BLUEGRASS EUROPE Magazine #81

BLUEGRASS EUROPE The Official EBMA Magazine

# 81 · October - December 2011 · ISSN 2221-5328

Bill Monroe

If it was not for him…

l l G: INCLUDIN Concert al & v i t s e F n Europea alendar C nal o i t a N r & Inte n a e p o Eur News

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European Award Winners Richard Weize Remembering Liz Meyer Donna Ulisse East meets… bluegrass

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Editorial

Dear Reader

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ou are holding in your hands the 81st edition of Bluegrass Europe and again we are happy to present a broad selection of articles from East and West, North and South, written by many fine people from the respective directions. We are very grateful for these great contributions they are the backbone to our magazine!

The Bill Monroe Centennial is just about to end and like many other publications of the genre, we are honouring the father of bluegrass music with a fine cover story by Richard F Thompson featuring in particular the master's influence on European bluegrass.

After a very busy festival season, which is only now slowing down, we look back on so many great concerts it would fill many books to write about all of them. Bluegrass Europe has limited space for reviews and that's why we picked a very special report for you: Donna Ulisse (US) on her first trip abroad playing in Russia! The author is Robert Palomo “an American singersongwriter of Hispanic descent who lives in Russia, and plays and writes music for the banjo, an instrument of African origin“ - in his own words. In her blog Donna writes about the experience: “... We [American and Russian musicians] played in solidarity as friends …weaving all of our

styles of bluegrass like a fine quilt and making us all smile like Christmas morning. There is not a warmer feeling anywhere…“ Another interesting example of international bluegrass interaction is the Swiss band Bluegrass Gang's recent stint to Iceland, where they played three shows and the national radio and met the country's only bluegrass band Illgresi, who had never heard bluegrass live (except by themselves) before… Friendships through bluegrass!

We encourage you to read The European Bluegrass Blog for more reports on past bluegrass events, and munch more. There are so many people who regularly send in photos and information - not to be missed!

Composing the European bluegrass calendar has been and still is a big challenge and our very small team would welcome support in this particular section. Any volunteers?

Please let us know at editor @ebma.org Bluegrass Picks the Strings of your Heart!

Angelika Torrie Editor

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contents Editorial by Angelika Torrie EBMA NEWS European Award Winners 2011 The Observer BluegrassDuinen - News Europe CD Releases Cover Story: Bill Monroe Concert & Festival Calender Bluegrass Jamboree CD Reviews East Meets … Bluegrass The Bluegrass Bass Richard Weize Bluegrass in Germany News US and more IBMA Awards 2011 Remembering Liz Meyer EBMA's European Bluegrass Guide EWOB - It's time to Apply!

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Deadline #82 (Jan - Mar): 10th Dec 2011

BLUEGRASS EUROPE (ISSN 2221-5328) Title page: Bill Monroe photo: thebluegrassblog.com The Concert & Festival Calendar is in the middle part BLUEGRASS EUROPE (ISSN 2221-5328) Was launched as a bi-monthly publication in April 1998, joined forces with Bluegrass Bühne with #6 in February 1999. From #16 was published as a triple-publication with Strictly Country. Published as an independent quarterly magazine from #79 April 2011.

No part of this magazine, including the Concert & Festival Calendar, may be reproduced in any form without the written permission from the publisher.

Copyrighted © 2011 Published by European Bluegrass Music Association - www.ebma.org Editorial Team: Chief Editor: Angelika Torrie Art Director: Michael Zumstein Advertisements: Chris Keenan Administration: Rienk Janssen Subscription (4 issues): 25EUR (45EUR overseas) Membership with EBMA (incl. subscription): Active 50EUR, Supporting 30EUR, Sponsoring 150EUR or more. For details see advertisement p. 30 or www.ebma.org Payments: Bank account No 91-777442-9, IBAN: CH24 0900 0000 9177 7442 9, BIC POFICHBEXXX, Swiss Post - PostFinance, Nordring 8, 3030 Bern, Switzerland/PayPal to: payments@ebma.org Contributors to this issue: Petr Brandejs (CZ), Lilly Drumeva (BG), Walter Fuchs (GE), Grassware.com (USA), Richard Hawkins (IE), Beat Heri (CH), Rienk Janssen (NL), Bill McBee (US), Jan Michielsen (BE), Jan de Mooy (NL), Kent Miller (CH), Robert Palomo (RU), Dagfinn M. Pedersen (NO), Richard F. Thompson (UK), Rainer Zellner (GE), Michael Zumstein (GE) Headquarters: BLUEGRASS EUROPE / EBMA P.O. Box 367, CH-4102 Binningen, Switzerland Advertisers: Blue Dew (p. 5) Bluegrass Jamboree (p. 2) Boetzkes Snaarinstrumenten (p. 4) Martin's Musikkiste (p. 18) Musikhaus Saitensprung (p. 11) Risör Bluegrass Festival (p. 40) Tree O Records (p. 39) www.banjo.nl (p. 5)

Your advertisement missing?

For advertising, please contact Chris Keenan chriskeenan@ebma.org or fill in the form online here: http://www.ebma.org/bluegrass-europe/advertising-in-be/. Our attractive rates can be downloaded on the same page.

Internet: www.ebma.org /blog.ebma.org www.facebook.com/ebma.org www.facebook.com/bluegrass.europe

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EBMA News

EBMA NEWS EBMA Board retreat 4-6 November 2011 in Genova, Italy

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s usual at this time of the year, the EBMA board of directors is meeting for a weekend to discuss the past months and propose steps for the coming years. As EBMA is a democratic organisation and belongs to the membership, we welcome any input from our membership. You are the people we dedicate our time for, so we want to do it right. Please feel free to address board@ebma.org with your message.

EBMA white papers to be released shortly The European Bluegrass Summits have been productive in the past, various papers were composed as guidelines through several activities: a white paper on regional development for youth support funds in Europe; a white paper on organising Jam Sessions; and an extensive 8 page EBMA white paper of advice

for bands going to the USA. These will be reviewed and acknowledged by the EBMA board and published before the end of the year. Check out www.ebma.org to find out more.

an Event page on Facebook, where you can pre-register: Check out www.ebma.org/ebs

4th European Bluegrass Summit

If you have a comment about articles or about Bluegrass Europe in general, please feel free to send us your message to editor@ebma.org thank you!

After the success and positive feedback from the previous years' European Bluegrass Summit in Buehl, Germany, the event has become a highlight of the European Bluegrass Music Association's agenda. The summit is held at the Friedrichsbau (Friedrichstrasse 2) in B眉hl, Germany from Friday, 2 March 2012, 5:00 pm until Sunday, 4 March 2012, 12:00 noon.

This is where European Bluegrass peers and professionals meet once a year to develop the bluegrass market in Europe in plenum and small group sessions. Many projects now effective for the benefit of bluegrass music in Europe were developed at the summit. This is, where YOUR ideas are heard and discussed! Mark the date - there's

Letters to the Editor

Please join EBMA and support the growth of Bluegrass music in Europe!

EBMA - working together to support Bluegrass Music across borders.

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News EU

European Award Winners 2011

by Angelika R Torrie

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s a matter of fact, the entire bluegrass community can consider itself as a winner in 2011: Celebrating Bill Monroe's 100th birthday has brought everybody a wealth of not only music but also historical backgrounds on the beginnings of the music we all love.

Let's have a look at the European Award Winners of 2011.

Lucky Lips from Norway were the winners of the Award as #1 European Bluegrass Band 2011 at the EWOB Festival in Voorthuizen,

NL. This award is voted upon only by musicians taking part in that showcase - a form quite unique and probably underestimated. Lucky Lips consist of four guys and one girl that have played together as a band for four years. They write their own material inspired by both old and new music. They have a strong love for roots music and all of their various influences melt together to create their sound. The band has always put pride in trying to be a good live band with good lyrics, melodies and stage presence. In 2011 the band records their second CD and can't wait to see where that will take them.

"To us, winning EWOB Voorthuizen came as a huge surprise. We were so honoured to be invited to play and to have the chance to listen to all of

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the amazing artists at the festival.

Being a band that doesn't play traditional bluegrass, it was very inspiring to see that the European bluegrass community is so open to all forms of the genre. We feel humble, exited and very thankful about winning this award. We are now more inspired than ever, work harder than ever and we feel proud to be a part of such a flourishing community as the European bluegrass community is.

Thank you for having us."

Ila Auto also from Norway, won the Audience Popularity Award #1 at EWOB Festival in Voorthuizen, NL. They had been playing in other European countries before this showcase and were well received by any audience they played.

“Ila Auto is very happy to have won the Audience Award at EWOB! Thanks to the wonderful audience at the festival! We were playing in Oslo when the EWOB award was handed out to our friend Dagfinn Pedersen, and we finally got it physically at Risør Bluegrass Festival this summer. We hope this award will open some doors for us in Europe.

Ila Auto has played over 500 con-

certs the last 5 years but only a few outside of Norway. In the future, we will try to play more abroad, and hopefully perform at some more bluegrass festivals in Europe and the US. The Audience Popularity Award

2011 will be placed together with our Norwegian Grammy Award (Spellemannsprisen) at the venue Total in Tønsberg. It will be handed over on 5th November during a concert there together with the EWOB #1 European Bluegrass Band, our good friends: Lucky Lips.“ Finally, after a 2nd place in 2010, Blackjack from the Czech Republic proved at the La Roche Bluegrass Festival in France that re-registering for a contest is well worth the effort: A jury consisting of 11 people from all over Europe, active in various fields of the music, made them the Best European band 2011 at this year's competition. Blackjack has been playing bluegrass music since 1997. Their style lies between traditional and contemporary bluegrass.

Since the formation of the band, Blackjack has received many awards including the 2001 Emerging Artist of the Year and 2004 Recording of the Year at the Czech Bluegrass Music Association Awards as well as the #1 Audience Popularity Award at the EWOB Festival in 2009 and #3 in 2011.

Czech and Slovak bands are well known for their talent at winning prizes - and for driving long distances to play. Therefore, sometimes they are not able to accept an award in person - but fortunately there is one person known to be at (nearly) all festivals with Czech and Slovak bands performing: Lilly Pavlak has accepted prizes on behalf of numerous bands over decades, making sure they arrived at their proper owners safely, and proud to see another one of “her bands” be acknowledged. So it comes as no surpri-

News EU se that she is honoured with the IBMA Distinguished Achievements Award 2011 - along with Greg Cahill, Bill Knowlton, Geoff Stelling, and Roland White.

“If the music is good, the whole world should have possibility to know about” Lilly Pavlak is a journalist, photographer and sometimes booking agent/tour manager originally from the Czech Republic (then Czechoslovakia), living in Switzerland since the late 60ies. An active journalist for more than three decades who has been enormously important in telling the European bluegrass story in the US (and vice versa), Lilly is first and foremost a

hardcore bluegrass fan who has devoted a large portion of her life and energy to promoting the music and artists she loves. The first American artist Lilly heard in Czechoslovakia was Pete Seeger, in 1964. “I had never seen a live American before,” Lilly recalls. “We learned the worst things about 'American imperialists' in school and some people even believed they ate little children! After the first tones of the banjo, I knew this was the strange instrument from the hillbilly music I liked so much. That was a defining moment for me, and for the bluegrass movement that followed. Nowadays the Czech Republic claims the highest concen-

'American imperialists' in school and some people even believed they ate little children! After the first tones of the banjo, I knew this was the strange instrument from the hillbilly music I liked so much. That was a defining moment for me, and for the bluegrass movement that followed. Nowadays the Czech Republic claims the highest concentration of bluegrass musicians on earth!”

In 1975 Lilly went to her first folk festival at Lenzburg Castle in Switzerland. The next day she flew to America for the first time, later returning with 20 pounds of bluegrass LPs and a guitar. She taped the albums and sent cassettes to her “Tramp Music” friends behind the Iron Curtain in Czechoslovakia which was their only opportunity to hear bluegrass for 12 years.

As an example, here's a funny but true story: “For the first time after all these years I visited home, family and friends again in 1987. I wanted also see some of the old camps we use to go in the past with my tramp friends. I hitchhiked toward Oslavka River and the people in the car that stopped for me were listening to a bluegrass tape. It sounded very familiar to me! I knew exactly, what the next song would be like - a long time ago I had put it together for one of my Czech friends. I asked them, where they had it from, and they said a friend of their friend got it from his friend, and so after 12 years I listened to my own tape again! The quality was terrible, but it was Bluegrass and I was at home again!”

On a shoestring budget, Pavlak has returned to the States and Canada many times to hear and write about bluegrass music. She subscribed to American bluegrass publications and bought music to educate herself and her friends in Europe about new bands and trends. Lilly is one of the original members of the Swiss Bluegrass Music Association and the Bluegrass Association of the Czech Republic.

And she always encourages bands to play outside of their own country, as she says: “It is a pity, if everybody plays just in his own sandbox, when musicians could circulate around Europe, like the American musicians do around the States.”

Despite health issues in recent years, Lilly attends nearly every bluegrass event in central Europe, sending reviews and photos to the bluegrass press around the world. “I feel home is where the heart is, and my heart is where good music is,” Lilly says. “I was always kind of a bridge between East and West, trying to put musicians from different countries together and make them friends.”

Her fortitude has enabled her to overcome many obstacles - health problems, family problems, exile, limited resources. She is an indefatigable communicator and she has come to know, and to keep on good terms with, innumerable people in worldwide bluegrass. Fortitude is what distinguishes Lilly both from the average fan who enjoys bluegrass but doesn't do much for it, and from the professional bluegrasser who has to make something out of it; she has done a great deal without any personal advantage other than the breadth and depth of experience she has gained.

Lilly Pavlak & Liz Meyer

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The Observer Remember that God, will always watch over you.

And we will be waiting, for you here at home.

BLUEGRASS IS THE OLD SOUTHERN SOUND THAT WAS HEARD MANY YEARS AGO IN

with the dignified look they had when they played this melody at the cemetery. But let's go back to bluegrass…

THE BACKWOODS…(Bill Monroe) In many young people genuine interest in The Sound of Music usually starts out as an intellectual or emotional perception of music as structured vibrations of the air that have this unbelievable capacity of hitting you either in the head or in the stomach.

My memories of this decisive moment go back to my parents taking me to the local cemetery for a commemorative service in honour of the local victims of the First World War. It was November, cold and foggy, archaic Tim Burton-kind-of vibes. The local brass band played The Last Post followed by a slow harmonized melody on just three instruments that immediately made me feel kind-a-sad but not quite all that sad as for instance if somebody I knew really well had passed away in real life. I was actually too young to understand what was going on at that service and I certainly never knew any of those people whose names were carved out on the monument, so it must have been that strange sequence of notes we call a melody that was responsible for these emotions. There is indeed something unexplainable about the effect a certain melody can have on a human soul. Looking back at it now I suspect it was this mysterious combination of braveness and sadness that did the trick. At the same time I was struck by the fact that this beautiful music was actually brought into the air by three local characters whose behaviour on drunken Saturday nights - we lived opposite the local pub - was in shrill contrast

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15 years later, when I heard the Kentucky Colonels perform this slow sorrowful number The Fields have turned Brown and after I managed to get hold of the original recording by the Stanley Brothers I got hooked right away on those hair raising slow high pitched harmony vocals so characteristic for bluegrass music. They immediately brought me back to the foggy sound of the three brass instruments very much in the same way as in the key scene of A la recherche du temps perdu when the taste of a madeleine cake enables the narrator to experience the past completely as a simultaneous part of his present existence.

