Boys From Indianna Archives

Paul and Joe Mullins to Ohio Country Music Hall of Fame

The Ohio Country Music Hall of Fame in Waynesville, OH has announced that Paul “Moon” Mullins and his son, Joe Mullins, will be inducted in 2025. Both father and son are recognized as bluegrass music icons, as well as celebrated radio broadcasters, in the state of Ohio.

Current bluegrass lovers are well acquainted with Joe, from his highly-successful touring band, The Radio Ramblers, his country and bluegrass radio network in southwestern Ohio, Real Roots Radio, and his twice-yearly festivals, Industrial Strength Bluegrass. But Joe is quick to attribute his natural talent, his professionalism, and his passion of broadcasting to his dad, along with his love for bluegrass and gospel music.

Paul, who died in 2008 at 71 years of age, was among the many Kentuckians who moved north to southern Ohio in search of work, though his career in music started in eastern Kentucky. A noted fiddler, a skill he picked up while stationed in Alaska with the US Army in the late 1950s, he went to work for The Stanley Brothers for a time when he was discharged. He then joined The Bluegrass Playboys, for whom he wrote the now classic song, Katy Daley, which they recorded as Katie Daly, which was based on an Irish drinking song.

As he became a popular radio host in Kentucky, and later Ohio, “Moon,” a nickname that derived from a popular comic strip, was also sought out as an MC at bluegrass festivals, a role he also served at the Bean Blossom Bluegrass Festivals in Brown County, IN at Bill Monroe’s behest.

Paul was involved in the founding of two 20th Century bluegrass bands that make the history books, The Boys From Indiana and The Traditional Grass, the latter of which was the bluegrass world’s introduction to a fresh-faced young banjo player and tenor singer named Joe Mullins.

That tenure with The Traditional Grass allowed Joe to go from a band member in his father’s group to leading his own band, absent the many years of working as a sideman with various groups on the way to becoming a solo artist. His own radio career was cemented when he purchased WBZI in Xenia, OH in 1995, followed shortly thereafter by a pair of other small regional stations. The Real Roots Radio signal now broadcasts on all three, as well as via online streaming, covering the bulk of southwestern Ohio and parts of Cincinnati and northern Kentucky.

Joe Mullins carries the family name forward in bluegrass with his many activities, which include hosting the widely-syndicated radio show, Front Porch Fellowship, while his son, Daniel, makes his own career in the bluegrass business world. Daniel has a popular noon time show on Real Roots Radio, and currently manages the two annual Industrial Strength Bluegrass Festivals.

Ohio Country Music Hall of Fame Director Jackie Thomas says of their 2025 inductees…

“The Ohio Country Music Hall of Fame remains true to its commitment of honoring Ohioans who have excelled in maintaining the genre of traditional country music with the induction of Paul Mullins (posthumously) and Joe Mullins. Both men have made it their mission to promote and preserve Ohio’s rich musical legacy. Their commitment to this aligns perfectly with our mission to ‘preserve the past in order to ensure the future’ for generations to come.”

The Mullinses will be inducted on April 26 during a ceremony at the Keepin’ It Country Farm in Waynesville, OH, starting at 7:00 p.m. The Radio Ramblers will perform, along with The Richard Lynch Band. Tickets for the show can be purchased online.

Many congratulations to Joe and Paul Mullins for this richly deserved honor!

Aubrey Holt passes

Aubrey Holt, founding member and primary vocalist with The Boys From Indiana, passed away on October 5. He was 79 years of age and had been ill for some time.

A beloved entertainer at bluegrass events, Holt also wrote a number of songs that have become staples in the bluegrass catalog, none more so than his Civil War ballad, Atlanta Is Burning.

Joe Mullins shared this remembrance from his perspective as a close witness to the Boys, and a friend to Aubrey until his passing.

“One of the great singers, songwriters and showman has left us. But he has left us hundreds of songs and thousands of wonderful memories.

