Barney McKenna: Tim Carter on Bluegrass Today

A week after the death of Earl Scruggs, who transformed the position of the 5-string banjo in American music since the 1940s, Barney McKenna has died - unexpectedly but apparently peacefully, at the age of 72 - this morning in his home at Howth, Co. Dublin, having similarly transformed the position of the tenor banjo in Irish music since the 1960s.

News items so far published in the Irish media include those from the Irish Independent, the Irish Times, and RTE news. As reported on the BIB on 7 Feb. 2012, he had recently taken part in recording an album with the Carter Brothers (USA) and other distinguished musicians. Tim Carter of the Carter Brothers has contributed a brief appreciation of Barney to Bluegrass Today, which can be read here.

Update 7 Apr.: the Daily Telegraph obituary, published today, can be read online here.