Walter Hensley

American banjo player and composer, born 1936 in Grundy, Virginia. Died 2012. Best known as the " Banjo Baron of Baltimore”. His driving banjo and inventive licks earned him the first solo banjo LP ever to be recorded on a major label and has elevated his name to the status of cult legend among banjo players and aficionados of that high-wire style of banjo playing. Walter Hensley worked at the Ken-Mill in Cincinnati for a while as banjo player with Earl Taylor and the Stoney Mountain Boys. He cut a major label LP on Capitol and others on Rebel and Revonah. From Baltimore, Maryland (Born in Grundy, Virginia). Called “The Banjo Baron of Baltimore. 1952, worked with Hobo Jack Adkins and the Kentucky Pals and filled in with the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers. 1956, played in a rockabilly band The Black Mountain Boys. 1957, joined Earl Taylor and the Stoney Mountain Boys. 1961, joined the Country Gentlemen. 1962, re-joined Earl Taylor. 1963, recorded an influential banjo album for Capitol Records “Five String Banjo Today.” 1980, formed his own band The Dukes of Bluegrass. 1990, worked with Vernon McIntyre’s Appalachian Grass. 1999, joined James Reams and the Barnstormers, which became “James Reams, Walter Hensley and the Barons of Bluegrass” in 2002. 2012, died at the age of 76.