Obituary

The bluegrass scene along the US gulf coast lost one of their biggest champions last week when Pat Murphy died at his home in Mobile, AL. He was 67 years of age, and passed after an exhaustive battle with a

Randy Davis, the bass player with Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys from July 1974 through to June 1979, passed away after a short battle with cancer on Friday, September 27, 2019. He was 65 years of age. Stephen Randall “Randy” Davis was

Patricia Martin, the former CEO of Turquoise Records and Executive Director of NAIRD, passed away on Wednesday morning, September 25, 2019.  Born on January 2, 1955, in Whitesburg, Kentucky, Martin worked at Appalshop and later was the founder/owner of Turquoise Records.

Brown Loflin with his wife Ruby at the 2019 Denton festival - photo by Sandy Hatley The bluegrass community lost a friend and promoter on Tuesday. Brown Loflin, owner of the central NC based Denton FarmPark and home to Doyle Lawson

Keith Case, former head of one of the most influential talent agencies managing roots and bluegrass music artists for the past 30 plus years, passed away on September 3, 2019. He was 79 years old.  Born on August 9, 1940, Case started

Bluegrass lovers in central Europe are mourning this week after the sudden and tragic passing of Simon Rick on August 8 in an automobile accident in Osnabrück, Germany. He was 39 years of age. Simon was a noted guitarist and singer

Dick Laird, whose 60-year run in bluegrass included a stint with Jimmy Martin, died Monday at his home in West York, PA. He was just two weeks short of his 75th birthday. He had been undergoing treatment for cancer. “It’s just devasting.

‘Renfro’ Proffitt, cross-picking guitar stylist and one-time member of Ralph Stanley’s Clinch Mountain Boys, passed away at the Community Hospice Care Center in Ashland, Kentucky, on Thursday, July 25, 2019. He was aged 69.  Troy Leen ‘Renfro’ Proffitt, born on July

Eileen Carson, co-founder of the Fiddle Puppet Cloggers and founder and director of Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble, died on July 10 following a lengthy struggle with pancreatic cancer. She was 66 years of age. Not only did Eileen get to know and work

Bill Grant passed away on Tuesday, July 09, 2019, after a brief confinement to hospital following a fall on May 18 that resulted in a fractured leg.  Billy Joe Grant was born in Hugo, Oklahoma on May 9, 1929; a Choctaw