News from the Mother Country (mainly about previous visitors)

The image on the right shows how the November 2020 issue of Bluegrass Unlimited will look - a highly visible change, reflecting the magazine's transfer to the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum in Owensboro, KY. Previous statements in print indicate that existing subscriptions will run their full course.

The new cover shows Becky Buller, who visited Ireland some years back as fiddler with Valerie Smith & Liberty Pike, and is now an award-winning musician, singer, songwriter, and bandleader. Her strong new album Distance and time is reviewed on Bluegrass Today by John Curtis Goad, and by Stacy Chandler on No Depression.

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The Lonesome River Band, sometime headliners at Omagh, have just released (30 Oct.) a single, 'That's life' (written by Brandon Rickman and Billy Droze), on the Mountain Home label. More details are on the Mountain Home press release, and the track can be heard on Bluegrass Today.

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Dale Ann Bradley, another former Omagh headliner, released on 30 Oct. her new single 'Falling down' on the Pinecastle label. The song, written by Ashby Frank (over here some years back as mandolinist with Special Consensus), is the lead single on her forthcoming album Things she couldn't get over, due out early in 2021, and features her full touring band. More info is on the Pinecastle press release. [Update: the song can now be heard on Bluegrass Today.]

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Finally, we learn with regret from Bluegrass Today of the death of Bill Torbert on 24 Oct. from COVID-19 at the age of 81. His long career included spells with some of the classic lineups of Jimmy Martin's Sunny Mountain Boys, including J.D. Crowe and Bill Emerson; photos are on the BT feature.