It was of course the cemetery experience and yes, judging from the cover picture on the record these Clinch Mountain Boys seemed to be in the same league of sophistication as the guys from the brass trio, and yet they also produced sounds that I could not describe otherwise than a thing of almost eternal beauty. It was all based on what Bill Monroe used to call the ancient tones that became such an important element in the making of bluegrass music: the old Southern sound that he knew so well from his early childhood years in backwoods Kentucky.

But when it came to the lyrics of the song I had to face a problem and it had to do with religion.

I certainly never felt as if God was watching over me all the time.

Indeed, several people were constantly watching over me and some of them probably felt as if they were God but that would take another book of your time However, as soon as I started trying to sing along with the song I found myself focusing more and more on the sounds that were formed to make these words like God and Jesus and Jordan come gliding out of my big mouth in an authentic bluegrass way - rather than on their actual meaning. As a fulltime atheist since age nine I didn't care much about God but I could not deny that the word God itself was a mighty fine sounding bluegrassy word to harmonize on. Other good bluegrass words are: yonder, heart, Jesus, moon, salvation, cross, plough, woodpile and for some probably Freudian reason: resurrection. For those of you who are in doubt about me being serious I would suggest that you try to harmonize on the word emancipation at a slow tempo and you'll see my point.

But enough of this silly reminiscing.

As an early observer of the career of the band Blackjack (CZ) I was very pleased to hear that they won the Best European Bluegrass Band 2011 award in La Roche-sur-Foron. Justice exists! And what a great festival La Roche is. I had the pleasure of visiting it last month and I want to express my sincerest congratulations to all the people involved in the organization of this mega-event in European bluegrass music.

See you next issue and do whatever you want!

The Author Jan Michielsen (Belgium) guitar player with Four Wheel Drive has been into bluegrass music for over 40 years as a musician, a devoted scholar of the music and a free-lance observer of his own and other humans’ behaviour.

News Europe

Europe - in general.

Congratulations to the winners of the La Roche-sur-Foron Bluegrass Festival Band competition: #1 Blackjack (CZ), #2 Blueland (SK), #3 Lazy Tater (NL). The La Roche Bluegrass Festival (August 3 - 7) with bands from 13 countries, again was a successful one.

The European Bluegrass scene has lost one of its uncrowned driving forces. Liz Meyer is no longer amidst us, despite her long battle with an extreme illness. Many of us will miss her sadly. She always will be remembered as a very special human being, who put bluegrass in the hearts of countless Europeans.

Belgium The first weekend of September, the Citadelle de Namur was the arena of the seventh episode of the “Picnic Festival”, Belgium's only bluegrass festival. Among the performers: Rawhide (B), Bluegrass Cwrkot (CZ), Hayseed Dixie (USA) and Bluegrass 43 (F).

The Sons of Navarone are participating in the latest movie of Felix van Groeningen, The Broken Circle Breakdown. It tells the love story of Elise (Veerle Baetens) and Didier (Johan Heldenbergh). She has her own tattoo shop; he is a Flemish cowboy playing the banjo in a blue-

mandolin player collaborated with Lilly of the West on several occasions. He was invited to join the band because of Lilly's hand injury. She has been suffering from a “trigger finger” in the past two months. In October the problem will hopefully be relieved by a small surgery. In September the band toured in Bulgaria and abroad. Recordings for the new album are in process. It will feature jazz and swing standards, covers of Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Everly Brothers, two Bulgarian folk songs and Lilly's original compositions.

The Czech Republic grass band. It is love at first sight...

Water and fire, they are totally different but nevertheless perfect in harmony. The birth of their daughter Maybelle completes their happiness, but that's not the end of the story Guido Bos told us. Just go and see the movie to find out. The movie will be expected in the theatres in Belgium during the fall 2012.

Bulgaria Lilly of the West, as always was quite busy. They had a successful summer season, including appearances at two major festivals - “La Roche Bluegrass Festival”, France and the “Bansko Jazz Fest”, Bulgaria.

The band also played a series of concerts in the Sofia parks, organized by the municipality. Dorian Ricaux, a young, talented French

The legendary Czech band Druha Trava is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. Peter Rowan was reunited with his old friends and they have just completed a series of five shows in their home country.

Lilly Pavlak, born in the Czech Republic and resident for many years in Switzerland, is to receive a Distinguished Achievement Award from the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA). The other winners of the same award are: Bill Knowlton (Rounder) Geoff Stelling (Stelling Banjos) and the artists Roland White and Greg Cahill.

These awards were presented at the special awards luncheon on 29 September. Lilly, congratulations!

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News Europe Finland “Shave and haircut” is the new CD by Jussi Syren & the Groundbreakers, released on Goofin Records. It is the band's seventh album, and their sound remains as tough and uncompromising as ever.

Jussi plays mandolin and sings lead, with Tauri Oksala on banjo, J.P. Putkonen on guitar, and Kari Hella on bass. Marko Vanhatalo guests on resonator guitar as does Nelli Ikola on fiddle.

France Bluegrass 43, France's oldest working bluegrass band has released their newest CD in June. The six

& Liberty Pike received the audience award at Baden Wurttemberg State Film School's "Twilights" show. The project had already been awarded the school's Caligari prize in 2010.

The road movie of young filmmaker and musician Christopher Mosselman who spent a few years in Texas as a child, takes us all the way across the US, from Los Angeles to the American Southwest and South and on to Virginia and New York. The 90-minute documentary (DOP Niklas Zidarov, film editor Christoph Gripentrog) has heartwarming encounters with musicians and people of all sorts, spontaneous musik-making, story-telling, haircutting, talking, cooking, harvesting and praying. A wonderful mixture of American dreams and realities.

“Doppelstopp” is a five year old weblog about mandolins and acoustic music maintained by Volker Dick and the same Volker Dick started “Doppelstopp Radio” at the end of August. http://laut.fm/doppelstopp

You can listen to it 24 hours a day.

Just give it a try. The direct link for streaming is: http://stream.laut.fm/doppelstopp.m3u

tracks show their broad musical minds: 'I've just seen a face', 'The witch', 'Mr Jones', 'Never again', 'Carolina Star', and 'With a memory like mine'. They have also made a new video to accompany the CD release. 'Never again' can be seen on YouTube. Check out www.bluegrass43.com The 8th International Mandolin Festival that will be held in Lunel from October 26 - 29 will feature Mike Marshall (USA) and Hamilton de Holanda (Brazil). You'll find Lunel in the south of France between Nimes and Montepellier.

Germany Christopher Mosselman's documentary "Country Road", produced in 2010/2011 in co-operation with Schwenk Film, which prominently features the talents of Valerie Smith

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FOAOTMAD the UK's association for old-time music and dance, announced two upcoming Sacred Harp singing workshops will be held in Germany in the coming autumn: Würzburg, Saturday 29 October and in Frankfurt am Main, Sunday 30 October. The workshops, which will be conducted in German and English, are aimed at beginners, to stimulate interest in Sacred Harp and shape-note singing in Germany.

Singers from outside Germany will be very welcome. For more info: http://www.sacredharp.de

3rd International Bluegrass Meeting Birkenried, presented by the Country & Western Friends Kötz 1982 e.V. at Birkenried, Germany, took place over the weekend 2-4 Sept. 2011.

Tthe festival was also a celebration of the centenary of the birth of the Father of Bluegrass Music, and

included displays on the life of Bill Monroe and a talk about him by Eberhard Finke, founder and former editor of Bluegrass Bühne, now the official magazine of the GBMA German Bluegrass Music Association, www.bluegrass-germany.de

Hungary Thanks to Péter Strausz for news of the Little Band and its recent achievements. The band, based in Budapest, Hungary, was founded in 2009 and plays cheerful, American old-time music and gives concerts and square-dancing evenings (Abende). The founder members István Bocskai (guitar, vocals), Gábor Szabó (violin, vocals), and Péter Strausz (bass, vocals) - added Mihály Tóth (cajon) to their number at the end of 2010. Check out www.littleband.info

Ireland Sandy Harsch, presenter of the radio show 'Country Time' on RTE, the Irish national broadcasting station, has received the International Broadcaster of the Year award from the Country Music Association (CMA) of Nashville, TN. The photo

shows Sandy with country star Brad Paisley, current CMA Entertainer of the Year and co-host of the CMA Awards show, at the presentation backstage at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin This year is the centenary of the birth of the Father of Bluegrass. To mark the occasion, singer, songwriter, bandleader and broadcaster Niall Toner released a Monroe tribute song: “William Smith Monroe” on

News Europe July 4 in all kinds of formats. One of those is as a track on New Cuts of Bluegrass, volume 3, in good company with Ricky Skaggs, Rhonda Vincent, and others. This CD goes out to 550 bluegrass/folk radio stations in the USA and Canada. Niall also released 'WSM' digitally through AirPlay Direct, and that enables 6,500 radio stations around the world to download my song for free to broadcast on their stations.

'William Smith Monroe' will also be available as a download for fans and bluegrass music lovers for a mere 99 cent from 4 July, from iTunes, amazon.com, and Niall Toners website:

bands from Ireland. A nice promotion opportunity. Performing bands: Broken Strings, Juke Joint, The Barnstormers and Bending the Strings.

Dailey & Vincent as well as all the

www.robertodallavecchia.com

Netherlands other artists performing were well received in packed venues at the 20th Appalachian and Bluegrass Festival in the Ulster American Folk Park in Omagh the first weekend of September.

Italy www.nialltonerband.com

The Thunderbridge Bluegrass Boys will be the headline act at next year's Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival. The sixth Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival will be held on 29-30 June and 1 July 2012 in the attractive town of Westport, Co. Mayo, in the west of Ireland. More will be revealed over the next few months. Previous festivals at Westport have featured leading acts from elsewhere in Europe, such as 4 Wheel Drive and the Blue Grass Boogiemen. Bands interested in taking part should contact Festival organizer Uri Kohen by e-mail: uriecp@yahoo.ie

Ireland (North) The Cairncastle Ulster Scots Folk Festival in Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland, has been celebrating the traditional culture and music of Ulster for the past ten years. This year, the eleventh festival had a special opening evening (Wednesday 27 July) which was dedicated to bluegrass music, played by leading bluegrass

announce the release of my brand new album, Hand in hand! It's my first album of new “original” music in over two years, and I have to say, it's a long time coming! It's a joyful guitar album that celebrates life, relationships, family, and living every moment to the fullest! I've worked very hard on the album and some great musicians helped me out; I hope you like it!

0039 - Bluegrass Made in Italy: After a quite a long story of about 10 years, Bononia Grass stopped its run after the gig in Genova at “Il Cancello del Cinabro” in March 2011. Many things led to the decision and sometimes it just happens you realize you are in fact a new band, with partly new people and new music. The unusual new name is derived from Italy's telephone country code - that's what all band members have in common and defines, where they are from - unmistakably! 0039 - Bluegrass Made in Italy now consists of: Gianni Stefanini (mandolin, vocals); Paolo Ercoli (resonator guitar, vocals); Luca Bartolini (guitar, vocals); Maria Grazia Branca (upright bass, vocals); Marco Ferretti (banjo). Their new website is www.0039.us or www.bluegrassmadeinitaly.com, where one can leave a message, more information is on their fan page on Facebook. Their plans are to produce a CD shortly toh ave very busy year coming, with gigs in Europe and possibly even in the US. Roberto Dalla Vecchia reports: Hey everyone! I'm very happy to

Dick Brink, board-member of the EWOB-festival Voorthuizen passed away on July 23. Dick did a great job at the festival with local affairs and transportation. He was fighting to get better, but he sadly lost the fight with cancer. Dick became 69 years of age. He will be missed by many.

Poland The WiesBand Bielany Akustik from Bielany, a suburb of Wroclaw (Breslau), Poland. The WBBA (formerly known as 'A Melancholic Country Band' and also known as 'The Only Official Glinolood Band', from their association with a local

ceramic centre) are a new band playing bluegrass and acoustic country music, together with original material and covers - in bluegrass style - of pop, rock, and blues hits. They formed as an acoustic band in 2010 after their country-band configuration won a national country music contest for emerging artists.

Their lead singer, Zofia Jastrzebska won a special prize in the same contest in 2009.

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Scene EU Portugal The Stonebones & Bad Spaghetti (only bluegrass band in Portugal) played at the TAP Summer Fest on 24 September, in Barcarena, Oeiras, Portugal. This is an event with the support of the Portuguese flight air company. Also, the New York magazine Bluegrass Special wrote an article about the Stonebones & Bad Spaghetti that was shown in their August issue

Cartia did 5 shows with his music in St. Petersburg at about the same time.

Sweden Fiddler Jan Johansson, livin'in the USA since 1989, recently announced the release of a very special

rassspecial.com/archive/2011/ august2011/bordercrossing august2011.html

Russia Donna Ulisse and her band The Poor Mountain Boys have been acting as Bluegrass ambassadors during the first two weeks of July.

They performed at several Russian festivals such as the Second Annual Russian Bluegrass Festival in the city of Vologda and two more festivals in the city of Yekaterinburg, situated in the Ural region (see article page ….).

An important organisation behind this trip was the U.S.-Russian Bilateral Presidential Commission: Education, Culture, Sports, and Media created by President Medvedev and President Obama for the both of them recognized the need to make a fresh start in relations between the U.S. and Russia.

However, Donna was not the only ambassador because Italian banjoist, guitarist and bandleader Danilo

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album. The album has been in production for over four years as a project for the benefit of his favorite charity: ” Amazing Grace Adoptions”. Over the years he and his wife have adopted four kids from Russia and half of the proceeds from the CD sales will go to their orphanage in Saratov, Russia! On the album a whole bunch of artists is present. Some names: the late Charlie Waller and outstanding bluegrass performers like Bobby Hicks, David Grisman, Dale Ann Bradley, Russell Moore, Amanda and Kenny Smith, Mike Compton, Larry Sparks, Steve Dilling, Daren Vincent, Laurie Lewis, Julie Elkins, Rick Pardue, Honi Deaton, Wayne Benson, Butch Robbins and more.

Title: “Smiling Faces”. The CD is available from iTunes and Amazon (as .mp3 files).

What's new with the G2 Bluegrass Band, who - since they won the #1 European Bluegrass Band award at the 2007 European World of Bluegrass Festival - have earned the highest profile on the US scene of any European bluegrass band? As announced on the original Bluegrass Blog, since their four-and-a-halfmonth tour in the US last year, they have been making up for lost time with their families, and making use of their US experience in laying the foundations for their next album. But

they haven't all been able to stay away. G2 bassist Jimmy Sunnebrandt vacationed this summer in the US, which gave him the opportunity to sit in several times with James King, something Jimmy describes as a dream come true.

Switzerland SBMA Chair man Kent Miller reports that it was a successful bluegrass summer in Switzerland. The weather cooperated for the open-air festivals.

In fact, the later the festival the better the weather, which led to good times for all of the bluegrass fans and regional organisers. Rhonda Vincent (USA) also played two sold-out concerts near Basel in the middle of summer. The SBMA's Bill Monroe insert-special in the new Country Style magazine www.countrystyle.ch has been well received. It is great to see so much effort going into doing anything extra during a given year.

The SBMA is to have contributed to Bill's year in this way and also presented a Bill Monroe Special on a Swiss internet station, CountryRadioSwitzerland.ch

in September.

