Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
For our third story song this year, I chose a song that I first heard in the Anderson Music Hall at the Georgia Mountain Fair in Hiawassee in the 90's. I was there that night with Pap and some other family to hear the Gillis Brothers, Del McCoury, and Jim & Jesse McReynolds. Every act was absolutely great that night. We enjoyed it so much, not only the music, but the comedy as well, such as when one of the Gillis Brothers moonwalked across the stage during a bluegrass instrumental. :-)
I remember that my cousin Allen and I were completely blown away by the mandolin picking of Ronnie McCoury, to the point where we dubbed him as the greatest mandolin player in the world without doubt. Pap overheard us and said, "You just wait till you hear Jesse pick the mandolin here in a minute." Jim & Jesse were slightly the bigger stars back then (in comparison to Del and his band), so they closed the show. Allen and I kind of scoffed at what Pap said. I said something like, "Yeah, I know Jesse is good, but his picking could never compare to what we just heard." I think I also said something about Jesse being nigh on 70 years old. As always, Pap was right. When Jim and Jesse played their set, Jesse blew us away all over again. He was even better than I ever thought he was. To borrow a term from heavy metal guitarists, Jesse shredded Chuck Berry's "Johnny B Goode" on his mandolin, and at the end of his incredible mandolin break, he jumped up in the air! I couldn't believe, at his age (and wearing cowboy boots), that he was 2 or 3 feet in the air above the stage! :-)
During their set, Jim and Jesse let their bass player sing a song by himself. A lot of acts do things like that so they can get a bit of rest and catch their breath somewhere during their set. Also, one thing I've learned about bluegrass musicians is that there's always way more than meets the eye. No one is just a bass player, just a banjo player, etc. There's always a wealth of talent that they don't necessarily showcase in their regular roles/jobs. For example, for many years, I knew of David Mclaughlin only as an excellent guitar player, having no idea that he was more famous for playing mandolin with the Johnson Mountain Boys.
Anyway, I thought it was cool that Jim and Jesse gave up some of their time so the bass player could shine for a moment. I don't recall the bass player's name. I only recall that he had a head full of white hair that was neatly styled, and he had a great voice and sang very smoothly. I did a quick Google search to see if I could find his identity, but Jim and Jesse had so many bass players that it would be very hard to locate him in the proverbial haystack, so to speak. :-) For his solo number, he sang "Catfish John." Pap and I were immediately appreciative of the song. I wondered if Tom T. Hall might have written it. It told such a great story and had that type of vibe, in that it focused on the great virtue and quiet wisdom of someone who society might mistakenly consider as unimpressive and lowly.
There was no internet back then, so it wasn't like I could go home and look up the lyrics of the song after the concert. I didn't hear the song again until just 5 or 6 years ago when I caught a special on PBS about the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. They, with help from Allison Krauss, re-popularized the song. For this upload, I had to find out who first released the song. It was written by Bob McDill and Allen Reynolds. I investigated to see if Allen Reynolds might be related to Jim and Jesse, thinking he or his family might have dropped the "mc" from the surname. According to Google AI, there is no relation there. "Catfish John" was first released by McDill on an album called "Short Stories." Soon after that release, Johnny Russel released the song in 1972. Russell's release is probably where most folks (including NGDB) learned it. I placed a link to that recording below. You can also find a video here on YouTube of Russell singing it on the Wilburn Brothers' TV show. Many acts have recorded the song, including the Grateful Dead.
