BURKE, JOHN LEE (1931-2006)

Born in Mount Vernon, Kentucky, John Burke settled in Miamisburg and founded the popular Dayton area bluegrass gospel group, John Burke and the Layman Trio, in the early 1970s. He recorded LPs on Jack Lynch’s Jalyn label in 1971, 1972, and 1973, on his own Layman label in 1977 and 1979, on Artist’s Recording in 1977 with a cassette on the Franklin based Trio label in 1990. Band personnel over the years included his sons Jeff and Johnny, Larry Polley, Gary Cohn, Carl Shively, Cecil Holon, George Barrett, Harold Brown, Virgil Dobbins, Roscoe Gray, Don Stevens, and Charles Pitts Jr.