Rodney Dillard’s miraculous Christian transformation

The rocky, winding road leading to Rodney Dillard’s Christian salvation is laid bare in a startling interview. As the frontman for 1960s country rock-bluegrass outfit the Dillards, the “Wheatstraw Suite“ artist is seen here strumming a Takamine acoustic guitar handed to him by a fan after a Mayberry Values performance held inside Frederica Baptist Church, St. Simons Island, Georgia, on September 25, 2011. Photography by Jeremy Roberts

Best known as the lead singer, composer, producer, and guitarist for trailblazing bluegrass quartet the Dillards, a 10-year-old Rodney Dillard first responded to the altar call in a Baptist church in rural Salem, Missouri, after just-installed Reverend William Wynn’s imposing son Bear threatened Dillard with a post-service whipping if he didn’t step forward and make his daddy look good in the eyes of the waiting congregation.

The bright lights of show biz beckoned, and Dillard espoused a heady rock and roll lifestyle in Los Angeles for nearly 20 years, guest-starring in six episodes of The Andy Griffith Show as the dim-witted Darling Family mountain guitar picker, rubbing elbows with Elektra Records label mates Jim Morrison and the Doors, singing on Hugh Hefner’s Playboy After Dark, and stumbling upon box office champion Steve McQueen. However, the pioneering country rocker, name-checked as an influence by Eagles drummer-singer Don Henley, was never really satisfied and didn’t possess that inner peace that so many Christians talk about.

A serendipitous encounter with soon-to-be second wife after a Dillards gig in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, miraculously turned his life around a complete 360 degrees in the early ’80s. Already a Christian, Beverly Cotten was an accomplished clawhammer banjo picker on the long-running, syndicated…