Leroy Troy and his Hillbilly Trio: Ireland tour, Sept. 2019

Thanks to Dave Byrne of the can-do, full-ahead, and visionary mygrassisblue.com agency for this welcome news for the coming autumn - and don't forget the tours organised for Kristy Cox (AUS) and her band, starting five days from now; and for Sideline (USA; 9-14 July), for all of which mygrassisblue.com deserve our gratitude and support:

It’s the Tennessee Mafia Jug Band Lite. It’s less of what’s bad for you,
but all of the fun. It’s old-time slapstick entertainment
with a capital ‘N’!

'Three stumblebum musicians go on a quest for a great sounding

musical and come up with this! Masterpiece!!'

(Entertainment Tonight)

From the pastoral rolling hills and hollers of sunny Tennessee come the founding members of the Tennessee Mafia Jug Band, Mike Armistead and the indefatigable Leroy Troy. Accompanied by their songwriting guest and part-time band member George Harper, this is a frolicking threesome sure to entertain in the old Southern traditions of comedic song, tales of loved & lost, and the occasional story.

'That kind of humour and presentation, if it’s handled right,
it’ll work anywhere, because of its authenticity.'

(Marty Stuart)

The Tennessee Mafia Jug Band
With ‘roots like wisdom teeth’, the Tennessee Mafia Jug Band do entertainment in the old-time mould like no other overall-clad outfit can. Brought to national prominence thanks to regular performances on Marty Stuart’s RFD-TV show, these polished entertainers have toured extensively, both nationally and internationally, and have graced the stage of the Grand Ole Opry, Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center, and Nashville’s Station Inn and Ryman Auditorium. And they are no strangers to Ireland either, with visits stretching back to the days of the much-missed Johnny Keenan Banjo Festival in Longford (they most recently entertained here in 2016). Recipients of the 2017 Blue Blaze Award at the 46th annual Smithville Fiddler’s Jamboree and Crafts Festival, given to musicians who actively cultivate a love of bluegrass music, this is a gallimaufry of accomplished musicians who just like to have fun as they brighten up the stage with an array of rib-tickling old-time tunes and a smattering of string acrobatics and general tomfoolery.

Leroy ‘The Tennessee Slicker’ Troy
It’s all in the name. This touring Hillbilly Trio will be led by the one and only Leroy Troy. Although little introduction is needed, we’ll give him one anyway – as Roy Rogers was to the Sons of the Pioneers, so Leroy Troy is to the Tennessee Mafia Jug Band. The Sultan of Goodlettsville, the Most Popular Man in Country Music, the ole Tennessee Slicker himself, Troy – who plays banjo, ukulele, and an elaborately outfitted scrub-board he calls 'the washing machine' (in a style fashioned from long-ago Opry star Robert Lunn who played the scrub-board on Roy Acuff’s show) – has been a professional hillbilly musician since before his seminal old-time banjo act at the 1982 Knoxville World’s Fair captivated all.

A past Champion and Grand Marshal from Uncle Dave Macon Days in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, Troy picked up his show business acumen from working with the Bailes Brothers (long ago members of the Grand Ole Opry) and is the undisputed heir to the banjo acrobatics and other performance skills of the late Uncle Dave Macon; Troy knows about every banjo 'monkeyshine' that Uncle Dave ever performed, and then some – his resume lists ‘Accomplished flat-foot dancer’ and ‘TV Star’, the latter thanks to appearances on 'Hee Haw', 'Outsiders Inn', and as a weekly featured guest on the 'Marty Stuart Show'. With old-time hillbilly star power in abundance, Leroy Troy knows how to work a crowd... and he does. He connects with the audience, and he’s looking forward to reconnecting with his Irish friends on his latest trip to the Emerald Isle in September.

'You’ll pay for the whole seat, but you’ll only need the edge!'

(Toronto Courier Democratic Free Press)

Leroy Troy And His Hillbilly Trio | Ireland September 2019
With an utter lack of self-consciousness (and some might say any sense of decorum), this is a trio that know the music, wear the costumes, tell the corny jokes, and do the slapstick gags that throw an audience into hysterics.

A full nationwide tour of good times and good music

is scheduled for September 2019

with dates and venues to be announced shortly.

For more on the tour, visit http://mygrassisblue.com/leroy-troy-hillbilly-trio-2019/
For more on the Tennessee Mafia Jug Band, visit https://tennesseemafiajugband.com/

Select videos (YouTube)
The Tennessee Mafia Jug Band: • Band Intro
Leroy Troy & Mike Armistead: • ‘Grandfather’s Clock’ Live at Nashville’s Music City Roots ‘Live From The Factory’ (2015)