The nucleus of the Boys From Indiana was brothers Aubrey and Jerry Holt and their uncle Harley Gabbard. Aubrey and Harley had been performing together off and on since the 1950s and lived in southern Indiana. The Holt brothers and Harley were friends with Paul “Moon” Mullins, who at the time was doing a DJ show at WPFB in Middletown. When “Moon” would need an opening act for some of the live shows he would bring to Middletown, he would call on “them boys from Indiana” and they would come over and join with “Moon” and Noah Crase to open the show. After a while, the five of them decided to go on the road and just called themselves The Boys From Indiana with Paul Mullins and Noah Crase. They cut a gospel LP on Jewel, but when they signed with King Bluegrass and recorded “Atlanta Is Burning” in 1974, things opened up for them. They did four LPs on King Bluegrass. In the late 1970s, “Moon” and Noah decided to get off the road, but Aubrey, Harley, and Jerry continued on after adding new band members. They recorded four more LPs on their own Old Heritage label and one on Atteiram. Rebel Records acquired their King Bluegrass recordings and continues to reissue them from time to time. They were inducted into the Southeastern Indiana Musician’s Hall of Fame in 2002 and received a Distinguished Achievement Award from the IBMA in 2006.
Boys From Indiana