The SBMA is looking forward to hold its 5th FanFest on 12th November for the last time in the Dufour house in Brugg.

Dailey & Vincent (USA) got several standing ovations in a packed tent both nights at the Country Night Gstaad on 9 and 10 September.

Their impressive show was “the best I've heard in the 23 years of this festival” said Christoph Schwegler, mc of the concert's live transmission on national radio DRS1. The concert will be aired again in December, he promised. A one hour „Best Of Country Night Gstaad 2011” will be broadcast on national TV SF2 on 28th October at 00:25am.

CD Releases CDs - Recent and Forthcoming Releases Europe Barcelona Bluegrass Band - Old Time Blues (SP) Bluegrass 43 - The Witch (FR) Thunderbridge Bluegrass Boys - Back in the Land of the Living Room (UK) Carrivicks - From the Fields (UK) Well Enough Alone (IRL) Downhill Bluegrass Band - A Grasshopper's Lament (DK) Mala - Simply A Lotus (CH) Roberto Dalla Vecchia - Hand in hand! (I) USA All4Hym - Faith & Family (Rural Rhythm Christian) Ann Porcella - Gathering Stones (No Label) Audie Blaylock & Redline - Going Back To Old Kentucky (Rural Rhythm) Bankester Family - The Bankesters Blue Highway - Sounds of Home (Rounder) Bobby Adkins, Tony Mabe, Heather Berry - Just some Old Songs We Like to Play and Sing (Thunderbolt) Buddy Greene - Harmonica Anthology (Rufus Music) C.W. Mundy - Road Trip: Crossing Borders (Moon Surf) CODY Shuler & PINE MOUNTAIN RAILROAD Self Titled (Shuler) Cumberland River - The Life We Live (Rural Rhythm) Dale Ann Bradley - Somewhere South of Crazy (Compass) Dalton Roberts - Heroes & Engrams (Happy Doghouse) Dan Crary - Perfect Storm (Blue Night) Darin & Brooke Aldridge - So Much In Between (Crossroads) Dave Giegerich - It's About Time (No Label) Dave LEATHERMAN - Easy Memories (Leather) Dave Wilburn and The Kirk Brothers - We Remember The Delmore Brothers (Torch) Dehlia Low - Ravens & Crows (Rebel) Dixie Ridge (Blue Moon) Donna Ulisse - An Easy Climb (Hadley Music) Double Overtime - First Cut (No Label) Gene Watson & Rhonda Vincent - Your Money and My Good Looks (Upper Mgmt. Music) Greencards, The Brick Album (Darling Street Records) Jan Johansson and friends - Smiling Faces Jay Armsworthy - I Couldn't Make It Without Him Jerry Butler & the Blu-Js - Stranger In My Own Hometown (Blue Circle) Jim Lauderdale - Reason and Rhyme (Sugar Hill) John Reischman & The Jaybirds - Vintage & Unique (Corvus) Kathy Barwick - In My Life (FGM Records) Michael Martin Murphey Tall Grass & Cool Water (Rural Rhythm) Michelle Nixon and Drive A Place I Belong (Mountain Fever) Milkdrive - Road from Home (Classic horse) Moody Bluegrass - TWO… Much Love, A Nashville Celebration of The Moody Blues (Bunny Rae)

Nell Robinson - On The Brooklyn Road (Nell Robinson Music) Nixon, Blevins & Gage - Pickin' On Baptists (Clover Productions) Norman Blake - Green Light On The Southern (Western Jubilee) Nu-Blu - The Blu-Disc (Pinecastle) Paul Williams & Victory Trio - Satisfied (Rebel) Ricky Skaggs - Country Hits Bluegrass Style (Skaggs Family) Ridgeline - You Left me Behind (No Label) Rodney Dillard - Don't Wait for the Hearse to Take You to Church (Rural Rhythm Christian) Russ Carson - Last Chance (Patuxent Music) Russell Johnson - Anytime Anyplace But Only You (NT) Scott Anderson - Tales from the Swamp (Mato) Shady Grove - Old Porch Stoney Creek Bluegrass Band - Live in Concert (No Label) Susie Glaze & the Hilonesome Band - Live at the Freight & Salvage Suzy Bogguss - American Folk Songbook (Loyal Duchess Records) The Bankesters - The Bankesters (Blue Circle) The Tuttles with AJ Lee - Introducing The Tuttles with A.J. Lee (Back Studio) The Wilders - The Wilders (Free Dirt) The Wronglers with Jimmie Dale Gilmore Heirloom Music (Neanderthal) Thomas Porter & Copper River Band - Trolley Days (TKPIV Pub.) Thomas Porter - Simple Box of Pine (TKPIV Pub) Tommy Edwards - North Carolina History, Mystery, Lore & More (Salisbury St.) Tommy Webb - From Rock-N-Roll to Bill Monroe, Hope River Tony Holt and the Wildwood Valley Boys Lost Highways and Treasured Memories (OHR) Town Mountain - Steady Operator (Pinecastle) Tussey Mountain Moonshiners - I'm going Home Various Artists - GRAVES MOUNTAIN ALL-STAR Jam (Rural Rhythm) Various Artists - Let The Light Shine Down (Rebel) Various Artists - With Body And Soul (Rebel) Welfare Liners - Hand-crafted Bluegrass from Athens, GA, (Ghostmeat) Re-issues and Compilations John Duffey - The Rebel Years: 1962-1977 (Rebel) Larry Sparks - Let Him Lead You (Rebel) The McPeak Brothers - Yesteryears (Rebel)

BLUEGRASSEUROPE · 81/2011

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Bill Monroe Bill Monroe & His Bluegrass Boys with young Jens Kr眉ger as guest in Mollis (Switzerland), photo: Beat Heri

Bill Monroe If It Was Not For Him

by Richard F Thompson

S

eptember marks the 100th anniversary of Bill Monroe's birthday on Jerusalem Ridge, a few miles south east of Rosine, Ohio County, Kentucky. It is also 15 years since he passed from this earth after a 6-month-long illness.

Bill Monroe was the eighth child of J.B 'Buck' and Malissa Monroe, born in a region of rolling hills in western Kentucky. He was named in honour of two of J.B's brothers. Monroe was an extraordinary man; some elevate him to an even higher status. Hype aside, he was very strong, physically and mentally, but he had his weaknesses, both physical and mental.

His long career began in earnest

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with the partnership with older brother, Charlie, playing on radio and making personal appearance around the southern states. Together they recorded 60 songs and provided an alternative approach to the brother duet style of the 1930s; faster tempos and singing in a higher register.

In 1938 he set out to develop his own sound; to be Bill Monroe - the father of bluegrass music, a style that emphasized instrumental virtuosity, close vocal harmonies, and fast, driving tempos. His vast catalogue of written work, includes songs such as Blue Moon of Kentucky, Uncle Pen, My Rose of Old Kentucky, My little

Georgia Rose, On and On, Memories of Mother and Dad, I Hear A Sweet Voice Calling, Walking In Jerusalem, I'm Working On a Building and Body and Soul, and many more. He blended heartfelt lyrics with what he called ancient tones. Additionally he penned wonderful tunes like Jerusalem Ridge, Roanoke, Stoney Lonesome, Raw Hide, Old Dangerfield, My Last Days On Earth, the list goes on. His creativity amounted to what he, in 1982, estimated to be about 500 songs; a vast catalogue by any standards.

Monroe's performing career spanned 60 years - 1936 to 1996 - as a singer, instrumentalist, composer

100 Years and bandleader. He was a Grand Ole Opry member continuously from October 1939 until his passing.

He gave an early opportunity to bluegrass music 'greats' such as Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, Jimmy Martin, Sonny Osborne, Peter Rowan, Bill Keith, Gene Lowinger, Bobby Hicks, Del McCoury, Bob Black, Butch Robins, Blake Williams and Wayne Lewis. Other illustrious Blue Grass Boys include Kenny Baker, Carter Stanley, Mac Wiseman, Don Reno, Vassar Clements, Tony Ellis, the ubiquitous Joe Stuart, Roland White, 'Tater' Tate and Tom Ewing.

It is commonly accepted that Monroe has employed about 175 regular band members, but there's a legion of other talented musicians who have worked for him for odd dates, filling in for an absent Blue Grass Boy. Additionally, he influenced Gerry Garcia and Paul McCartney, Buddy Holley and Carl Perkins, to mention just a few notables from the wider world of music.

As his career progressed, Monroe graduated from being a steadfast pioneer to someone who Ralph Rinzler describes as a “mellow patriarch”. He never ceased to be innovative with his music, as his recording catalogue indicates, and he began to wear the mantle of the

'Father of Bluegrass Music' easier as each year passed.

Monroe has been honoured with many awards - he is the only person

who has been inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame (1970), the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1997) and Nashville Songwriters and Hall of Fame (1971). He is the recipient of the National Medal of Arts (1995) and the Grammy® Lifetime Achievement Award (1993).

Fittingly NARAS members selected his album, Southern Flavor, as the first Grammy(R) for Best Bluegrass Recording (Vocal or Instrumental) in 1989.

Worldwide influence His legacy, both his personal input and that which has evolved through the music of the many bluegrass musicians that were influenced, directly or indirectly, by him, is enjoyed worldwide. He visited Europe many times; appearing at concerts and festivals in Germany, the UK, Switzerland. These bare facts amount what is only a representation of Monroe's many achievements. They aren't any substitute for the great music that he created, that we can enjoy for ourselves on this auspicious occasion. However, his many friends will remember him as a farmer, using mules to plough a furrow, a supportive friend and a playful individual.

Bill Monroe has gone but his music

lives on. We love him for a variety of reasons, our own reasons.

Bill Monroe remembered Here, a number of European bluegrass personalities share their thoughts and remembrances of Bill Monroe.

Andy Glandt, banjo player with the Fox Tower Bluegrass Band and former member of the EBMA board: Our adventure trip to Bill Monroe's birth house… ”It was in September 1996, a few days after Bill Monroe had passed away [9th September], when my former band Andy's Breakdown started their first US tour. The main reason was that we got invited to accompany a German youth choir on a 10day tour throughout Minnesota. A year before we had toured with this choir in England. Since I already had some connections in the American bluegrass circuit, and with the help of some friends, I organized some additional gigs in Arkansas and Illinois and we went to the IBMA World of Bluegrass and Fan Fest in Owensboro, Kentucky, the last year IBMA WOB was held there. Andy's Breakdown consisted of three members, Brit Singer on mandolin Andy Herwig on keyboards!!!, and myself on banjo. Although you wouldn't think of keyboards when you think of bluegrass, the people liked our music everywhere we played, also in Owensboro.

I think it was Lilly Pavlak from the Czech Republic who had the idea to go to Rosine, Kentucky, to visit Bill Monroe's grave. At that time it hadn't been more than four or five weeks since he passed away. So we took our car and drove from Owensboro nearly 40 miles south east to Rosine. Of course we were not the only ones who wanted to see the last resting place of the father of bluegrass music. As you can see in the photo there wasn't any tombstone yet.

I can't recall anymore who had the idea to look for Bill Monroe's birth house but somehow we knew the

BLUEGRASSEUROPE · 81/2011

15

Bill Monroe direction we had to go. It was a long way through the forest and we had to climb over some barriers. Some of us wanted to give up, but I asked them to keep on a little longer and then, about a one hour walk from Rosine, we were standing in front of the house. I knew how the house looked like, because I had just traded Bill Evans a CD Native and Fine (by Bill Evans), and on the cover of this CD Bill Evans is seen sitting in front of Monroe's birth house.

I cannot say any more about the feelings we had, but I think we all where happy we had found the house. It was an experience I wouldn't want to have missed. Since then I've visited the USA several times but never made it again to the now renovated house. But if I ever cross Kentucky again I'll make plans to go there.”

Lilly Pavlak added ….

“We asked someone in Rosine where the house was and they showed us the direction. But they also warned us not to go there as it was hunting time for wild turkeys.

But we started our trip anyway. After a while we came to a barrier with the sign: “Trespassers will be shooten”. Nevertheless we climbed over that barrier. We didn't want to stop so close to our goal. Nothing happened to us except that I found a turkey feather I still have.”

Lilly Pavlak clarified .. “I remember that Richard Greene and Butch Baldassari, who also visited Monroe's grave, told us where to

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find his birth house.”

Niall Toner, a long-standing and very active member of the Irish bluegrass music community, band leader, mandolin player, songwriter and DJ ”If it were not for Bill Monroe and his bluegrass music, I would probably not be playing any kind of music today.

I say this because at the time I was first introduced to Bill's bluegrass by a neighbour's Son in Dublin in the early 60s, I was probably more intent on trying to become a Pop Star in the style of Cliff Richard or Marty Wilde or Billy Furey. I had learned a couple of rudimentary chords on the guitar and spent many hours in front of the mirror, throwing 'shapes' in my tight pants and using ridiculous quantities of Brylcream in my hair. It was on one such Saturday afternoon, after my session in front of the mirror, that I tuned in to the AFN network which was broadcasting the Grand Ole Opry from Germany, when I heard a guy called Elvis Presley singing a song called Blue Moon Of Kentucky. I was 'poleaxed' by the sound of the song, and I literally ran across the street to Fran O'Donnell's house, where I excitedly told Fran about the amazing sound I had just heard on my Radio. Fran just nodded and said 'Wait 'till you hear the original' .... I wasn't quite sure what he meant by the term 'original', but I followed him to his Mum's kitchen where they had an old Dancette Record player which sat on the sideboard beside the oven and the food press.

There was a shelf on the wall on which rested a dozen or so books, some miscellaneous cooking implements and about 15 or 16 Long Playing Records. Fran shuffled through the records and carefully removed a vinyl album from it's sleeve and placed in on the record turntable. He took the needle arm and placed it carefully in the groove, turned the volume knob up, and let her run. The sound that blasted out from that small Dancette speaker

was that of Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass (sic) Boys with Blue Moon of Kentucky, and I was hooked ! I believe now that if I had continued to pursue the 'Pop' dream I would have eventually give up and got a proper job. Instead, I followed Bill Monroe and his music, and I am happy to say that I still do, fifty-three years on, and still going strong. If it wasn't for Bill Monroe… “ Christopher Howard-Williams, a British national born in Germany, promoter of the La Roche Bluegrass Festival, and current EBMA vice chairman … ”I had the honour to emcee the Dore l'Eglise festival in France when Bill Monroe played there in 1992.

I remember when he arrived backstage I was worried that this "old" man just wouldn't be able to hold it together for a whole concert, and then when he had a mandolin in his hands he was transformed. He played a set that wowed the audience and he even danced a little jig at one point. As the audience called for an encore he held up a one finger to me as if to say, "Can we play one more?". Of course, he could. He was so friendly and ready to speak with the fans in the backstage area and he carved his signature with his knife in

the back of someone's fiddle!

I didn't get into bluegrass with Bill Monroe. That was Jerry Garcia, then Seldom Scene and New Grass Revival. But the more I got into the music, the more it took me back to the Big Mon, the man who started it all and I still enjoy to hear his mandolin cut through a song and to

100 Years listen to all the wonderful songs he wrote and promoted.”

Eugene O'Brien, Irish banjo player with Sons of Navarone …. ”Without him and bluegrass I would probably be playing the tuba.”

