His recording “Spring Training” with banjoist/songwriter Carl Jackson and The Nash Ramblers won the 1992 Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album. He briefly rejoined The Seldom Scene in the mid-1990s to fill in following the departure of singer/guitarist Lou Reid, while continuing his medical practice. After his retirement from medicine in 2006, he reunited with Auldridge and Gray, along with Jimmie Gaudreau and Ricky Simpkins, as "John Starling and Carolina Star" for a final collaboration, “Slidin’ Home” (2007). Starling took pride in what he termed "honesty in presentation” and considered it paramount to give an audience his best. "No matter how slick you are," he once said, "people aren’t going to buy it if you’re checking your watch to see how long you have before you go off."" On February 12, 2019, Starling was reported to be "seriously ill" and living in hospice care. He died of congestive heart failure on May 2, 2019 at his Fredericksburg, Virginia home, at the age of 79. Starling shared the 1992 Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album with Carl Jackson for their album "Spring Training".