Jethro Burns was more than one in a million. Yes, he was a one-in-a-million mandolin player; he was also a one-in-a-million showman, teacher, comedian, guitar player, studio musician, and side man. Jethro lived and worked by old-fashioned show-business standards: you were always loyal to your partner, your contract, your music, your audience. Jethro was not terribly fond of agents. He could spot them at a hundred yards. When interviewers searching for a question that would make interesting reading asked, "What was your worst gig?" he would respond, "There never was a bad gig!"

In the 1930s, Jethro started playing in speakeasies in Knoxville, Tennessee, when he was just a kid. His father had been a Vaudeville performer and gave freely of his knowledge of audiences and routines as Jethro began to do stage shows. Teamed with Henry "Homer" Haynes on guitar and sometimes with his brother Aitchie on bass, they worked as Homer and Jethro and also as the String Dusters, playing square dances, rodeos, radio shows, county fairs, anything and everything around Knoxville. When swing bands would come through town, he would be there for the show, soaking up the music. When black groups like The Jimmy Lunceford Band played, Jethro's white face would be in that audience, too. Jazz was just as much a part of his musical language as country music.

Jethro served as an infantryman in the Pacific during World War II. It was the only non-musical work he ever did, and even then he literally left a foxhole on Guadalcanal to join Special Services and play guitar for the remainder of his hitch. Jethro said there was one problem with that: as a musician, he was not allowed to carry a weapon, and he was often in sticky spots where he would have preferred his M-1 to his guitar!

After the war, Homer and Jethro began to climb the show-business ladder: RCA Victor recording contracts, night clubs, state fairs, TV commercials. They were funny, and the whole country knew it. Their run came to an end when Homer died in August 1971.

In 1975 Jethro partnered with Ken Eidson to publish his techniques with Mel Bay. During his latter years, Jethro enjoyed his status as a world-class mandolin player. His playing skills never diminished, though his health declined. To the end, he was happy to be with his family and friends. He left us on February 4, 1989, at the age of 68, but his playing lives on in his recordings and books.