One of the memorable IBMA events from the old Owensboro days is slated to return this year when the World Of Bluegrass is hosted in Nashville for the first time. The FanFeast, a fundraiser for The International Bluegrass Museum’s Video Oral History Project, is scheduled for Saturday morning, October 29 from 8:30-11:00 a.m. in the Music City Ballroom of the Renaissance Hotel (adjoining the Convention Center where WOB is being held).

The format is one in which bluegrass fans who purchase a $30 ticket to the event are served breakfast by a stable of bluegrass luminaries, all of whom agree to function as wait staff to benefit the IBMM’s time-critical efforts to create this video chronicle of the early pioneers of bluegrass music.

The IBMM describes the Video Oral History Project thusly:

With its Video Oral History Project, IBMM is producing documentary-style videos to chronicle the lives of the 223 performers recognized as being the First Generation of Bluegrass Musicians. This will help us remember these important cultural icons and make it possible for our children and great-grandchildren to learn from their lives and musical styles. The collection will be held on-site at the Museum, and will present an unprecedented opportunity for visitors to the museum to see and hear the music and learn about the lives of the first Bluegrass Masters

FanFeast is limited to 200 guests, and will also feature a Live Auction with items donated and offered at auction ranging from memorabilia like an original Phil Zimmerman photo of the 1975 New South and a fiddle autographed by Charlie Daniels, to a new Gibson F5-G mandolin with a strap autographed by all the artists who performed on the Legends Concert at the 2005 River Of Music Party in Owensboro, KY this past June.

They are still soliciting donations for the FanFeast auction, and if you would like to contribute an item - or make any sort of donation to the Video Oral History Project, you can contact Linda Perry at 888-692-2656, or by email.

FanFeast tickets can be purchased on the IBMM web site.

Perhaps it’s appropriate that our regular Friday update on the results to date of our 1st Bluegrass Blog Awards Poll is being posted instead on Saturday this week. Though site traffic and the number of visitors has grown steadily through the week, voting activity in the poll has been on the slow side, with no measurable change in the results since our last update on September 16.

For anyone who did not see earlier posts about our poll when it was launched on September 6, here is how we described it in our announcement:

The Bluegrass Blog is proud to announce our first annual Awards Poll! Our poll mirrors the IBMA final ballot, but is completely unofficial and is in no way associated with IBMA or their official balloting process. We do require that you register before voting. But hey, registration is free and there are no strings attached.

Let”s see how The Bluegrass Blog readers compare to the voting membership of IBMA when it comes to handing out awards.

Vote Now - registration required
View Current Results
Nominee Information

NOTE: Our Friday Saturday poll updates are open to comments, so please share your thoughts and analysis with us, and the many readers of The Bluegrass Blog. We welcome your thoughts about our poll, about the results to date or about the IBMA Awards themselves. Just click on the “COMMENTS” text link just below to enter yours.

Pete Wernick describes his latest instructional DVD from Homespun Tapes, Bluegrass Slow Jam for the Total Beginner, as “A Super-Easy, No-Fail Play-Along Session.” Designed for relative beginners on any bluegrass instrument, this DVD allows a new player to pick along on 17 popular bluegrass standards at a comfortable speed - a crucial step in building the confidence you need to join in at jams. All the tunes on the DVD require just four chords (G, C, D and A) and the tunes are played by Pete, along with a band made up of bluegrass professionals.

Visit Pete’s web site for more details.

Bluegrass fans in the Los Angeles area of California can show their support for their fellow Americans stricken by the recent hurricane in the Gulf Coast region - and enjoy a lovely day of music and fun - by attending the Bluegrass Benefit Concert & Picnic today (9/24) at the Tierra Rejada Ranch in Moorpark. Performers include The Witcher Brothers, Lost Highway, Chris Stuart & Back Country and several others.

The promoters of the event suggest a $20 donation (cash or check) with 100% of the donations going to The Salvation Army. For more information, contact Eric & Stacy Uglum (760) 948-3516 or Blue Ridge Pickin Parlor (818) 282-9001. Jammers and picnickers are welcome.

Thanks to Rick Briggs for this piece of news.

