International News
Craig Duncan & Friends are headlining at the Guildtown Bluegrass Music Festival in Scotland July 30 – August 2. The Nashville-based band includes Billy Boone Smith, Mark Barnett, Kris & Dale Ballinger and Duncan. Info: www.scottishbluegrass.com).

The Harrietville Bluegrass & Traditional Country Music Convention is scheduled for Nov. 18-21 in Harrietville, in Victoria, Australia. Headliners will include Blue & Lonesome (California), The Corndrinkers (Ohio), The New Holland Honey Eaters, and more. Info: www.harrietvillebluegrass.com.au

Merchandisers & Luthiers:
V-Picks, for mandolin and guitar, are based in Modesto, Calif. Built with “non-slip” technology to stay in your fingers, they come in .2.75 mm, 1.5 mm and .8 mm thickness. Info: www.v-picks.com

After 14 years with Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder,  banjo player Jim Mills has left the band. Mills expects to devote more time on his banjo business, Jim Mills Banjo , Inc., which is focused on the buying and selling of pre-war banjos and memorabilia. Info: 919-608-0355, jimmillsbanjo@msn.com.

Over Jordan:
Cullen Galyean, a multi-instrumentalist born in Lowgap, North Carolina in 1939, known primarily for his banjo playing, passed away July 13. At 16 Galyean joined the Mountain Ramblers, the Galax, Va. Band led by James Lindsey. Later he worked with Bobby Harrison and Ivory Melton, performing in Virginia and North Carolina—and once at the Grand Ole Opry. He recorded several albums, mostly on the Folkways label, with his own band, the Virginia Mountain Boys, and also with the Mountain Ramblers (Atlantic), the Foot Hill Boys (County), L.W. Lambert and Bobby Harrison (Folkways). Fifteen of Galyean's original songs can be heard on the October, 2009 release, Born into Bluegrass, the Songs of Cullen Galyean, on Mountain Roads Recordings. Cullen’s son, Mickey Galyean, leads the band, Rich in Tradition, that has a new release out on Mountain Roads Recordings called Black Mountain Special—which include two songs written by his dad..