Wade Eckhart Mainer (April 21, 1907 – September 12, 2011) was an American country singer and banjoist. With his band, the Sons of the Mountaineers, he is credited with bridging the gap between old-time mountain music and Bluegrass and is sometimes called the "Grandfather of Bluegrass". In addition, he innovated a two-finger banjo fingerpicking style, which was a precursor to modern three-finger bluegrass styles.
Mainer was born near Weaverville, North Carolina, on a mountain farm in Buncombe County. His family was poor during his childhood and they lived in a log cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Mainer grew up listening to traditional mountain music and was largely influenced by his brother-in-law Roscoe Banks. He first learned to play the banjo at square dances, where he would pick up instruments left by performers and practice on them. After moving to Concord, North Carolina and working in a series of jobs at cotton mills, he became a part of his brother J.E.'s band, known as J. E. Mainer's Mountaineers, playing frequent gigs on local radio and appearing on some of their classic recordings from 1934 -1936.
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| Little Smilin' Rangers |
After leaving his brother's group in 1936, he began to perform duet work with Zeke Morris, who was a bandmate from The Mountaineers. After a time working on this project, Mainer and Morris left to form the short-lived "Little Smilin' Rangers" who recorded eight sides that were released in 1938 and later became the "Sons of the Mountaineers". Their initial lineup featured guitarists Jay Hugh Hall and Clyde Moody, and fiddler Steve Ledford. Also in 1937, Mainer married singer Julia Brown, who performed under the name Hillbilly Lilly. He and his group recorded for Bluebird through 1941, and are best remembered for 1939's "Sparkling Blue Eyes"; personnel changes brought in other members like Jack and Curly Shelton, Tiny Dodson, Red Rector, and Fred Smith, among others.
Throughout his career, he was noted for his unique and innovative two-finger banjo fingerpicking style, which some view as a precursor to three finger bluegrass banjo styles. Mainer took jobs at local radio stations to increase the visibility of his relative's ensemble, recording classics such as "Take Me in the Lifeboat". During this time, he appeared on many regional stations including WBT in Charlotte, WPTF in Raleigh, WNOX in Knoxville and WPAQ in Mount Airy.
The Sons of the Mountaineers briefly stopped playing during World War II because Mainer could not afford to squander the valuable gasoline required for the journey to the radio stations. One notable exception, however, came in 1941, when they were invited to the White House by Eleanor Roosevelt and Alan Lomax. There in Washington D.C., they played several tunes, including "Down in the Willow Garden", a song personally requested by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. During this time, they also appeared in a version of The Chisholm Trail in New York City. At war's end, the band was reorganized and once again began to play at stations across North Carolina. Recordings at this time were sporadic, due to the declining popularity of the genre. In 1953, after having renewed his commitment to Christianity, Mainer left the group and exited the industry for a time.
In 1953, Mainer and his wife settled in Flint, Michigan, where he found work at a General Motors factory. Although renouncing both the music industry and his trademark instrument, the banjo, he and Julia did continue to sing at gospel revival meetings. In the early 1960s, Molly O'Day convinced him that he could use the banjo in gospel recordings, which spurred a series of religiously themed banjo albums beginning in 1961. He also began to record and tour with his wife.
Mainer retired from General Motors in 1973and entered the studio more often. He issued a series of albums on the Old Homestead label spanning from the late '70s to the early '90s, and also played at several bluegrass and folk festivals, mostly around Michigan. .Mainer has been credited with bridging the gap between old-time mountain music and Bluegrass. Musicians such as Bill Monroe, Ralph Stanley and Doc Watson have all cited Mainer as a source of influence. He has also been called the "Grandfather of Bluegrass".
Mainer made his last disc, "Carolina Mule," in 1993, continued singing well into old age, and in 2002 finally got his debut at the Grand Ole Opry. Designated a National Heritage Fellow by President Reagan in 1987, he received a Michigan Heritage Award in 1996 and in 1998 was named to the Michigan Country Music Hall of Fame. He celebrated his centenary in 2007 and performed at a concert for his 101st birthday in 2008. He died from congestive heart failure on September 12, 2011
(Edited from Wikipedia & AllMusic)
