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DHutchens - Posted - 10/11/2009: 17:14:50
I spoke with Allen this morning. He was recently diagonosed with leucemia.
He was getting ready for a fishing trip and had felt tired, run down and just bad. He went to the doctor and was admitted immediately. I won't add details because I'll get them incorrect, but he is recieving treatment at this point.
I see his brother in law each week at our local flea market and ask him this morning how Allen was doing.... he said not too good. We talked a good while about different music related things when I asked him when he talked to Allen again ask him about a thing or two for me when he spoke with him again. He said, well just wait a minute and ask him your self. He pulled out his cell phone and in a few minutes I was talking to Allen.
He said right now its "day by day". The leucemia that he has in not cureable but the hope is that its controllable. I was given way too much information to digest and diseminate here correctly so I'll not do that.
But if you'd like to make Allen feel alot better get a card or write him a letter and I'll have an address hopefully tomorrow that it can be sent to. I remember a few years ago when we did a similar thing for Carlton Haney for his birthday on the bluegrassL nd he got 3 large mail sacks of cards and letters.
If you've ever been laid up you know how a warm message makes you feel, so get them ready and lets fill Allen's mail bag's full. If there is a banjo player who enjoyed performing for all of us it has been Allen Shelton. So it'll only cost a few cents and a few minutes, but the healing force it will carry will show soon.
I'll be back soon with an address.
Doug-
Edited by - Ronnie on 11/21/2009 20:52:10
The KIDD - Posted - 10/11/2009: 18:42:29
Yeah , he's much admired and talked about ALOT on a regular basis around here. Yeah, great idea sendin cards!!! Im IN!
myspace.com/johnkuhnbluegrass
Ronnie - Posted - 10/11/2009: 18:45:51
I had the good fortune of meeting him at Bobby Thompson's benefit in 2004 and a get-together at Jesse McReynolds' place a couple of years ago. I am so sorry to hear of his illness!!
bobbythompsonbanjo.com
Edited by - Ronnie on 10/11/2009 18:47:28
bulland - Posted - 10/11/2009: 18:48:34
That is sad news indeed. Hopefully he will have a good quality of life with treatment. He is absolutely one of my favorite banjo players from those golden years. I loved his style of playing. I wish him the best. I will be looking for his address. Thanks for posting this.
bulland
pdbanjo - Posted - 10/11/2009: 18:49:27
He is my banjo hero. A true non-conformist and inovator. I'll gladly send him a get well card if you post an address.
PD
There's so little time and so much room to experiment, why choose to play like someone else? If I were Earl, I wouldn't play it like me either.
robbif - Posted - 10/11/2009: 19:11:25
Doug,
Thak you for the update.
I'm so sorry to hear the news is not good.
Please relay my prayers to Allen and his family.
I've been putting together my story of a weekend in 1969 when I met Allen. A few months ago I spoke to his son and relayed some information and music to Allen.
You can hear my recordings at frobbi.org/walker.html and frobbi.org/BatonRouge1969.html
You can see my very treasured photos at frobbi.org/slides/La1969/
Here's an example...
Baton Rouge 1969
Edited by - robbif on 10/12/2009 12:36:02
jfb - Posted - 10/11/2009: 19:15:45
I still have his Shelton Special album (yes album)..lots of good picking on that one for sure..best wishes for a speedy treatment and recovery Mr Shelton
Bill Rogers - Posted - 10/11/2009: 19:21:50
Jim and Jessie and the Virginia Boys was the first nationally-known bluegrass band I saw in person--in 1962. Allen Shelton, of course, was playing banjo with them, and I was awed by his work. After the show backstage, he played a student's RB-100, making it sound like a Mastertone. That was when I first understood that the player is far more important than the banjo in getting that proper "bluegrass sound." My best wishes to Allen in his fight.
Bill
David Ward - Posted - 10/11/2009: 19:23:29
Great banjo player and person!
"Blue Country Bluegrass"
Greg Earnest - Posted - 10/11/2009: 20:05:07
Thanks, Doug. . . I will definitely get something in the mail as soon as you post the address. I grew up on Allen Shelton and had the pleasure of visiting with him a couple of times when he was back with Jim and Jesse in the 1980s. One of my all-time heros. . .
The Prewar Gibson Banjo website
earnestbanjo.com
Wes Lassiter - Posted - 10/11/2009: 20:08:56
What a great banjo player
Banjo Wes
All things excellent are difficult as they are rare.