Petr Brandejs, banjo player, who has played in Bluegrass Cwrkot, Nugget, Early Grass Revival and Poutníci now fronting his own band .. ”My relationship to many bluegrass giants, including Bill Monroe, has changed during the years according to my age. At first, he was just a legend which I didn't listen to much but through the years as I started "digging deeper" I admired Bill's fabulous mandolin work as well as his singing. His 1946 recordings are something unbelievable and no wonder those defined the whole style.

In this world it is very unique and admirable when artists like Bill Monroe follow stubbornly their visions, no matter how economically difficult their effort might be.

Mr Monroe is certainly someone we can learn from - his music as well as his whole life. Having a chance to meet him and play a few songs with him on stage in 1993 in Tennessee was certainly a dream come true.”

Rick Townend, a member of the Echo Mountain Boys while still a schoolboy; he plays all the bluegrass instruments and more, is a teacher, promoter, writer and general supporter of the music in the UK for 50 years …. ”I was fortunate to have seen Bill Monroe at the Royal Albert Hall on his first UK visit in the 1960s - that was with Peter Rowan, Lamar Grier, Richard Greene and James Monroe; I was doubly lucky also to meet him at a private party at Bill Clifton's house shortly before that; it was quite a revelation seeing them all play so close-up! He was very good to us teenagers (as we were then myself and the others in the Echo Mountain Boys) and listened to our efforts, and answered questions.”

Massimo Gatti, mandolin player extraordinaire, founder of Bluegrass Stuff, the first Italian bluegrass band “In August 1988 I heard that Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys were playing a show at a country festival in Mollis, a small village in the mountains of Switzerland. I must say that I was not so involved with Bill Monroe music and mandolin playing at that time because I preferred the more progressive stuff like New Grass Revival etc.

We started in the morning from Milano with other friends and we wanted to go to see for the first time the Father of Bluegrass. We crossed a lot of beautiful mountains and when we arrived in the place a very, very small village, we couldn't believe that Bill Monroe was playing there. We went to the country festival where all the people were dressed country style, and we were the only people dressed "normally". We asked if Bill Monroe would play there and the organizer said, “Yes”.

The festival started and featured several very loud country bands, and we saw Bill Monroe backstage with glasses, he seemed very old and as if he couldn't walk very well.

At last Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys came on stage, with Tom Ewing on guitar, Blake Williams on banjo, Tater Tate on bass, and young Billy Joe Foster on fiddle. Bill Monroe took off his glasses and as soon as he walked on stage he seemed much younger. It was as if he took energy from his playing. As soon as they started to play I realized that what I was listening to was the real bluegrass music, and I was so impressed from his personality on stage.

He played several of his hit songs and then he announced Uncle Pen. At the end of the song when the fiddle player started Jenny Lynn Bill Monroe started to dance and I was so impressed how well he could dance as before going on stage he looked so old. After the show we talked to Bill, we took photos with him and he let me play his Loar F5. I was

so impressed by Bill Monroe's music and to have heard the real bluegrass as it's supposed to be, I started to study in depth his mandolin style.

Now, I have all his music and every day I listen to it and I learn something new. Since then my mandolin bluegrass style has been heavily influenced by Bill Monroe, the father of bluegrass.”

Spencer Sorenson, mandolin player and EBMA national representative for Denmark …. ”Back in the early 1970s, Bill Monroe's festival at Bean Blossom, Indiana, was one of the biggest in the world, I went there nearly every year for about 14 years. It lasted an entire week and all of the biggest stars in bluegrass played there: Bill of course, Ralph Stanley, Jim and Jesse, Reno and Smiley, the Country Gentlemen, Lester Flatt, Tony Rice, Same Bush and on and on. Bill's group usually played twice a day, on the afternoon show and the last show of the evening. No matter who was in the band, it always sounded like Bill, you knew who was in charge. He played a lot of his standards and if you played banjo for him, you had to know Bluegrass Breakdown very well, because they played it a lot. A highlight of the festival was the Friday night sunset jam on the west side of the park, with Bill leading the jam, and anybody who wanted to play could join in. I can still hear the sound of his mandolin, un-amplified above all the other instruments there in the evening light.

I remember jamming there one day with Tom Adler (who, incidentally, has just written an excellent book about Bean Blossom) and Bob Jones, Bill's left handed guitar player of the time, just outside the old barn at Bean Blossom. We had just finished a version of Raw Hide, which I stumbled through as a beginning mandolin picker, when who walked by but the man himself. Typically for him, he gave no indication of what he thought and walked on by, but it felt strange to have played before the master. At least in those days he seemed

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17

Bill Monroe kind of aloof and, to a beginner, he seemed a bit unapproachable. I did say “hello” to him one time and shook his hand and he was very pleasant, I always remembered how soft his hand was, I expected a rough, strong farmer-like hand, but was surprised. Such powerful music came from that hand.”

Paolo Dettwiler, co-founder and former chairman of the Swiss Bluegrass Music Association, cofounder and former chairman of the EBMA, former member of the IBMA board and its executive committee, and Kentucky Colonel since 2007, from Switzerland:

his entire life Bill Monroe had always been careful there would be no one else making money at his expense. However, he signed the box in large letters using a thick blue felt pen. Today, that CD box is one of my most valuable possessions. The next time I met him was during my first US journey, once on Wednesday, 9 October at the Belle Cove Club in Hendersonville, TN, and the following Saturday, 12 October backstage at the Grand Ole Opry in Opryland, Nashville, TN. There, he kindly signed the front page of the Swiss magazine “Country Music” with his picture on it, celebrating his 80th birthday (and with the respective article written by me). The last time I met Bill Monroe was on 17 September 1994 at the Mohican Bluegrass Festival in Glenmont, OH. It was very impressive to see, how intensely Bill Monroe was worshipped by his fans and how intense his mandolin playing was in

”I was lucky to personally meet Bill Monroe four times, but I remember the first meeting particularly well: It was on Saturday, 29 July 1989. My original intention had been, after performing with my band The Country Pickers at a venue in Muttenz, near Basel, Switzerland, to listen to the other bands playing that country festival. However, I knew that only a few hundred meters further in a little forest between Muttenz and Birsfelden, there was a show not only featuring the Osborne Brothers but also Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys. The temptation was too great and so I sneaked away and off to the festival with Bill Monroe. I actually got to talk to him after his first show, shake his hand and ask him to sign my newly purchased first Bear Family CD boxed set (19501958). He was quite astonished and asked me who had produced the box. It was only until a long time after his death that I realized that for

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spite of his age of 83 years (and just about two years before his death).”

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Many more dates at: www.bacr.cz/kalendar_e.php Poutnici Usti nad Labem, Club Eldorado www.poutnici.cz Poutnici Slatinany, festival Vrabcak www.poutnici.cz Poutnici Dvur Kralove, festival Malinkej www.poutnici.cz BG CWRKOT 541 01 Vlcice u Trutnova,; 6:30 p.m., http://snipurl.com/1414us Poutnici Brno Medlanky, house of culture Rubin www.poutnici.cz Poutnici Praha Repy, house of culture Pruhon www.poutnici.cz Poutnici Olesnice, christmas trade square www.poutnici.cz Poutnici Jesenice, country club Truhlarna www.poutnici.cz Poutnici Moravsky Krumlov, christmas trade square www.poutnici.cz Poutnici Kralupy nad Vltavou, festival Bluegrass advent www.poutnici.cz Poutnici Klobouky u Brna, church Country christmas www.poutnici.cz Poutnici Mikulov, christmas trade square www.poutnici.cz Poutnici Zlin, country club Zelenacova sopa www.poutnici.cz Bluegrass Jamboree 2011 Prag, Koppernik Theater OREA Hotel Pyramida, 19:30; tix: www.capek.us Poutnici Brno, christmas trade fairground BVV www.poutnici.cz Poutnici Kardasova Recice, christmas trade square www.poutnici.cz Poutnici Lhota Vlasenice, house of culture Country christmas www.poutnici.cz JAMBOREE 2012 BG Festival 386 01 Strakonice; Summer Scene of Castle Ground www.jamboree-cz.com

oct 10 oct 22 nov 11 dec 9 dec 17

Jussi Syren w/ Friends Jussi Syren & The Groundbreakers Jussi Syren & The Groundbreakers Jussi Syren & The Groundbreakers Jussi Syren & The Groundbreakers

nov 10-13

www.france-bluegrass.org/agenda.html 10th FBMA Winter BG Weekend Vichy

oct 15 oct 21 oct 28 nov 4 nov 11 nov 12 nov 18 nov 25 nov 26 dec 1 dec 1 dec 1

www.bluegrass-germany.de The Grascals Matching Ties-Quintett Matching Ties-Duo Matching Ties-Quintet Matching Ties-Quartett Blue Side of Town Matching Ties-Duo Matching Ties-Duo Matching Ties-Duo Blue Side of Town Bluegrass Jamboree 2011 Paul Stowe-solo

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Czech Republic

Finland

France

Germany

Kaprun, Burg Kaprun, Burg Goes Folk, 20:00 Buch b. Jenbach, Kultur am Land, 20:00

Helsinki, Rymy-Eetu, Bill Monroe 100 years Påminne, Raasepori Käpy-Grilli Helsinki Old Cock, Lappeenranta Monttu, Pori

www.burg-kaprun.at www.kulturamland.at

syren.fi syren.fi syren.fi syren.fi syren.fi

www.france-bluegrass.org

Oldenburg, Oldenburgisches Staatstheater 7:00 p.m. www.hillbillie-guesthouse.de 65232 Taunusstein-Hahn, Bürgerh.Taunus, Aarstr. 138, 20:00 www.matchingties.com 71384 Weinstadt-Großheppach, Dorfkeller, Kirchstr. 7 20:00 www.matchingties.com 87724 Ottobeuren, Kursaal, Irish Folk Night; 20:00 www.ottobeuren.de 83435 Bad Reichenhall, US Magazin 4, Alte Saline 12; 20:00 www.magazin4.de 73525 Schwäbisch Gmünd, Gmünd Folk, Theaterwerkstatt www.gmuendfolk.de 84489 Burghausen, Cafe am Bichl, In den Grüben 162; 20:00 Tel. 08677-915400 91054 Erlangen, Musikkelller StrohalmIrish Night, 20:00 www.strohalm.de 36251 Bad Hersfeld, Buchcafe, Badestube 20; 20:00 www.buchcafe-badhersfeld.de support at Bluegrass Jamboree, Reithalle Offenburg www.bluesidemusic.de 77654 Offenburg, Reithalle, 20:00; tix: 0781-822000 www.kulturbuero.offenburg.de 81737 München-Neuperlach, Kulturz. Ramersdorf-Perlach,; 20:00 www.kulturzentrum.neuperlach.info

2011 2011 2011 2011

72762 Reutlingen, franz k, 20:00, tix: 07121-9090 891 www.franzk.net 86150 Augsburg, Weihnachtsinsel, Zeugplatz (Zelt), 18:00 www.weihnachtsinsel.de 80333 München, Amerikahaus, 20:00; tix: 089-54818181 www.club2.de 88212 Ravensburg, Zehntscheuer, 20:00 www.zehntscheuer-ravensburg.de 87435 Kempten, Haus International, 20:00; tix: 0831-206 222 www.hausinternational.de 80802 München, (Freiheit); Schwabinger Weihnachtsmarkt; 18:00 www.schwabingerweihnachtsmarkt.de

91154 Roth, Kulturfabrik, 20:00; tix: 09171-848714 www.kulturfabrik.de 84478 Waldkraiburg, Haus der Kultur, 20:00 www.kultur-waldkraiburg.de 82234 Oberpfaffenhofen, Gasthof Plonner, Gautinger Str. 52, 20h www.acousticcorner.de 53121 Bonn, Harmonie, 19:30; tix: 0228-614042 www.harmonie-bonn.de

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Matching Bluegrass Matching Bluegrass Bluegrass Bluegrass Bluegrass Bluegrass Matching Bluegrass Bluegrass Matching Matching Matching Matching Bluegrass

oct 11 oct 14

For more information and for dates of UK bands refer to ukbluegrass.com/calendar Beverly Smith & Alice Gerrard Dartford DA1 2AU UK, Dartford Folk Club (Cost £8) www.dartfordfolk.org.uk Thunderbridge Bluegrass Boys Taunton, Somerset, Bluegrass Night - Tacchi-Morris Arts Centre

oct 15 oct 18 oct 19 oct 22 oct 21-23 oct 25 oct 26 oct 27 oct 28 oct 29 oct 29 oct 30 nov 4 nov 4 nov 5 nov 5 nov 5 nov 6 nov 7 nov 7 nov 8-29 nov 8 nov 9 nov 10 nov 10 nov 12 nov 12 nov 12 nov 12 nov 13 nov 14 nov 15 nov 15 nov 15 nov 18 nov 18 nov 19 nov 19

Mick Sands London NW1 2HR, Exmouth Arms, Starcross Street Grassroots Hawkhurst, 8 Bells Acoustic Astronauts Mill Road, Arundel, West Sussex, Arundel Footbal Club Keith Kendrick & Sylvia Needham London NW1 2HR, Exmouth Arms, Starcross Street Sore Fingers October Weekend Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, Kingham Hill School Chatham County Line The Coalition, Brighton Chatham County Line St Bonaventures, Bristol Chatham County Line Jazzcafe, London Chatham County Line Brudenell Social Club; Leeds Grace Notes London NW1 2HR, Exmouth Arms, Starcross Street Chatham County Line Stereo, Glasgow Chatham County Line & Guest Old Town Hall, Gateshead Alison Krauss and Union Station Symphony Hall, Birmingham Cahalen Morrison and Eli West The Green Note, London Martin Carthy London NW1 2HR, Exmouth Arms, Starcross Str. Alison Krauss and Union Station The Sage, Gateshead Appalachian Roots Corn Hall, Diss/Norfolk Cahalen Morrison and Eli West Village Hall, Upper Sheringham/Norfolk Alison Krauss and Union Station Waterfront Hall, Belfast Appalachian Roots Square Chapel Centre for the Arts, Halifax Cahalen Morrison and Eli West UK-Tour - details see ukbluegrass.com Mike Dowling USA Dartford DA1 2AU UK, Dartford Folk Club Appalachian Roots Hundingdon Hall; Worcester Alison Krauss and Union Station SECC Clyde Auditorium, Glasgow Appalachian Roots The Hop Pole Inn, Aylesbury (01844 346897) Benefit concert London NW1 2HR, Exmouth Arms, Starcross Street Alison Krauss and Union Station Royal Festival Hall, London Appalachian Roots The Mill Arts Centre, Banbury Gillian Welch Dome, Brighton Gillian Welch Arts Centre, Warwick Alison Krauss and Union Station Royal Festival Hall, London Grassroots Hawkhurst, 8 Bells Alison Krauss & Union Station Royal Festival Hall, London Gillian Welch Hippodrome, Bristol Appalachian Roots United Reform Church, Burton Joyce/Nottingham Gillian Welch Waterfront Auditorium, Belfast Michael Marra London NW1 2HR, Exmouth Arms, Starcross Street Appalachian Roots Harmston Memorial Hall, Harmston/Lincoln

Great Britain

Ties-Duo Jamboree 2011 Ties-Quartet Jamboree 2011 Jamboree 2011 Jamboree 2011 Jamboree 2011 Jamboree 2011 Ties-Duo Jamboree 2011 Jamboree 2011 Ties-Duo Ties-Quintet Ties-Trio Ties-Duo im Klosterhof

