Phil Leadbetter, 31 Mar. 1962-14 Oct. 2021

The BIB learns with great regret of the death of Phil Leadbetter, three-time winner of the IBMA Resonator Guitar Player of the Year award and - much more than that - held in affectionate regard throughout the bluegrass world, as shown in his nickname 'Uncle Phil'. He performed in Ireland in 1999 as a member of J.D. Crowe & the New South, in their historic two concert days organised by John Nyhan. Over the last ten years since 2011, he had come undaunted through five distinct bouts of Hodgkin's lymphoma.

More details are on John Lawless's article 'Phil Leadbetter passes – everyone’s Uncle Phil' on Bluegrass Today. The article includes two videos, one of which is a brief spoof of 'The sound of music', phone-filmed by Ashby Frank, whom many in Ireland will recall as mandolinist with the Special Consensus. Further details of Phil's life are on his website (with photos), on Wikipedia, and on Bluegrass Bios.

© Richard Hawkins