About Mike Kear

Mike Kear is a New Zealander, living in in Windsor, a satellite town to the northwest of Sydney, Australia for the last 41 years. He was married since 1975 to Frances ('The Chairman of Finance') until her passing in 2014 and they have two sons,  Hamish and Alistair, and three grandchildren (Lucy, April and Layton).

Mike first heard bluegrass in 1968 when the great New Zealand band Hamilton County Bluegrass Band had their weekly prime time TV show 'Country Touch' in that country. He was immediately hooked on the excitement in the music and never stopped loving it. After Mike and his family moved to Australia, he joined the bluegrass society there, and soon found his way into a band, singing lead and playing rhythm guitar. One of Mike's greatest thrills was to be singing alongside Hamish, who came into the band from time to time to add harmonies, and to be the 'sex symbol' of the band.

Mike started doing bluegrass radio as a guest DJ on Sydney's 2SER-FM over two decades ago, in a one hour show that had been running for 16 years in the careful hands of Rod &Judy Jones. He soon found himself as one of the permanent presenters of that show for its last year. When the show ended after 2SER-FM changed format, he went straight into his own show, Music from Foggy Hollow, on Sydney's Hawkesbury Radio, which continues today.

The focus of Mike's show is new releases. 80% to 90% of the show's content is released in the last 6 months or not released at all yet - with a touch of Australian bluegrass, humour and bluegrass news. It's a tribute to the wonders of the internet that Mike can gather the material for a show based on new releases worldwide and be up to date or ahead of most other bluegrass programs around the world most of the time.

Mike welcomes emails about the show at foggyhollow@bluegrass.org.au - or through the Contact US page on this site. - feel free to request tunes, interviews, or comment on any aspect of the show. You can also view Mike's weekly playlists.