Lance Leroy, 1930-2015; Jimmy Maynard, 1928-2015

We learn with regret from Bluegrass Today that Lansing B. 'Lance' Leroy, manager, agent, and one of the most widely known and respected figures in the bluegrass music world, died yesterday. He was a founder member of the IBMA in 1985, and was inducted into the Bluegrass Hall of Fame in 2000 (the same year as Doc Watson). John Lawless writes in BT:

His many friends in Nashville... say he wasn’t interested in the glory for himself, but always demanded that bluegrass entertainers be treated with the same respect that was accorded to the country music stars. It’s not too much to suggest that Lance Leroy designed the template for how business is conducted in bluegrass, with a level of professionalism that we now take for granted.

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Jimmy Maynard (b. 1928) died on Tuesday this week. His long career in bluegrass included playing and recording as guitarist and lead singer in Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys in the early 1960s. A feature by Richard Thompson on his life and career, together with a video of Jimmy singing 'I wonder where you are tonight' (with Curly Seckler singing tenor), is on Bluegrass Today.