Kenneth Carllile [SEP] place of birth
Carllile was born April 2, 1931 in St. Louis, Missouri and grew up on his impoverished father's tenant farm in Harrisburg, Illinois. At age eight he began playing a Dobro resonator guitar won by his sister Evelyn, and after she hid the steel bar, Carllile began using his thumbs. When his father gave him a Silvertone guitar, his small thumb and fingers were too short to make it around the neck, so he played it on his lap like the Dobro.
Biography Early career.
In 1941,
Kenneth Carllile
Kenneth Ray Carllile (April 2, 1931–July 31, 1987), better known as Thumbs Carllile (Carlisle in some collections), was an innovative American country music guitarist and songwriter known for his zither-style fingerstyle playing, sitting with his guitar in his lap while fretting, picking and strumming with his fingers and thumbs. He performed with Little Jimmy Dickens at the Grand Ole Opry in the early 1950s, and was a member of Roger Miller's band from 1964 to 1972.
Biography.
Kenneth