Education
After Compton had finished his education at the Meridian Junior College he moved to Nashville and joined Hubert Davis and the Season Travelers in 1977.
After Compton had finished his education at the Meridian Junior College he moved to Nashville and joined Hubert Davis and the Season Travelers in 1977.
He is considered a modern master of bluegrass mandolin. Compton learned music from an early age as his great-grandfather was an old-time fiddler. He became interested in bluegrass music and eventually learned to play like Bill Monroe.
At the Bean Blossom Bluegrass Festival in 1975, he finally met Monroe.
Four years later, in 1981, he left Davis" band. He spent the early 1980s working as a cook, a printer, and only occasionally as a musician.
In the mid-1980s, he joined the but left the band in 1988 due to a road accident where bass player Mark Hembree was injured. Compton moved to the Catskill Mountains in 1991 working as a cottage caretaker.
The next year, he returned to Nashville to record an album with David Grier.
Because session work was scarce, Compton began teaching mandolin. In 1995, he recorded with Bill Monroe"s Bluegrass Boys. Compton joined in the mid 1990s recording several albums together with him.
In 2000, Compton returned to the as a replacement for the mandolin player Roland White.
