Monday night fans and musicians filled the Grand Ole Opry house in Nashville to help Rounder Records celebrate forty years in the record business. I really feel like we did help them, because the show was not only a concert, but a television taping. That meant that we had to do a lot of extra clapping and look pretty for the camera’s audience shots. It also meant that everything took longer than it would have in a typical live show, especially resetting the stage between acts. (And pictures were absolutely forbidden, so all you’re getting today is text.)

But the performances made all the waiting around worthwhile. There was a lot of music on the show that wasn’t bluegrass (Mary Chapin Carpenter, Nathan and the Zydeco Cha Chas, the amazing Irma Thomas, and the emcee, actress Minnie Driver), so I won’t talk about that here. Suffice to say it will be well worth tuning in to the PBS special when it airs in March 2010.

Of bluegrass interest was Bela Fleck, who played a couple solo pieces. The one he played on the cello banjo was really cool. It was some music that he learned in Tanzania and Mali on the trip to Africa that resulted in the documentary film Throw Down Your Heart, and the CD of the same name. His second tune started out solo but quickly turned duo when he was joined on stage by Abigail Washburn, who sang I’ve Got The Keys To The Kingdom. His final tune was another duet—this time with Jerry Douglas. He said that they were “kids together on Rounder.” Indeed Bela was only 19 when the label first signed him.

The final act of the evening was Alison Krauss + Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas. It was great to see the band play together again, since they’ve been off doing individual projects for so long. They did five numbers including the first song that Alison recorded for Rounder back when she was a teenager, Too Late to Cry, written by John Pennell, who was in the audience. They sang their last song, A Living Prayer, gathered around one mic. The magical performance earned them a genuine standing ovation long enough to merit an encore, Ghost in this House.

After Ghost everyone pretty much thought the show was over and started leaving until Minnie Driver came back on stage and said that there’s a big finale with everyone singing on stage and “don’t leave!!” The feel-good medley of Angels Watching Over Me/I’ll Fly Away/Down By The Riverside was the perfect ending to the celebratory show.

One last note—part of the background set for the show were huge versions of album covers. It especially tickled me that one of the covers blown up was J.D. Crowe and The New South (Rounder 0044) in colors much more vibrant than they ever were on the cardboard LP jacket. It was, by the way, the second cover. Not the original one with J.D. signaling his intentions.

It seems like only yesterday that we celebrated the 60th anniversary of the founding of bluegrass music, marked by the first Grand Ole Opry performance in 1946 by the “Original Blue Grass Band:” Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, Chubby Wise and Cedric Rainwater (Howard Watts). 60 years seems like both a long time, and the merest sliver in the larger scheme of things.

Well, now we have Rounder Records with a big anniversary of their own, choosing Monday, October 12 to commemorate 40 years in business. They have been recording bluegrass, roots, alternative and Americana music since 1970. A special concert at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry House will be filmed for a later broadcast on PBS stations during 2010.

The show will feature performances by Alison Krauss & Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas, Béla Fleck, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Irma Thomas, Nathan & The Zydeco Cha Chas along with host (and performer) Minnie Driver. A portion of the proceeds from Monday’s concert will go to the NARAS Grammy In The Schools Programs.

From a recent Rounder press release…

Rounder Records was founded in 1970 by Ken Irwin, Marian Leighton Levy and Bill Nowlin.  With only their passionate enthusiasm for American roots music lighting the way, the three Boston area college students cast their lot into the perilous music industry. “Before founding Rounder, we were basically music fans,” says Rounder Records co-founder Ken Irwin. “None of us,” echoes co-conspirator Bill Nowlin, “had any record industry experience whatsoever.”

“I doubt that ‘industry experience’ is a term we would have comprehended at the time we started Rounder!” interjects the third member of the Rounder triumvirate, Marian Leighton.

Ticket information can be found online.

Rounder Records also has a promotional giveaway going on to mark Bluegrass Music Month.

The Grand Prize is a Deering Goodtime banjo, autographed by Steve Martin, whose CD The Crow is set for a May 19 Rounder release.

5 first prize winners will receive autographed Rounder projects from Doyle Lawson, Blue Highway, Michael Cleveland, Dailey & Vincent, The Steeldrivers and The Grascals, plus a $50 Rounder gift certificate. 3 second prize winners will receive the gift certificate, a one year subscription to Bluegrass Unlimited, and a spiffy Rounder T-shirt.

Entries are submitted online – one per person – and will be accepted through June 30. Winners will be announced on July 1.

Full contest details can also be found on the Rounder site.

Joe Diffie made quite a splash as a country singer and songwriter in the 1990s, turning out a string of hit songs and top-selling albums for a variety of labels. He has continued to record and perform, still cracking the charts, both in the US and Europe.

Bluegrass music fans in Oklahoma and Texas, however, recall Joe’s bluegrass roots, when he performed as a member of Special Edition with Billy Joe Foster in the late 1980s.

Thanks to Rounder Records, Joe is set to head back into the studio this fall to record his first bluegrass project as a solo artist, with a Spring 2009 release expected. There aren’t any details available yet about a producer, song choices or backing musicians, but we expect to get more information at IBMA next week.

Here is a a brief video of Joe discussing his bluegrass roots, prepared by our friends at String Theory Media.