Randy Waller was born in
Washington D.C. in 1959 Randy grew up surrounded by the music of The Country
Gentlemen. "Those musicians were like family to me," he says, of the giants like
Eddy Adcock, Jimmy Gaudreau, Bill Yates, Ricky Scaggs, Jerry Douglas, and Doyle
Lawson. Spending the school year on a farm in Tennessee with his dad's sister,
he traveled the roads with Charlie in the summers, soaking up ground breaking
music and learning of life in a traveling bluegrass band.
When he finished his schooling, he chose to make his living playing music
developing a solo career that found him opening for major country acts, fronting
regional country and country-rock bands, and teaching guitar in Richmond,
Virginia. This wide and varied musical exposure has given Randy a deep knowledge
and understanding of all kinds of music which has allowed him to draw from many
genre.
Randy has always been his dad's biggest fan. To be able to replace him as the
lead singer and guitar player with The Country Gentlemen is a dream come true.
When Randy was about four years old, Charlie promised him he would give him his
Martin D28 Herringbone guitar if he learned to play it well. In 2002, Charlie
kept his promise and gave Randy the instrument of his dreams. Randy wrote a song
about the guitar and his dad which is the featured song on Randy's first CD.
"Daddy's Old Guitar" brings a tear to many eyes as it did to Charlie's when he
first heard it performed at the 2003 SPBGMA Music Awards Show in Nashville.
Randy and the Country Gentlemen have just released their second Lendel Records
recording, "Keeper of the Flame" and Randy is proving himself worthy to do just
that as he carries on the tradition of great music from this legendary band that
Charlie Waller joined 47 years ago.
