Jim & Jesse

Jim & Jesse was a bluegrass music duo formed in 1945 by guitarist / vocalist Jim McReynolds (born February 13, 1927) and his brother Jesse (born July 9, 1929), who was known for his unique style of playing the mandolin. Born and raised in Carfax, Virginia, the duo joined forces with a backing band called The Virginia Boys. The duo signed with Capitol Records in 1952 and released a series of singles before replacing The Stanley Brothers on the radio show Suwanne River Jamboree in the late 1950s. Jim & Jesse’s tenure on the radio show lasted several years and by the early 1960s, they had already established themselves as a popular bluegrass, folk, and country music act and released a series of albums including Bluegrass Special (1963), The Old Country Church (1964), Y’all Come (1965), and Sing Unto Him a New Song (1966). Their biggest selling album was the 1967 release Diesel on My Tail, which climbed to the number 13 on Billboard’s Country Albums chart. Although they had spent the 1960s on Epic Records, by 1970, Jim & Jesse left the label released a series of independent albums sporadically over the next three decades including Wildwood Flower (1970), Mandolin Workshop (1972), Jim & Jesse Today! (1980), Music Among Friends (1991), Tribute to Bill Monroe (1997), and American Pride (2002). Over the course of their career, the duo had been inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame's ‘Walkway of Stars’, the International Bluegrass Music Association's Hall of Honor, the Virginia Country Music Hall of Fame, and Bill Monroe's Bluegrass Hall of Fame. They had been nominated for several Grammy Awards and had joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1964. Both brothers were diagnosed with cancer in 2002, and Jim McReynolds died on December 31, 2002. His death brought to an end the longest active professional brother duet in country music, which had lasted 55 years. Jesse McReynolds beat his fight with cancer but died of natural causes on June 23, 2023, at the age of 93.

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