Red Spurlock

SPURLOCK, WILLARD “RED” (1930-2012) Red Spurlock played banjo around Dayton.Ohio with all of the bluegrass greats that got their start there. Instead of spending his life on the road, he elected to stay in the Dayton area and operate his own auto glass business, playing bluegrass in his spare time. Born in Kentucky and residing in Indiana during his teen years, Spurlock settled in Dayton after he got out of the Army. He played the West Third Street bars with Red Allen, Frank Wakefield, Johnnie McKee, and the Brock Brothers. He, Red Allen and Frank Wakefield recorded a single on BMC Records as the Red Heads. Later, he teamed with the Powell Brothers to cut a classic single on Top Tennessee Records: “Loneliness,” backed with a Red Spurlock original instrumental, “Spur-Lock Fones.” In the 2000s, he and his wife Joyce performed in a band known as Red Spurlock and the Rainbow Ramblers and issued some self-produced CDs. Red also taught banjo at Sinclair College in Dayton, and at the time of his death was playing banjo with Evan Lanier and Bluegrass Express.