Spinoza
flange5st - Posted - 10/11/2009: 20:16:18
...wow, I hate to hear about the health problem....Allen is one of the greats on the banjo.......I remember when Al Wood used to run a Music Barn satelite store in Statesville NC in the early 1980's ......... he'd have a jam session on Tueday nights....well, one night, in walked Allen..........eveyone wanted to hear him play so he picked up a " bottle cap" banjo off the wall and started to play "When you're Smilin' and "Has anybody Seen My Gal"...I was playing the fiddle a little and got to stand across from him and watch him play...........the guy has the perfect hands for playing the banjo.........and did he ever play!!!..........I wish him all the best...............peace
......ad fontes..........
BvilleDon - Posted - 10/11/2009: 22:21:34
One of the Best of the Best.
Don
JoeZ - Posted - 10/12/2009: 04:37:28
"Shelton Special" is available on CD and if you don't have it, get it and enjoy it and learn it. It's great stuff.
Squirrels - nature's little speedbumps. Joe Z
Ebanjo - Posted - 10/12/2009: 05:52:36
Doug,
I'm sorry to hear about Allen. As soon as you post an address, I'll get him a card in the mail. He's a great player and a very nice guy.
Eric Ellis
BanjoDiva - Posted - 10/12/2009: 06:24:44
quote:
Originally posted by JoeZ
"Shelton Special" is available on CD and if you don't have it, get it and enjoy it and learn it. It's great stuff.
Squirrels - nature's little speedbumps. Joe Z
It is one of my favorites. Man, I hate to hear this has happened to Allen. Diva _____________________________________________________  RK R-80 #67 "The Black Dahlia"  banjoholler.com
banjobilly32 - Posted - 10/12/2009: 07:52:09
Somewhere in my possessions I have a picture of Allen with Mac Wiseman, I think it was taken in 1953 while I was serving in Korea. He's always been one of my very favorite pickers. He even looks like a banjo player, long & tall with those great fingers !
DHutchens - Posted - 10/12/2009: 10:48:40
Just got the information
Allen Shelton
c/o Centennial Medical Center
Room 3306
2410 Patterson St.
Nashville, Tn. 37023
Cards and letters are fine, but due to flu, visitation is restricted to immediate family. Non family phone calls are discouraged for now.
Banjophobic - Posted - 10/12/2009: 11:02:26
Prayers and thoughts for Allen are being sent up from our house. Allen has one of the best and most distinctive right hands in banjodom. 
george t kelly - Posted - 10/12/2009: 11:43:42
Thank's Doug for the post on Allen. Its been years since i have talked with you. We met at Cecil Halls place and i do not remember the year. We talked your playing banjo and gibson banjos. James Bailey was showing Stelling banjos out of his car. I met Allen early 1952 in Raleigh N C. He was filling in for Hubert Davis with Hack Johnson on the farm hour on radio station WPTF.
Flying Eagle - Posted - 10/12/2009: 11:45:45
Ditto what Jody said. My instructor is a Jim and Jesse alumnus, and he encouraged me to learn as much from Allen Shelton as I could. I'm still learning from him. Allen Shelton is truly one of the all-time greats on the banjo. He can do it all.
Thanks for keeping us updated on his status. Prayers and a get-well card will be forthcoming.
JW
"Old soldiers and old sailors have a place to go,
but no one helps a railroad bum like poor old Hobo Joe".
robbif - Posted - 10/12/2009: 11:55:01
Doug,
Thanks for the address. Letter goes out in tomorrow's mail.
Here's another photo from that 1969 weekend...
Old South Jamboree, Walker, Louisiana
(Byron Berline, Allen, Mitchell Land, Tootie Williams-hidden, Lonnie Craft)
See the rest at frobbi.org/slides/La1969
Edited by - robbif on 10/12/2009 12:32:13
SandyR - Posted - 10/12/2009: 13:35:29
Doug, thanks for the information on Allen (awfully sorry to hear of the diagnosis) and updating with the address.
KANINJACK - Posted - 10/12/2009: 14:09:11
He is on the prayer list.
lethegoodtimesroll - Posted - 10/12/2009: 14:44:29
Thanks for the information...........I'm not sure if Allen knows how much of a Banjo 'hero".. he is to so many of us.
Edited by - lethegoodtimesroll on 10/12/2009 14:47:53
Rounder 0044 - Posted - 10/12/2009: 16:10:18
Well bummer, a true banjo hero. We almost always open our first set with Shelton Special.......it will be even more special from now on. I sure hope he beats the odds.
Mark
canecreek.net
robbif - Posted - 10/13/2009: 19:01:40
Today I exchanged email with Allen's daughter in law.
She told me:
quote:
He has been in the hospital for four weeks now, but seems to be doing well. We are waiting now for news about his latest chemo treatment. Hopefully he will be able to come home soon.
He is a pretty private man, but would appreciate the prayers.
