Ted Lundy

Guitarist/banjo picker Ted Lundy was born in Galax, Virginia into one of the Blue Ridge Mountains' biggest musical clans. He began playing guitar when he was eight; at age 14 he learned the banjo by imitating the new style of Earl Scruggs rather than the traditional clawhammer technique used by his father. At age 15, Lundy appeared on a local radio show. He moved to a bigger station in Bluefield, West Virginia two years later and was soon playing banjo with Jimmy Williams and the Shady Valley Boys. The group later moved to Bristol, Tennessee, where Lundy spent a year. When not working, he played with such acts as Roma Jackson and the Tennessee Pals, Alex Campbell and Ole Belle and the New River Boys. In the early '60s, he founded the Southern Mountain Boys with mandolin player Fred Hannah, guitarist Bob Paisley, and fiddler Jerry Lundy, Ted's second cousin and the son of illustrious old-time fiddler Emmett Lundy. The Southern Mountain Boys played in both Delaware and Galax before making their recording debut in 1962 on Alex Campbell's New River label. Their second album didn't come out until the early '70s and was recorded for a German label; it was followed by three albums on Rounder. The band continued to perform and play until 1980, when Lundy committed suicide.