A benefit concert for persons with disabilities in Central PA featuring national touring artists; the Lonesome River Band from Meadows of Dan, VA - Jimmy Bowen & Santa Fe from Nashville, TN and Ramblin’ Heart from Hanover, PA will be held Saturday, October 15, 2005 from 7:30pm - 11:00pm at the Eagle View Middle School Auditorium - 6746 Carlisle Pike - Mechanicsburg, PA 17050. Sound will be provided by none other than Southard Audio and our lustrous MC for the evening’s event will be Bluegrass DJ extraordinaire Mr. Hank Janey from WGTY-FM 107.7 in Gettysburg, PA. Hank’s weekly Bluegrass radio shows on Sundays are not-to-be-missed. Besides the music from these wonderful groups, there will be door prizes, raffles, food, cd’s, and a lot of FUN!

Proceeds will benefit the Hope Springs Farm project, an effort of United Cerebral Palsy of Central PA, to provide an organic, working farm and day program for persons with disabilities. HSF is a licensed adult day program providing social, pre-vocational and community service opportunities to adults with disabilities in an agricultural setting. HSF’s mission is to offer to persons with developmental disabilities an innovative, program through meaningful work on a farm, so that they can maximize their abilities.
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Clear Channel Radio’s Online Music & Radio unit today announced NEW! “? on-demand, online programming showcasing the music of new and developing artists to a national audience. Programming will air exclusively on Clear Channel Radio station Web sites and will be promoted online and on-air.

The program will feature hundreds of songs, available on-demand, from a range of genres including CHR/Top 40, rock, AC/soft rock, country and urban. Each quarter, 16 Featured Artists will have an artist-produced “home video”, five streaming tracks and a link to the artist Web site. Fifty GarageBand.com artists will also have five streaming tracks, a photo, a bio and a link to the GarageBand.com site to provide more information. Additional signed artists will have a single streaming track, photo, bio and a Web-site link.

There are about 100 artists featured on the NEW! site right now. Under the heading of Country you’ll find two bluegrass acts. Rhonda Vincent is a featured artist with a video and 5 audio tracks. The Grascalls are also included with a bio, one song, a photo, and link to their website.

This new service could be a great opportunity for bluegrass acts to reach new audiences, but the artists and their labels will have to be on top of this to keep bluegrass included.

CBS has made a video clip available on their web site of the recent appearance with Earl Scruggs, Steve Martin, Pete Wernick, Charles Wood and Tony Ellis. It is in Real Player format and can be accessed here.

As is often the case with online video, the quality is such that the images don’t always synch perfectly with the audio, but it is still fun to watch.

Pete Wernick, aka Dr. Banjo, has posted a delightful piece on his web site about his recent television appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman. The performance on September 21 was a five banjo extravaganza, put together and championed by Steve Martin, including Martin and Wernick along with Earl Scruggs, Tony Ellis and Charles Wood.

Pete’s web article reads like a personal diary, and gives a glimpse not only into the nuts-and-bolts operation of a major television program like this from a featured performer’s perspective, but also into the insecurities and uncertainties that even seasoned pros experience going before a national audience of this size.

Now we’re watching the beginning of the show on the monitors in the small rooms in the backstage area. Steve indicated he was nervous, and it surprised me a bit, with his huge amount of successful stage work. I asked, wasn’t the standup comedy he’d done for so many years at least as stressful? No, he said, that came much more naturally to him. Bravo to Steve for building his picking skills to a high level and braving on to this challenging spot, despite music stage inexperience. He pulled it off, too! But I’m getting a little ahead of myself.

Read the whole Wernick piece here.

You can see more info about the genesis of the group, Men With Banjos - Who Know How To Use Them in our earlier post.

The latest release from Wildfire, Rattle The Chains,has been officially released on Pinecastle, though it has been available from the band for several weeks. This is their third CD and the 12 tunes include four originals written by band members.

The band features a purchase link to Amazon.com on their web site, and you can get a copy, and hear selected audio bits, on the Pinecastle site as well. You should also be able to find the CD from your favorite online or brick and mortar outlets who carry bluegrass recordings.

The Grand Ole Opry’s Tuesday Night Opry series will have a decidedly bluegrass theme on October 25 when IBMA is in town. Billed as the Great Bluegrass 80th Anniversary Signature Show, the concert will feature performances by Rhonda Vincent, The Grascals, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver and Opry member Del McCoury.

The show begins at 7:00 p.m. and will be held at the Grand Ole Opry House. Contact the Opry for ticket information.

The Legends of Bluegrass & Country Music Festival, scheduled for October 6-8 in Columbia MS, has been canceled as a result of the damage suffered in the area from hurricane Katrina. The festival does not appear to have an online presence but the phone number they had listed for festival information prior to the storm was 800-837-0785.

