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,George Lawrence: mandolin, harmony vocalistWhen I was 4 or 5 years old, my brothers and I had a young guy for a babysitter. He had a guitar which we thought was pronounced "good tire".   It was a real disappointment to learn the rest of the world called it something else.   The word "guitar" never did sound as great as "good tire".    I thought Gene Autry played a good tire and that was good enough for me.    I don't remember the babysitter playing the guitar but I would sneak up to where it was laying on the kitchen table and make noises on the strings.   It was magic.
When my brother Jim Ray was 15 and I was 16 years old, Dad and Mom got me an old acoustic Kay arch top (I still have it) and my brother got a big black and pink acoustic. We taught ourselves chords and music notation and played together until I stepped off the top bunk and right through his guitar. He never thought to demand my guitar as a replacement.
I was born in East Tennessee where my mother is from. Dad is from Missouri. We came north to Kenosha , WI in 1949. I didn't know much about bluegrass but I knew I loved the sound of 5-string banjos, mandolins, and fiddles.   Growing up I listened to The Everly Brothers, Roy Orbison,   Johnny Rivers,   Hank Williams, Johnny Horton,   and Chuck Berry , among many others
In 1985 I found some people in the Kenosha area that played bluegrass music.    In the early 90's I started teaching myself 5-string banjo (drove my wife and kids nuts - they called it that obnoxious instrument).   I couldn't get enough of it. Since then I formed the Lawrence Family Band with my daughters and wife.   I've taught myself dobro, and mandolin (I play a l994 Czech made Krishot F5 style), and besides owning an HD-28 Martin guitar I now have a D-18 Golden Era Martin guitar (which I like a whole lot). I bought my banjo in the mid-nineties from a Windsor chair maker from North Chicago, Il. He made the birdseye maple banjo for himself but never learned to play.
One of the most exciting moments for me in music was when Beth, Melissa, and I won the trio/quartet gospel singing competition at the State of Tennessee Official Fiddler's Convention in Smithville, Tn in l997. All three girls occasionally return home to play as the Lawrence Family.
Besides playing mandolin with the Front Porch Boys, I have been teaching bluegrass mini courses in guitar, mandolin, banjo, and jam sessions, for the last several years at the University of WI. Parkside.