Mac Martin

William Colleran came into the world on April 26, 1925, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and later performed under the name Mac Martin. From the late 1940s onward he established himself as a skilled guitarist and vocalist in the bluegrass field. Drawing from the approach of Lester Flatt, Bill Monroe, and Ralph Stanley, he absorbed countless hours of radio programming during his early years, particularly from WWVA in Wheeling, Virginia, and from WSM in Nashville, which carried The Grand Ole Opry. At the close of the decade he organized the Pike County Boys, a bluegrass trio noted for its high and lonesome style that also featured fiddle player Bill Higgins and bass player Bill Wagner. In 1957 he assembled a fresh trio, the Dixie Travelers, that included fiddler Mike Carson and banjo player Billy Bryant. The group sustained its schedule of performances and recordings into the early years of the twenty-first century, with the bulk of its output appearing on Rural Rhythm Records and later reissued by the same label.