February 11, 2022 Trivia Contest

Additional Bowden Comments

Good job by Todd & Chris, the answer is E Don Parmley. I don’t recall seeing Chris as a winner before; he’s the senior member of the Board of Directors!

Don was banjo player in The Golden State Boys in California, succeeding Del McCoury. The band got renamed the Hillmen for Chris Hillman who went on to form the Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers and more. Vern Gosdin was the guitar player and singer in the band — he went on to MONSTER status in top 40 country music in the 1970s and 80s. What a voice! Don helped start up the California bluegrass scene.

Don was a Kentuckian, living in California and working in the bus business. He played the incidental banjo music in the Beverly Hillbillies TV show (not the theme, but the little passages at the beginnings and ends of many scenes). The Beverly Hillbillies was a “Filmways presentation” as Elly May used to intone at the end of each episode. It was broadcast on CBS television for I think 9 years. The theme was a huge hit on Columbia records for Flatt & Scruggs in 1962-63.

In the 1970s Don formed the band The Bluegrass Cardinals in California featuring his son David on guitar and lead vocals. Their first recording was very well received so they moved East to work the bluegrass festival circuit, picking up a new bass player and a new fiddler from W. Virginia and Pennsylvania. Their new home state was Virginia, and their second LP was titled “Welcome to Virginia”. Quite a few good pickers and singers worked in The Bluegrass Cardinals, who made many records and were big festival favorites. One of their bass players and tenor singers was Ernie Sykes Jr. of Long Island NY!

The late Don Parmley is at the center of this tangled ball of yarn!