Buck Trent, who played banjo on Dolly Parton's 'Jolene', dies at 85

Buck Trent, 85, a well-regarded banjo player, steel guitarist (among many instruments) and groundbreaking entrepreneur -- whose work influenced country music's 60's era traditional-to-countrypolitan pop evolution -- died on Oct. 9, 2023, in Branson, Missouri.

For three decades in Nashville, acts including Roy Clark, Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner benefitted from his groundbreaking ability to play the electric banjo he invented in a manner that mimicked the sound of a steel guitar alongside numerous other innovative stylings.

Most notably, of his many career successes, he played banjo on Dolly Parton's 1974 hits "Jolene" and "I Will Always Love You."

By the end of 1974, Buck was working with Roy Clark and achieving moments like being part of the first country music act to tour the Soviet Union.

Clark and Trent worked together on two albums, "A Pair of Fives" and "Banjo Bandits," which yielded them Country Music Association's Instrumentalist Group of the Year Awards in 1975 and 1976. In later years, Trent's work with Clark on "Hee-Haw" TV program tracks like "Talking Blues," which ended with Trent saying "Oh Yeah," followed by a signature thumbs up.

The promise realized of working with eventual Country Music Hall of Famers like Bill Carlile and Bill Monroe lured South Carolina native Trent to Nashville after a decade before turning 18 filled with playing in Asheville, North Carolina, alongside Cousin Wilbur and Blondie Brooks, plus appearing on barn dances including Pasadena, California's Hometown Jamboree and Town Hall Party.

In Nashville, he was so quickly popular amongst Grand Ole Opry regulars that he moved from Carlile's band to playing with Monroe's vaunted Bluegrass Boys to, by 1962, working with Porter Wagoner's Wagon Masters.

On the "Porter Wagoner Show," he excelled by developing an appealing blend of virtuoso musicianship and showmanship, making him appealing as an instrumentalist for recordings by Wagoner's "girl singers," Pretty Miss Norma Jean and Parton. Notably, Trent's reel-to-reel recorder was used by Parton to record demos for her 1974 album "Jolene."

Trent's later work in television program orchestras included appearances on Dinah Shore's short-lived 1970s-era variety program and The Nashville Network programs like "Music City Tonight" and "Nashville Now" and "The Marty Stuart Show" alongside numerous credits.

By the late 1980s, his talents helped country music's roots revival's popularity and enduring appeal in tourist destination Branson, Missouri.

In the 1960s, the Baldknobbers Jamboree and Ozark Jubilee barn dance programs gained popularity in areas near and around Branson. By 1983, the Roy Clark Celebrity Theatre opened in Branson. By the mid-1980s, the Porter Wagoner Show, featuring Trent, performed at the Baldknobbers Jamboree Theatre. Enamored by the city, Trent eventually returned to open for Mickey Gilley at the Mickey Gilley Theatre.

By 1991, Trent had departed Nashville for Branson essentially full-time, performing his morning Buck Trent Country Music Show. The show was a Branson favorite for three decades and was on the daily lineup at spaces including the Baldknobbers Jamboree Theatre, Jim Stafford Theater and the Branson Famous Theatre.

Trent's last television appearance was a special guest appearance alongside Parton to celebrate the 50th anniversary of her Grand Ole Opry induction.

At that event, he performed Wagoner’s 1968 hit “Carroll County Accident.”

His last studio recording, 2018's “Spartanburg Blues," was produced by Marty Stuart and Bruce Hoffman and featured Parton, Connie Smith, Stuart and his Fabulous Superlatives band, Rodney and Beverly Dillard, David Frizzell, Vince Gill, Pretty Miss Norma Jean, The Oak Ridge Boys, The Reno Brothers, Jeannie Seely, Ricky Van Shelton and Rhonda Vincent.

Branson Mayor Larry Milton recently proclaimed Dec. 13 as “Buck Trent Day” in Branson. On Friday, Oct. 13, 2023, the American Banjo Museum in Oklahoma City will posthumously induct Buck into the Banjo Hall of Fame alongside Kurt Abell, Grandpa Jones, Norbert Pietsch and Akira Tsumura.

Trent is survived by his wife, Jean Marie Trent, two children, three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

The performer's family asks that donations to honor his memory be made to Marty Stuart’s Congress of Country Music at P.O. Box 1126 Philadelphia, MS 39350 or online at https://www.congressofcountrymusic.org/give.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Buck Trent, banjo player behind Dolly Parton's 'Jolene' and others, dies