from a bluegrass newsgroup:


Date:    Wed, 24 Jun 2009 22:08:40 -0400
From:    Becky Johnson
Subject: Bill Harrell RIP

I am sad and blue tonight friends
My friend Bill Harrell passed away today, at 4:10pm, at his home in
Davidson, MD.
Another Great One in Bluegrass is gone forever
I remember him and his music as well as his antics on AND offstage
..........
does anyone out there remember the time, one night when he and the late
great Ed Ferris, both in altered states, climbed aboard the Johnson
Mountain Boys' tour bus, while the JMB's were playing their set on stage
at Winterhawk in the early 1980's....and proceded to hit the lights,
turn on the engine, slowly backup, and then drive it merrily away, down
the hill, to who only knows where.........yes, they eventually returned
it back to its parking spot, but not before the Boys discovered their
vehicle was missing, and rushed back out on stage shouting, "Our BUS is
GONE!", much to the somewhat confused delight of the crowd
As I recall, later that same night, after the wayward bus had been
returned back to its rightful owners, Bill found his way to the front
of the stage, where the Seldom Scene were performing; he became quite
animated indeed, and ended up jumping into a 50 gallon drum serving as a
trash receptacle, at the right front corner of the stage. Everyone saw
this and laughed, then whooped and hollered when the big burley New York
state troopers serving as stage security mistook Bill for a rowdy fan,
not one of the scheduled entertainers, proceeded to drag him away ,
kicking and screaming, "I'm a musician. I"m one of the performers here!"

Earlier today during my weekly show on WMMT radio, I honored Bill
Harrell by playing several of his tunes, one of them just shortly before
4pm ET. He passed at 4:10pm ET. Eerie...to say the least.......I also
gave out his address for folks to send cards and letters to his family.
And I also mentioned the car wreck that Nathan Stanley, Dewey and Leslie
Brown were in in NC Monday night, and also gave out addresses for
listeners.
Thanks for letting me share my sorrow, as well as a couple of funny
precious memories.
How I love my bluegrass family

Becky Johnson

mrsBLUEgrass

HOST of "The First Generation BlueGrass Show'
Wednesdays @ 1:00pm Et
WMMT Radio
www.wmmtfm.org