An exhaustively researched profile of bluegrass legend John Duffey (1934-1996) that covers not only his life in music but also those of his colleagues and contemporaries... Despite the copious detail, however, the book offers a rich and entertaining musical history of the bluegrass scene as well as more academic materials, including an essay by Robert Kyle on Duffey’s Irish roots and a lengthy discography... A truly definitive look at a bluegrass legend and the scene that produced him.
— Kirkus Reviews
John Duffey was a big man with a big voice who played a small instrument. When he died — too soon — in 1996, Duffey had influenced the music he loved in ways big and small.
His story is told in a new book, “John Duffey’s Bluegrass Life: Featuring the Country Gentlemen, Seldom Scene and Washington, DC .” by Stephen Moore and G.T. Keplinger. It’s a story not only of mandolinist and singer Duffey, but of dozens of other people who made Washington a hotbed of bluegrass music.
