John Herald RIP

John Herald, 65, died last week, a result of an apparent suicide. He was the leader of the Greenbriar Boys, who claimed to be the first Northeast bluegrass band. The Greenbriar Boys developed a following in the Greenwich Village folk scene of the 1960s, and they headlined a show reviewed by New York Times critic Robert Shelton, in which Shelton gushed about a young singer-songwriter named Bob Dylan.

Herald also released a solo album, "Roll On John" that I bought after he opened a show at Central Park Summerstage for Ricky Skaggs. I played it incessantly for most of that summer (a summer, it should be noted, that preceded the Great O Brother Bluegrass Scare that later swept the nation), drawn in by Herald's strong yet quavering vocals and a bunch of cool cover songs (including a version of Warren Zevon's "Carmelita" that I may like more than the original).

One of the most beautiful songs on the album is a cover of "Jumpin'" Bill Carlisle's "Gone Home." As Herald heads home himself, it seems fitting to quote the song:

"All of my friends that I loved yesterday
Gone home (they have gone home)
Gone home (they have gone home)
The songbird that sings in the dale seems to say
Gone home (they have gone home)
Gone home (they have gone home)

They've joined the heavenly fold
They're walking the streets of pure gold
They left one by one
As their work here was done
Gone home (they have gone home)
Gone home (they have gone home)"

RIP, John.