82216 Maisach, Brauerei, Räuberkeller, Beer & Guitar 20:30 www.beer-anguitar.com 63303 Dreieich, Bürgerhaus Sprendlingen, 20h tix: 06103-60000 www.buergerhaeuser-dreieich.de 83132 Pittenhart, Hilgerhof, Niederbrunn 12, Kulturbredl 20:00 www.hilgerhof.de 06295 Lutherstadt-Eisleben, Landesbühne, 18:00 tix: 03475-602070 www.theater-eisleben.de 34127 Kassel, Schlachthof, 20:00 tix: 0561-983500 www.schlachthof-kassel.de 99817 Eisenach, Alte Mälzerei, 20:00 tix: 036924-31019 www.jazzclub-eisenach.de 44137 Dortmund, Domicil, 20:00 tix: 0180 5040300 www.domicil-dortmund.de 31137 Hildesheim, Kulturfabrik Löseke, 20:00; tix: www.kufa.info 82380 Peissenberg, Tiefstollenhalle Foyer, 20:00 www.kulturverein-peissenberg.de 28816 Stuhr, Gutsscheune Varrel, 20:00 tix: 0421-5695244 www.stuhr.de 41564 Kaarst, Albert Einstein Forum, 20:00; tix: 02131-987 223 www.kaarst.de 83022 Rosenheim, Christkindlmarkt (Christmas Market); 14h www.christkindlmarkt-rosenheim.de 95707 Thiersheim, Gasthaus Weisses Ross, Marktplatz 3, 20:00 www.weisses-ross-thiersheim.de 95213 Münchberg, Buergerzentrum, Kanalstr. 3, 20:00 www.stadtjugend.muenchberg.de 77704 Oberkirch, Freche Hus, 20:00 www.oberkirch.de 72127 Kusterdingen (bei Tübingen), Klosterhof, 16h www.bluegrass-im-klosterhof.de

www.thunderbridgebluegrass.com

20

BLUEGRASSEUROPE · 81/2011

www.cellarupstairs.org.uk www.grassrootsband.co.uk www.acousticastronauts.com www.cellarupstairs.org.uk www.sorefingers.co.uk ukbluegrass.com ukbluegrass.com ukbluegrass.com ukbluegrass.com www.cellarupstairs.org.uk ukbluegrass.com ukbluegrass.com ukbluegrass.com ukbluegrass.com www.cellarupstairs.org.uk ukbluegrass.com ukbluegrass.com ukbluegrass.com ukbluegrass.com ukbluegrass.com

www.dartfordfolk.org.uk ukbluegrass.com ukbluegrass.com ukbluegrass.com www.cellarupstairs.org.uk ukbluegrass.com ukbluegrass.com ukbluegrass.com ukbluegrass.com ukbluegrass.com ukbluegrass.com ukbluegrass.com ukbluegrass.com ukbluegrass.com ukbluegrass.com www.cellarupstairs.org.uk ukbluegrass.com

calendar nov 20 nov 20 nov 21 nov 21 nov 21 nov 22 nov 23 nov 23 nov 25 nov 26 nov 26 nov 27 dec 3 dec 10 dec 20 dec 20 jan 7 jan 14 jan 17 jan 17 feb 10-12

Grove Village Hall, Wantage/ Oxfordshire ukbluegrass.com Clyde Auditorium, Glasgow ukbluegrass.com Harworth and Bircotes Parish Hall, Bircotes/Doncaster ukbluegrass.com Apollo, Manchester ukbluegrass.com Brudenell Social Club, Leeds ukbluegrass.com The Slaughtered Lamb, London ukbluegrass.com Hammersmith Apollo, London ukbluegrass.com Square Sessions @ Square Brewery Petersfield/Hampshire ukbluegrass.com Tremayne Hall, Mylor/Cornwall ukbluegrass.com London NW1 2H, Exmouth Arms, Starcross Street www.cellarupstairs.org.uk Mello Mello, Liverpool ukbluegrass.com Chapel Arts Centre, Bath ukbluegrass.com London NW1 2HR, Exmouth Arms, Starcross Street www.cellarupstairs.org.uk London NW1 2HR, Exmouth Arms, Starcross Street www.cellarupstairs.org.uk Hawkhurst, 8 Bells www.grassrootsband.co.uk Dartford DA1 2AU UK, Dartford Folk Club www.dartfordfolk.org.uk London NW1 2HR, Exmouth Arms, Starcross Street www.cellarupstairs.org.uk London NW1 2HR, Exmouth Arms, Starcross Street www.cellarupstairs.org.uk Hawkhurst, 8 Bells www.grassrootsband.co.uk Dartford DA1 2AU UK, Dartford Folk Club. www.dartfordfolk.org.uk Gainsborough American Olt Time Festival Gainsborough, Lincolnshire www.foaotmad.org.uk

oct 19 oct 22 oct 23 nov 16 nov 20 dec 18, dec 21

www.hubma.hu Poa Pratensis, Bajai Bluegrass (B)Est, Acoustic Club, Poa Pratensis, Acoustic Club, Acoustic Club, Poa Pratensis

Budapest, Bonyai Etterem, 8:00pm, Baja, Ady Endre Varosi Konyvtar, 7:00pm, Budapest, Rock Randevu, 6:00pm, Budapest, Bonyai Etterem, 8:00pm, Budapest, Rock Randevu, 6:00pm, Budapest, Rock Randevu, 6:00pm, Budapest, Bonyai Etterem, 8:00pm

oct 28 oct29 oct 30 oct 31

the molly hicks bending the strings woodbine colonel bullshot rides again

balla balla balla balla

oct 29 dec 16

The Mismountainboys The Mismountainboys

Mozz, Tratt. Pascoletto, 8.30 p.m Stezzano, Theatre, 8.30 p.m.

dec 15 dec 17

Babes in the Grass Babes in the Grass

Christmas Show Voorhout, 't Soldaatje, 8:00 p.m.

Christmas Show Nieuw Buinen, home concert, 8:00 p.m.

oct 26

www.bluegrass.no Bluegrasskveld med Rossebø/Austestad

oct 15

2. International "COUNTRY BRIDGE" Festival, Moscow organiser: Redgrass Country

nov 19th

Al Ras OlTime & Bluegrass Festival Mollet del Valles, Barcelona;

Hungary

Ireland

Italy

Appalachian Roots Gillian Welch Appalachian Roots Gillian Welch The Deadly Gentlemen and Lau The Deadly Gentlemen Gillian Welch The Deadly Gentlemen The Deadly Gentlemen Jim & Lynette Eldon The Deadly Gentlemen The Deadly Gentlemen Phil Callery Kate Lissauer Grassroots Keith Pearson's Coup de Grass Robb Johnson G+T Grassroots Barber, Taylor & Reed

Netherlands Norway Russia Spain

Switzerland

oct 29 oct 31 nov 12 dec 3 dec 4 feb 5

co co co co

mayo, mayo, mayo, mayo,

mannions mannions mannions mannions

bar bar bar bar

Oslo, Herr Nilsen

www.pratensis.hu www.hubma.hu www.hubma.hu www.pratensis.hu www.hubma.hu www.hubma.hu www.pratensis.hu

ballabluegrass.com ballabluegrass.com ballabluegrass.com ballabluegrass.com

www.mismountainboys.it www.mismountainboys.it

www.babesinthegrass.nl www.babesinthegrass.nl

www.herrnilsen.no

http://snipurl.com/27wt47

www.alras.es

www.bluegrass.ch 12th Old Time Country Festival Breitisaal, 8185 Winkel; www.big-stone.ch Mala & FyrMoon Sursee, Stadtcafé www.myspace.com/malaandfiremoon SBMA FanFest Brugg, Dufour Haus www.bluegrass.ch Bluegrass Jamboree 2011 Schaffhausen, Kammgarn, 20:00 www.kammgarn.ch 2nd SwissGrass Night Basel, Jufa, 16:00 www.bluegrassinbasel.ch The Toy Hearts Basel, Jufa, 16:00 www.bluegrassinbasel.ch These are the dates up to 31 Dec and some larger events later on. Your dates will be included in this calendar free of charge. PLEASE SEND YOUR ENTRIES TO: editor@ebma.org BLUEGRASSEUROPE · 81/2011

21

Scene EU Bluegrass Jamboree!

Festival of Bluegrass & Americana Music 2011 Titled „The Future of Bluegrass“ this year's Bluegrass Jamboree features a stella mix of young musicians, namely Della Mae (USA) “The Daughters of Bluegrass“, the Deadly Gentlemen (USA) “Epic Folk & Grasscore”, and Cahalen Morrison & Eli West (USA) “Mountain Roots“.

by Rainer Zellner

A

s the Bluegrass World celebrates the 100th birthday of Bill Monroe, the "father" of bluegrass music, the 3rd Bluegrass Jamboree - Festival of Bluegrass & Americana Music, with three young and innovative artists performing on this year's tour, offers a look into the future of the genre. Most of the exciting developments in Bluegrass are currently found outside the regions of its origin in the South East of the United States. In the same way Bill Monroe and his band invented Bluegrass in the late 1940s mixing Blues, Jazz, Irish and Scottish folk, Gospel and Spirituals in Kentucky, his peers and successive generations of players kept experimenting on developing new aspects and sounds until today. This year the “Jamboree” artists are all from the northern states of the USA, where the music grows more freely without the sometimes rather conservative limitations of the South. The sound stays fully authentic and usually only experts may notice the differences and find out that most of the music is new and does not draw from the repertoire of sixty years of Bluegrass, although the connection is still easy to recognize.

But be sure - there will also be a good dose of "Monroe" tribute on the show!

CAHALEN MORRISON and ELI WEST present archaic folk sounds on banjo and other stringed instruments, played with energy and virtuosity of Bluegrass. There will be intense spellbinding two-part male vocals along lyrics about essential life experiences, guiding the audience on a journey through the musical heights of New Folk, Old Time and Bluegrass. The

22 BLUEGRASSEUROPE · 81/2011

two rising stars of the Seattle Folk scene perform new pieces with the musical sound of today. Cahalen's song writing is inspired by the old songs of a time, when hard work and the struggle to survive the Depression years in the mountain region of the Appalachians lead to a musical form that dealt with the existential aspects of life: themes of landscape, nature, love, sorrow, grief, joy, death and reverence, deeply spiritual, open and honest. In the course of history this sometimes-called "White Mans's Blues" was named oldtime, folk, country, bluegrass and hillbilly. The "fire" of Cahalen and Eli emerges from the combination of song writing with the intensity of the Bluegrass and beautifully played instruments as well as intense vocals. At age 15 the (practically incurable) bluegrass virus got Eli, since then he has been devoted to stringed instruments.

His special way of playing the guitar combines breathtaking solo and rhythm work.

He also writes the vocal arrangements which can be characterized by spirited rhythmic and harmonic explorations of the style - exactly the artistic freedom that motivated the musicians of the genre back in the early years of the 20th century - or as Monroe put it: "create your own music!"

THE DEADLY GENTLEMEN, the banjorappers in the genre had to escape the stage at some of their performances in the South at traditional bluegrass festivals because the audience did not seem ready for the innovative “rap-grass”-sound of the band yet. Amazing, as they further developed Bill Monroe's idea of Bluegrass: the mix of old and new: Rap, Jazz, Pop and Rock, New Acoustic Music plus Bluegrass into something they call “Grasscore and Epic Folk”. The lyrics sometimes harsh and violent, but also sweet and romantic, tell about love and hate and many other timeless topics. The way they combine rhythmic vocal structures and wild, improvisational instrumental outbursts is simply revolutionary. "The Bluegrass Police will definitely keep an eye on us" laughs master Gentleman, banjo wizzard and doctor of molecular biology Greg Liszt. He joined Bruce Springsteen for productions and on tour, became a founding member of progressive folk roots band "Crooked Still" and is considered as one of the few true banjo innovators. His playing is "funky" and expands traditional threefinger picking into a four-finger style with exciting rhythmic elements along powerful melodic lines.

DELLA MAE, or “five of the best female Bluegrass musicians and performers of the

North East together in one super group”.

They don't give much for the rather softly played softer modern bluegrass style, but favour a more speedy and rough version of this kind of music. As huge fans of the 40ies and 50ies sound of the wild men of that era, the five women combine a strong drive, powerful harmonies and modern song writing to a contemporary and intensive style of bluegrass, which they perform for the very first time in Europe. Celia Woodsmith's powerful voice is influenced by various styles of music from Bluegrass, Country and Soul over to Blues and even Folk. Through her impressive play of the rhythm guitar on stage she's the connective part between the different members of this ambitious band. Kimber Ludiker plays the fiddle: when she was three years old her grandfather taught her the first fiddle lessons and today in the beginning of her 20ies she has already been awarded Grand National Fiddle Champion twice.

She is considered one of the central artists of her generation and in her furious play of the extraordinary five-string fiddle she mixes elements of Bluegrass, Oldtime and Western Swing. Courtney Hartman provides the Flat Pick Solo Guitar, an instrument which first in the 1960's became an equal part of the Bluegrass ensemble besides mandolin, fiddle and banjo and is more often played by men. For her virtuoso solos she regularly gains standing ovations from enthusiastic audiences. Today besides her band activities she is taking classes in "serious" music at the wellrespected Berklee College of Music in Boston, a region where currently the most exciting developments in Bluegrass music in the USA are taking place. Jenny Lyn Gardner is a master of the Bluegrass Mandolin: As the band's “snare drum” she is responsible for the typical bluegrass off beat rhythm. During the band's performances it is always an exciting moment to listen to Jenny Lyn's vivid solos. Amanda Kowalski plays the acoustic String Bass. A true and living legend at the string bass, she has played in extraordinary projects together with banjo explorers Tony Trischka, Bela Fleck or Abigail Washburn, to only name a few of the great names she has performed with over the years. Her musical journey lead Amanda, who was born in the Hillbilly State of West Virginia, to the “Grand Ole Opry“ in Nashville as well as to Sidney's famous opera house where she played highly respected shows.

Make sure to attend one of these shows even if they're not right in your neighbourhood!

cD Reviews Well Enough Alone Well Enough Alone (no label, no number)

Door/Kickin' Up the Devil on a Holiday / Boys of Ballisodare/Star Above the Garter / On the Modoc Line / Red Haired Boy / Florida Blues / In My Life

High and Lonesome / High On the Mountain / That Old Sun / Ain't Nobody Gonna Miss Me / Mr. Engineer / Likes of Me / Let the Flame Burn Blue / Never Born / Bury Me Beneath the Willow / Lost to Be Found

(RH) This rewarding album is a nonbluegrass record, packed with members of the West Coast bluegrass scene. Multiinstrumentalist, teacher, and session musician Kathy Barwick is a former member of the All Girl Boys, plays and records with the Mountain Laurel Bluegrass Band, and is supported hereby musicians including Roland White, John Reischman, Keith Little, and Mary Gibbons. On this, her first solo album, Barwick's lead guitar and dobro work are most prominent. The first track is her guitar arrangement of Earl Scruggs's 'Nashville blues'; the last is the title track, a reflective dobro piece. The many delights in between show her range of musical tastes, including imaginative settings of Irish tunes, old-time banjo, and a splendid and too-seldom-heard Maybelle Carter song, 'My native home', in two-part harmony. The album can be bought directly from Barwick's website, http://www.kathybarwick.net

(RH) Well Enough Alone, a four-piece band from Dublin, Ireland, combine an uncompromising bluegrass style and hard-core repertoire with original songs five out of the ten on this debut CD - by lead guitarist Hugh Taggart, who shows a strong Tony Rice influence and a flair for bluegrass songwriting, and is becoming an authoritative performer. The ensemble sound is solid and driving; Conor Daly, who joined the band on banjo earlier this year, has never sounded better. Well Enough Alone formed just over two years ago, have already made a mark on the Irish festival circuit, and are developing rapidly. The album can also be heard and bought on iTunes, Amazon, Napster, and Rhapsody; links are on the band's website, http://www.wellenoughalone.net

Kathy Barwick,

In my life, FGM Records, FGM-132

Nashville Blues / Josefin's Waltz / Tell Me Why / Poll Ha'Penny / Chief O'Neill's Favorite/Cuckoo's Nest / My Native Home / Sadie at the Back

The Wilders,

Free Dirt Records, Dirt-CD-0064

Ordinary People / Mid November / Riding On Your High Horse / She Says (I Say) / Get Up Kid / Stay With Me / Pat's 25 / Riverboat / L.A. / Things They Say About Home / No. 7 / This Old Town / Lay Down Our Guns (RH) The Wilders (http://thewil-ders.us/), having established their trademark 'honky-tonk meets old-time' sound on many earlier albums, have taken the opportunity of their seventh Free Dirt CD to explore some new directions. First, original material predominates: five out of thirteen numbers are written by bassist Nate Gawron, four by fiddler Betse Ellis,

two by lead singer Ike Sheldon, and one by multi-instrumentalist Phil Wade.