On another storm-related note, the 8th annual Blue Ridge Harvestfest, held that same weekend in Lafayette LA, has decided to turn over 100% of its net proceeds for disaster relief. The festival will be held October 7-9 and features performances by Del McCoury, Tim O’Brien, Larry Keel and a great many other roots and Americana artists. This year’s event is also dedicated to the memory of Vassar Clements, and a band contest has been instituted in his name.

Visit the web site for High Sierra Music to learn more about the agency which will administer the proceeds of the festival to disaster relief agencies, or to make a direct donation to their efforts.

UPDATE 9/24: The Blue Ridge Harvestfest web site now indicates that this year’s event has been canceled.

Mike Lawing at the International Bluegrass Music Museum asked me to pass on this piece of news about a program at the IBMM.

Free Saturdays at The Museum, is a program which provides professionally-taught bluegrass music lessons and acoustic, bluegrass instruments to the public”free of charge.

Made possible through a generous grant from the Marilyn & William Young Charitable Foundation, these hour-long lessons will take place every other Saturday at 11:00 AM inside the museum, located at 117 Daviess Street, Owensboro, Kentucky. All ages and skill levels are invited to participate in an effort to increase the number of people young and old who enjoy playing Kentucky”s most famous original art form: bluegrass music. The stated goal of the museum is to grow the “biggest bluegrass band on earth.”

Mike told me that they now have 407 people, young and old, signed up for the free lessons. That’s awesome news for the future of bluegrass music. But they do have a problem. Luckily it’s one that you can help with. 407 students is a lot, and many of them don’t have instruments. The IBMM is looking for people who have an instrument sitting under the bed or in the closet that they would be willing to donate to the museum for use in this program. Your donation would be tax deductible and would help further bluegrass music. So dust em off and send em in folks!

Here’s the address to send your donation to:

The International Bluegrass Music Museum
207 East 2nd Street
Owensboro, KY 42303

For additional information on the Free Saturdays at the Museum contact Program Coordinator Randy Lanham.

Randy Lanham
BITS and FREE SATURDAYS Coordinator
(270) 264-1315
email: highhopesmusic@hotmail.com

Gena Britt Tew just contacted me with an alert that her husband and herself were robbed yesterday while at work. The thieves got three instruments along with a few household items.

They got the XBox, about 20 games, a Watch, tried to get the computer, but must’ve got spooked in the middle of that. But, what makes my heart hurt the most is that 3 of our instruments were stolen. They got a newer model Michael Kelly acoustic bass with a gig bag, my husband’s Phil Leadbetter model dobro and case, and my (gasp) 1964 Gibson RB-250 Banjo. I still don’t know what to say. I have had this banjo for 21 years (since I was 12). Some distinguishing markings on the banjo is that it has a brand new head on it that was just put on, and the old “D” tuners were removed and the holes were filled in a long time ago. Please keep your eyes and ears open.

If you have any information about these instruments please contact Gena immediately.

His own website proclaims his to be “THE world - renowned podcast celebrity” and Wichita Rutherford is living up to the name. Capitalizing on the wild popularity of his own podcast 5 minutes with Wichita, Wichita is breaking out as a podcast host for others.

He is already the host of the IBMA World of Bluegrass Podcast. Starting this week he is also hosting a podcast for The Nashville Music Classic bluegrass festival. Sometime in the next week or so the Americana Music Association will be launching a podcast similar to the IBMA podcast and you guessed it, Wichita is the host!

Starting November 1st he’ll be starting another weekly podcast called THE ROCKY TOP PODCAST!.

Yes its got information on what’s happening in Knoxville and interviews with people like VOL Legend Condrege Holloway, BOTH mayors of Knoxville and Knox County and a load of surprises.

He has a domain for this new podcast at rockytoppodcast.com but right now it just takes you to his current website.

In addition to all this podcasting, Wichita is also becoming a radio star. Starting October 5th he’ll be hosting a weekly, hour long, show titled Nothing New Here for SIRIUS Satellite Radio. The show will air on Channel 37 at 11 a.m. Eastern Time then it will be on again every Saturday night at 9-10 Eastern. That should be interesting.

Isn’t he just precious?

OK… it’s part of a celebration of the Grand Ole Opry’s 80th anniversary, not Bill Monroe’s birthday, but the Opry is hosting a special Bill Monroe Bluegrass Celebration on October 15 at 1:00 p.m. The show will feature performances by Larry Sparks, Melonie Cannon, Shawn Camp, The Grascals and Opry members Ralph Stanley, The Osborne Brothers, and Jesse McReynolds.

