I hope everyone will indulge us for a few moments of self congratulation. We’ve just passed our 2nd anniversary as The Bluegrass Blog, and managed to reach a number of significant milestones in recent weeks. In July, we recorded our 1,000,000th page view, and our 500,000th visitor.

Brance and I would like to extend a special word of thanks to all our readers - we appreciate the time you spend here, and are delighted that you find our content worthy of your attention.

Looking over our visitor stats, we see that we have doubled our readership over the past year (8/06-07).

While we’re on the subject of stats, let’s talk about some of the confusion that surrounds this question. You may find web sites - even some in acoustic music markets - who make what seem like unbelievable claims for daily visitors.

The problem isn’t with web stats generically, but with how they are collected. When we first started The Bluegrass Blog, we relied on what are known as server stats, which measure the number of times files are requested for display from our web server. We thought we were setting the web on fire, until we realized that each page on the site involves dozens of file requests, and that the only way we could get accurate stats was to measure image loads.

Image load stats record how many times a specific image is loaded from an external server (other than ours), and gives a very accurate measurement of how many times actual readers have loaded a page. We use three different image load stat tracking services, and they all report very similar numbers. These stats also allow us to ignore the hundreds (or thousands) of file requests that are made daily by indexing robots such as Google.

As an example of what we mean, if we look at our server stats for August 29 of this year, they show 17,000 unique visitors and 129,000 page views, while the image load stats show 2348 and 4831 respectively. Oh that they were true!

This final image represents where our readers are located geographically, based on the last 2500 visitors on Friday (8/31). No real surprises here, but it is nice to know that bluegrass music has become a truly international medium.

That’s right folks, we’ve been blogging for over a year now. It’s hard to believe really. As I was thinking about it this morning I went back and looked at some of the first posts John and I drafted for the blog. Our first post was made on 7/17/2005 and was simply background information on who John and I are. A series of posts followed for the next few days explaining what our purposes for starting the blog were, what we hoped to accomplish, and how you could participate. Our first news post wasn’t even about bluegrass, but about blogging! The first post with bluegrass news in it was about IBMA 2005. As the 2006 event approaches we are once again looking for ways that we can make the blog useful both to those in attendance and those who cannot attend. Posts concerning our efforts at this year’s IBMA event will be forthcoming very soon.

This morning was just a short stroll down memory lane for me and I thought I would share it with you. Thanks for reading all this time, and for telling others about us. We look forward to another year of bringing you the News at the speed of bluegrass!

Following up on the recent post from Brad Harper about file trading of live show audio, in response to one by Megan Lynch, I want to add a few words about comments, and why we typically do not allow them on The Bluegrass Blog. I also want to explain a bit more about outside Guest Contributions, which we publish on occasion.

After Megan posted some strong feelings about trading live shows in her Guest Contribution on Wednesday (not in favor), we heard from readers who wanted to chime in, and were frustrated by the fact that, unlike many other blogs, we do not allow for comments. Brad Harper wrote in to share the fact that he had used his own blog to comment on her post (in favor of file trading), and agreed to allow us to re-publish his thoughts as a second Guest Contribution.

We continue to welcome Guest Contributions, both from folks working in the bluegrass/acoustic music industry, and from fans and amateur/semi-pro pickers who have something they want to share with our readers. Cogency, timeliness and the appropriateness of the subject matter will be crucial to them being accepted for publication, and prospective contributors are invited to contact us if they have an interest in composing a brief essay for publication.

We have generally eschewed comments for individual posts for several reasons. Initially, we wanted to avoid the sort of “Shut up!” and “What an idiot!!” responses that are too often a big part of blog commenting. We did try comments on certain posts where we felt like it would be appropriate, but required that commenters be registered as users on our site, use their actual names in any comments they wish to make, and that they be moderated by The Bluegrass Blog before they appeared on the site.

As it transpired, not many of our readers felt the compulsion to post comments, perhaps because of those restrictions, so we have gradually discontinued enabling them. In response to some reader requests, however, both of the posts referenced above have now been enabled to allow for reader comments, and anyone who wishes to chime in is welcome to do so, as long as you are willing to abide by our comment policies.

All comments are moderated and must be approved before publication, and anonymous comments will not be allowed. We want to foster conversation via opinion posts, but insist that it be open, civil and clearly credited.

