Part II (of II) of the “Johnson Mountain Boys,” a United States Information Agency production. Produced and Directed by Jerry Brown. Technical Director Arnold Hawser. The band in this film features Dudley Connell (guitar), Dave McLaughlin (mandolin), Richard Underwood (banjo), Eddie Stubbs (fiddle) and Larry Robbins (bass).
The film is uploaded with the permission of Dudley Connell who also stated, "We did two tours for those folks with the first one being in 1984 to Africa. I think this was recorded to promote that tour. 1984 would be a pretty good guess I think."
Johnson Mountain Boys Bio (from BluegrassBios.com):
** From Washington, D.C. area
** Formed in 1975 as a duet featuring Dudley Connell on banjo and Ron Welch on guitar. Connell eventually switched to guitar and added other musicians to form a full five-piece bluegrass band.
** There is no such place as Johnson Mountain. Connell originally named the band The Johnson Boys because it just sounded good, but later added “Mountain” because he discovered a folk group already had the Johnson Boys name.
** One of the most popular bluegrass bands of the 1980’s, they performed in some of the nation’s most prestigious venues: Madison Square Garden, The White House, the Lincoln Center and the Grand Ole Opry. Also toured England, Japan, and Africa.
** 1988, broke up and recorded a “final” performance released by Rounder Records as a double-album titled “The Old School House.” But after doing several reunion shows, the group decided to re-emerge as a part-time band in 1991. By 1994, they called it quits for good.
** Connell (guitar) took a job with the Smithsonian Institution as director of the Folkways Record Collection. In 1995 he joined the Seldom Scene as guitarist and lead singer. He is also a member of Longview.
** 1995, Eddie Stubbs (fiddle) moved to Nashville where he took a job as fiddle player with Johnny Wright and Kitty Wells, and also became a DJ and Grand Ole Opry announcer on WSM-AM. He won the CMA award for Broadcast Personality of the Year in 2002. He has also won that award twice from the IBMA (1996, 2002).
** Mandolin player David McLaughlin formed a duo with Josh Crowe and has worked with other bands.