harmonica were later combined for the CD So Far. Greene reached a career peak with the 1990 album Sojourner’s Song, which received the 1991 Dove Award for Best Country Album. His 1992 songwriting partnership with Mark Lowry produced “Mary, Did You Know?,” earning another Dove nomination and establishing the song as a contemporary Christmas standard later recorded by Kenny Rogers, Kathy Mattea, Christopher Parkening, the Gaither Vocal Band, and additional artists. That same year Greene issued the live concert recording Buddy Greene and Friends -- Live!, which preserved the affable and relaxed character of his stage performances. In 1993 he joined speaker and author Steve Brown for a series of seminars featuring Greene’s musical reflections on divine grace, an endeavor that yielded the 1994 album Grace for the Moment. Returning to the studio in 1995, Greene delivered the full-length follow-up to Sojourner’s Song with Minstrel of the Lord, an album shaped significantly by dobro player Jerry Douglas and reflecting his broad interest in American roots traditions. The next release, 1996’s Slice of Life, maintained a comparable approach and appeared alongside a matching video. Among his other 1990s efforts was Simple Praise, a collection of traditional hymns rendered in the gentle, devotional style of Greene’s signature harmonica playing. He opened the new century with the entirely original collection Sinners and Saints in 2000.
