Larry Sparks

Bluegrass Legend

American bluegrass guitarist and singer/songwriter, born September 15, 1947 in Lebanon, Ohio. Brother of musician and writer Bernice Sparks. Father of Larry D. Sparks. Raised in a musical family, and his earliest appearances were with his sister Bernice. At the age of seventeen, he got the opportunity to play guitar for the Stanley Brothers, and at nineteen he became Ralph Stanley’s lead singer, after Carter Stanley’s death. Three years later, he formed his own band, the Lonesome Ramblers. He had recorded a single earlier on Jack Lynch’s Jalyn label as Larry Sparks and the Sandy Mountain Boys. Before that, he had his first appearance on record with Erwin Keith and the Slade Mountain Boys on Dayton’s Top Tennessee label. After forming the Lonesome Ramblers, he cut his debut album on the Pine Tree label in Hamilton, entitled Ramblin’ Guitar with half vocals and half instrumentals. Cut two more LPs for Pine Tree and four for Cincinnati-based King Bluegrass. After that, he recorded for Old Homestead, Starday, County, Lesco (his own label), June Apple, Acoustic Revival, and a long string of LPs and CDs on Rebel. Larry was selected as the IBMA Vocalist of the Year in both 2004 and 2005, and his CD 40, celebrating his forty years in bluegrass, was selected as both the Album of the Year and the Recorded Event of the Year by the IBMA in 2005. In 2014, he released a CD celebrating fifty years in bluegrass music. In 2015, he was elected to the IBMA Bluegrass Hall of Fame.