Contact the Opry for ticket information.

Don’t forget that Steve Martin will be a featured guest on The Late Show featuring David Letterman tonight (9/21), with a number of prominent banjo pickers in tow for a special performance. Earl Scruggs, Tony Ellis, Pete Wernick and Charles Wood will all be with Martin on the program. The Bluegrass Blog reported on this a few days ago, and you can see more details here.

The Late Show is broadcast on CBS. Consult your local listings, as the saying goes.

We are sorry to report that Bea Lilly, member of The Lily Brothers & Don Stover and a true pioneer in bluegrass music, passed away September 18, 2005 at the Duxbury House Alzheimer Care Center near Plymouth, MA.

Mitchell Burt Lilly, who came to be known as Bea, was born in Clear Creek, WV, as was his brother Everett, his partner in The Lilly Brothers. Bea played guitar and Everett mandolin, and the popularity of the style that came to be known as “brother duets” helped propel them to some early success through their regular broadcasts on the powerful WWVA radio station in Wheeling during the ’40s.

In the 1950s, the Lillys joined forces with fiddler Tex Logan and banjo picker Don Stover to form The Lilly Brothers & Don Stover, who were inducted into the IBMA Hall Of Honor in 2002. Logan and Stover both hailed from northeastern US, and the band eventually settled there in 1952. They are credited by many New England bluegrass pickers as having made a major contribution to the establishment and growth of bluegrass in that part of the US. Their performances at The Hillbilly Ranch in Boston are fondly recalled by a great many Boston bluegrassers, and brought the music to the attention of large numbers of people who might not have discovered it otherwise.

Everett returned to WV in 1970 after the tragic death of his son, Jiles, in an auto accident. Bea moved to WV as well for a short time, only to return to Boston where he remained. The band would reassemble sporadically for shows until Don Stover’s death in 1996.

Bea’s funeral will be held on Thursday, September 22, and his passing will be mourned by bluegrass fans and musicians in the northeast, and everywhere that the pioneers of our music are fondly remembered.

The Grand Ole Opry lists J.D. Crowe & The New South as among the performers for its September 24 broadcast. No details yet as to what time they will appear or whether they might be featured on the televised portion of the show. We will update as that information is made available.

UPDATE 9/21: The Opry schedule now shows J.D. and company performing in the 7:00-8:00 p.m. segment of the first show and the 10:30-11:00 p.m. portion of the second show. Times are local for Nashville.

Catch the broadcast over the airwaves on WSM 610 AM, or online in real time via WSM’s steaming audio feed.

Jerry Douglas’ new CD The Best Kept Secret is a secret no longer. Today is the official release date for the latest CD from dobro master Jerry Douglas. I’ve posted about this previously, but just wanted to remind everyone that they can get a copy today.

Jerry Douglas: Fogerty’s Buddha?

Jerry Douglas and John Fogerty have built a musical bond based on good pickin’ — with a little bit of Texas Swing thrown in for good measure. The swing in question is the Bob Wills classic “Swing Blues No. 1″ that appears on Jerry’s new album ‘The Best Kept Secret’ (KOCH/Sept. 20), with Fogerty contributing vocals.

As for the picking, that’s been going on for years, as the two get together regularly to play some songs and share a few lessons. Says Fogerty: “A few years ago, I realized I hadn’t become the guitar player I wanted to be when I was starting out, so I got really busy and that’s when I found Jerry Douglas. He’s the Buddha that I pray to every day. He has long been the mentor that I’m living up to.”
In addition to Fogerty, ‘The Best Kept Secret’ features a stellar cast of performers ranging from Jerry’s touring bandmates to Bill Frisell, Derek Trucks, Alison Krauss, and Bela Fleck.

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Jerry Douglas - The Best Kept Secret

Moody Bluegrass - A Nashville Tribute To The Moody Blues is nominated for the IBMA Recorded Event of the Year award, and features a dozen Moody Blues songs performed in a bluegrass style by some top bluegrass artists. Following on what he hopes will be their acceptance of this award at the IBMA World Of Bluegrass week in late October, producer/mandolinist David Harvey has put together a live concert of the music from Moody Bluegrass for Sunday, October 23 at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN.

Scheduled to appear on the show are such artists as Harley Allen, Alison Brown, Larry Cordle, John Cowan, David Harvey, Claire Lynch, Tim O”Brien, and very special guest appearances by three original members of The Moody Blues: Justin Hayward, John Lodge and Graeme Edge.

Seats for this show are limited and available online from Ticketmaster.