Gus Ingo anyone?

[Larry S Sherman]

I picked up a fun album today by Gus Ingo from 1979. Wayne Henderson plays lead guitar. Gus plays a bunch of bluegrass tunes on mandolin.



Apparently in his career he played with a band called the Mountain County Boys and later the McPeak Brothers, with whom he recorded an album called "Where it all began in Virginia." He shared the stage with Bill Monroe, and got to play Bill's mandolin, and also played with James Monroe.

Apparently the mandolin on the cover is by Fred Hensley of Galax, VA.

I've never heard him discussed here.

Larry

[mandolirius]

Never heard of him. Do you have any way of digitizing that album? I'd love to hear a cut or two.

[Russ Jordan]

here's a couple from the Gus Ingo album.

oops--the mp3's don't seem to play. Is it because I use itunes?

[mandolirius]

Plays for me. Really strong, clean old-school playing. I like it!

[Jim Taylor]

Me too. Thanks for posting.

[25shooter]

I picked up a fun album today by Gus Ingo from 1979. Wayne Henderson plays lead guitar. Gus plays a bunch of bluegrass tunes on mandolin.



Apparently in his career he played with a band called the Mountain County Boys and later the McPeak Brothers, with whom he recorded an album called "Where it all began in Virginia." He shared the stage with Bill Monroe, and got to play Bill's mandolin, and also played with James Monroe.

Apparently the mandolin on the cover is by Fred Hensley of Galax, VA.

I've never heard him discussed here.

Larry

Larry,
I know this is an older post but I thought I'd respond to it anyway. I grew up in the same town as Gus Ingo and listened to he and his sisters perform on WYVE radio out of Wytheville, Va.. I knew Gus all of my life and got the opportunity to pick with him on numerous occasions. Gus was the real deal! He was playing progressive mandolin 25 years before anyone else and was a true artist.
Gus' dad worked at the Radford arsenal and brought home a mandolin he picked up somewhere (He told me where but I forgot), and pitched it on the bed and told the kids that whichever one of them that learned to play it first could keep it. Of course, it was Gus at about 10 years of age, best I remember.
Gus was from the "Piney" section of Wythe County, Va. and was a lifetime member of the Mt. Zion Church. He picked mandolin, Scruggs style guitar, played piano, one of those people that could play anything he laid hands on.
He certainly did know Bill Monroe and played with him. After a Bill Monroe show he and a friend walked backstage and Bill hopped up and almost ran toward him and said "Well there's ol' Gus" with his hand stuck out! He gave Gus a new set of his Gibson signature strings to try on his mandolin to which Gus replied, "I won't ever put those on a mandolin", (meaning they were to special to play and kept them in his case as a memento).
Gus was also one of the first people I ever played for in public. I played "A Vision of Mother" for him and he told me I needed to be in a band performing, complimented my singing. That was the first "real" encouragement I ever received from someone, outside the family.
We lost Gus a few years ago and the world won't be the same without him. He was a real class act!!!
Sincerely,
Ted Turner

[mandolirius]

Thanks for that recollection, Ted. I just discovered Gus Ingo through this thread and his playing knocked me out. I'd love to get hold of that album.