In keeping with our theme of follow-up coverage of the 2009 World Of Bluegrass events in Nashville, here is a report from Phil Bankester, pater familias of The Bankester Family.

The band consists of Phil and Dorene Bankester, their daughters Melissa, Lindsey, Emily and Alysha, and one son-in-law, Kyle Triplett. They were among the invited showcase acts for this year, and Phil provided this after action report for our readers.

IBMA’s World of Bluegrass was a terrific experience for us. We have never attended the business conference before, and this was a real treat. We arrived at 3:00 am Monday, exhausted from playing fifteen shows at Silver Dollar City and then driving most of the night. I learned quickly of the alternate IBMA acronym, ‘I’ve Been Mostly Awake.’

As one of this year’s official showcase bands, I have to give a public ‘thank you’ to IBMA and all they did for us. Free registration for the whole band, a booth in the exhibit hall, early sign up for the gig fair, and then the opportunity to perform was, to us, a wonderful package and we’ll be forever grateful. We thought that the selection of seminars/workshops was very good. In many instances we split up and attended multiple simultaneous sessions. The IBMA education committee is really doing a fine job.

The booth seems to have been very beneficial. A lot of people came by there to see us, and to watch the music video as well. We connected with a good number of DJs in the exhibit hall

John Abrams stopped by the booth the day he was there to say hi to the girls and see the music video. We met the Abrams Brothers back in 2005 playing the same festival in North Carolina. An interesting bit of trivia…  their first music video was a Becky Buller song, as is ours (Carolina Rain).

I think it’s pretty accurate to say that relatively few people knew of The Bankester Family before this past summer. Having been selected to showcase, we decided to do our best to generate some awareness prior to September 28. That’s what prompted the ‘behind the scenes’ video. That, along with learning how to make use of email blasts, and then the release of the finished music video a few days before WOB, actually seems to have worked fairly well. (more…)

The Bankester Family is one of 13 acts invited as an official showcase artist for next week’s World Of Bluegrass in Nashville. To take full advantage of this opportunity, they have timed the release of their first music video for this week, while all eyes are on IBMA.

The video is for Carolina Rain, from their current CD, Somewhere In Between. It was written by Becky Buller, and directed by Demetria Kolodimas and Carlos Torres of Genuine Human Productions.

It features eldest daughter Melissa as the lead vocalist, who plays bass with the group. Her husband Kyle Triplett plays banjo, with sisters Lindsey on mandolin, and Emily and Alysha on fiddles. Dad (Phil) and Mom (Dorene) both play guitar.

Phil tells us that they got their start in 2004 from humble beginnings.

“The Bankester Family really is one of those bands that was discovered in the parking lot at a small bluegrass festival. We only knew two songs at the time, but it was enough to get us hired for our first gig.”

Five years, hundreds of shows, thousands of miles, eleven states, two CDs, two vans and one son-in-law later, the family has matured into an fine band, as evidenced by their selection out of 120 entrants to showcase at IBMA this year.

Their showcase performance is scheduled for Tuesday evening at 9:00 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom of The Renaissance Hotel.

Here’s the video…

Phil also pointed out that Carlos and other members of the Genuine Human production team will be prowling around during IBMA, shooting concert footage and interviews for an upcoming remake of Discover Bluegrass, a DVD produced several years ago as a companion to the Bluegrass in the Schools curriculum.

The Bankester Family has been performing as a bluegrass band since 2004, operating from their home in Carbondale, IL. The show consists of Phil and Dorene Bankester and their four daughters, plus a son-in-law.

Melissa (21) plays bass, her husband Kyle Triplett is on banjo, Lindsey (20) is on mandolin, and Emily (16) and Alysha (14) play fiddle. Mom and Dad both play guitar.

The group got started when their eldest, Melissa, was only 16 years old and now five years, two CDs and a great many road miles later, they have been invited to showcase at IBMA in September. They have produced a music video for one of the songs from their latest CD, Somewhere In Between, which is expected to debut shortly before the World Of Bluegrass convenes in the fall.

The video is for the song Carolina Rain, written by Becky Buller, and sung by Melissa Triplett. It was was directed by Demetria Kalodimos and produced by Genuine Human Productions.

Carlos Torres of GHP has put together a “making of” video with a sneak peek at what we can expect to see in the finished product.

“As we prepare to release the long awaited video of Carolina Rain performed by the Bankester Family we thought it was time to let the fans in on some of the behind the scenes video and a few clips off this upcoming release. This is the Bankesters’ first video ever and certainly not their last.

It was filmed inside an antique mall in Nashville, TN (winter ‘09) with a skeleton crew of volunteers and friends willing to put in their time and expertise to what we think will be the next greatest musical sensation the world has ever seen or heard.”