Born in East Tennessee, Enos Johnson learned to play both guitar and mandolin. While working on radio for grocery store entrepreneur Cas Walker on WCRK in Morristown, Tennessee, Enos met Jimmy Martin, and the two of them formed a duet. They left WCRK and came north to WPFB in Middletown, where they worked with Smokey Ward. Enos and Jimmy split, and Enos started working with Sonny Osborne and Carlos Brock at WPFB. He was part of Sonny’s band when they recorded for Kentucky and Gateway Records in Cincinnati and did quite a bit of the lead singing. When the band eventually moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, Enos quit because he had a family and needed the security of a day job. Later he worked for Bill Monroe for a few months and then, in the 1970s, entertained tourists in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, with Jack Grooms and the Smoky Mountain Travelers.
JOHNSON, ENOS (1928-2009)