My memories of Aubrey Holt go back to the early ’70s when he, his brother Jerry and their uncle Harley Gabbard first started doing shows with my my dad, Paul Mullins. As a popular radio personality and fiddler, dad always had a connection to other regional performers he could assemble when work came his way for a radio promotion, county fair, or local event. Dad had such a love for the Holt and Gabbard families. Their friendship was in place before their professional relationship. They always enjoyed hunting and fishing together as well as making music. On the air, if dad was in charge of promoting bluegrass entertainment at any function, by 1973-74, he would announce that wild bunch of ‘Boys from Indiana’ will be on hand to pick and sing. Along with Dad on fiddle and Noah Crase on banjo, they became an in demand act everywhere within a year or two.

Besides all of this crew being great showmen, the Boys had a phenomenal trio and a songwriter who churned out great original tunes by the dozen – Aubrey Holt. His songs propelled the band and created a connection with legions of fans everywhere.

The first album was titled We Missed You in Church Last Sunday. The second was Atlanta is Burning. These two songs alone are stills favorites at bluegrass gatherings everywhere. Add in dozens of others that are still heard today by our favorite artists and we must be thankful for Aubrey’s great gifts.

The Grascals, Alison Krauss, Blue Highway, Flatt Lonesome, The Radio Ramblers, Feller and Hill and many other bluegrass artists have covered songs written by Aubrey and first recorded by the Boys from Indiana.

In addition to the songwriting, Aubrey was a fine lead and tenor singer. He sang both parts on dozens of BFI recordings and hundreds of shows from the early ’70s until they stopped touring in the mid ’90s. Aubrey’s songwriting and great tenor singing was still featured along side his son Tony Holt with the Wildwood Valley Boys until just a couple of years ago.

Off stage, he was a ton of fun and always quick with a smile or a good story. As a kid hanging around years ago, he always made time for me. He also let me on stage as a kid with the Boys as a guest along with dad, even after dad had left the group in the late ’70s. I also have fantastic memories of filling in on banjo with the Boys several times in the 1990s. Traveling with those guys was unforgettable! So many good laughs and they were all good cooks and big eaters. And I know hundreds remember the BFI hospitality suite at the first several IBMA gatherings.

In later years, Aubrey was still so creative. Besides songs, I have emails saved from the past 15 years or so from Aubrey – his wit and personality came through in every word.

He’s been in our prayers the past few years and now he’s resting in peace. Gone on before and never forgotten by the bluegrass community he loved and who will always love him, his songs and the cherished memories.”

The family will accept visitors tomorrow, October 10, at Hope Baptist Church in Dillsboro, IN from 3:00-7:00 p.m. Funeral services will be held there on the 11th at 10:00 a.m. Burial with military rites will occur afterwards at New Craven Cemetery at Milan, IN.

The family requests that memorials be made in his name to the Aubrey Holt Music Scholarship.

R.I.P., Aubrey Holt.

Prayers requested for Aubrey Holt

We have heard some sad news from the family of Aubrey Holt, long time bluegrass singer and entertainer, and founding member of the highly-influential Boys From Indiana.

According to Holt’s nephew, Tom Feller, 77 year old Aubrey suffered a stroke about three weeks ago. While the stroke itself was only moderate in severity, and he is making gradual improvements, he is set to be moved shortly to a rehab facility in Greensburg, IN for therapy. Aubrey also requires regular dialysis treatment which will also be provided there.

Throughout the run of the Boys From Indiana, Aubrey Holt was among the most recognized and admired vocalists in bluegrass. From the 1970s until the early ’90s, The Boys were staples at bluegrass events in the central US with more than a dozen popular recordings on King, Old Heritage, and Rebel Records. Other prominent members had included Holt’s uncle Harley Gabbard on banjo, Paul “Moon” Mullins on fiddle, Noah Crase on banjo, and Jerry Holt on bass.

Aubrey wrote much of the band’s material, and his emotional stage delivery of numbers like Atlanta Is Burning remain top memories of the era for fans who saw them live.

He has experienced a number of health challenges this past few years, including bouts with congestive heart failure and kidney disease. Before these problems sidelined him, Aubrey had been performing with his son, Tony, and his band, The Wildwood Valley Boys.