In the past few months, we have also discovered that a pernicious spambot was able to penetrate our registration filter and post some plainly vile pornographic links as comments. Of course, since the comments require moderation, none of them get through to your eyes, but it both further soured us on comments, and got us thinking in a new direction where reader participation is concerned.

We are currently developing a major upgrade to The Bluegrass Blog that will allow our readers to be more active in discussions of posts we publish here. Look for more news about The B in the next few weeks.

Follow-up, 10:15 a.m.: Commenting has been enabled for this post as well, should anyone wish to add a thought.

Your humble authors of The Bluegrass Blog are featured in a profile in today’s edition of The Roanoke Times, our hometown newspaper. It was written by Ralph Berrier, one-time features writer for the paper, more recently on sabbatical, and now preparing to return to the Times staff full time.

Berrier is a very valuable part of our regional music media, as he is both a fiddler and a serious student of old time music who brings a level of genuine expertise to his coverage of traditional music in our area. We have linked to Ralph’s pieces in the past, most particularly his in-depth series of articles about the efforts of the state of Virginia to establish and promote The Heritage Music Trail, a series of traditional music attractions in SW VA, as a tourist destination for folks interested in the music, and Appalachian culture.

His story in today’s paper marks the upcoming one year anniversary of The Bluegrass Blog, and is drawn from my recent conversation with Ralph about how the site came to be, and what we have in mind for the future.

You can read the full article on The Roanoke Times web site. There is a small glitch in the article online, where several paragraphs of text are repeated at the end of the piece, but that shouldn’t provide much of a distraction for those interested in reading it.

He mentioned at one point in the article, my thoughts on the international nature of our readership, and how the internet has helped fuel continued growth in interest for all things bluegrass online. We watch those stats (country of origin) with great interest, and they never fail to provide encouragement about the expansion of our music worldwide.

As you may expect, the largest percentage of our readers come from the US, east of the Mississippi, with another large percentage in Europe. What has been interesting is the number we find in Asia. Japan and Australia are not a surprise, as their interest in bluegrass music is well-documented, but we are delighted to consistently see readers in Viet Nam, Thailand, Philippines, Korea, Malaysia, Hong Kong and even mainland China. We have regular readers in India, and several in northern Africa and Ethiopia.

Of particular interest of late has been our readership in the Middle East. Just today, we have had visits from cyber surfers in Qatar, Kuwait, Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Iran. About ten days ago, as open warfare was breaking out, we found simultaneous visitors online in Tel Aviv and Beirut.

Perhaps Del McCoury could be dispatched as a roving ambassador?

One half of your dutiful Bluegrass Blog editorial staff will be away all of next week. I am leaving this morning for Boston, where I will be until next Friday afternoon.

I will post some news while I’m away, but will not be as visible here as is my norm. Brance will make sure that you stay up to date on all the news in the bluegrass world, and I’ll look forward to resuming my regular blogging duties next weekend.

Should anyone try and reach me by email, please accept my apology in advance if I don’t respond right away. I will have some access to email while I am away, but I am told that I must behave as though I am on vacation - at least most of the time.

My fellow blog author, John Lawless, will be featured Sunday evening (3/12) on Sirius Satellite Radio’s bluegrass channel 65. He’ll be interviewed by Sirius on-air host Ned Luberecki, and they will also spin a number of tracks from John’s CD, Five & Dime. John will be in St. Louis (with Ned) teaching banjo classes at Bull & Tammy Harman’s St. Louis Flatpick.

Sirius subscribers can simply tune in on Channel 65, as can anyone with Dish Network Satellite TV where it will run on channel 6065. If you are a subscriber but won’t be in the car - or near your Sirius receiver - you can listen online. A free 3-day trial subscription is also available for online listening.

John and Ned’s segment will run in the 7:00 p.m. hour (EST) on Sunday, March 12.

Our apologies to anyone who was unable to reach The Bluegrass Blog early on Monday morning. Our server was down for about two and a half hours (5:14 to 7:46 EST), but is back up and fully operational now.

Brance has mentioned that we have a number of fabulous Guest Contributors lined up for the next few weeks. We’ve done so both to keep new content on The Bluegrass Blog while he is away next week (on his honeymoon!), and while I spend Christmas with my family, but also to give a slightly different flavor to the site during this special time of year.

Hard news is slow during the holidays when everyone in bluegrass hopes to spend time with those that matter most in their lives, and performers and bluegrass business people alike are on vacation, just as we all are. We will continue to publish such news as does surface between now and the end of the year, but much of what we post is likely to be less specifically “newsy,” and more of general interest to anyone who enjoys bluegrass - or just plain fun!