Secondly, the basic band sound is often augmented by percussion, piano, glokkenspiel, electric bass, and other instruments. Thirdly, the new material relies hardly at all on older country styles; the most traditional-sounding is Ellis's fiddle tune 'No. 7' (also the shortest track on the album). If you see them perform this material live, there'll be no doubt that it's the same old Wilders you know and love doing it; however, be prepared for the new sounds on record.

Roberto Dalla Vecchia, Hand in Hand (no label, no number)

Looking For You / Sunny Day Talking by the Fireplace / F Joke River of Time / Cherokee Shuffle Hands / Vals Venezolano No.2 Tonight / Sun Rays at Dawn

/ / / /

(PB) Gentle, beautiful and carefully done. These are expressions that came to my mind first. Robetro's new CD is full of original material except for nicely rearranged Cherokee Shuffle (trad.) and the most „Italian“ melody Vals Venezolano No. 2 (by Antonio Lauro).

There are some solo guitar pieces and where other musicians join Roberto, it is always with great taste and respect to the material, not mentioning their great technique. The line-up might give you an idea of the colour of the recording Paolo Bressan on whistles, Martino Coppo on mandolin, Frederico Malaman on bass, Valerio Galla on percusions and Patricio Bau on nylon string guitar. If you listen to Hand in Hand, sit in your easy chair, pour yourself a glass of wine and relax. Don't forget to put on your headphones, if you want to enjoy Roberto's fine tone and hear him breathe!

BLUEGRASSEUROPE · 81/2011

23

Scene EU

East Meets…

Bluegrass!

by Robert Palomo

R

ussia. Bluegrass. Two ideas that probably don't immediately juxtapose in the minds of bluegrass fans, and with good reason. When I first came to St. Petersburg in 1996, I found that bluegrass was the only American music genre that was not being played there. It was either unknown or confused with “country”. Things aren't much different today, but that's starting to change thanks to a tiny but dedicated cadre of (mostly) young Russian musicians, and a new music festival which celebrated its second year this past July.

Launched in 2010 with sponsorship by the U.S.-Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission and organized by the Consulate General of the United States at St. Petersburg, the Russia-America Bluegrass Jamboree has exposed bluegrass music to thousands of Russian ears for the first time… and I can report as an eyewitness, they're loving it!

The jamboree seeks to provide an opportunity for Russian bluegrass musicians to be heard by their compatriots, as well as to introduce Russian audiences to the authentic sound of American artists. Last year's first-ever event was headlined, appropriately I think, by Peter and Joan Wernick with Justin Hoffenberg. “Dr. Banjo” introduced the sound of bluegrass banjo picked by a master. With Justin, people heard the simple beauty of the banjo and fiddle together. Pete and Joan's 2part vocals gave folks a taste of bluegrass singing.

24 BLUEGRASSEUROPE · 81/2011

PMB soundcheck, Vologda

This year, Donna Ulisse and the Poor Mountain Boys introduced Russians to pure sweet 3-part bluegrass vocal harmonies as well as masterful picking. It was truly inspiring to hear their "high lonesome sound" being played here in Russia.

One highly moving moment during the first show was when Donna changed her planned set and sang Ralph Stanley's "Who Will Sing for Me", dedicating it to the victims and families of a tragic Volga riverboat accident in which many children lost their lives, and for which the show date was a national day of mourning. "From my heart to yours" as she beautifully put it... and then truly sang it from her heart. Not everyone understood the English lyrics, but the message came through and there were more than a

few moist eyes in the crowd. As Donna told me some time afterward: “I have always heard that music is the universal language but never lived it until I was standing on the stages of Vologda and Yekaterinburg sharing bluegrass music to a crowd who was mostly hearing this genre for the first time. The collective embrace of my music from the audiences was so warm and heartfelt that words were not needed. It will go down in MY history as one of the most sincere moments I have ever experienced.”

This ain't “big city” music Consular officials decided to stage this event in provincial towns rather than St. Petersburg , partly because so many summer music events take

Russia place there that the jamboree risked being “lost in the noise”, and partly because public affairs consul Eric A. Johnson felt that bluegrass never was

“big city music”, and that it would be well received by regional audiences. Events seem to have proved him right.

In 2010 the main concerts were held in Vologda, known for it's dairy products and lace-making, and nearby Semenkovo. Both venues are incredible for their history and beauty.

The often-misnamed Vologda “kremlin” (actually an old archbishop's residence located next to an 800 year old church) is now a state museum which includes an amazing exhibition of local lace. The grounds at Semenkovo are home to an authentic recreation of an old Russian village complete with a resident folk music group in traditional costume. This year, in addition to these venues, concerts were staged at Yekaterinburg. I wasn't able to attend there, but I have it from the musicians and consular folks that bluegrass was not only well received, but was a major local media event.

Diligence from Obninsk, whose oldest member is only 15 and whose mentor, Alexey Gvozdev, may quite possibly be the unsung father of Russian bluegrass, having groomed players in Russian groups such as Bering Strait which made the U.S. and international scene. New kids on the block for 2011, but making an impressive showing, were Moscow's The Red Brick Boys.

What I find most interesting about the Russian musicians is how they have absorbed from the American tradition and rendered the music from the perspective of their own. For example, The Cheerful Diligence kids arrange Russian folk songs as up-tempo bluegrass tunes. Fine Street shows the influence of late '70s Newgrass Revival. The Red Brick Boys reaffirm the influence of Celtic music with the addition Irish-style harmonica, which purists would argue it has no place in bluegrass, yet they make it work. Despite superficial musical differences, all share a deep love of bluegrass music, and have overcome many obstacles to be able to learn and play it.

Why this one matters I feel this jamboree, though tiny, is highly significant because it has showcased bluegrass to a whole new audience in Europe. Through the concerts and the media coverage around them, thousands of Russians have heard bluegrass for the first time, including many kids.

Routine changes in consular staff and spending cuts in the U.S. make the event's future uncertain. The directors of the Vologda and Semenkovo museums have already expressed their wish that it continue, and their willingness to host it. For the sake of bluegrass music in Russia, Europe, and around the world, let us hope that happens!

Robert Palomo, "Banjocentric" New Folk Acoustic Music, is an American singer-songwriter of Hispanic descent who lives in Russia, and plays and writes music for the banjo, an instrument of African origin.

How weird is that, eh? www.robertpalomo.com

Donna Ulisse

Russian pickers: small numbers, huge enthusiasm I would be remiss not to say more of the Russian musicians who made the jamboree unique and successful.

Returning this year were two established Russian bluegrass groups: Fine Street, a pioneering band from St. Petersburg, and Cheerful

BLUEGRASSEUROPE · 81/2011

25

Feature

The Bluegrass Bass

by Bill McBee - Continued from BE#80

Bass Set-up: Set up of the acoustic upright bass is critical to maximizing its sound.

Sound post placement and bridge placement are very important. String selection is a vital part in your overall sound and playability. The quality of the fingerboard, tailpiece, tail wire, and end pin can all play vital supporting roles in your overall sound.

Sound posts - generally of soft wood; usually scored or cut open about half their length. Generally, the best sound post placement begins with the post being set vertically between the belly and back, leaving about 5/8" between the northernmost edge of the sound post and the south side of the G-foot of your bridge. Some luthiers advocate setting the grain of the sound post at 90-degrees to the grain of your bass top (belly). Optimal placement is a time-consuming process of loosening the strings and moving the sound post before re-tuning. There are commercial sound post setting kits or you may use your own inventions and household tools. The sound post should be snug but not overly tight; too tight and the sound is restricted. Fit it too loose and you run the risk of dropping your sound post every time you change strings.

Snug is the word.

Bridges - typically made of maple but other woods are used, including dogwood. Care should be taken in leaving enough wood in the feet of the bridge while not overly-trimming the crown area of the bridge blank.

The angle of the bridge should approximate the curvature of your fingerboard, when viewed down the

26 BLUEGRASSEUROPE 路 81/2011

neck from the nut. The bridge feet should be carefully shaped to match the curvature of your bass' top.

Many folks setting their own bridge will tape fine-grit sandpaper over the area of the bridge feet and slowly sand the feet (both at the same time) to the point where there are no gaps between the bass top and the bottom of the E- and G- feet. The bridge should stand vertically from the top, with its northernmost face curved.

The southern face should be flat.

Most usually the bridge's trademark will face south. The crown area should be thinned but not to the point where warping or breakage will occur under pressure. The bridge itself should be centered between the cut marks, placed on the inside edges of the two f-holes by the bass manufacturer. This placement will usually place the E-foot squarely above the bass bar.

As with sound posts, this part of your set up requires a certain degree of skill. If you are unsure about the process, I recommend you take the bass to a luthier or other qualified expert for these set up processes.

Strings - the choices are many. The amount of playing you do, if limited to jams and the occasional garage sessions, may indicate that your fingers are conditioned best for nylon or taped strings. Or you may prefer the sound of gut strings (usually only the D and G due to the extreme thickness of E and A gut strings).

Synthetic gut (perlon, for example) is a great choice and usually wound with stainless steel to produce great sustain and playability with sound similar to that of gut strings. Wound strings commonly used by bluegrass bassists include D'Addario Hybrids, Thomastic Dominants, GHS Acoustic, and Pirastro Spirocores.

As with any steel string, there will be a break-in period while you develop calluses on your left and right fingers.

Strings that sustain too long do not typically produce the 'thump' desired by many bluegrass bassists.

Older bass strings are generally preferred to new bass strings. In my experience, a set of bass strings seem best between the 1st and 2nd years of service. I never put on new strings before going into the studio.

In fact, if I knew the band had studio time coming, I would work hard to make sure that I didn't replace strings within 6-months or more of being recorded. Older strings tend to have a shorter decay rate (less sustain). There will be more about this in the discussion of technique.

I want to pass on a word of experience about winding the strings onto the pegs. I never take all four strings off the bass when changing strings. I loosen all four strings to about half their normal tension. This keeps some tension on the bridge, tailpiece, sound post, and bass top. Next I remove the E-string and make sure it winds toward the inside of the peg box. Next up is the A, then the D and G-strings, in that order. I only wind the new strings up to about 75% of full tension until all four have been changed. At that time, I begin slowly bringing the G and D-

Feature strings up to tune, then the A and E in that order. These steps help to keep steady, even tension on the instrument as you bring the strings into tune.

My goal with all four strings is to wind the strings very neatly without piling coils of string up on top of itself an, at the same time, such that the angle of the string between the nut and the peg is as near-parallel to the inside edge of the peg box as I can make it. That is, when I look at the wound string between the nut and peg, I want to see the minimum angle possible. And I'm not afraid to wind a string only three times around a peg.

Tailpiece and tail wire are both often overlooked but can wreak havoc with your overall sound. The ballends of the strings should be pulled through the eyes of the tailpiece with some type of insulator between the ball-end and the wood, such as a

round piece thick felt. Without such insulation, you can become beneficiary of overtones, or 'wolftones', generated on your tailpiece. These can be addressed by adding a soft piece of foam between the tailpiece and the bass' top or sometimes by wrapping the tailpiece in a soft towel. It may look strange, but either method works to eliminate these overtones. While not so noticeable in a jam session, they can drive you crazy during a recording session or even on stage.

Endpins are often thought of as that part of the bass that continually causes you to have to replace the rubber foot of the bass. But a steel endpin not properly insulated by cork from where it passes through the bottom bout of the bass can produce aggravating and unwanted vibrations every time you pull a string. And, often, not sufficiently tightening the set-pin on the endpin can produce a similar result. Such vibrations will drive you to distraction until you locate and correct them.

To be continued: next issue BE #82 “Amplification�

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27

Scene EU

Richard Weize Bears and Bluegrass

by Richard F Thompson

I

n September last year (2010) Richard Weize was presented with the IBMA’s Distinguished Achievement Award in recognition of his sustained contributions to the fostering of bluegrass music’s image over 35 years. It is one of many awards and honours received in recent years by Richard Weize and his label, Bear Family Records.

In February 2009 Weize received the ECHO Honour Award for Bear Family Records’ Special Services toMusic. The ECHO Awards are the German music industry’s equivalent of the Grammies.

In May 2007 Richard Weize of Bear Family Records in Germany received the "Lifetime Achievement" award for "linking books with country music", presented at the 24th Annual International Country Music Conference held at Belmont University in Nashville. This award honoured Weize for his thirty-year endeavours in furthering world-wide awareness of country music.

In 2006, Nashville, Tennessee’s The Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business at Belmont University, presented a Lifetime Achievement Award to Richard Weize in recognition of a lifetime spent linking research to country music.

In 2005, the Country Music Association in Nashville, Tennessee recognized Bear Family Records on their 30th Anniversary for their contribution to the preservation of country music.

In 2003, the German Music Critics’ Award was presented to Richard

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Weize for his innovative use of sound carriers.

Born on 4 August, 1945, in Bad Gandersheim, in southern Lower Saxony, Weize had a life-changing experience during the Easter weekend of 1969 when he attended the first International Country Music

Festival staged at Wembley, north London. “I concentrated more on music, which I hadn't done much in the previous years”, said Weize, who describes himself as “a crazy collector who issues records/CDs that I feel is historically important”.

(He had sold his record collection when he moved to England in

Richard Weize 1966.) Among those albums is a wide selection of bluegrass material.

In the early 1970s he started the Folk Variety label. The first two Folk Variety releases appeared in 1972, featuring various artists playing folk and bluegrass music at the Neusudende country music festivals near Oldenburg, Germany. In 1974 Weize released a joint effort by Bill Clifton and Hedy West, “Getting Folk out of the Country”.

So it was quite natural for Weize to work with Clifton for Bear Family's premiere album in 1975. The twoLP set “Going Back To Dixie” features recordings Clifton made for Starday between 1963 and 1966 with instrumental and vocal support from the Country Gentlemen, Mike Seeger, and Roy and Paul Justice. “At the time Clifton had a name that was well known in Europe”, Weize said.

“I also did the booking for him in Germany.”