I hope that you enjoyed this story song and that you go check out a lot of different versions. I apologize for the poor video quality and the car driving by during this video. It seems I can never remember to adjust my camera settings when I shoot outside. Hopefully, this video is good enough to demonstrate what a great story song this is. I didn't grow up in the delta, and I didn't know any former slaves, but I can relate to hanging around an elderly man as a kid and learning from him, as there were several who came and went in our holler, some of them outcasts that Granny told me to stay away from. :-)
Johnny Russell's 1972 recording: youtube.com/watch?v=lq-Dub8HXyA
Listen to original singles on YouTube:
youtube.com/channel/UC2WQqe6yfRH2zahVpfZ_teg
Listen to Shepherd of My Soul (Album released in 2016):
open.spotify.com/album/4VnoOyUTOtSqrmVKinmSJz
For our third story song this year, I chose a song that I first heard in the Anderson Music Hall at the Georgia Mountain Fair in Hiawassee in the 90's. I was there that night with Pap and some other family to hear the Gillis Brothers, Del McCoury, and Jim & Jesse McReynolds. Every act was absolutely great that night. We enjoyed it so much, not only the music, but the comedy as well, such as when one of the Gillis Brothers moonwalked across the stage during a bluegrass instrumental. :-)
I remember that my cousin Allen and I were completely blown away by the mandolin picking of Ronnie McCoury, to the point where we dubbed him as the greatest mandolin player in the world without doubt. Pap overheard us and said, "You just wait till you hear Jesse pick the mandolin here in a minute." Jim & Jesse were slightly the bigger stars back then (in comparison to Del and his band), so they closed the show. Allen and I kind of scoffed at what Pap said. I said something like, "Yeah, I know Jesse is good, but his picking could never compare to what we just heard." I think I also said something about Jesse being nigh on 70 years old. As always, Pap was right. When Jim and Jesse played their set, Jesse blew us away all over again. He was even better than I ever thought he was. To borrow a term from heavy metal guitarists, Jesse shredded Chuck Berry's "Johnny B Goode" on his mandolin, and at the end of his incredible mandolin break, he jumped up in the air! I couldn't believe, at his age (and wearing cowboy boots), that he was 2 or 3 feet in the air above the stage! :-)
During their set, Jim and Jesse let their bass player sing a song by himself. A lot of acts do things like that so they can get a bit of rest and catch their breath somewhere during their set. Also, one thing I've learned about bluegrass musicians is that there's always way more than meets the eye. No one is just a bass player, just a banjo player, etc. There's always a wealth of talent that they don't necessarily showcase in their regular roles/jobs. For example, for many years, I knew of David Mclaughlin only as an excellent guitar player, having no idea that he was more famous for playing mandolin with the Johnson Mountain Boys.
Anyway, I thought it was cool that Jim and Jesse gave up some of their time so the bass player could shine for a moment. I don't recall the bass player's name. I only recall that he had a head full of white hair that was neatly styled, and he had a great voice and sang very smoothly. I did a quick Google search to see if I could find his identity, but Jim and Jesse had so many bass players that it would be very hard to locate him in the proverbial haystack, so to speak. :-) For his solo number, he sang "Catfish John." Pap and I were immediately appreciative of the song. I wondered if Tom T. Hall might have written it. It told such a great story and had that type of vibe, in that it focused on the great virtue and quiet wisdom of someone who society might mistakenly consider as unimpressive and lowly.
There was no internet back then, so it wasn't like I could go home and look up the lyrics of the song after the concert. I didn't hear the song again until just 5 or 6 years ago when I caught a special on PBS about the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. They, with help from Allison Krauss, re-popularized the song. For this upload, I had to find out who first released the song. It was written by Bob McDill and Allen Reynolds. I investigated to see if Allen Reynolds might be related to Jim and Jesse, thinking he or his family might have dropped the "mc" from the surname. According to Google AI, there is no relation there. "Catfish John" was first released by McDill on an album called "Short Stories." Soon after that release, Johnny Russel released the song in 1972. Russell's release is probably where most folks (including NGDB) learned it. I placed a link to that recording below. You can also find a video here on YouTube of Russell singing it on the Wilburn Brothers' TV show. Many acts have recorded the song, including the Grateful Dead.
I hope that you enjoyed this story song and that you go check out a lot of different versions. I apologize for the poor video quality and the car driving by during this video. It seems I can never remember to adjust my camera settings when I shoot outside. Hopefully, this video is good enough to demonstrate what a great story song this is. I didn't grow up in the delta, and I didn't know any former slaves, but I can relate to hanging around an elderly man as a kid and learning from him, as there were several who came and went in our holler, some of them outcasts that Granny told me to stay away from. :-)
Johnny Russell's 1972 recording: youtube.com/watch?v=lq-Dub8HXyA
Listen to original singles on YouTube:
youtube.com/channel/UC2WQqe6yfRH2zahVpfZ_teg
Listen to Shepherd of My Soul (Album released in 2016):
open.spotify.com/album/4VnoOyUTOtSqrmVKinmSJz
