Here is a gallery of photos from last night’s (9/29) IBMA festivities.

We are very fortunate this year to have Dean Hoffmeyer shooting for us during World Of Bluegrass. He is a Pulitzer-nominated photographer with The Richmond Times Dispatch, and his work speaks for itself. Dean’s work also graces a number of recent bluegrass CD covers, including the recent Grasstowne and Jason Davis projects.

Dean will be providing photos over the next few days, including Thursday night’s Awards Show. He will posting them as soon as he shoots, so we’ll have galleries going up during the show, while Brance and I are posting the winners in real time here on The Bluegrass Blog.

Bill Evans sent a note last week with news of the 2009 NashCamp Banjo Retreat scheduled for October 16-18 just outside of Nashville.

As always, they have a crackerjack staff of banjo instructors on tap, and Evans was especially pleased to note that this year Bill Emerson will make his NashCamp Banjo faculty debut. Joining Emerson will be host Sonny Osborne, Alan Munde, Tom Adams, Charlie Cushman, Ned Luberecki, Bill Evans and Frank Neat.

This will be their 9th year holding this event which Evans tells us is as oriented towards having fun as it is serious banjo instruction.

You can see all the details about the 2009 NashCamp Banjo Retreat online.

We received a note yesterday from Daniel Grindstaff, banjo player with Marty Raybon. He had a very special opportunity come his way just after Christmas and wanted to share the story with everyone here on The Bluegrass Blog.

Bobby Osborne was scheduled to play on The Grand Ole Opry this past weekend, coinciding with the 41st anniversary of Rocky Top, which was released on December 25, 1967. Bobby’s regular banjo man, Dana Cupp, was unavailable for the show, so Daniel got the call.

“Having filled in and worked with Sonny and Bobby numerous times in the past I always jump at the chance to play that music again. After I spoke to Bobby about doing the show, Sonny got in touch with me on Friday morning (12/26). He asked if I would like to play his RB-3, the banjo that was used on the original recording of Rocky Top and numerous other Osborne Brothers songs.

I, of course, said that I would love to!

The end result of the evening was me getting to perform on the stage of the Opry at The Ryman, during the anniversary of Rocky Top, playing the banjo that recorded it, beside the man who sang it!

What a Christmas gift! A very high point in my career! What a great banjo and a great moment!”

The audio from that Opry show should show up soon in the WSM online archives.

Daniel tells us that the new Marty Raybon CD, This That and the Other, is due for release in January ‘09, and that they will begin touring in support when they return from a Caribbean cruise with Rhonda Vincent in early February.

Tough duty…

The Marty Raybon schedule can be found on his web site, and samples from Daniel’s fine solo CD, April Fool, can be heard at CD Baby.

Photojournalist Phil Zimmerman has released a book of his photos taken during the early days of the bluegrass festival era. Bluegrass Time: A Musician’s Photographs of the Early Days of Bluegrass Festivals contains 95 photos taken between 1972 and 1984 in a 64 page book.

The perspective of the book focuses on the time when a new generation of musicians were taking bluegrass in new directions while many of the early pioneers were still active – and performing on the same festivals.

Phil has kindly agreed to allow us to display several images from the book.

     In addition to these, he includes photos of first generation heroes Bill Monroe, Ralph Stanley, Lester Flatt, Don Reno, Curly Ray Cline, Kenny Baker, Tex Logan, the Lilly Brothers, Don Stover, Buddy Spicher, Paul Warren, and Joe Stuart.Representing the new blood are shots of the Country Gentlemen, J. D. Crowe and the New South, Sam Bush and New Grass Revival, Ricky Skaggs, Tony Rice, Jerry Douglas, Doyle Lawson, Tony Trischka, Marty Stuart, Bela Fleck, Emmylou Harris, Frank Wakefield, Del McCoury, Peter Rowan, Bill Keith, Vassar Clements, and Butch Robins.

Bluegrass Time includes a foreword by Rhonda Vincent, an introduction by bluegrass historian Fred Bartenstein, and extensive captions about the performers featured in the book. It is available in softcover for $25 from Phil’s web site, where you can also see several more images from the book.

The publication of the book coincides with the opening of a year-long exhibition of full size original prints at the International Bluegrass Music Museum in Owensboro, KY. There are 52 prints in this solo exhibition, all of which Mr. Zimmerman has donated to the museum’s permanent collection.