Bluegrass legends are supposed to come from Kentucky hollers, not a French-speaking household in Madawaska, Maine. Yet that is where Roland Joseph LeBlanc, known to the world as mandolin master Roland White, was forged. This deep dive follows his 83 years through the lens of translation: carrying southern music to northern and western audiences, absorbing the mechanics of the genre from its founders, and passing it on to beginners.

We look at how the White siblings pulled bluegrass out of the night-time AM signal of WWVA, won a California TV slot as the Country Boys, and became the Kentucky Colonels. We explore his apprenticeship with Bill Monroe and Lester Flatt, the 1973 accident that killed his brother Clarence, and his second act with Country Gazette, the Nashville Bluegrass Band and his own instructional books.

• Why homesick  ...