The family asks for prayers for Aubrey, and that fans and friends might send along notes of encouragement to:

Aubrey Holt
8999 E. Co. Rd. 575 N.
Milan, Indiana 47031

Let’s all hope for better news in the next report.

Reissue track from The Boys From Indiana

Tom Feller has released a video that demonstrates what he has been up to much of the past year or so.

He’s spent a good many hours going through both audio and film files from the hey day of the legendary Boys From Indiana with an eye towards making it available to the public. Much of this is material that hasn’t been seen since the late 1970s and ’80s, if at all.

A Boys From Indiana Museum web site is in the works, which Feller plans to utilize to make photos, music, and video available to fans both old and new. Tom’s uncle, Aubrey Holt, was a founding member of the band and he and the other founding members have retained an exhaustive collection of material from their many years on the road.

To help publicize this project, Tom is giving away a free download in exchange for your name and email address. It’s a remixed/remastered BFI track from their 1980 Show Me My Home album entitled, Back To The Country, written by Aubrey Holt.

Feller has obtained the original studio multitrack tapes, and permission to create a newly mixed version in digital form. Personnel include Aubrey Holt on guitar, Jerry Holt on bass, Harley Gabbard on reso-guitar, Tom Holt on mandolin, Paul Mullins on fiddle, and Rodney Case on banjo.

Here is the reworked audio set against home movies for the 1980s.

Feller said that while working on the audio, he marveled at the consistent quality of the singing.

“The most amazing part about this song, to me, is the singing. The vocals are outstanding and absolutely no autotune was used in the remix…it simply didn’t need it. I wanted to showcase this song as an ispiration to new artists which should illustrate that back in the day, the old-school way was to just get it right during the recording process and you can hear the results that stand the test of time. This song is nearly 36 years old and sounds like it was recorded yesterday.”

To get your free download copy of the track, just visit the Boys From Indiana site online. It is not available anywhere else.

Feller also tells us that he has scheduled a video interview with “The Boys,” to be hosted by Daniel Mullins, grandson of BFI fiddler Paul “Moon” Mullins. With Aubrey’s health on the mend at last, they are even talking about the possibility of recording again with the remaining members.

Can’t wait to hear more about that.

Boys From Indiana web site preview

Tom Feller has spent much of this summer working on the upcoming debut of a new web site remembering the wonderful music of The Boys From Indiana.

In addition to running his own band with Chris Hill, maintaining a studio and a sound reinforcement company together, Tom is a direct descendant of the two brothers who started The Boys From Indiana, Aubrey and Jerry Holt, back in 1973. A third Holt brother, Tom, joined the group a few years later. For Feller, their music was as much a part of his childhood as anything else he did, and preserving and continuing their sound is his current passion.

Supporting his uncle Aubrey is another, as the elder Holt has been quite ill and unable to perform since earlier this year. So Tom is currently completing an online Boys From Indiana Museum, set to officially launch with exclusive content in 2016, with 50% of all funds raised going to Aubrey Holt.

The new site will be hosted at www.boysfromindiana.com, and operated as a membership site. Bluegrass fans will be familiar with the concept, as in the Doyle Lawson Family of Friends fan site or the Balsam Nation site for fans of Balsam Range. Both offer special content and premiums to members who pay roughly $10/month to access it.

Feller tells us that the BFI site became possible only recently when he came into possession of a treasure trove of band memoribilia, and started the process of recutting some of their classic songs.

“In the past year, I have secured a high volume of exclusive content that I’ve known about for quite some time, but couldn’t get my hands on. After some negotiation, I was finally able to convince Aubrey Holt to share this content and now I want to share it with the bluegrass community and the world. The website will have some basic content, but will feature a VIP membership area where exclusive content will be available each month to members. VIP Membership will be in the neighborhood of $9.99 per month and provide access to exclusive video, photo collections, previously unreleased songs, remakes of their classic songs in the original arrangements (over 60 have been selected for recording by many family members and an A-list of musicians), along with stories and interviews with some of the ‘Boys,’ will make this the world’s largest online resource for the Boys From Indiana.

