Here’s a fun site with images of vintage music show posters. It’s run by Mitch Diamond, who calls himself The Kardboard Kid.

Mitch has been collecting these posters and hand bills since 1970, and has amassed a substantial number of these classics of advertising art. He is also something of a celebrity in the world of poster collectors, having established the record for the highest price ever paid for a show poster when he purchased an original 1966 Beatles Shea Stadium poster, now on display at The Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame.

In addition to an assortment of rock and roll, blues and jazz posters, Mitch also has a good many early country and bluegrass posters displayed on his site. I found original posters of Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, Reno and Smiley, The Osborne Brothers and The Stanley Brothers.

Mitch buys and sells in addition to collecting, and invites people with an interest in his collection - or who may have articles to sell - to contact him by email.

See all the posters at The Kardboard Kid site.

Our friends at WorldwideBluegrass.com are promoting a pair of petition drives to get two of bluegrass music’s pioneers into the Country Music Hall Of Fame. Both Flatt & Scruggs and Bill Monroe have been inducted, but WWB is hoping to see The Stanley Brothers and The Osborne Brothers inducted as well.

You can add your name and address online, and the folks at WWB will send the petitions on to the Hall Of Fame once they receive 10,000 signatures on each.

The Osborne Brothers petition can be found here, and The Stanley Brothers here.

Pinecastle has wonderful news for fans of The Osborne Brothers. They are set to release a 3 disk set recorded on July 30, 1989 in Streekermoor, Germany entitled, appropriately enough, The Osborne Brothers: Live In Germany. Tom Riggs at Pinecastle says that this is just the first of several unreleased Osborne Brothers recordings which they will put out over the next few years.

This concert was part of a European tour with Bill Monroe, and the accompanying liner notes from Sonny and Bobby describe bus travel with the Father of Bluegrass.

“While traveling, everyone wore just plain old riding clothes and such, but not Mr. Monroe. His traveling uniform was a suit and tie, along with his hat, which I thought was strange, but that was Monroe. Our only transportation was two small and I mean small, vans in which to carry two complete bands.”

The Osborne’s band at the time included Terry Eldridge on guitar/vocals and Terry Smith on bass - both currently members of The Grascals - and Steve Thomas on fiddle, along with Bobby and Sonny Osborne.

This live set includes two audio CDs, and a DVD video of the show. The audio has been painstakingly remastered, produced and overseen by Sonny Osborne with John Eberle of Americana Mastering. The DVD is included, despite the fact that it was not professionally recorded, because it is one of the few video recordings on the band from that era.

Many Osborne Brothers favorites are on tap: Kentucky, Listening To The Rain, Georgia Mules and Country Boys, Midnight Flyer, Tennessee Hound Dog and - of course - Rocky Top.

Pinecastle has The Osborne Brothers: Live In Germany scheduled for release on April 3, 2007.

Pinecastle Records has released the live concert video of The Osborne Brothers at Renfro Valley on DVD. The performance, recorded in 1994 and released on VHS video in 1997, features Sonny and Bobby with Terry Eldridge on guitar and vocals, and Terry Smith on bass, both currently with The Grascals. The late Gene Wooten is on dobro, and David Crow on fiddle.

The video has been unavailable for some time, and this is its first release on DVD.

We just heard from Fred Bartenstein about a special Osborne Brothers radio special he has been working on for nearly two years. It was produced by WNKU (Northern KY University) and Bgrass Inc., a nonprofit which Bartenstein chairs, dedicated to preserving and celebrating the bluegrass music heritage of southern Ohio.

The two hour program, hosted by WNKU program director Grady Kirkpatrick, is entitled The Osborne Brothers: From Hyden to the Ryman, and follows Sonny and Bobby Osborne from their youth in OH to their status as bluegrass and country music icons.

The show is briefly described by WNKU as follows:

You’ll hear stories of their musical roots in Hyden, Kentucky; their childhood move to Dayton, Ohio; their early career, culminating in their induction into the cast of the Grand Ole Opry; and the 30-plus years they’ve spent in the top ranks of bluegrass and country artists. The program includes a generous helping of the Osborne Brothers’ music, including “Ruby,” “Once More,” “Kentucky,” and “Rocky Top,” along with commentary and conversation from Bob and Sonny Osborne.

It debuted in early September on WNKU, and Bartenstein wrote to let us know that it is now being offered to radio stations all over the world. It is available to both commercial and public stations alike, who can choose to either download the show in MP3 format at no charge, or have it delivred on two CDs for a $5 duplication/shipping fee.

Stations can print and mail/fax a request for the show, or fill out a request form online. After a request is approved, instructions for downloading the show will be sent by return email, or the CDs will be sent by postal mail, depending on your request. Supporting materials (timing and cue sheet, playlist, script) can be found on the Bgrass Inc. site.

Copies of the show on CD can also be obtained at the International Bluegrass Music Museum booth during IBMA’s World Of Bluegrass next week. The cost for the CDs will be $3 on site.