Women in Bluegrass Newsletter Archive, Reader’s Edition

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Don Reno

Don Reno (1927–1984) was an American banjo player, guitarist, and singer from South Carolina. He played with Bill Monroe in the late 1940s and in 1951 formed Reno & Smiley with Red Smiley, one of the leading bluegrass bands of the 1950s and '60s. His banjo style, combining Scruggs rolls with single-string runs, influenced generations of players, and he was arguably the “inventor” of bluegrass guitar solos.

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