Here’s a fun YouTube clip we found on Sam Bush’s web site. Those of us of a certain age will get a kick out of seeing a pop icon like Ringo Starr speaking excitedly about artists held in high esteem by fans of acoustic string music - like Sam Bush.

The clip has Ringo extolling the virtues of an upcoming book from noted Nashville photographer Jim McGuire (Senór McGuire as he is known to many), the galleys of which Ringo is thumbing in the video. The traveling exhibit of 60 McGuire photos which Brance posted about last month will be reproduced in book form in the near future.

Nashville Portraits- Legends of Country Music by Jim McGuire is set for an October 1, 2007 release from Lyons Press. All of the photos are reproduced in their original black and white, printed on heavy stock and hardbound.

A great many bluegrass artists who have been the subject of McGuire’s photos are featured, including Bill Monroe, Ralph Stanley, JD Crowe & The New South, Marty Stuart, John Hartford, Béla Fleck, Lester Flatt and Vassar Clements.

And now… here’s Ringo.

If you’ve paid attention to liner notes or photo credits for any length of time, you should be familiar with the name Jim (Senor) McGuire. McGuire has taken many of the great photos in recent years of bluegrass and country patriarchs and stars that have graced magazine and CD covers. If you missed some of those photos, never fear, McGuire is taking many of his best loved photographic portraits on a national road tour.

Jim McGuire: Nashville Portraits hit the road in May, 2007. The first leg of the journey has taken the exhibit no further than Nashville itself. The Frist Center for the Visual Arts in Nashville, TN is playing host for the exhibit’s first stop, where it will stay through September 9, 2007.

The exhibit is comprised of 60 black & white photographs (go here for a web preview) that were shot over the last 30 years, including shots of Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt, Doc Watson, Benny Martin, Emmylou Harris, Sam Bush, Marty Stuart, J.D. Crowe, Ralph Stanley, and others.

In addition to the 60 portraits traveling with the exhibit, a new book of McGuire’s photographs, by the same name as the exhibit, will accompany the tour during 2008. The book is being published by Lyons Press and will be available early 2008.

If you have an interest in booking this exhibit for a stay in your town, you can contact Smith Kramer Fine Arts Services for more information. Dates are still available through December of 2009.