Biography
Red Allen established himself as a singularly gifted yet persistently underappreciated bluegrass performer in the decades after World War II, his high lonesome vocal approach shaped in large measure by Bill and Charlie Monroe. A native of Perry County, Kentucky, he relocated to Dayton, Ohio, in 1949 at the age of 19, shortly after completing a two-year enlistment in the Marines. While in Ohio he encountered several future collaborators, among them Frank Wakefield, the Osborne Brothers, and Noah Crase. His first recordings appeared in 1954 on a small independent label based in Kentucky.
Allen launched a highly productive association with the Osborne Brothers in March 1956, soon after the duo had joined the Wheeling Jamboree at the Virginia Theater in Wheeling, West Virginia. Four months later the expanded group cut its initial sides for MGM Records, then spent the following year strengthening its audience through consistent touring and further sessions. Their 1958 release “Once More” reached number 13 on the country charts, securing the band a durable following. Allen departed at the close of that year, paused briefly from the studio, and moved to Washington, D.C., in 1959, where he and Wakefield assembled the Kentuckians. Their partnership yielded strong creative results yet proved too volatile to last; after completing the 1964 Smithsonian Folkways album simply titled Bluegrass they went separate ways.
In 1967 Allen shifted to Nashville to fill in temporarily for an ailing Lester Flatt in Flatt & Scruggs. The next year he joined J.D. Crowe to form the Kentucky Mountain Boys. By 1969 he had returned to Dayton and organized Red Allen & the Allen Brothers with his sons. The family band appeared once more on the Wheeling Jamboree and recorded for King Bluegrass and Lemco. International touring occupied much of the 1970s, though studio work remained limited. Allen reunited with the Kentuckians for the 1979 Smithsonian Folkways album Live and Let Live, followed in 1980 by the Lester Flatt tribute In Memory of the Man. Two additional Folkways projects appeared soon afterward: Red Allen Family & Friends in 1981 and The Red Allen Tradition in 1983.
For the remainder of the 1980s and into the early 1990s Allen confined most performances to clubs and festivals near Dayton, continuing until his death from cancer in 1993. Folkways released the compilation The Folkways Years: 1964-1983 in 2001, essentially reissuing the 1964 Bluegrass album together with six previously unreleased tracks and selections from his other four Folkways recordings. The set underscored key achievements across Allen’s lengthy career and illuminated his exceptional abilities as a bluegrass singer and guitarist.
Allen launched a highly productive association with the Osborne Brothers in March 1956, soon after the duo had joined the Wheeling Jamboree at the Virginia Theater in Wheeling, West Virginia. Four months later the expanded group cut its initial sides for MGM Records, then spent the following year strengthening its audience through consistent touring and further sessions. Their 1958 release “Once More” reached number 13 on the country charts, securing the band a durable following. Allen departed at the close of that year, paused briefly from the studio, and moved to Washington, D.C., in 1959, where he and Wakefield assembled the Kentuckians. Their partnership yielded strong creative results yet proved too volatile to last; after completing the 1964 Smithsonian Folkways album simply titled Bluegrass they went separate ways.
In 1967 Allen shifted to Nashville to fill in temporarily for an ailing Lester Flatt in Flatt & Scruggs. The next year he joined J.D. Crowe to form the Kentucky Mountain Boys. By 1969 he had returned to Dayton and organized Red Allen & the Allen Brothers with his sons. The family band appeared once more on the Wheeling Jamboree and recorded for King Bluegrass and Lemco. International touring occupied much of the 1970s, though studio work remained limited. Allen reunited with the Kentuckians for the 1979 Smithsonian Folkways album Live and Let Live, followed in 1980 by the Lester Flatt tribute In Memory of the Man. Two additional Folkways projects appeared soon afterward: Red Allen Family & Friends in 1981 and The Red Allen Tradition in 1983.
For the remainder of the 1980s and into the early 1990s Allen confined most performances to clubs and festivals near Dayton, continuing until his death from cancer in 1993. Folkways released the compilation The Folkways Years: 1964-1983 in 2001, essentially reissuing the 1964 Bluegrass album together with six previously unreleased tracks and selections from his other four Folkways recordings. The set underscored key achievements across Allen’s lengthy career and illuminated his exceptional abilities as a bluegrass singer and guitarist.
Albums
