As a tribute to the father of D.C. Bluegrass,
we stock these recordings by Buzz Busby.

(not on the Patuxent label)

Buzz Busby

Buzz Busby: Father of Washington, DC, Bluegrass

by Kip Lornell & Tom MIndte

Published by University of Illinois Press - 245 pages
Iincludes discography

Buy Book - $25.00

Buzz Busby's move to Washington, DC, in 1951 helped launch bluegrass in the nation's capital while the intensity of his mandolin playing drew raves for its unrelenting pace and innovative style. His high lonesome singing rivaled that of Bill Monroe. Kip Lomeli and Tom Mindte draw on interviews and some fifty hours of Busby speaking about his life to tell the story of a largely forgotten bluegrass virtuoso.

Busby and his band the Bayou Boys stood front and center on a mid-1950s DC-area TV show that, though short-lived, catalyzed the formation of the city's bluegrass community. Time with the Louisiana Hayride and classic if little-heard bluegrass sides like "Lonesome Wind" seemed to promise a bright future. But a devastating car wreck and a host of legal and personal troubles triggered a long decline into drug and alcohol abuse that undermined Busby's career and led him to sum up, "I started at the top and diligently worked my way to the bottom:'

Entertaining and vivid, Buzz Busby tells the story of a musician's musician and his
hardscrabble life in bluegrass.

Published by University of Illinois Press - 245 pages

TALKING BANJO * WHOSE RED WAGON * LONESOME ROAD * BUZZ'S RAMBLE *
LONESOME WIND * LOST * MANDOLIN TANGO * I DON'T MIND * BANJO WHIZ *
WINDY STRINGS * GOING HOME * ME & THE JUKE BOX * COLD & WINDY NIGHT *
RENO BOUND * WHERE WILL THIS END * TRAGIC HIGHWAY *
DON'T COME RUNNING BACK TO ME * I'LL CRY TOMORROW * LOVE IS A STRANGER

BUZZ BUSBY, TOM MORGAN, SMILEY HOBBS, CARL NELSON, PETE KYKENDALL, CHARLIE WALLER
PORTER CHURCH, VANCE TRUELL, PETE PIKE, BILL EMERSON, SCOTT STONEMAN, JOHN HALL
ROY SELF, JACK STONEMAN

Are You From Dixie * Selfish Heart * Jesse James * (It's a Long Way) To the Top of the World *
Lonely Heart * Upstairs in the Bedroom * Lena * Must You Throw Dirt in My Face *
Sing Me Back Home * Sitting Here Waiting for You * I Can Feel it in My Heart *
Isn't it a Beautiful Day

Leon Morris - Guitar & Vocals, Buzz Busby - Mandolin & Vocals, Lamar Grier & Fred Geiger - Banjo
Bill Bialey, Ed Ferris, Gary Henderson - Bass, Russ Hooper - Dobro