The Webster Brothers

Knoxville's Webster Brothers, a bluegrass sibling act featuring Audie and Earl Webster, remained largely in the shadow of the Brewster Brothers. The two pairs joined forces for performances and recordings under the unwieldy banner of the Brewster Brothers and Four Brothers Quartet, a name whose arithmetic could easily leave listeners dizzy after one too many swallows of the local mountain distillate. Although the moniker implied three separate sets of brothers and four blood relations in total, the lineup actually consisted of nothing more than the Webster Brothers paired with the Brewster Brothers. Such numerical sleight-of-hand was hardly the most egregious in bluegrass nomenclature; that distinction belongs to the 7 Flat Mountain Boys, routinely a quartet despite their title. A number of enthusiasts nevertheless pictured the Websters mirroring the Brewsters as ubiquitous session players alongside major bluegrass and country figures such as Carl Story and Red Allen. Those assumptions often rested on the presence of other musicians bearing the Webster name, among them Otis Webster and Jackie Webster, none of whom belonged to this particular unit. Audie Webster supplied mandolin, guitar, and vocals, while the more photogenic Earl Webster assumed the role of frontman, taking lead vocals and playing rhythm guitar. When the two acts shared stages, the Websters were assigned light-colored suits and the Brewsters received the darker, striped versions, a visual distinction whose precise significance within the bluegrass pecking order remains unclear yet merits notice. Another Knoxville native, singer Carl Butler, collaborated regularly with the Webster Brothers and cut several sides with them for Columbia, though he maintained no exclusive loyalty to the family. Butler also recorded with additional regional brother acts, including the Bailey Brothers, who once shared a Grand Ole Opry billing with the Brewster Brothers, and the Sauceman Brothers. In effect, the lead vocal slot in any Knoxville bluegrass “brother” ensemble of the 1950s functioned rather like a classic whodunit: the safe guess was always that Butler did it. One such performance with the Websters produced “Somebody Touched Me,” the durable bluegrass gospel number that has since been recorded in nearly fifty versions.