Now that IBMA week is in the books, it’s time to get ready for EWOB, the European World Of Bluegrass, held in Voorthuizen, the Netherlands, May 13-15, 2010.

Bands interested in showcasing at the EWOB festival can apply between now and November 20. A total of 42 showcase spots are available and though bands are not paid for these appearances, some travel expenses are offered to European bands. Event producers and music press from all over Europe are typically on hand for these shows.

The festival also hosts a European Bluegrass Band Awards competition, with winners chosen on two separate tracks. The primary award is chosen by the other musicians in attendance, and a second trophy is awarded by the fans, an Audience Popularity Award. The winner of the European Bluegrass Band Award each year is offered the opportunity to perform at the following year’s IBMA convention in Nashville.

Application details can be found on the European Bluegrass Music Association web site, where you can also find sponsor, vendor and volunteer information.

This year’s trade show exhibit hall seems to have noticeably fewer booths than in past years. (This picture labeled “Where’s Gibson?” demonstrates this point admirably. Other long-time exhibitors notably absent are Huber Banjos and The Murphy Method.) Walking through the hall on Tuesday also revealed many booths with people’s names on them, but no one there. The mystery of those deserted spots was solved on Wednesday when the one-day exhibitors set up. A one-day option is new this year and we’ll have to wait until the dust settles to find out whether these businesses felt it was worth their while to come set up for just one day.

This year is also the first year that the official showcase bands received their own booths, which no doubt helped to fill up the available (unsold) booth space.

Vendors’ impressions of hall traffic varied. Bob Fehr at Martin Guitars said that business was very slow; Rienk Janssen of The European Bluegrass Music Association, who was reading a book at his booth when I stopped to talk, agreed that things were slow, but perhaps not more so than last year. I told him he should get a really good book and that would guarantee that people would be constantly interrupting him. Laurie Matheson from the University of Illinois Press said that business wasn’t exactly booming, but it was steady.

The single exception to this trend is Bluegrass Unlimited, which is offering a tote bag stuffed full of truly great stuff for renewing your subscription. They’ve sold more than 175 subscriptions and renewals so far and have around 70 left, so if you want yours, act fast!

May is Bluegrass month and accordingly, the European Bluegrass Music Association held its 12th annual EWOB Festival in Voorthuizen, The Netherlands. One of the highlights of the EWOB festival is the voting for European Bluegrass Band of the Year. There are actually two awards given in this category. The first is voted by the performers present at the event. The second is voted by the audience present at the event.

The winner of the first award will be invited to perform at next year’s (2010) IBMA World of Bluegrass in Nashville, TN.

Here are this year’s winners.

#1 European Bluegrass Band 2009:
1. Downtown Ramblers, Sweden
2. G-Runs ‘n Roses, Czech Republic
3. Kreni, Czech Republic

Audience Popularity Award 2009
1. Blackjack, CZ
2. Bluegrass Stuff, Italy
3. Sunny Side, Czech Republic

Earlier this month we brought you news of the European Booking Network Notice Board, one initiative that came from the European Bluegrass Summit that took place early in February at Buhl/Baden (Germany).

The summit considered in depth six topics, namely ‚Ķ‚Ķ

1. Associations and their relationships
2. Internet-based, inclusive networking (hub)
3. The involvement of young people in bluegrass
4. Lobbying, fund raising, and marketing on a continental scale
5. The use and significance of the term ‘European World of Bluegrass’
6. Continent-wide booking

Other aspects relating to bluegrass in Europe were set aside due to lack of time during the two-day event.

In concluding, the attendees provided a country-by-country review of the current European market for bluegrass and gave their individual impressions of what had been achieved

A full report, in the form of the minutes of the meeting, is now available online at the European Bluegrass Music Association website (opens as a PDF).