On this day …. On July 21, 1998, ace British mandolin player Andy Townend passed away in the Kent and Sussex Hospital, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England, after a short illness. He was aged 46. Born on January 12, 1952, he was a
On This Day
On This Day # 15 – Richard Underwood
On This Day …. On July 14, 1956, Richard Underwood was born in Seabrook, Maryland. The 57 year old is best known for his hard-driving banjo playing for the Johnson Mountain Boys, that great neo-traditional band of the 1980s. Underwood first experienced bluegrass
On This day #14 – Joe Val
On this day ….. On June 25, 1926, Joe Val was born. Joseph Valiante, shortened to Joe Val by Tex Logan, was a bluegrass music pioneer from New England. Born in Everett, Massachusetts, he was a relative late-comer to country music, starting to
On This Day #13 – Gloria Belle
On this day …… June 9 is the birthday of Gloria Belle. Probably best known for being Jimmy Martin's so-called "girl singer" in the late 1960s and into the 1970s, she played mandolin, guitar and bass at different times as a Sunny
On This Day #12 – Ray Park passes
On This Day……………………… On May 15, 2002 Ray Park died. Ray Park (guitar and fiddle) is most notable for his partnership with mandolin player Vern Williams. In 1959 they formed a band called the Carroll County Country Boys; the very first bluegrass
On This Day #11 – Jimmy Martin’s first session for Decca
On This Day ……… On May 9, 1956 Jimmy Martin had his first recording session for Decca Records. At an afternoon session at Bradley Studio, 804 16th Avenue South, Nashville, Tennessee, Jimmy Martin recorded four songs Before the Sun Goes Down, Skip
On this Day #10 – Live At The Ragged Edge
On March 12, 2002, Tom Adams and Michael Cleveland recorded Live At The Ragged Edge (Rounder 82161-0539-2). Tom Adams (banjo) and Michael Cleveland (fiddle) got together for an evening of live music at the Ragged Edge Coffeehouse in Gettysburg, PA, for
On This Day #9 – Earl Taylor
On this day ….. On January 28, 1984, soulful bluegrass singer and mandolin player Earl Taylor died. Earl Taylor was born on June 17, 1929, in rural Rose Hill, Lee County, Virginia. He was the leader of one of the more significant
On this day #8 – Ballad of Jed Clampett
On this day ….. On this day 50 years ago, January 19, 1963, the Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs' recording of the Ballad of Jed Clampett topped the Billboard Hot Country singles charts. The song spent 20 weeks on the charts and
On This Day # 7
On this day in 1923 …… January 10, 1923, Curly Ray Cline was born. Had he lived, the extrovert Curly Ray Cline would have been 90 years old today. Born in Pike County, Kentucky, Cline was inspired to play the fiddle by hearing
