A Tribute to Randall Hylton

featuring:
THE VIRGINIA SQUIRES REUNION (Sammy Shelor, Mark Newton and Ronnie Simpkins with Jesse Smathers)

THE COMPTONS

ROGER HANDY (from LOST & FOUND)

ABOUT RANDALL HYLTON:
Born in in Willis, Virginia in Floyd County, Virginia, he learned to play the guitar at the age of five and soon started to write his own songs, one of which was recorded by bluegrass Gospel group The Lewis Family in 1967.

In 1973 he moved to Nashville with the aim of devoting his career to writing country songs. However, that ended in disappointment, and in 1977 he switched his focus to writing for bluegrass music, setting up his own publishing company, Greasy Creek Music.

As he attended more bluegrass festivals, he established a rapport with many of the groups that he met, and his song-writing career launched from there.

He penned more than 250 songs with some of his best-known including 32 Acres; Gonna Be Movin’; Cold Sheets Of Rain; Slippers With Wings; Once And For Always; I’ve Heard The Wind Blow; Country Poor, Country Proud; Where Rainbows Touch Down; Room At The Top Of The Stairs; Slowly Getting You Out Of The Way; Mountain Laurel; Pulleybone Gayden; Hallelujah Turnpike; Goodtime Get-Together; and China Grove My Hometown.

Artists who have recorded these and other Hylton originals include Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver; the Bluegrass Cardinals; the Virginia Squires; The Lewis Family; Charlie Waller & The Country Gentlemen; Ralph Stanley; Lester Flatt; Curly Seckler; Continental Divide; Larry Sparks & The Lonesome Ramblers; Knoxville Grass; and the Osborne Brothers with Mac Wiseman.

ABOUT THE VIRGINIA SQUIRES:

The Virginia Squires were a bluegrass group comprised of Rickie Simpkins (fiddle, mandolin, vocals), Ronnie Simpkins (bass, vocals), Sammy Shelor (guitar, banjo, vocals) and Mark Newton (guitar, vocals). The Simpkins Brothers originate from a musical family from Christiansburg, Virginia. They played together in a family group but eventually formed Upland Express, a bluegrass band that had an album release on Leather Records in the 70s. They separated in the early 80s, when Rickie worked with the McPeak Brothers and Ronnie became a member of the Bluegrass Cardinals. In 1982 they reunited in Richmond, in a band called the Heights Of Grass, but early in 1983, with Mark Newton (previously a member of Knoxville Grass) and Sammy Shelor (one-time member of the Country Boys), they became the Virginia Squires. Playing a variety of bluegrass, rock, old-time and country, they became a very popular band in their native state and recorded for the Rebel label.