It is possible that we will offer more opinion pieces during this time as well, many of which may be opened for general comments. We hope that you enjoy what we have in store for the next few weeks, and as always, invite your feedback, pro or con.

Brance and I send along our kindest regards for your support of The Bluegrass Blog, along with our sincere wishes for a joyous and Merry Christmas!

A while back I told you we would start introducing some guest contributors to The Bluegrass Blog. Well, the time has come to start making introductions. I’ll be getting married this coming Saturday (17th) and will be gone for a while. Not wanting the entire work load of blogging to fall on John’s shoulders, I’ve asked a number of people to guest blog for me over the next few weeks.

Here’s how it will work. I’ll be introducing them to you in the next few days. Some will be familiar names, some won’t. But John and I feel that each of these individuals has something to offer of interest to our community. There will be a new category for Guest Contributors. This category will contain all posts by or about our Guest Contributors. There will also be sub-categories for each Contributor. If they contribute multiple posts over time, all of their posts will be found in their category. You will find all these categories in the pull down menu at the top of the page, and also in the sidebar to the left.

We hope you enjoy this new addition to The Bluegrass Blog.

You may have noticed that yesterday’s post Darren Beachley to Join Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver was written by Kip Martin. Kip has been a member of Darren’s band for some time and we felt his first hand reporting on the story was very appropriate. In the coming month we’ll be introducing a number of Guest Contributors to The Bluegrass Blog. All of these contributors will be people whom we trust and have asked to participate because we feel they have some special knowledge or experience to share.

Guest Contributors will not necessarily write posts on any kind of regular schedule, though that may develop over time. For now their contributions will be occasional as seems appropriate.

We are very excited about this new addition to The Bluegrass Blog and hope you are as well.

Just a quick reminder that displaying articles by category on The Bluegrass Blog can be a quick way to find the bluegrass news of greatest interest to you. We have more than 20 distinct categories into which each news post is archived, and choosing to view the posts this way ensures that you can get straight to the content you are after.

You can select the categories from the pull down menu at the top of each page, in the sidebar along the left side of each page, or get more details on the categories with direct links to each here.

Starting in the next few days, we will institute a new feature on The Bluegrass Blog - long form posts. These will be articles which notably exceed our typical posts in length and which feature substantial content that is wholly original to one of our authors, or involving the results of our independent research.

Because of the length of these features, only a brief synopsis of the content will display on the font page, along with this longform graphic and a link to display the entire article. In some cases, photos will accompany the longform piece and we may open them to comments if the content suggests it.

Like our sporadic audio podcasts, longform posts will be published as the opportunity arises, and not on any specific schedule or frequency.

Just a brief note with a tip for regular readers of The Bluegrass Blog: Don’t forget that every post is archived in one or more of the various categories we have established. By selecting to view only the posts within a given category, you can quickly find the new posts of greatest interest to you.

For instance, if you host a bluegrass radio show, you might choose to visit The Bluegrass Blog as you prepare for your program, scanning the category with information on new CD releases, taking a look at the band news, and the bluegrass radio news before going on the air or recording your show for a later broadcast.

If you are someone learning to play bluegrass, you might want to keep a close eye on the instructional materials or online resources categories.

You can see the list of categories by clicking on the pull down menu just under the header image, or on the Categories link in the Navigation panel in the top left corner of each page. They are also listed in the left hand side bar part of the way down the page. All of these listings are active links that will take you to the posts in that category.

For more general information, you can view all of our categories and descriptions here.

The question of conflict of interest has arisen with regard to the the fact the authors of The Bluegrass Blog also operate businesses that market products and services to the bluegrass community. Please be assured that we will always pass along new product information which we discover or is provided to us, without respect to whether the product or service might be seen as being in competition with either AcuTab or Clear Blue.

We will surely pass along our own news as well. The release of a Ron Stewart fiddle DVD or the recording of a new CD by Larry Keel are both newsworthy items, and the fact that they involve this blog’s authors does not diminish that fact. Expect to see notices about them both when the time is right.

Expect also to see information about similar items that are provided to us by anyone else in businesses similar to ours. We encourage anyone who markets to the bluegrass community to make us aware of any news about their company or their products that may be of interest to our readers. We can’t promise that we will publish an article about every single notice we receive, but we request that anyone who feels that something has been unfairly excluded please let us know your thoughts.