Videos and songs will be presented to VIP members in ‘monthly installments.’ With over 60 songs being remade, it’s obviously a huge undertaking. For the price they would normally pay for downloading one album each month from Itunes, fans can look forward to new songs and videos being made available each month that will literally provide years of fresh entertainment. It’s important for fans to remember that all songs and videos will be exclusive to the website and not available for release anywhere else.”

As a tease, Tom has put this video together as an example of what will be available on the site when it is fully functional.

Updates about the BFI Museum will be posted as the launch date draws near on both the Feller & Hill site, and on their Facebook page.

Aubrey Holt Update

Aubrey Holt is, without a doubt, one of the greatest songwriters in the history of bluegrass music. That is an undeniable fact.

Aubrey rose to prominence alongside his brothers, Tom and Jerry Holt; his uncle, Harley Gabbard; and friends, Paul “Moon” Mullins and Noah Crase as The Boys From Indiana. The Boys From Indiana were one of the premiere festival acts of the seventies and eighties due to their energetic stage shows, tight harmonies, and Aubrey’s original songs. Atlanta Is Burning, arguably the band’s most enduring hit, has become a bluegrass standard.

Aubrey’s songs have been recorded by the likes of Blue Highway, The Grascals, Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers, Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper, Dry Branch Fire Squad, Vince Gill, Rhonda Vincent, Feller & Hill, and more. Below is just a small sampling of the Aubrey’s songwriting credits.

Atlanta Is Burning
Feeling Blue
Good Time Blues
Headin’ South
Here Comes Polly
Hey Baby
My Night To Howl
Sad Wind Sighs
We Missed You In Church Last Sunday
When The Warden Turns The Key
You Can Mark It Down

After a very successful run, The Boys From Indiana retired in the nineties. However, Aubrey’s son, Tony Holt continues the band’s style of bluegrass with his own band, Tony Holt & The Wildwood Valley Boys. Aubrey had been traveling with The Wildwood Valley Boys for the past several years, until health complications earlier this year forced him to retire full time. Aubrey’s health issues have included congestive heart failure and kidney problems, resulting in a mound of medical bills.

However, our bluegrass community came through in a BIG way to help Aubrey this past weekend. The Bluegrass Benefit for Aubrey Holt was this past Sunday, August 9th, at Turfway Park in Florence, KY. The all-star benefit for this bluegrass legend featured Rhonda Vincent & The Rage, The Grascals, Michael Cleveland & Friends, Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers, Feller & Hill, and The Wildwood Valley Boys all celebrating the music of Aubrey Holt in an effort to raise money to help with medical expenses.

The best news is, Aubrey was able to attend! Aubrey is doing better and is in good spirits. His nephew, Tom Feller of Feller & Hill, passed along this update after the benefit.

The show was an overwhelming success! The helpful staff and the beautiful weather added to that success. The event raised $10,600 on Sunday. Aubrey’s wife informed me that they have also received more that $3,500 in private donations and the Give Forward campaign has received over $1,300, at last glance. It will remain open for donations until the beginning of September. Aubrey and Thelma both had tears of joy when I presented them the earnings, and they asked me to thank as many people as I could for all the donations and support in their time of need. Special thanks once again to all the artists who generously donated their time and efforts. We were blessed with a first class lineup, and we are so thankful for such a wonderful day. Terri Hudson was the winner of the Nichols Road guitar donated by Bruce Clark and the raffle raised $1200 towards the cause

Wonderful news! Thanks to all who came out to support Aubrey Holt, proving that, once again, the bluegrass community is the most supportive and most generous in the entertainment industry.

Aubrey Holt benefit show August 9

As we knew would surely happen, friends and family of Aubrey Holt, of the legendary Boys From Indiana, have scheduled a benefit concert to assist the medical fund set up his needs.

