The July 2006 edition of Bluegrass Unlimited is their official 40th Anniversary issue. In addition to the regular articles, features and reviews which we have come to expect from BU, they include as a bonus, a copy of the debut issue as an 8-page, removable insert.

When the magazine launched in 1966, it was available for dues of $3 per year. This first issue was a typed, mimeographed pamphlet with a hand drawn logo – quite a contrast from the slick, full color magazine we now see each month.

There are some real gems in the insert, like this short review of the then new single release from The Osborne Brothers, Hard Times/World Of Unwanted:

“About nine parts Nashville hokum to one part grass.”

The main portion of the magazine includes some more choice bits from past issues, including a piece John Duffey wrote in 1967, responding to the critics of the early Country Gentlemen who took them to task for deviating from the “true bluegrass’ way.

They also feature a version of how their National Bluegrass Survey might have looked for July 1966, with The Country Gentlemen’s Bringing Mary Home topping the list.

Subscribers should see their copies in the next few days, and news stands will surely sell out quickly, so pick one up if you want to have this as a keepsake.