We can be contacted via this online contact form.

Bottom Line: we will publish news and information which we feel will be of interest to the bluegrass community, whether it comes from this blog’s authors or friends, from a company who advertises with us or not, or from people known or unknown to us.

We are please to announce that The Bluegrass Blog is now offering occasional podcasts (see explanation below). We will not be podcasting on any kind of regular schedule. The podcasts will be made available when they are news worthy, timely, or otherwise of interest.

Our podcast feed is available here.
We recommend the use of ipodder for subscribing to the podcast.
If you use Apple Computer’s iTunes application, you can subscribe to our podcast here.
Both are crossplatform and support automated downloads.

Podcasting explaned

“Podcasting” is the current buzz word among internet junkies. Simply put, podcasting is making audio files (most commonly in MP3 format) available online in a way that allows software to automatically download the files for listening at the user’s convenience. The word “podcasting” comes from combining the word “iPod” with the word “broadcasting”. This is somewhat deceiving as an iPod is not required to listen to a podcast. Designed to work with internet audio downloads, it is the most popular portable digital audio player available today, making the use of it’s name in reference to a downloadable mp3 stream very natural.

Podcasting is a method of publishing audio broadcasts via the Internet, allowing users to subscribe to a feed of new files (usually MP3s). It became popular in late 2004, largely due to automatic downloading of audio onto portable players or personal computers.
Podcasting is distinct from other types of online media delivery because of its subscription model, which uses a feed (such as RSS or Atom) to deliver an enclosed file. Podcasting enables independent producers to create self-published, syndicated “radio shows,” and gives broadcast radio programs a new distribution method. Listeners may subscribe to feeds using “podcatching” software (a type of aggregator), which periodically checks for and downloads new content automatically. Some podcatching software is also able to synchronise (copy) podcasts to portable music players. Any digital audio player or computer with audio-playing software can play podcasts.

The above quote is from the free online encyclopedia, Wikipedia.

If you are new to The Bluegrass Blog, or blogging in general, here is a table of contents for the introductory articles on this site. These articles explain the concept of “blogging” and the purpose of this site. Each link will take you to the page for that article.

• What is a blog
• …and why does it matter to bluegrass
• That’s great, but why does this matter to me?
• How will The Bluegrass Blog generate visitors?
• How can you contribute?
• Who are we
• Viewpoint - a recurring feature

From time to time, we will include posts which do not offer news or specific information, but instead feature commentary or opinion on a topic related to the theme of The Bluegrass Blog: bluegrass music, artists, events and fans - or the music business that supports us all.

These Viewpoint posts will often be written by the blogs primary authors (Brance Gillihan or John Lawless) and we will publish opinion pieces from outside contributors as well when we find them to be timely, well-written and relevant to the purpose of The Bluegrass Blog. To clearly mark these posts as commentary, they will always include the Viewpoint icon graphic at the beginning of the post, and all the various Viewpoint items will be saved in a separate category in our archives. These posts will not always reflect the views of The Bluegrass Blog, and we will note our differences when they are applicable.

Viewpoint posts will be the only items published on The Bluegrass Blog which will allow for comments from our readers. You must be a registered user in order to comment, and all comments will be moderated before publication. Anonymous comments will not be allowed - your full name will be displayed with your comment - and abuse of this format will not be tolerated. This Viewpoint comments forum is meant to foster serious discussion when opinion pieces are presented and is not meant as a bulletin board soapbox or an opportunity for personal crusades, vendettas or grievances.

A link to read and/or add comments will be found at the bottom of each Viewpoint post. Simply click it to view the individual Viewpoint post, any comments that have been added and a form to submit a comment if you wish. Again, you must be both registered and logged in to post a comment but registration is not required to view them.

Registration is quite simple, and can be accomplished here. Once you are registered, you can log in here.

For those unfamiliar with the term, the word “blog” is a contraction of its original name, “web log.” A blog might best be described as a web-based publication consisting of a number of posts, with new posts added on a regular basis. Each post is generally a brief article written by the author(s) of the blog, or perhaps another contributor. Articles are generally presented in reverse chronological order with the newest entry residing at the top of the page. Like a typical web site, a blog can include text, images or multimedia content, and quite commonly will feature elements of all three, though text predominates.

There are as many types of blogs as there are individual interests, ranging in scope from a personal journal or travel diary to blogs that discuss more universal political, religious or social concerns. Others may attract readers interested in legal, medical or other professional matters while others still may focus on corporate or business issues. Many of the most popular blogs cover news, information and opinion - from every conceivable slice of the political spectrum.

