Jim and Jesse

Carfax, Virginia

Jim McReynolds was born on February 13, 1927 and Jesse McReynolds on July 9, 1929 in Coeburn, Virginia, near Carfax. Their grandfather Charles McReynolds led the Bull Mountain Moonshiners, who recorded at the 1927 Bristol Sessions, and Jesse later played the fiddle his grandfather used there. Jesse invented the crosspicking and split-string styles of mandolin playing. Wikipedia and MusicBrainz date the partnership to 1945, while Jesse's article and Saving Country Music say 1947, after Jim's Army service, when they performed as the McReynolds Brothers.

In 1951, with Larry Roll on guitar, they recorded ten gospel songs for Kentucky Records as the Virginia Trio. They signed to Capitol Records in 1952, which asked them to change their name, and became Jim and Jesse and the Virginia Boys, recording twenty songs in three sessions between 1952 and 1955; Jesse served in the Army in Korea from 1952 to 1954 and, with Charlie Louvin, formed the Dusty Roads Boys to play for troops.

Suwannee River Jamboree and the Opry

In the late 1950s and early 1960s they starred on the Suwannee River Jamboree, a Saturday-night show on WNER in Live Oak, Florida, syndicated across the Southeast, replacing the Stanley Brothers, and left when Martha White began sponsoring the duo. Their first Columbia single in 1960 was "The Flame of Love". They were invited to join the Grand Ole Opry on March 2, 1964 and moved to Gallatin, Tennessee later that year. The Virginia Boys, their band, included Vassar Clements, Allen Shelton, Carl Jackson, Glen Duncan, Jesse's son Keith McReynolds and Randall Franks.

Their albums include Bluegrass Special (1963), The Old Country Church (1964), Y'all Come (1965), Diesel on My Tail (1967), Saluting the Louvin Brothers (1969), We Like Trains (1970), Mandolin Workshop (1972), Jim and Jesse Today! (1980), Music Among Friends (1991, Rounder), Songs from the Homeplace (1998) and American Pride (2002). Their country singles included "Cotton Mill Man" (number 43, 1964), "Diesel on My Tail" (number 18, 1967), "The Golden Rocket" (number 38, 1970) and "North Wind", with Charlie Louvin (1982). Jim died on December 31, 2002, aged 75, and Jesse carried on solo, playing 60 to 70 shows a year; in 2010 he made Songs of the Grateful Dead with David Nelson and Sandy Rothman, and in March 2020 he became the oldest standing Opry member. He died on June 23, 2023, aged 93, at Nashville or Gallatin depending on the source.

They received the National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship, presented at the White House on September 23, 1997, and entered the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 1993, the Virginia Country Music Hall of Fame and the Country Music Hall of Fame's Walkway of Stars. Wikipedia describes them as the longest active professional brother duet in country music history, at 55 years, and Jesse was called Mr. Mandolin. Andy Statman wrote Bluegrass Masters: Jesse McReynolds, and Jesse gave a NAMM oral history interview on July 23, 2011.