How does a kid born in Emory Gap, Tennessee in 1934 go from playing gospel on Dayton, Ohio radio to performing with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic, then opening stadium shows for the Grateful Dead? This episode explores the restless career of mandolin pioneer Frank Wakefield, who was proficient on harmonica, guitar, and upright bass by age eight, switched to mandolin at sixteen after his family moved to Dayton in 1950, and made his radio debut with brother Ralph as the Wakefield Brothers in 1951.

The hosts follow his touring years with Red Allen and the Blue Ridge Mountain Boys, Jimmy Martin, and Marvin Cobb, his first 45 featuring the original New Camptown Races, and the Kentuckians' 1963 Carnegie Hall performance captured on recordings like the Kitchen Tapes. They then trace his move to Washington D.C., where a young Davi ...