A blog may be authored by an individual, or it may be a collaborate effort of a group of authors and contributors. Some blogs allow visitors to leave comments that remain attached to a post. This creates a ‘community’ of readers and participants. While these comments are often allowed, they are almost always moderated as a blog is not intended to be a bulletin board or forum. Moderating the comments allows the blog’s author to keep the site focused. The comments are usually included as a footnote that requires you click a link to access them. In this way those interested in the comments can readily view them, while others who would rather focus on the information presented in the article are not encumbered by the comments.

Many blogs, especially those which focus primarily on news, link to stories and articles on other blogs or web sites. Taken as a whole this community of blogs and blog-related sites is often refered to as the “blogosphere.” In many ways, blogs and blogging represent a new growth trend on the Internet, and many observers expect it to grow exponentially in the near term, noting that some popular blogs generate between 200,000-500,000 vists daily.

That is the obvious question in your mind as you look over this new site. We feel that our bluegrass community can only benefit from an accurate, authoritative and timely source for bluegrass news and comment - and this is exactly what The Bluegrass Blog is meant to be!

Imagine being able to log on several times each week - or even daily with your morning coffee - and see a roundup of news about the music we love. You might first see an item about a new release date for an upcoming CD, or maybe some European show dates for a favorite bluegrass act. The next could be a notice that a well know act is still looking for tunes for an upcoming recording project, or some “studio notes” about how a project is coming along. It could be an announcement about a new bluegrass radio show coming online, or a new web site or festival being launched.

Most items would include an outbound web link for additional details - one of the chief benefits of the way that blogging combines elements of news gathering with the interconnectedness of the Internet.

Perhaps the greatest potential benefit is the combination of the three elements highlighted above:

Accurate: We will only include verifiable information, first hand whenever possible, with identification of our sources included. When we pass along unsourced bits, we will do so with the certain knowledge of the veracity of the information.

Authoritative: Unlike email lists and bulletin boards/chat fora, The Bluegrass Blog is not published anonymously, but by named individuals who are known in the bluegrass world, and who put their credibility on the line with each edition. Further, a blog like this avoids the chatter and din that make bulletin boards and listserve email groups so cluttered and chaotic.

Timely: We can post information within minutes of receiving it, and post updates/corrections just as fast when they are indicated.

One of the things that is so special about our music is the fact that almost everyone who works in the industry is a fan as well, and many fans also are involved on an amateur or part time/volunteer basis on the industry side. We are confident that The Bluegrass Blog will be quickly seen as a valuable resource to both producers and consumers in the bluegrass and acoustic music community - and those who work both sides of the fence.

If you work in bluegrass music, or some related field, and can see the benefit of reaching both other industry folks and fans/consumers alike with announcements, publicity bits or even requests for information, you might begin to see the value of a resource like The Bluegrass Blog.

For folks in publicity, artist management or promotion The Bluegrass Blog offers an excellent way to reach both groups mentioned above, and to time the release of information carefully, or get “breaking news” out there as soon as it is known.

For amateur and student pickers, you can get updates on workshops, jams and new instructional materials as they are announced. If you produce this sort of resource, you can find an effective way to announce and promote events and products.

Instrument builders and folks who market accessories can use The Bluegrass Blog to get new information out to potential customers along with links to your web sites. Do you have a new endorser, or perhaps want to plug some upcoming in-store clinics? If you let us know, we can announce them on our blog.

Independent bands, artists or songwriters can level the playing field a bit by getting your announcements read by a large number of fans as well as radio people and festival promoters. Established acts can pass along info of particular interest to online consumers, such as inclusion in popular pay-per-download sites, or positive news about your music’s rankings on Apple’s iTunes or Amazon.com.

Radio programmers can use The Bluegrass Blog to pass along requests for CDs, announce the launch of a new show or a change in time or affiliation. Broadcast syndicators can announce new affiliates and cybercasters and podcasters can announce changes in their programming availability.

Event producers can surely benefit from access to this site, to announce a festival roster for the year when it is finalized (and point people to your site), or maybe get the word out on the addition of some new feature or special event at your festival.

Of course, regardless of whether you fit any of the categories above, the site will be of interest if you just want to follow the news as it relates to bluegrass and acoustic music and keep abreast of what’s going on in the bluegrass world.