Bill Harrell grew up in the mountains of Southwest Virginia, but he didn't begin to play bluegrass music until he went away to college at the University of Maryland.

His easygoing style of bluegrass appealed to urban fans around Washington, D.C., and he enjoyed a half-century career in the music business that saw him play with some of the genre's legends, including a decade-long stretch with former Roanoker Don Reno and the Tennessee Cut-Ups. He also led his own band, Bill Harrell and the Virginians for more than 20 years.

Harrell died on Wednesday at his home in Davidsonville, Md., at age 74. He had suffered a stroke on June 12, just a few weeks after learning that he had prostate cancer.

"Bill was one of those old-school guys who really worked hard at entertaining a crowd," said bluegrass musician Larry Stephenson, who played in Harrell's band from 1979 until 1983.

"Bill was the complete package. He was a great rhythm guitar player, an excellent songwriter and singer, he was a band leader and a business man. Everything I know about leading a band I learned from Bill."

Harrell recorded several albums in Roanoke at the old Threshold Studio on Elm Avenue for the long-gone Leather Records label. He also recorded for Rebel Records when it was based in Roanoke and played several shows at the old Howard's Soup Kitchen in the 1980s, when it was located on Campbell Avenue and hosted many bluegrass concerts.

Harrell was born in Marion on Sept. 14, 1934. According to a biography written by bluegrass historian Ivan Tribe, Harrell received more formal music training than most early bluegrassers were used to. Rather than learning to play by ear, Harrell learned to read music and took piano lessons.

His interest in bluegrass was piqued in the early 1950s at Maryland, where he played mandolin and sang in several bands around Washington. After a stint in the military, Harrell played in several bands in the early 1960s, including the original version of the Virginians, before hooking up with Reno, the legendary banjo innovator who rose to fame with partner Red Smiley on WDBJ-TV's "Top o' the Morning" program.

Shortly after Smiley's poor health forced his retirement from the road, Harrell joined Reno's group in 1966 and was part of successful run during the bluegrass renaissance of the 1960s and '70s, when the burgeoning festival movement brought larger audiences to the music. The Tennessee Cut-Ups, who were based in Maryland at the time, scored several bluegrass and country hits, which included the Reno classic "I'm Using My Bible for a Road Map."

Harrell reformed the Virginians in 1978 and recorded a dozen albums, many of them in Roanoke.

Last year, Harrell was honored with a Distinguished Achievement Award from the International Bluegrass Music Association. Stephenson, 52, a Harrisonburg native who grew up near Fredericksburg and whose wife is from Franklin County, made the presentation.

"It was long overdue," said Stephenson, who videotaped an interview with Harrell last month for an oral history project at the International Bluegrass Music Museum in Owensboro, Ky.

"He was the best."