Mandolin man announced for May 2022

On 13 Sept. the BIB mentioned that Bob Black, banjo-player and author of his fine memoir Come hither to go yonder: playing bluegrass with Bill Monroe, will have his next book, Mandolin man: the bluegrass life of Roland White, published by the University of Illinois Press next year. Richard Thompson has now contributed a major feature on the book to Bluegrass Today, which includes an illuminating account by Bob Black on how he came to undertake the book and what went into the writing of it.

Roland White (a veteran of the Omagh stage, among so many other stages) was inducted into the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2019 as a member of the Kentucky Colonels, who (as Bob Black writes) 'personified west coast bluegrass, which has always been characterized by openness to change and a greater willingness to embrace the best aspects of alternative musical genres than the more tradition-bound eastern and southern bluegrass' - and that was just the start of Roland's contributions to the music. Details of the book appear at the end of Richard Thompson's feature, where a publication date of 17 May 2022 is given.

© Richard Hawkins