Gloria Belle, a powerful second-generation bluegrass vocalist and instrumentalist, probably best known for stints with Jimmy Martin, passed away on May 5, 2023. She was 84 years of age. Known early on as the Pennsylvania Sunshine Girl, she was probably the first
Chris Strachwitz, founder and president of Arhoolie Records, passed away from complications with congestive heart failure at an assisted living facility in the San Francisco Bay Area's Marin County, California, on May 5, 2023. He was 91 years old. Always
Fans of the limited production Mossman Guitars are in mourning since the death of chief luthier and company owner Bobby Casey at his home in Sulphur Springs, TX on April 28, 2023. He was 85 years of age. Mossman Guitars was
Legendary Canadian folk music star Gordon Lightfoot passed away at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto on Monday evening, May 1, 2023. Age 84, he died of natural causes. The singer-songwriter's most enduring works include If You Could Read My Mind, Sundown, Carefree
Another member of our bluegrass family has passed. Mandolinist, Alan Niederland, 66, of Chapel Hill, NC, passed away on April 4 after a lengthy battle with cancer. Raised up north, he later relocated to North Carolina where he played in
Ivan Tribe, Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Rio Grande, scholar of Appalachian culture, and a renowned expert on traditional country and bluegrass music, passed away on Tuesday April 4, 2023, after a recent spell in hospital. He
This remembrance of Japanese bluegrass artist and scholar Toru Mitsui is a contribution from Neil V. Rosenberg, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Folklore at the Memorial University of Newfoundland. It will also appear in Japan's Moon Shiner magazine. Toru Mitsui
This obituary is a contribution from C.P. Heaton, longtime Florida bluegrass musician. Ken Fish, "Your Bluegrass Reporter" for the Jacksonville Florida Times Union from 1977 to 1999, died on February 7, 2023. He was 87 years of age. He was a lifetime
Utah born bluegrass musician and ace songwriter Ron Spears passed away on March 22, 2023, from complications following surgery for cancer last year. He was 69 years of age, and suffering with other health issues as well. He was a multi-instrumentalist
Alan Stowell performing recently in Florida, and as a younger man This obituary is a contribution from C.P. Heaton, Alan's regular pickin' partner on guitar and banjo in the Gainesville clubs for many years. Florida fiddler and guitarist Alan Stowell, 78, died
