This coming weekend marks an historic first for our bluegrass cousins in Europe, as the first ever bluegrass festival in Lithuania will be held in the capital of Vilnius. Billed as Vilnius Bluegrass 2005, the festival runs November 25-26 and will feature live performances from several popular European bluegrass acts, instrumental workshops, continuous video presentations of US bands and festivals – and plenty of jamming.

This ambitious new event was organized by Algirdas Klova, a well known fiddler and EWOB representative in his country, who has also promised to send along some photos once the festival has concluded. Performers include Spruce Pine from The Netherlands, Trautengrass from Czech Republic, Lilly of the West from Bulgaria, Vixva from Lithuania, Kreny from Czech Republic and Jestres from Estonia.

The festival’s official web site can be found here, and the European World of Bluegrass site also has details in English. What a wonderful sign of the vitality of bluegrass music all over the world!