James Robert Mills (December 18, 1966 – May 3, 2024) was an American musician known primarily as a bluegrass

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

player who played in the three-finger style popularized by

Earl Scruggs Earl Eugene Scruggs (January 6, 1924 – March 28, 2012) was an American musician noted for popularizing a three-finger banjo picking style, now called "Scruggs style", which is a defining characteristic of bluegrass music. His three-finge ...

. Mills was also well known as an expert on pre-war Gibson banjos. He resided in

Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...

.Brantley, Michael. Jim Mills: Banjoist, Businessman, Author. Banjo Newsletter - The 5-String Banjo Magazine 36:9:429 (July 2009) Mills worked as the banjo player for

Ricky Skaggs Rickie Lee Skaggs (born July 18, 1954), known professionally as Ricky Skaggs, is an American neotraditional country and bluegrass singer, musician, producer, and composer. He primarily plays mandolin; however, he also plays fiddle, guitar, ma ...

and

Kentucky Thunder Kentucky Thunder, or Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, is the band that plays with American country and bluegrass singer Ricky Skaggs. Many members of the band have won numerous awards. Bandleader Ricky Skaggs plays mandolin and is the lea ...

for 14 years until the summer of 2010, when he left the band to focus on his business buying, selling and trading rare pre-war banjos. In the 1980s, prior to his stint with Skaggs, Mills performed for five years with

Doyle Lawson Doyle Wayne Lawson (born April 20, 1944) is an American traditional bluegrass and Southern gospel musician. He is best known as a mandolin player, vocalist, producer, and leader of the 6-man group Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver. Lawson was inducte ...

& Quicksilver. He has three solo albums and has performed on many others. He has won the IBMA banjo player of the year award six times (1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006), more than any other player, and also won IBMA Instrumental Album of the Year for his ''Bound to Ride'' album. Mills has won six Grammy Awards. Mills owned several pre-war Gibson Mastertone banjos, including the famous "Mack Crow" banjo (named after its original owner, it is the only factory-produced gold-plated RB-75 that Gibson ever made) and the RB-4 previously owned by the late

Snuffy Jenkins DeWitt "Snuffy" Jenkins (October 27, 1908 – April 29, 1990) was an American old time banjo player and an early proponent of the three-finger banjo style. Biography Jenkins was born in Harris, North Carolina,Trischka, Tony, "Sonny Osborn ...

. Huber Banjos produced a Jim Mills signature model based on the Mack Crow. Mills released a book on pre-war Gibson banjos in 2009, ''Gibson Mastertones: Flathead 5-String Banjos of the 1930s and 1940s.'' Mills died from a heart attack on May 3, 2024, at the age of 57.

Selected discography

Solo albums: * (1998) Bound to Ride * (2002) My Dixie Home * (2005) Hide Head Blues Also performed on: * (1987) Can't Stop Now (Summer Wages)(Folk Library Index (www.folklib.net
Rebel Records, REB-1659, front jacket

back jacket

label side A

side B
* (1989) I Heard the Angels Singing (Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver) * (1990) My Heart is Yours (Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver) * (1992) Pressing on Regardless (Doyle Lawson) * (1992) Treasures Money Can't Buy (Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver) * (1994) Love of a Woman (Bass Mountain Boys) * (1998) Southern Flavor (James Price) * (1999) Ancient Tones (Ricky Skaggs) * (1999) Grass is Blue (Dolly Parton) * (1999) Soldier of the Cross (Ricky Skaggs) * (2000) Carry Me Across the Mountain (Dan Tyminski) * (2000) In the Blue Room ( Alan Bibey) * (2001) History of the Future (Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder) * (2001) Little Sparrow (Dolly Parton) * (2002) Ricky Skaggs Sings the Songs of Bill Monroe (Ricky Skaggs) * (2002) Where I Come From (Bobby Osborne) * (2003) Live at the Charleston Music Hall (Ricky Skaggs) * (2003) The Three Pickers (Earl Scruggs, Doc Watson, & Ricky Skaggs) * (2004) Brand New Strings (Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder) * (2004) School of Bluegrass (Doyle Lawson) * (2005) Skaggs Family Christmas (Ricky Skaggs) * (2006) Instrumentals (Ricky Skaggs) * (2007) Ricky Skaggs and Bruce Hornsby (Ricky Skaggs) * (2008) Honoring the Fathers of Bluegrass: Tribute to 1946 & 1947 (Ricky Skaggs)

References

External Links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mills, Jim 1966 births 2024 deaths Bluegrass musicians from North Carolina Grammy Award winners American country banjoists Country musicians from North Carolina Musicians from Durham, North Carolina 20th-century banjoists 20th-century American musicians 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century banjoists 21st-century American musicians 21st-century American male musicians