There was a slow trickle of LP releases during the next 15 years three more involving Bill Clifton, one of which was Are you from Dixie? with Red Rector; two albums featuring the music of the Maddox Brothers & Rose; and a Jimmie Skinner record.

However, with the advent of the CD, there was a widespread programme concentrated on re-issued material.

About 20 albums were released during the period 1989 to 1995, with artists such as Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, the Stanley Brothers, Jim & Jesse, the Osborne Brothers, Jimmy Martin, the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers and Hylo Brown all represented.

Among those were the first of the illustrious box sets. “Box sets became more important when CDs came …… we put big books inside with large pictures and the history of the artist and the songs”, Weize explained.

So, who is the man behind this wealth of great produce?

In interviews, Weize, who has five children from two marriages, likes to say about himself, “I am a man pos-

sessed, a madman who wants to have the music on the record shelves, preserved for posterity, even if I'm not a big business with it”.

British roots music enthusiast John Atkins knew Weize when he lived in the UK, “He was a tall blonde German, fitting the stereotype, and from memory he was a wine salesman”.

Weize’s friend Walter Fuchs remembers the successful former German wine seller from that time also, “When I met Richard in England, he was wearing a dark suit and tie and was clean shaven”. Fuchs added, “He is not so clean cut now, with a beard, jeans and military parka, baseball cap being his choice of attire today”. Weize is blessed with great persistence, single-mindedness, “He can be very stubborn, but in the end he gets what he wants”, Fuchs attested. His diligence and search for quality leads him to spend three or four months a year on the road, personally overseeing the transfer of music from tapes to make sure he is getting the best available.

“He does take incredible trouble in getting things right”, agrees Fuchs.

For that we can be very thankful.

Additionally, “Richard always had a special feeling and knowledge for what and who was important in the development of music”. Weize, 57, likes to say he was born with a sense of history. The foundation of his family house near Braunschweig, Germany, was built in 850, and his parents, who ran a bookshop, instilled in him the importance of preserving books.

Richard is a fanatic, a collector.

Sometimes he thought he only founded Bear Family Records to increase the possibility of building up his huge collection of records. Often he told me, “I only released this LP or CD just to have it in my collection no matter how good or how bad it sold”, Fuchs reveals. “My aim is not primarily about the money, as long as I can live reasonably.”

If Richard Weize on a project working, he will turn 16 hours a day, 7 days a week until eliminate ambiguity, the last and the last sound from the sound engineer is processed.

Those efforts are much appreciated.

Bluegrass historian Neil V Rosenberg cites “the completeness of the sets; the inclusion of discographical data in the notes; and the very good quality of the re-mastering” as being of significant value to collectors.

Banjo player, historian and collector Tom Adler adds, “The quality of both the audio product and its supporting documentary materials are usually superb”.

Weize has employed the best historians and chroniclers of the music to provide notes about the artist’s career. One of those experts, Rosenberg, notes that Weize’s work is not just limited to what goes into the Bear Family releases. It has wider significance, “Without the work that Richard Weize did to get the Monroe recordings reissued, Charles Wolfe and I would not have been able to do what we did on our book for the University of Illinois Press, The Music of Bill Monroe. His research has been invaluable for anyone interested in the history of bluegrass and country music.”

All hail Richard Weize!

Check out: www.bear-family.de

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History Bluegrass in Germany: The Development of the German Bluegrass Scene (Part two)

By Walter Fuchs (English: Karl-Heinz Siber)

T

oward the end of the 1960s, dedicated country music programs began to turn up on German radio stations for the first time. A particularly successful show was “Country Express”, which was aired from 1970 by SWF 3 out of Baden-Baden and continued under various names until 1989, followed by “Country Time” (1990-2003) on Radio RPR in Ludwigshafen. These programs, in unison with many others, did valuable pioneering work by exposing countless listeners to country and bluegrass music for the first time; many of them became lifelong fans.

On the other hand, Europe - including Germany - did not take easily to playing bluegrass music (as opposed to just listening to it). One of the first professionally groomed European bluegrass bands - probably even the very first - was based in Vienna, Austria. The group called itself “Bluegrass Specials” and released its debut LP in 1970 on the Roots label. A band named Country'vival Ltd. from Hamburg made its appearance 1972, playing skiffle and bluegrass music. In the mid-1970s Bluegrass Express arrived on the scene, with two musicians in its ranks who were to play a formative role in the German bluegrass world for decades: brothers Ulrich (vocals, mandolin, fiddle) and Rolf Sieker (banjo). A group called Edison Way explored an experimental mix of folk and bluegrass in the mid 1970s, and in the 1980s a band from Regensburg stood out: Chambergrass, led by singer and banjo player Rudi Beer, presented songs in their native Bavarian dialect with an authentic bluegrass sound.

This sound was so persuasive that one could not care less whether the singing was done in English or in Bavarian. Chambergrass turned John Prine's “Please Don't Bury Me” into “Grobts Mi Ned Ei”, and “Donald and Lydia” into “Werner und Hilde”.

In the course of the 1980s the Dutch

band Groundspeed morphed into a German band, and in Munich, banjo player Rüdiger Helbig started his group Kentucky Bluefield. One of the most enduring German bands, “Sacred Sounds of Grass”, formed around brothers Thilo and Sam Hain, started out in 1979 playing bluegrass gospel music, though they have been padding their repertoire with secular stuff ever since. Even today they are still getting frenetic audience responses on festival stages. Other bands that gained popularity mainly in Southern Germany were Main Spring (which later reincarnated as Shady Mix), Helmut & The Hillbillies, Foreign Affairs, Rawhide, Blue Side Of Town and (since 1998) Night Run, currently one of the best bands the German bluegrass scene has to offer.

Where bands thrive there must necessarily be a “scene”, with fans and festivals. Probably the earliest country music festival on German soil - which also presented bluegrass music every so often - was founded in the early 1960s by Reinhard Pietsch and several like-minded enthusiasts in Neusüdende near Oldenburg. In the course of its decades-long run this festival enlisted top-notch artists such as Bill Monroe and the Osborne Brothers.

Unfortunately, the festival, skillfully managed by Klaus Grotelüschen since the mid 1980s, was terminated in 2006. Another festival offering a mixture of country and bluegrass music has been held in the town of Kötz near Günzburg (Bavaria) for 24 years and is still going on. The only annual festival exclusively dedicated to bluegrass music, expertly promoted by Karl Heinz Siber and Anneli Baumann, existed from 1986 until 2001in Güglingen near Heilbronn.

Sadly, this well-attended festival had to be terminated for reasons beyond the control of its promoters, resulting in the fact that Germany had to make do without a bluegrass festival in 2002. This, however, did not spell the doom of Germany's bluegrass scene. On the contrary, there was going to be a dynamic and successful sequel.

Before I get to this, let me insert a short assessment of country and bluegrass audiences, their preferences and properties. The first gene-

ration of German fans, infected with the country virus through AFN in the late 1940s and the 1950s, constituted a relatively small group: enthusiasts who collected records and keenly researched the history of country music, not unlike the way jazz aficionados did. This went on as long as country music maintained its identity (at least partially), held its own against the corrupting influence of commercialism and as long as those who loved the music were primarily interested in just listening to it for their enjoyment. The fact that the image of country music suffered from certain stereotypes (such as “cowboy music” or “campfire romanticism”), that it was ridiculed and sometimes even vituperated and never gained cultural acceptance, was annoying, but the fans had gotten used to this. What made things worse was that a growing number of buffs began taking the misguided “cowboy image” of country music for real; it became fashionable for them to show up at country festivals and concerts in cowboys, trappers and even confederate soldiers attire, obviously as a way to escape their dreary everyday life and slip into an “alter ego” for a few hours or days.

For many, the presence of more and more of these costumed escapists seemed to prove that country music was indeed the “music of the wild west”, as they had always suspected.

The emergence of costumed cowboy bands such as Truck Stop from Hamburg reinforced this trend from the late 1970s on. The next step was the establishment of Western Saloons and Western Towns as amusement parks for the wild west nostalgics, and at this point there was obviously cause to fear for the cultural asset that country music was. No reasonably reputable and educated person would want to associate with such company. Even mass media such as radio and TV turned away in disgust. But help was on its way.

…to be continued in BE # 82

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News US The USA The Bluegrass Blog (the bluegrass blog.com) will shortly move to a new look and name: Bluegrass Today.com we are looking forward to even more “News at the speed of Bluegrass!” and wish our colleagues Brance Gillihan and John Lawless, joint recipients of the 2007 Print Media Person of the Year award from the International Bluegrass Music Association (the first time this award has been given to web authors) lots of success with the new format.

News from the Record labels “So much in between” is the title of the newest CD by Darin & Brooke Aldridge. The album was issued by

Crossroads Music. The release-party was held in Shelby, North Carolina on 30th July.

“Family Chain - the songs of Joe Isaacs” released by Crossroads is a new solo CD by John Bowman (fiddle and banjo player for the Boxcars) John, who used to be a member of The Isaacs pays homage to bluegrass gospel Joe Isaacs.

The Rebel label issued two separate discs to celebrate the life and the 100th birthday of Bill Monroe: With Body And Soul features 17 classic songs and instrumentals of Monroe's performed by many of the biggest names in bluegrass past and present, including Stanley, Wiseman, Baker (teaming up with Monroe himself on "Road to Columbus"), Jim & Jesse, Don Rigsby and The Lonesome River Band to name a few. Let The Light Shine Down presents 17 of Monroe's finest gospel numbers, played here by such artists as The Stanley Brothers, The Country Gentlemen, Don Reno & Benny Martin, Larry Richardson, Dave

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Evans and Junior Sisk & Ramblers Choice among others. In addition, many of the cuts on these two CDs include musicians who were once Blue Grass Boys themselves, like Sonny Osborne, Carter Stanley, Bobby Hicks, Bill Keith, Richard Greene and Peter Rowan.

Rounder Records also released a tribute set: The Bill Monroe Centennial Celebration - A Classic Bluegrass Tribute on August 23. A two-disc commemoration of the Father of Bluegrass during his centennial year. The album includes 28 tracks from prominent Rounder artists like The Grascals, Bluegrass Album Band, Claire Lynch, Ricky Skaggs, Blue Highway, Michael Cleveland and The Johnson Mountain Boys, all performing Monroe's music.

These are all previously-released tracks, with the exception of a cut of Close By from an upcoming Dailey & Vincent project.

Long out of print, classic WEBCO and Pinecastle recordings are now available for download at your favorite online retailer including Amazon MP3 and iTunes. Pinecastle Records purchased WEBCO Records of Virginia in 1993 which marked the beginning of fruitful relationships with artists like Larry Stephenson and The Reno Brothers. Six of Larry Stephenson's WEBCO releases have been added.

The two Rarely Herd albums add to the ones already available digitally.

Also added are four additional albums from The Reno Brothers.

To find out more about these 12 new digital releases (re-issues) go to: pinecastlemusic.com/

controls, and co-producing with Larry.

Valerie Smith and Becky Buller are part of the “Bluegrass Bands Helping Hands, Volume III” CD featuring original music and arrangements from other artists including: Mark “Brink” Brinkman, The Hillbenders, Special Consensus, Donna Ulisse and many more. Organizer, Paul Byrum announced the Kick-starter Campaign for the album that will assist over 1600 children with special needs in Dalton and Whitfield County Georgia. A project has already begun to build a special surfaced and equipped recreation facility to host baseball and similar recreational events but a tremendous amount of funding is required to see the park to completion. The park when completed would serve the residence of North Georgia and Chattanooga, Tennessee. More information you can find on: www.bluegrassbandshelpinghands.com.

Rodney Dillard and his Dillard Band produced a new gospel album for the Rural Rhythm label entitled: “Don't wait for the hearse take you to the church”.

Bands & Artists Claire Lynch, nominated for 2011 IBMA Female Vocalist of the Year, is gathering new material for an upcoming recording. “Whatcha Gonna Do” (2009) was her latest album.

Compass Records announced that Larry Stephenson signed a multialbum deal with the label, and will begin work in October on a new project for a 2012 release. He will be working at Compass' studio in Nashville, with Ben Suratt helming the

News US Chris Davis is the newest member of Ramblers Choice, the band of Junior Sisk. Chris born on October 9, 1979 played mandolin and fiddle for Marty Raybon & Full Circle for the last 3 years.

Tim Massey (bass) has decided to leave the band. He is getting married and is pursuing new endeavours.

Jason Tomlin (he used to play the mandolin) has moved over to the bass.

Michael Cleveland has announced that Glenn Gibson will be taking up the five string banjo with Flamekeeper, filling the spot recently vacated by banjo picker Charlie Cushman.

Newest member of “Blue Moon Rising” is Kris Rasnake on banjo. Kris hails from south-western Virginia and received his first professional banjo gig with one of his heroes, the legendary Larry Sparks. Later in 2001, Kris spent some time with Ernie Thacker and Rt. 23.

A Hot Rize October Southeast Tour is in the planning, all dates including Red Knuckles & the Trailblazers.

Founding members Pete Wernick on banjo, Tim O'Brien on mandolin/fiddle, and Nick Forster on bass will comprise the group, along with Bryan Sutton on guitar taking the spot originally held by the late Charles Sawtelle.

Mark Newton proudly announced his new band formation in July at the offices of Mountain Music Entertainment. The new band will be representation of multi-award winning bluegrass and roots music artist Mark Newton's styling and will also add to the mix two new members that will round out the regularly touring trio.

Banjoist, Bassist, and Vocalist Andrew Blythe and Dobroist, Guitarist, and Vocalist Leah Needham comprise the trio with Newton. Mark is well known for his contributions to the field of bluegrass and acoustic music as an artist, producer, writer, and vocalist.

Bluegrass banjo picker Dave Evans is home recovering from a very serious health problem that required heart surgery at the end of July.

Fiddler Tex Logan is home after being hospitalized in August after suffering a series of mini-strokes.

Lonesome River Band leader Sammy Shelor has been announced as the 2011 recipient of the Steve Martin

Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass Music. The award is in recognition of Sammy's high level of musicianship, and the impact he has had on the development of modern bluegrass banjo. It carries a $50,000 cash grant, financed through Martin's generosity. Sammy and the Lonesome River Band will perform with Steve Martin on the “Late Show With David Letterman” 3rd November 2011.

Other News “A Prairie Home Companion” heard by more than 4 million listeners each week on some 590 public radio stations in the USA, will celebrate Bill Monroe and his music on 5th November with a musical tribute that will include revered musicians who performed with Monroe at various times throughout his career.

Scheduled to appear are: Roland White, mandolin; Blake Williams and Bob Black, banjo; Bobby Hicks and Richard Greene, fiddle; Tom Ewing and Peter Rowan, guitar; and Mark Hembree, bass. Joining the Blue Grass Boys will be noted session musicians Stuart Duncan and Kathy Chiavola.

This special performance will be held at Murray State University's CFSB Center in Murray, KY. Somewhere in July an e-mail arrived saying: “Rural Rhythm Records is relocating from the Los Angeles, CA area to Mt. Juliet, TN.” Since the days of Uncle Jim O'Neal, the founder of the label (1955), they have been out there in California. Why the move??

Sam Passamano Jr., the president of the label nowadays, made an interesting statement part of which we'd like to quote for you: “Pam and I have been contemplating this move for a few years. Pam is a native Californian from the Sacramento area and a lot of my family moved to the Los Angeles area from the east coast in the 60's and 70's. Our family is very important to us, so to relocate our residence and business to the Nashville area was a major life changing decision.