Edited by - robbif on 10/13/2009 19:12:42
robbif - Posted - 10/14/2009: 08:34:22
Allen's daughter in law just wrote me...
quote:
I got to go on the website today and my family enjoyed reading all of the posted comments. I'm sharing the site with the rest of the family and hopefully Allen will get to see them on a laptop.
creekwater - Posted - 10/14/2009: 09:02:30
Sad news, a prayer sent out. He is one of the best on the ol' 5 thats ever been.
'" too much to pick, too short of time"
[URL=http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo/2749996820105254586HemFRI] [/URL]
steve davis - Posted - 10/14/2009: 09:07:53
There were 2 bluegrass records in Port Clyde Maine when I was growing up.
The Flatt and Scruggs one with FMB and a 45 with Allen Shelton playing Wildwood Flower
in F with a piece of Little Rock Getaway in the B part.
It was amazing to me.
Get well soon Mr. Shelton.
John Allison - Posted - 10/14/2009: 09:31:16
My thoughts and prayers are with him and his family.
Froggie
"Courage is Fear that has said its prayers.
drivin5string - Posted - 10/14/2009: 11:14:04
Allen Shelton is an absolute musical genius.
His playing was, and remains, a catalyst for numerous pickers.
My best wishes and prayers added to those here.
Kevin
SandyR - Posted - 10/16/2009: 00:54:38
To Allen's family: if you can, please put his name in the Search Box and find some past threads where many more things have been written about Allen's phenomenal musicianship and some of the best banjo picking ever done on this planet. I hope his care team is on the cutting edge and he will recover with treatment. Please give him my very best wishes and thoughts from many others who don't post on this forum,
Sandy
dpeacock1 - Posted - 10/16/2009: 09:43:10
I was fortunate to hear Allen a fair number of times whenever Jim & Jessie were performing in North Carolina. I thought his style was a perfect compliment to the McReynolds's music and from what I've heard and read, he a fine person in every respect.
I hope and pray for his recovery.
Doug
Enjoy the music!
myfavefive - Posted - 10/17/2009: 10:02:23
It's not just Allen's big smile that makes others do the same, it's the drive and bounce in his playing that players and fans in the know have respected for years. Our most positive thoughts & prayers for such a great entertainer. Here's a couple of photos from 1985 out here in Darrington, WA to go with Fred's pics:
Tom
Trent in WA - Posted - 10/17/2009: 11:09:45
Allen Shelton is my favorite picker of his generation, and every time I hear the recordings he did with Jim and Jesse in the 60's I smile almost as broadly as he does in these pictures.
myspace.com/trentghill
schwimbo - Posted - 10/18/2009: 06:43:03
I'll just add my wishes to everyone else's for Allen's recovery. I just met him one time (when Jim and Jesse played in Denver a while ago), but I made sure that I told him how much I liked his playing. I always was fond of his playing and have most of the Jim and Jesse recordings from the 1960s that Allen played on. Allen's combination of sophisticated harmony, relaxed, swinging, and driving sound (all at the same time), tasteful and inventive backup, and attention to bringing out the melody make his playing something that is worth studying.
robbif - Posted - 10/18/2009: 06:50:59
I forgot to relate my most unbelievable experience of that weekend in 1969 (See my posts above). After the recording session, we were at someone's house. I found myself sitting on the floor, alone with Allen sitting in a chair. I was firing off requests and he was playing them for me!
The Old Timer - Posted - 10/18/2009: 10:45:43
Myfavefive reminds me of the banjo pickin' term "The Shelton Bounce". Absolutely true!
Plus, he was always smiling!
The Old Timer
I can win the attention of most any girl, wherever I may roam -- But singing and playing on a banjo alone, won't work against a trombone! Uncle Dave
robbif - Posted - 10/19/2009: 05:03:09
Dennis Satterlee, author of Teardrops In My Eyes - The Music Of Harley "Red" Allen, just told me he passed the news to Luke Thompson who called Allen Shelton at the hospital and spoke to him for the first time in years.
Edited by - robbif on 10/19/2009 05:03:45
robbif - Posted - 10/19/2009: 07:35:14
More email from Allen's daughter in law:
quote:
Just wanted you to know that he has had several good days. We're hoping he may get to come home soon.
Today's update: quote:
My family got to go and visit today. He seems to be doing much better. He received many cards over the weekend and today and he wanted me to let everyone know how much he has enjoyed them.
Edited by - robbif on 10/19/2009 17:18:57
keith arneson - Posted - 10/19/2009: 19:07:32
Huge influence on me...get well soon! Prayers sent
keith
robbif - Posted - 10/19/2009: 19:40:50
I couldn't resist sharing another of my 1969 photos from Baton Rouge.
kingre - Posted - 10/19/2009: 21:37:49
I take from Craig Smith and he told me long ago that Allen is absolutely his 2nd favorite banjo player ever (2nd only to Earl).
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