It will be held starting at 1:00 p.m. on August 9 at Turfway Park in Florence, KY. Set to perform are Joe Mullins & the Radio Ramblers, Rhonda Vincent & the Rage, The Grascals, Feller & Hill, Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper, and The Wildwood Valley Boys, with whom Aubrey had been touring until his kidney problems made that impossible.

Tickets are offered at $25 in advance, and for $30 at the door. They can be purchased from WOBO FM by calling 859-992-5575 or 513-724-3999.

Food and drink will be available on site, along with raffles and giveaways. The show is expected to run until 8:30 p.m.

The medical fund is set up as a GiveForward page, where pledges/donations can be processed using a credit card. It was established to help Aubrey cover his medical deductibles and uncovered expenses.

As of earlier today (6/29), only $690 of the hoped-for $10,000 had been committed. If you recall the beautiful bluegrass music Aubrey has made through his life, please consider a small donation.

Fundraising page for Aubrey Holt

We’ve posted several times of late about the health issues Aubrey Holt has experienced this past year. He has been suffering kidney problems and has trouble getting around since a lengthy hospital stay affected his legs. Aubrey is currently doing rehab in a nursing facility in Batesville, Indiana.

Holt has given pretty much his whole life to bluegrass music, touring extensively with The Boys From Indiana, and more recently with his son Tony and The Wildwood Valley Boys. Now he could use some of that love turned back his way.

At this point, Aubrey is unable to be considered for a kidney transplant, as he is still experiencing heart problems as well. He is facing some time in rehab, and medical bills are starting to pile up. Fortunately, he has some benefits through the Veterans Administration from his time in the US Navy, and Medicare, but co-pays for dialysis and other treatments are beyond what his savings can bear.

As his nephew Tom Feller put it on a GiveForward page which is accepting donations for Aubrey…

“As you might have figured out by now, being a lifetime musician leaves Aubrey and his family with little retirement to live on, aside from occasional royalty checks from his BMI songwriting account. Not being able to perform onstage, since February, also leaves him and his family with no performing income.”

Please consider a donation if you can.

Personal notes and cards can be sent to the following address…

8999 East County Rd 575 N
Milan, IN 47031

… and donations to his medical fund can be submitted online, or by using the widget below.

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Any donations will be deeply appreciated.

Aubrey Holt hospitalized

Aubrey Holt, Indiana bluegrass patriarch and part of the legendary Boys From Indiana, has been admitted to the Veterans Hospital in Cincinnati. He will be treated for congestive heart failure, and to remove fluid from around his heart.

His family says that he has been feeling poorly all this week, and after a trip to the emergency department, he has been admitted for treatment.

It is expected that Holt will only remain in the hospital for a few days, possibly being released on Tuesday.

Recently, Aubrey has been performing with his son, Tony, in the Wildwood Valley Boys.

Let’s hope to hear good news next week, and see a full and quick recovery.

Album of the Week #37: The Boys From Indiana’s Atlanta Is Burning

Few bluegrass acts have dominated the Midwest, primarily the OKI (Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana) region, as The Boys From Indiana did in the late seventies. Known for their lively stage shows and strong original songs, The Boys From Indiana were one of the top festival acts of their era. The “classic” lineup of the group featured brothers, Aubrey and Jerry Holt, alongside their uncle, Harley Gabbard, with Paul Mullins and Noah Crase.

Paul had been friends with Aubrey, Jerry, and Harley for a while. Paul would frequently have them come across the Indiana border to play various bluegrass events in the Miami Valley of Ohio, which he promoted on WPFB in Middletown. On the air, Paul would refer to “those wild boys from Indiana!” Well, the moniker stuck and when Aubrey, Jerry, and Harley recruited Paul and Noah to form an actual bluegrass band, they had a built-in name.

The band’s first major album release is revered as a bluegrass classic. Originally released by King Bluegrass and later re-issued by Rebel Records, the 1974 album, Atlanta Is Burning, introduced the powerful music of The Boys From Indiana to the rest of the bluegrass world.

