They worked the local bars along Dayton's Fifth Street as well as the rough blue collar taverns which made up the Ohio and Michigan bluegrass circuit at the time.
Allen first came to broader public attention in 1956 when he joined the Osborne Brothers to fill out one of the most influential vocal trios in the history of country music.
Frank Wakefield, meanwhile had also returned to Dayton having himself garnered national exposure with the release of some hot selling singles recorded in Detroit the year before including the seminal mandolin instrumental New Camptown Races and also touring with Jimmy Martin and the Sunny Mountain Boys.
The Washington, D.C., area had a thriving bluegrass scene which included Buzz Busby and the Bayou Boys, The Country Gentlemen, Don Reno and Red Smiley and the Tennessee Cutups, The Stoneman Family and Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper.
On July 4, 1961, the band was among a small handful invited to perform at Bill Clifton's first-ever one day Bluegrass Festival held at Luray, Virginia.
In November 1961, Allen and Wakefield recorded six sides in Nashville with a group that included banjo legend Don Reno, fiddle master Chubby Wise and bassist John Palmer for the Starday label featuring the popular Trouble 'Round My Door and Beautiful Blue Eyes.
In addition to Wakefield, at various times the touring version of The Kentuckians included Tom Morgan on bass, Pete Kuykendall, Bill Keith or Ralph Robinson on banjo and Scotty Stoneman or Billy Baker on fiddle.
[2] Until the Osbornes' 1958 hit Once More, the typical arrangement called for a lead" singer to provide the melody with a tenor singing a higher part with a baritone below.
Allen sang the baritone just below the melody and banjo player Sonny Osborne provided the tenor a full octave below its place in a traditional arrangement.