Merlefest gets underway today. It’s one of the biggest festivals in the country and many, if not most, of your favorite bluegrass acts will be performing at some point during the week.

If you’re not there, but you’d like to know what’s going on. Or, if you are there, but you’d like to know what’s going on backstage, here’s your chance.

Our pal Wichita Rutherford is there all week and hanging out back stage with Doc and the other stars. He’s going to give us all a window into what’s happening, by Twittering his experiences. He tells me he plans to let us know who’s backstage and what they’re doing, what they’re eating, and who they’re talking to. Apparently there will be no privacy this year at Merlefest! Wichita will also be catching a few parking lot jams and letting us know what’s happening there.

Wichita tells me there may even be a friendly slap fight match or two. He’s challenged Tim Stafford, Terry Eldrige and Jerry Douglas among others. Of course, if Chris Thile shows up…

If Chris Thile shows there will be an all out slap fight brawl; a loser leaves MerleFest cage match, if you will.

I’m sure Wichita will let us know all the details if it happens. Be careful buddy!

In addition to just Tweeting the events as they happen, Wichita will also be posting photos on his Twitter page.

If you want to follow Wichita’s Tweets, then just go to Twitter.com, you’ll need an account, and search for WichitaR or Wichita Rutherford, and enjoy!

More big bluegrass doin’s on online radio this Saturday (10/25).

At 1:00 p.m. (EDT) former Foggy Mountain Boys Jody Rainwater and Curly Seckler will join Steep Canyon Rangers for a live set on WSVS AM 800 in Crewe, VA. They will be performing together that evening in nearby Kenbridge, and will offer a taste of the show over the air (steamed live at www.wsvsam.com).

WSVS was the radio home for Flatt & Scruggs in 1954 and ‘55, where they did a live noontime show each weekday and also taped their Martha White shows for WSM in Nashville. Rainwater, who had left the band several years earlier, was a show host on WSVS while Lester and Earl were based in Crewe.

Curly and Jody look forward to spinning yarns about the old days on Saturday’s show, and getting a chance to perform together again backed by a fine young band who learned to play listening to the recordings they had made.

Then at 8:00 p.m. on WNCW in Spindale, NC, Merlefest will announce their artist lineup for 2009. [See update below]

John Adair from Merlefest and Christie Hutchens from Wilkes Community College will be on WNCW’s Martin Anderson to run down all the acts who will be on tap for the festival April 23-26, 2009.

Listen live online at wncw.org.

The lineup will be posted on the Melefest site after the show has concluded on Saturday at 9:00 p.m.

Update 10/26:  Ooops….. The Merlefest radio show is on Tuesday, October 28 at 8:00 p.m.

With more than 75,000 music lovers in attendance – a great many with video recorders of some kind – it should come as no surprise that dozens of videos shot at Merlefest 2008 have popped up on YouTube.

Of course at such an eclectic festival, the offerings range from old time bluegrass…

…to more experimental string music…

… to the truly bizarre.

See them all on YouTube.

If you weren’t among the reported 76,000 in attendance at Merlefest last weekend, you can get a taste of the proceedings online. Our friend Ted Lehmann has dozens of photos posted on his blog, Bluegrass, Books, and Brainstorms.

Ted was on hand Tuesday through Sunday, and captured acts from the many stage shows, as well as the Pete Wernick jam camp and pre-festival jamming.

See all his fine photos at tedlehmann.blogspot.com.