James King (bluegrass singer)
American bluegrass singer
James Elroy King (September 9, 1958 – May 19, 2016) was an American bluegrass music singer, and musician. Tom T. Hall dubbed King the "Bluegrass Storyteller", for his ability to infuse his story songs with emotion and authenticity.
Early life
King was raised in Cana, Virginia, in Carroll County. His father Jim King had appeared on Roanoke television with Don Reno and Red Smiley as tenor vocalist and guitarist for the Country Cousins. His father and his uncle Joe Edd King had played with Ted Lundy of the Southern Mountain Boys.
In 1974, King heard the Stanley Brothers and fell in love with their bluegrass music. King began his career at age 16 playing gospel music at his Pentecostal Holiness church. He left Cana at age 19.
Ralph Stanley
After a stint in the United States Marine Corps, King relocated to Wilmington, Delaware where he started a band with Lundy's sons T.J. and Bobby. In 1986, bluegrass deejay Ray Davis introduced King to Ralph Stanley, with whom he recorded two albums: Stanley Brothers Classics and Reunion with George Shuffler on Davis's Wango label.
The public source identifies “James King (bluegrass singer)” as american bluegrass singer. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around James, King and bluegrass.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q39039665. VIAF identifies the subject as 161205746. The Library of Congress control number is no2010057965. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1958, 2016, 1974 and 1986.
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This entry incorporates text from “James King (bluegrass singer)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.