Vince Combs

COMBS, VENICE “VINCE” (1934-2015) A mandolin player and high lead singer in the Bill Monroe style, Vince Combs was born in Knott County in eastern Kentucky and came to Dayton in 1955. He organized a band in 1975 called the Miami Valley Boys (not the Jack Lynch group) which worked with Hylo Brown for about a year and a half, beginning in 1979.A mandolin player and high lead singer in the Bill Monroe style, Vince Combs was born in Knott County in eastern Kentucky and came to Dayton in 1955. He organized a band in 1975 called the Miami Valley Boys (not the Jack Lynch group) which worked with Hylo Brown for about a year and a half, beginning in 1979. Hooked up with a Cincinnati group called the Shade Tree Express. When that group broke up, Vince organized his own group and named it Vince Combs and the Shadetree Bluegrass. At one time, that band included Vince on mandolin, Noah Crase on banjo, Art Stamper on fiddle, Red Spurlock on bass, and Carlos Brock on guitar. Vince promoted an annual bluegrass festival at the Greene County Fairgrounds in Xenia for quite a few years, but that festival eventually moved to Bean Blossom, Indiana.