Award-winning photo-journalist Stephanie P. Ledgin has announced that her entire photo exhibition, From Every Stage: Images of America’s Roots Music, is for sale by auction. This once-in-a-lifetime, winner-takes-all auction will reap the winning bidder 40 select custom prints from her book of the same title. This acclaimed exhibition debuted with 12 prints in 2005 at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, continued at Lincoln Center, where the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts expanded it to its current 40 panels and was then placed for a year’s showing in Owensboro, Kentucky, at the International Bluegrass Music Museum, where it will close June 15.

The exhibition showcases 24 colour images and 16 black-and-white prints; the original twelve are housed in custom museum-quality frames, while nearly all the remaining photographs are matted, ready for framing. All prints are signed by Ledgin.

Twenty percent of the winning bid will be donated by Ledgin to the International Bluegrass Music Museum. The minimum bid for the complete set is $12,000. The winner will also receive a personalized copy of the companion book. Bidding closes midnight Eastern time, Sunday, June 16 and the winner will be notified via email by Tuesday, June 18.

Bids on individual prints will be accepted simultaneously but will be awarded only in the event the entire 40-image collection fails to meet the minimum. Minimum bid on framed photos is $700; unframed $500.

Thumbnails and descriptions of the prints and full details about the auction may be viewed on Ledgin’s web site.

Ms Ledgin had this to say when I asked her about the auction …….

“After three years of the photo exhibition being ‘on the road,’ I did not want to see the collection just sitting crated up in my home. Of course, while this is one of the aspects of how I earn my living, because the bluegrass world has been so kind and generous to me, I wanted to give back to ‘my’ community in some way. Hence, the decision to donate 20% of the sale to IBMM. What I think would be exceptional would be for someone, a company or perhaps a pool of people, to purchase the exhibition from me, then turn around and donate it either in its entirety or piecemeal to IBMM and/or to other appropriate exhibition spaces.”

Among the bluegrass bands/personalities pictured are the Nashville Bluegrass Band, with The Fairfield Four; the “King of Bluegrass” Jimmy Martin (photographed with two members of his band, August 1986); New Grass Revival (June 9, 1988); The Johnson Mountain Boys; Peter Rowan; The John Cowan Band; Jens Krüger; Audie Blaylock; Hot Rize; Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys; and James Reams and the Barnstormers. Others of interest include Mike Seeger (alone and with half-brother Pete Seeger); Minnie Pearl; Jim Lauderdale; and the Green Grass Cloggers.

Stephanie P. Ledgin, the 2005 International Bluegrass Music Print Media Person of the Year, came from a diversified music background when she was hired in 1975 as an editor of the seminal bluegrass magazine Pickin’. Since then, her work has appeared around the world in magazines, books, recordings and museums.

Her first book, Homegrown Music: Discovering Bluegrass, was nominated for the Belmont Curb Music Industry Country Music Book of the Year. In May 2007, the International Country Music Conference and Belmont University presented her with the Charlie Lamb Award for Excellence in Country Music Journalism for her distinguished career.

Ledgin serves on the Board of Directors of the International Bluegrass Music Association, is a member of the European Bluegrass Music Association and is a founding member of the North American Folk Music and Dance Alliance. From 1994-2003, as adjunct faculty at Rutgers University, Ledgin was director of the New Jersey Folk Festival.

Her next book, Discovering Folk Music (Praeger), is expected to be published towards the end of this year.

Award-winning bluegrass photographer and author Stephanie Ledgin will see images from her most recent book, From Every Stage: Images of America’s Roots Music, highlighted in a new exhibit which opens on June 21 at the International Bluegrass Music Museum in Owensboro, KY.

The IBMM exhibit will open during the museum’s annual music festival, The River of Music Party (ROMP), and will remain on display through June 2008. It contains 40 of the 200 original photos, along with text panels from the previously unpublished interviews, contained in the book.

Find out more about Ledgin’s books and photography on her official web site.

Here’s another post from our semi-regular correspondent, Richard Thompson. He writes from England, where he is also a longstanding contributor to British Bluegrass News, a quarterly print publication where he also briefly served as editor.

