Mitch Jayne

Mitch Jayne (b. Hammond, July 5, 1930 - Columbia, Missouri, August 2, 2010) – Bass player and lyricist. Hammond born Mitch Jayne was the bassist and lyricist of the long-running Dillards, a famous progressive bluegrass group based in California. Before his music career, Mitch Jayne taught in a one-room school house in the Ozark region. While later hosting a bluegrass radio show on KSMO in Salem, Missouri, Jayne invited onto his show brothers Doug and Rodney Dillard, who at the time made up the Ozark Mountain Boys. That encounter led to the formation of the four-piece Dillards in 1962 with Dean Webb on mandolin and an inexperienced Mitch Jayne on bass. After a move to California, the Dillards became an instant success with a contract from Elektra and the opportunity to join the cast of the Andy Griffith Show as the Darlins, a family home-pickin' band led by veteran actor Denver Pyle on jug. In addition to appearing on six episodes from 1963 to 1966, the Dillards established themselves as a powerhouse ensemble and also collaborated with a young Glenn Campbell and Tut Taylor on a side project called the Folkswingers. Although Doug Dillard left the group in 1968 to join the mainstream country rock movement, the Dillards continued to record prolifically and put the aptly titled “It’s About Time” on the pop charts in 1971. In 1974, Mitch left the Dillards because of hearing loss, and following a 1979 reunion the original members had all split ways. Since then, the original lineup has reunited on numerous occasions including a cameo for the movie Return to Mayberry (1986) and an appearance at Denmark’s Tonder Festival in 1999. For many years to follow, the Dillard Brothers performed the band’s repertoire, while Jayne lived in Missouri focusing on writing novels. Inspired by his life in the Ozarks, he published several novels including Fiddler’s Ghost, for which he won the Missouri Governor’s Humanities Book Award in 2008 as well as the Gold Medal Award for Best Mid-West Regional Fiction from the Independent Publishers Association.