Larry Stephenson
Larry Stephenson is a mandolinist, singer, and bandleader from Harrisonburg, Virginia. He joined Bill Harrell and the Virginians in 1979. His debut solo album, Sweet Sunny South, came out in 1982. He then joined the Bluegrass Cardinals in 1983. He formed the Larry Stephenson Band on February 10, 1989. In the 1990s he hired the young banjo player Kristin Scott, now Kristin Scott Benson, who toured with the band for about five years while she was in college. He was inducted into the Virginia Country Music Hall of Fame in 1996. SPBGMA has named him Male Vocalist of the Year five times, from 2001 to 2008, and Mandolin Player of the Year in 2011. His "Clinch Mountain Mystery" won SPBGMA's Song of the Year in 2005, and his album Pull Your Savior In won its Album of the Year in 2015.