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Kip Lornell

Biography

Kip Lornell

Kip Lornell is Professor Emeritus of Music History and Culture at George Washington University. He is the author of BUZZ BUSBY: Father of Washington, DC, Bluegrass; CAPITAL BLUEGRASS: Hillbilly Music Meets Washington, DC; and EXPLORING AMERICAN FOLK MUSIC: Ethnic, Grassroots, and Regional Traditions in the United States, and the coauthor of THE LIFE AND LEGEND OF LEADBELLY.

Kip Lornell

Books by Kip Lornell

by Kip Lornell and Tom Mindte - Biography, Music, Nonfiction

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. Kip Lornell and Tom Mindte draw on interviews and some 50 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.