White Mountain Bluegrass
Bands / Ensembles
White Mountain Bluegrass (1970–) was a traditional bluegrass band from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, founded by the married couple Mac McGee (guitar, lead vocals) and Hazel McGee (bass, tenor vocals). Mac, from Georgia, and Hazel, from Tennessee, met in Phoenix, New York, and first played country music together before marrying in 1957 and moving to Portsmouth the next year. There, musicians stationed at nearby Pease Air Force Base, including mandolinist Roger Greene, introduced them to bluegrass in the late 1960s. The band formed in 1970 with Joe Pomerleau on fiddle, Jeff Lind on bass, Bob Frost on banjo and Sam Garris on mandolin. They played the first Thomas Point Beach festival in Maine and returned every year after. On Joe Val's recommendation, the Dutch promoter Rienk Janssen booked the band for six European tours, and recorded Aragon Mill: Live in Holland. Longtime members included the McGees' son Herman (banjo, guitar), Dobro player Roger Williams, fiddler Bill Sage (about 12 years) and mandolinist Jackie Greenwood. Mac and Hazel were named "Pioneers of Bluegrass" by the International Bluegrass Music Museum and honored by the Boston Bluegrass Union. Hazel died in October 2014 after a long illness.
In the newsletter
- No. 14 Winter 1998