James E Akenson has announced that Stephanie P Ledgin will be the career honoree for the 2007 Charlie Lamb Award for Excellence in Country Music Journalism. Ledgin will be honored on Friday, 25 May 2007, during the luncheon of the International Country Music Conference held in The Board Room of the Massey Business Center of Belmont University in Nashville.

The music journalist and photographer began her career in roots music in 1975 when she was appointed assistant editor of the seminal bluegrass magazine Pickin’, now no longer published. She worked in that role for two years.

Since joining Pickin’ magazine, Ledgin has focused primarily on bluegrass and folk music, her work reaching all parts of the world via magazines, books and recordings, including photographs for the booklet accompanying the Smithsonian Folkways’ Classic Bluegrass, Volume 2 and notes for James Reams And The Barnstormers’ CD, Troubled Times.

From 1987 through to 2004 she published The Traditional Music Line, a highly rated, comprehensive monthly calendar of acoustic music events. Also in 1987 Ledgin began promoting a new bluegrass series at New York’s legendary Lone Star Café, beginning with the Johnson Mountain Boys. One of her photographs taken that December evening was used on the front cover of that group’s Grammy nominated album, At The Old Schoolhouse.

In 1988 and 1989 Ledgin presented the National Council For The Traditional Art’s Masters Of The Folk Violin concerts, in the process introducing the then rising star Alison Krauss to New York city audiences. (more…)

Bluegrass photojournalist and author Stephanie P. Ledgin has been asked to show her work at this year’s Rutgers University Faculty Authors Exhibition at Alexander Library in New Brunswick. Ledgin, who currently serves on the IBMA board, is a former part-time faculty member at Rutgers. 2007 will mark the third year in a row that she has been invited to participate in this event.

The paperback edition of her book Homegrown Music: Discovering Bluegrass, will be the focal point of her exhibit this year.

The exhibition opens today with a reception and runs through the end of April.

Award-winning photojournalist Stephanie P. Ledgin has created a video montage of some of her images of bluegrass and roots music artists, and posted it on YouTube. She created two versions of the video, one with a bluegrass music track, and another with rockin’ dance audio.

Ledgin’s most recent book is Homegrown Music - Discovering Bluegrass, released in October 2006, an introduction to the music, and the people who play it. She had previously released From Every Stage, Images of America’s Roots Music, which contains 200 photos of bluegrass, folk, blues, Cajun, Celtic and early country icons in 128 pages.

Photos from her books have been exhibited at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, at Lincoln Center in New York, and many are available to purchase as custom prints.

UPDATE 2/8/07: Stephanie emailed with a few minor corrections to the info above:

Homegrown Music was originally released in 2004 in hardcover, the photo book (From Every Stage) released in 2005, and Homegrown Music was just re-released in Oct 2006 in paperback. So indeed it is my most recent release, but technically it is a revised re-release (and a different publisher than the original).

Stephanie Ledgin has worked for many years as a photographer, journalist, radio announcer, editor and event producer in the world of bluegrass, old time and folk music. Her 2004 book, Homegrown Music: Discovering Bluegrass has been heralded as a crucial primer for folks just learning about the music - or looking for some insights into its history and culture. From Every Stage: Images of America’s Roots Music, was published in 2005, and includes 200 photos she has taken at festivals and concerts over the past thirty years.

In April of this year, Ledgin will be honored at the Governor’s Cultural Reception at Drumthwacket, the official residence of the Governor of New Jersey. This event is designed to recognize authors and literary figures from New Jersey, and both Gov. Corzine and Sec. of State Wells will be in attendance to present the honors.

You can find out more about Stephanie’s work - and her two recent books - by visiting her web site.

Starting on Tuesday October 25, The Country Music Hall Of Fame and Museum will offer a special programming schedule to coincide with IBMA week in Nashville.

Located at 222 Fifth Ave. S., the Hall Of Fame and Museum is only a short distance from the site of the IBMA convention, and admission to most museum events is free with an IBMA badge. Special events include film screenings of classic Flatt & Scruggs shows, interviews, live performances from 3 Fox Drive and Heather Berry, and a book signing with Stephanie Ledgin. See a complete list of events on the Hall Of Fame web site.