Tom Paley, 1928-2017: updates and funeral

The BIB learns with great regret of the death on 30 September of Allan Thomas 'Tom' Paley in Brighton, England, at the age of 89. An obituary on the Guardian website includes performance videos from different stages of his long and varied career. While living in Britain, he became honorary president of FOAOTMAD.

Tom Paley was one of the founder members of the New Lost City Ramblers (NLCR), without question the most influential group of musicians in the revival of old-time music. All the Ramblers also made great individual contributions to music and other fields. John Cohen is now the only survivor of the original trio; Tracy Schwarz, who joined the NLCR when Tom Paley left, was featured in the July 2017 issue of Bluegrass Unlimited.

Update 5 Oct.: Thanks to Philippa Robinson and Ray Abrahams, both of whom drew our attention to the news. An obituary by Richard Thompson is on Bluegrass Today.

Update 6 Oct.: 'The music shines on... remembering Tom Paley', by James Reams, is now on Bluegrass Today.

Update 12 Oct.: Tom Paley's son Ben announces on Bluegrass Today that Tom's funeral will be at Golders Green crematorium, north London, at 3.00 p.m. on Tues. 24 Oct., followed by a celebratory session (5.00-8.00 p.m.) at Cecil Sharp House, the HQ of the English Folk Dance and Song Society.