Johnny Cash (1932-2003) & Dr. Billy Graham (b. 1918)
1978
Studio portrait/Nashville

Two legends in their own fields of endeavor, they were great friends for many years.

Doc Watson (b. 1923)
1975
Studio portrait/Nashville

An accomplished instrumentalist, singer and songwriter, this native of Deep Gap, N.C., has been performing professionally since childhood. He lost his sight before his first birthday, but that did not prevent him from becoming a proficient guitar player and banjoist. He developed his own “Watson style” of traditional guitar flat picking and has had a great influence on the work of such other star instrumentalists as Tony Rice and Clarence White. He was awarded the National Medal of the Arts by President Clinton in 1997.

Dolly Parton (b. 1946)
1974
Studio portrait/Vanderbilt University

Now a huge star, she started performing as a child, singing on local radio and television in East Tennessee near her family’s home in Locust Ridge in the Great Smoky Mountains. She first performed at the Grand Ole Opry at the age of 13 and came to Nashville for good right out of high school in 1964. Her initial success came as the writer of hit songs for Hank Williams, Jr. and Skeeter Davis, among others. Her own stardom was assured when she was teamed with Porter Wagoner in 1967. She has since established herself in concert performance, movies and television. The winner of seven Grammys and innumerable other awards, she is a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, as well as the Country Music Hall of Fame.

J.D. Crowe & New South  
1975
Studio portrait/Nashville

J. D. Crowe (b. 1937) has toured with various versions of his bluegrass band, New South, for more than 30 years. An influential banjo player, he got his start playing with Jimmy Martin’s Sunny Mountain Boys while still in his teens. In 1975, he put together what is widely thought to be one of the most influential bluegrass bands of all time.  Depicted here, it consisted of Ricky Skaggs on mandolin and fiddle, Bobby Sloan on acoustic bass, J.D. Crowe on banjo, Jerry Douglas on dobro and Tony Rice on guitar and vocals.

Ralph Stanley (b. 1927)
1998
Studio portrait/Nashville

From 1946 until the death of his guitar-playing brother, Carter, in 1966, Ralph Stanley performed as part of the Stanley Brothers duo, backed by their band, the Clinch
Mountain Boys. He has continued to play since then, eventually reviving the Clinch Mountain Boys with whom he continues to tour. (The band has a distinguished group of alumni, including Ricky Skaggs, Keith Whitley and Charley Sizemore.) His unique style of banjo playing – sometimes called “Stanley style” – and the very traditional bluegrass music he performs, draw on the musical traditions of the area of southwestern Virginia in which he grew up. At the age of 75, he was awarded a Grammy for his performance of “O Death” on the O Brother, Where Art Thou? movie soundtrack album.