The album kicks off with a rousing number, perfect for a Saturday night. In under two minutes, you will absolutely fall in love with this band. Aubrey Holt’s My Night To Howl is one of the best rowdy bluegrass songs you can find.

I’m gonna play loud music
Gonna drink hard liquor
Gonna chase wild women
Tonight’s my night to howl!

Yeah – you can’t beat that.

The album features another great “good time” tune: Good Time Blues. Also an Aubrey Holt original, Good Time Blues became the title track for their 2006 greatest hits collection on Rebel Records. It’s one of my favorite songs from The Boys From Indiana’s illustrious catalog. It kicks off with Harley Gabbard’s bluesy dobro, then Paul Mullins and Noah Crase’s grassy fiddle and banjo come in to get you steadily patting your foot and clapping your hands along with this fun little number. With lines such as, “When I was just fifteen I ran away from home, wearing my daddy’s only pair of shoes,” and “I can’t go back cause I’m too ashamed. They can see me coming just like bad news,” we are reminded why Aubrey Holt is one the best songwriters bluegrass has ever had. Modern bluegrass fans may remember a latter rendition of this song, as it appeared on Blue Highway’s debut album.

Boudleaux Bryant once said that they key to writing a hit song was to include the word blue in it. Perhaps Aubrey Holt picked up that pointer when he penned Feeling Blue. Every good bluegrass band needs a sad song that sounds happy, and that’s exactly what Feeling Blue is. Later recorded by avid Boys From Indiana fans, the Grascals, as well as the band’s modern equivalents, The Wildwood Valley Boys, this song is 100% pure bluegrass.

The Atlanta Is Burning Album also features great songs such as Tom T. Hall’s Kentucky In The Morning, one of the best renditions of The Girl In The Blue Velvet Band, and another solid Aubrey Holt original, I Miss My Indiana (still waiting for The Grascals to cut this one *hint-hint*). However, without a doubt, the album’s crowning jewel is the title track.

Arguably one of the most well-written bluegrass songs ever, Atlanta Is Burning is nothing short of a masterpiece. The song tells the story of a rebel soldier longing for his Georgia home during the Civil War. Aubrey was inspired by the cinematic classic, Gone With The Wind when he wrote the song. “Some people can write without inspiration, but I need something to inspire me. I just write the way I feel. It’s a talent God gave me — I don’t write the songs, I just hold the pen,” said Aubrey.

You are instantly drawn into this soldier’s story, as he tells of the wife he married a week before leaving, and of the child he has never seen. Roughly halfway through the song, Paul Mullins’ fiddle delivers one of the most recognizable transitions in bluegrass, as the scales tip in this soldier’s story. After being a solo vocal from Aubrey throughout the first half of the song, the song moves to a trio throughout, following Paul’s mournful fiddle. The trio of Aubrey, Jerry, and Harley is, unfortunately, one of the most underrated in bluegrass. This trio continues throughout the rest of the song as the soldier watches Atlanta burn to the ground, and we join the soldier as he dies on the battlefield. “My thoughts wander southward as I fall to sleep,” is one of the most haunting lines in bluegrass as the song ends and leaves you stunned.

If you haven’t dug out any of The Boys From Indiana’s music recently or if you are unfamiliar with this midwestern band, I strongly recommend that you fill that void in your life as quickly as possible. They had a sound all of their own, and their music has influenced many modern bluegrass bands including The Grascals, Blue Highway, Feller & Hill, and Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers.

Atlanta Is Burning was originally released by the King Bluegrass label in 1974, and later re-released by Rebel Records in 1980. In order to have the complete album, you may have to do some digging through old records. Thankfully though, half of the album was included on the 2006 Boys From Indiana collection on Rebel Records, Good Time Blues (REB-7514). Good Time Blues is available through County Sales, the Classic Country Connection, and can be downloaded through iTunes and AmazonMP3.

Be sure to check out this classic! As Harley Gabbard would say, “It’s a dandy!”

(Fun Fact: Brothers, Aubrey and Jerry Holt were both born this past weekend on August 15 – Aubrey in 1938 and Jerry in 1941. Happy Birthday!)