Past visitors from the Mother Country

Early in October 2015, bluegrass singer/ songwriter Milan Miller (left) was in Ireland, playing informally in the Cork area with Kay & Patrick Crouch (below) of Strictly Clean and Decent from Lenoir, NC. His album Poison Cove (2013) is now being followed by an EP, Timepiece, due for release in January 2018. The title track, co-written with Beth Husband and played by top-class pickers, tells the true story of a 1922 gang of bank robbers who made a bad career decision. A snippet can be heard on Bluegrass Today.

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Dobroist 'Uncle' Phil Leadbetter (right) was here in 1999 with J.D. Crowe & the New South. Since then he has had a protracted battle with cancer; undaunted by that, he initiated the formation of Flashback, a reincarnation of J.D.'s band that had made the 1994 album of that name.

On Bluegrass Today he announces that he will be retiring from Flashback but will continue to perform (including a show in Knoxville, TN, this coming Friday), as well as working at his part-time career in real estate.