The International Bluegrass Music Museum is getting ready to celebrate Abraham Lincoln’s 200th birthday.

You didn’t know Lincoln was a bluegrasser? He was. Well maybe not in a bluegrass music sense. But he was a native Kentuckian.

The Museum’s celebration takes the form of a musical drama about the life of Lincoln. The music, of course, will be bluegrass music. Rick Miller, a local postman, wrote the script and much of the music, and approached the museum about producing. Museum Director Gabrielle Gray suggested it take the form of a musical set to bluegrass, and that the production be a community-wide effort. The Museum’s education program director, Randy Lanham, has also contributed compositions to the work. His band will provide most of the music, and will be joined by over 300 elementary school children.

[The drama is] set to music by Randy Lanham (the director of our education programs), acted by community actors (mostly from Theatre Workshop of Owensboro), with bluegrass music performed by Randy Lanham’s Bluegrass Band, danced by the African American Dance Troupe at Foust Elementary and Barry Lanham’s Foot Stompin’ Express clogging troupe (who represented the Museum in China last year), and composed by Miller, Lanham, AND over 300 elementary school children who took elements of Lincoln’s life and wrote songs about them under Randy’s direction. They will perform them, as well.

The performance will take place at 7 PM on Thursday, February 12, 2009, in the RiverPark Center’s Cannon Hall, Owensboro, KY. Tickets are $5 for adults, $3 for students.

The Museum is managing, overseeing, and producing the musical. They are also raising the money for it. If you’re in the area, it’s be a great way to enjoy some good entertainment and support the Museum at the same time.

Gabrielle tells me that this is a preliminary work meant to give them some practice before the big show.

This is actually a pilot program for the musical we will produce on the life of Bill Monroe during his centennial in 2011 – work out the kinks on Abe so we can get it right for Bill!!

We’ll be looking forward to that one!

Matt Kelley of WNKU 89.7 FM (Northern Kentucky University, Highland Heights, KY) recently spoke to Gabrielle Gray, the Executive Director of the International Bluegrass Music Museum, Owensboro, KY, about the Museum’s ongoing education program for children that has led to a proliferation of budding young bluegrass pickers in the region.

The two also spoke about what else the Museum has to offer for anybody interested in the genre.

One very interesting aspect about which Ms. Gray spoke is the part that bluegrass music had to play in a twinning arrangement between Owensboro and its Japanese sister city, Nisshin (Aichi).

There is an eight minute audio recording of the interview at the station’s website.

Banks of the Ohio: Music from the Homeplace of Bluegrass, the weekly syndicated radio broadcast produced by the International Bluegrass Music Museum in Owensboro, KY, has announced a new host.

George McKnight will take over the duties from founding host Fred Bartenstein effective November 29. George has a long history in both bluegrass music and commercial radio, serving as stage emcee on numerous festivals each year near his home in British Columbia, and has hosted the syndicated radio program Uptown Bluegrass since 1982.

Banks of the Ohio runs three hours each week, broken into 30 minute segments that focus on music from different periods in the brief history of bluegrass music. Their mission is to both educate and entertain, offering historical background to the songs and artists, geared to long-time fans and new listeners alike.

Bartenstein welcomes McKnight as he prepares to dedicate his time to other museum work.

“I am pleased and excited about George McKnight taking over the program, as I turn my attention to other projects at the International Bluegrass Music Museum.  I hope you get a chance to tune in to my farewell show, airing the week of November 22, and to George’s maiden voyage the following week.”

Fred tells us that he has plenty on his plate moving forward…

“I’m already working with the International Bluegrass Music Museum on planning for the Bill Monroe Centennial in 2011, and also expect to be helping them with editing video oral histories of bluegrass pioneers. I will continue to be the facilitator for IBMA’s Leadership Bluegrass program. I’m participating in the Bluegrass Hotel project, celebrating the 40th anniversary of events in Kentucky which revitalized both traditional bluegrass and initiated newgrass.

In early 2009, I will be facilitating an all-Europe bluegrass music summit in Germany. All those projects are in the context of my ongoing organizational consulting practice, which goes beyond the music industry.”

On Sunday, November 2, 2008, the International Bluegrass Music Museum in Owensboro, Kentucky, unveiled a brand new Curly Seckler exhibit.

The exhibit, which will remain up for one year, includes photos, posters and LPs from Seckler’s 70 plus years in bluegrass music, as well as a guitar case, stage clothes and a hat.

After the unveiling ceremony, Seckler, accompanied by his friends Willis Spears and Larry Perkins, sang for the museum board members, trustees and other VIPs, Other featured performers included Dewey Murphy, Gloria Belle, Fletcher Bright and Ronnie Reno.

Prior to that, on October 8, Seckler went along to the WSM radio studio where he was a live guest of Eddie Stubbs during the latter’s evening show.

Two days later he joined with the Steep Canyon Rangers for a show at the Station Inn in Nashville.

On October 24, Curly was in Durham, North Carolina, to tape The State of Things for WUNC radio. He chatted with host Frank Stasio about his career and performed several songs backed by the Steep Canyon Rangers.

The State of Things is broadcast on weekdays from 12:00 noon to 1:00pm Eastern time on WUNC. The program featuring Curly Seckler is tentatively scheduled to be transmitted in December. Watch for details soon or check the WUNC web site.

During the following day Seckler visited Crewe, Virginia, for a live interview and performance on WSVS radio. This station was the home base for Curly Seckler in 1954, while he was with Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs. In addition to doing daily programs on WSVS and weekly appearances on WRVA’s Old Dominion Barn Dance in Richmond, Virginia, the Foggy Mountain Boys taped all of their Martha White radio programs at WSVS and sent them back to WSM to be broadcast. At that time, WSVS radio’s most popular DJ was Little Jody Rainwater, who had worked with Seckler in the Foggy Mountain Boys in 1950. Rainwater joined Seckler for the interview, thus the duo were reunited in the WSVS studios for the first time in 54 years. (WSVS programs bluegrass and classic country music, and you can tune in online.)

That evening (10/25) Seckler, showing the stamina of someone half his age, and the Steep Canyon Rangers gave a fantastic performance to an enthusiastic audience at the Kenbridge Town Hall, in Kenbridge, Virginia. WSVS station manager Chris Gowin co-ordinated the events as well as attending to the sound system. A portion of the proceeds of the show went to benefit a local chapter of the Salvation Army.

Curly Seckler is now looking forward to his next big event in his life: his 89th birthday, on December 25! He and his wife, Eloise, will also celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary on December 26.

It is expected that Seckler will do more shows with the Steep Canyon Rangers in 2009, while he will also perform at several bluegrass festivals with Big Country Bluegrass next year.

For additional information, bio, and photos, please you can visit Curly’s official web site.