Anthony, Jennifer, Sarah, and their families will be staying in the Los Angeles area. Myself, Pam, Sammy, and Rosalie will be moving to Mt. Juliet, TN. …

There are definite signs that the music retail business has bottomed out after a

most a decade of staggering losses.

This is very good news for all of us and should help our Bluegrass music lovers find more product at the music retail level. However, a lot has changed over the last decade in terms of marketing Bluegrass music to our artists' fans. We are working on several major media exposure opportunities for our artists, which will be announced shortly and being in the Nashville area will be crucial. … I think one of the most compelling reason for us to relocate our business to the South-eastern area has to do with being a lot closer to our artists and having the ability to meet and have creative conversations that can go much further than one or two hour phone calls."

Hendersonville, TN - BlueHighways TV (BHTV) and Rural Rhythm Records announced in July that they have formed a promotional partnership to bring the label's artists to BHTV viewers through HD television specials, guest appearances and music video segments. As part of the new partnership, Rural Rhythm artists will also take to the festival stages to educate fans about BlueHighways TV. The Share America Foundation, Inc. announced its first 2011 scholarship winner recently at its Sacred Sounds Friday's concert at the Ringgold Depot in Ringgold, Ga. The events help fund the organization's Pearl and Floyd Franks Scholarship. Pearl and Floyd Franks are the late parents and former entertainment managers of actor/entertainer Randall Franks, "Officer Randy Goode" from TV's "In the Heat of the Night." The scholarships honor students excelling in the Appalachian musical arts. Winner of the scholarship: Cody Harvey, 18, of Signal Mountain, Tenn. He graduated from Signal Mountain High School and plans to attend University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. “Since I began playing the banjo, I had always dreamed to have a bluegrass band of people my age,” he said. He said he actually taught some fellow students and found others who played until the Mountain Cove Bluegrass Band was formed.

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News US Over Jordan The influential bluegrass fiddler Kenny Baker, a mainstay of Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys for 23 years, died July 8 in Gallatin, Tenn., after suffering a stroke. He was 85 when he died.

Born near Jenkins, Kentucky, Baker was the son of an old-time fiddler, but he was also influenced by musicians like Glenn Miller and Stephane Grappelli. He started more or less professionally during the forties in the eastern part of Kentucky next to his day job as a farmer and coalminer. He worked for Don Gibson before he started his on and off bluegrass career with Bill Monroe. Baker - who had severe objections to the low wages paid by Monroe, left the Blue Grass Boys three times to return to mining.

He exited the group abruptly, after 16 consecutive years in the band, when he walked offstage in the middle of a concert in Jemison, Ala., in 1984. The two musicians reconciled in 1994, when Baker appeared again at

Monroe's Bean Blossom Bluegrass Festival. His music was issued by County records on quite a number of fine albums.

Old time fiddler and banjo picker Benton Flippen passed away on Tuesday, June 28 at the age of 90. He is regarded as one of the instigators of what has become known as the Round Peak style.

George 'Speedy' Krise died on June 9, 2011. He was 89 years old and his passing marks the end of an era in country and bluegrass music. Speedy was one of the true pioneers of the dobro in early country as well as the dobro player credited with being the first to record bluegrass (while playing in Carl Butler's band in 1950-51).

Wade Mainer of North Carolina died on 12 September at the age of 104.

Mainer belongs to the generation of American rural musicians who took up playing and recording 'hillbilly' music professionally in the 1920s and 1930s, forming a transition between traditional old-time music and blue-

2011 INTERNATIONAL BLUEGRASS MUSIC AWARDS BLUEGRASS MUSIC HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES Del McCoury and George Shuffler IBMA DISTINGUISHED ACHIEVEMENT AWARD RECIPIENTS Greg Cahill, Bill Knowlton, Lilly Pavlak, Geoff Stelling, and Roland White ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR Steve Martin & The Steep Canyon Rangers VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR The Gibson Brothers INSTRUMENTAL GROUP OF THE YEAR The Boxcars EMERGING ARTIST OF THE YEAR The Boxcars MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR Russell Moore FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR Dale Ann Bradley

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SONG OF THE YEAR "Trains I Missed;" Balsam Range (artists); Walt Wilkins, Gilles Godard & Nicole Witt (songwriters) ALBUM OF THE YEAR Help My Brother by The Gibson Brothers (artists), Eric & Leigh Gibson & Mike Barber (producers); Compass (label) GOSPEL RECORDED PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR "Prayer Bells of Heaven" by J.D. Crowe, Doyle Lawson, & Paul Williams (artists), Ben Isaacs (producer), Mountain Home (label) INSTRUMENTAL RECORDED PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR "Goin' Up Dry Branch," Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper (artist), Buddy Spicher & Jimmy Martin (songwriters), Jeff White & Michael Cleveland (producers), Rounder (label)

RECORDED EVENT OF THE YEAR "Prayer Bells of Heaven" by J.D. Crowe, Doyle Lawson & Paul Williams (artists); Ben Isaacs (producer); Mountain Home (label)

grass. His personal innovations included a thumb-and-index-finger-pickin style on the banjo. In 1937 he married Julia 'Hillbilly Lily' Brown, herself a pioneer woman singer-musician, and they performed together into later life.

An account of his career, with discography, is on Wikipedia, and a UNCTV programme on him can be viewed here: www.unctv.org/folkways/wade_mainer/index.html.

INSTRUMENTAL PERFORMERS OF THE YEAR Banjo: Kristin Scott Benson and Ron Stewart (tie) Bass: Marshall Wilborn Fiddle: Michael Cleveland Dobro: Rob Ickes Guitar: Bryan Sutton Mandolin: Adam Steffey BLUEGRASS BROADCASTER OF THE YEAR Katy Daley BLUEGRASS EVENT OF THE YEAR Silver Dollar City's Bluegrass & BBQ Festival; Branson, Mo. BLUEGRASS PRINT MEDIA PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR Juli Thanki BEST GRAPHIC DESIGN FOR A RECORDED PROJECT Ricardo Alessio & Erica Harris (designer & artist), Abigail Washburn (artist), Rounder (label) BEST LINER NOTES FOR A RECORDED PROJECT Colin Escott (writer), A Mother's Prayer, Ralph Stanley (artist), Rebel (label)

Liz Meyer

Remembering Liz Meyer 7 March 1952 - 26 August 2011 "Honesty and passion. These are the hallmarks of any great music. These are also the qualities that stand out in Liz's work as a writer and performer. The world could use a whole lot more of what Liz has got."

David Olney speaking about Liz Meyer's album The Storm.

L

iz Meyer, one of Europe's adopted Americans, passed away on 26 August after a decade-long battle with cancer. In April 2009 doctors discovered severe bone dancer that led to a long stay in the Klinik St. Georg, Bad Aibling, Munich, Germany, from June of that year onwards. She had already beaten cancer six times prior to that.

Sadly, in July Meyer had to return to the cancer hospital.

Born 7 March 1952 in Washington D C, the award-winning singersongwriter had lived in the Netherlands since 1985. As well as being a performer with an earthy, contralto voice, she was a wellrespected songwriter; her songs have been recorded by bluegrass and folk acts in the USA and Europe, inclu-

Letter to the editor Bluegrass Europe #80 Richard Hawkins, one of the most dedicated members of the bluegrass scene, and tireless editor of the European Bluegrass Blog, wrote in about an error in our obituary on Jan “Honza” Maca in BE80 (p. 35). Richard is absolutely right and we're grateful for his feedback.

Bluegrass Europe #80 has just reached me, and as with #79 I'm delighted by the range and the depth of its contents and its overall good looks. I would just like to correct one small detail, which amounts only to a single date; but it happens to be

ding Del McCoury (Untamed), Laurie Lewis & Tom Rozum (Bad Seed), Auldridge-Bennett-Gaudreau (Blue Lonesome Wind and It Won't Be Long), Emmylou Harris, Kate MacKenzie, Acousticure, Red Wine (Trust Me) and Nugget.

She had several albums that feature her own material also, starting with the 1982 release on Adelphi, Once a Day. Since 1995 most of her recordings have been on Strictly Country,

a significant date in the history of European bluegrass organisations.

Jan „Honza“ Macák was appropriately commemorated on p. 35 of the new issue of BE. At three places on this page, the date of his receiving the „EWOB Bluegrass Pioneer Award“ appears as 2003.

However, I could remember Honza's receiving an award on the stage at Voorthuizen during the EWOB Festival, presented by Dennis Schut - something that could not have taken place after 2001, because of the split that year between the EBMA and Dennis's EWOBA organisation. […]

The June-July 2001 issue of Bluegrass

the label that she helped Pieter Groenveld, her husband since October 1986, run. The first of these was Womanly Arts (SCR 37, released in 1995), actually recorded in Nashville. That was followed by The Storm (SCR 59, 2004) for which she penned all but one of the dozen songs featured. This album reflects the courage that carried her through the trials and tribulations of dealing with severe illness.

In addition to the two studio albums was the folk-orientated Regions of the Soul that consisted of live recordings of duets with guitarist Mark Cosgrove (actually released on the Strictly Music label) and the collection of recordings on-stage with the Czech group Nugget; Live at the European World of Bluegrass, 19992003 (SCR ).

During the past two decades Meyer produced more than 30 albums, including CDs by singer-songwriters Olney and Jonathan Edwards and those in the European World of Bluegrass series.

She worked tirelessly on behalf of European bluegrass music, being a vocal promoter of the European World of Bluegrass (EWOB) and a great help to touring American musicians. The passion about which David Olney spoke, was evident in all that Liz Meyer did.

Europe (#20) confirmed my memory: it has a full-page feature on p. 12, written

by Dennis (together with the late Milan Leppelt) on Honza as the first recipient of the new European Bluegrass Pioneer Award, presented at that year's EWOB Festival.

All good wishes, Richard

If you have a comment about articles or Bluegrass Europe in general, please feel free to send your statement or message to editor@ebma.org - thank you!

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Active Members

EBMA's European Bluegrass Guide The following listing is an exclusive service to the active members of the European Bluegrass Music Association (EBMA). Please send your entry and updates to editor@ebma.org.

Agents · Promoters Blue Side Music Agency Michael Zumstein Bächelhurst 9, 79249 Merzhausen, Germany Phone: +49-(0)761 40 79 70 Email: zumstein@bluesidemusic.de Website: www.bluesidemusic.de Colonial Country Club Barry Deen, Schaapskuilweg 14, NL 7872 PG Valthe, The Netherlands Phone: +31 591 513103 Email: b.deen@kpnplanet.nl Chris Keenan PO Box 15, Longford Ireland Phone: +353 87 281 7825 email: chriskeenan2007@hotmail.com MusicContact Rainer Zellner, Saarstrasse 8 D-72070 Tübingen, Germany Phone: +49 7073 2250 Fax: +49 7073 2134 Email: zellner@musiccontact.com Website: www.musiccontact.com

Associations European Bluegrass Music Association Angelika Torrie, Holeerain 29 CH-4102 Binningen, Switzerland Phone: +41 61 423 96 91 Fax: +41 61 423 96 90 Email: angelika@ebma.org Website: www.ebma.org Bluegrass Association of the Czech Republic Pavel Brandejs, Hede_ská 103, CZ-561 69 Králíky, Czech Republic Website: www.bacr.czechweb.cz Bluegrass Bands & Helping Hands LLC Paul Byrum P O Box 6714 GA 30720 Dalton, USA bluegrassbandshelpinghands@gmail.com Website: bluegrassbandshelpinghands.com Bluegrass in Basel Angelika Torrie, Holeerain 29, CH-4102 Binningen, Switzerland Email: info@bluegrassinbasel.ch Website: www.bluegrassinbasel.ch Bluegrass Music Denmark Arne Sorensen, Artbjergvey 53 DK-2650 Hvidovre, Denmark Email: apsbanjo@fasttvnet.dk Website: www.bluegrassmusic.dk Country & Western Friends Kötz 1982 Peter Wroblewski D-89359 Kötz, Germany Phone & Fax: +49 8221 34671 Email: info@cwf-koetz.de Website: www.cwf-koetz.de

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Ulster American Folk Park Richard Hurst, Castletown, UK-BT78 52Y Omagh, Co. Tyrone, Northern Ireland Email: richard.hurst@uafp.co.uk Website: www.folkpark.com German Bluegrass Music Association e.V. Friedrich Hog, Fuerst-Albert-Str. 5, D-89611 Obermarchtal, Germany E-mail: Friedrich.Hog@gmx.de Website: www.bluegrass-germany.de Hungarian BG Music Association Péter Tölgyesi, Apatini utca 1., H-8000 Székesfehérvár, Hungary Email: ptolgyes@szuteren.hu Website: www.hubma.hu Munich BlueGrass Friends e.V. Bernhard Schormair, Landshamer Str. 11, D-81929 Munich, Germany Email: info@mbgf.de Website: www.mbgf.de Stichting Boet'n Deure Lambert Schomaker Zuiderdiep 235 NL 7876 AM Valthermond, The Netherlands Phone: +31599 850361 Email: lambertschomaker@hotmail.com Website: www.boetndeure.nl Swiss Bluegrass Music Association Kent Miller, Lochhübel 174 CH-5112 Thalheim, Switzerland Email: president@bluegrass.ch Website: www.bluegrass.ch

Bands/Musicians 0039 Bluegrass Made in Italy Paolo Ercoli, Via R. Sanzio 12, I-20043 Arcore (MI), Italy Phone: +39 039 61 77 78 Email: dobroist@tin.it Website: www.0039.us Big Stone Peter Erb, Lindenhofstrasse 4b, CH-8180 Bülach, Switzerland Phone: +41 44 860 68 04 Mobile: +41 78 600 68 04 Email: p_erb@bluewin.ch Website: big-stone.ch Blue Railroad Train James Field, 14 rue des Acacias, Paris Phone: +33 6 14 83 94 51 Fax: +33 1 56 68 93 82 Email: jofield@wanadoo.fr Website: www.myspace.com/bluerailroadtrain Blue Side of Town Michael Zumstein, Bächelhurst 9 D-79249 Merzhausen Phone: + 49 - 761 - 407970 Fax: + 49 - 761 - 408706 Email: info@bluesidemusic.de Website: www.bluesidemusic.de

The Coal Porters Sid Griffin, PO Box 2539, UK- London NW3 6DF, United Kingdom Email: squidsite@blueyonder.co.uk Website: www.sidgriffin.com The Country Pickers Paolo Dettwiler, Liestalerstrasse 30, CH-4412 Nuglar, Switzerland Phone: +41 (0)61 311 09 03 Email: paolo-bluegrass@bluewin.ch Website: country-pickers.blogspot.com Covered Grass Volker Valdix, Bliesenbacher Straße 47 D-51766 Engelskirchen, Germany Phone: 00492263801860 Email: fishdix.records@t-online.de Website: www.covered-grass.de Ned Crisp & Bottomline Ned Crisp, 132 Mt Savage Dr, USA- KY 41101 Ashland, USA Phone: +1 6069235192 Email: bottomlinebluegrass@hotmail.com Website: www.nedcrisp.com Czas na Grass Artur Gusta, Traugutta 1, 67-100 Nowa Sól, Lubuskie, Poland Email: bluegrass@bluegrass.pl Phone: +48 665 589 359 Website: www.bluegrass.pl Except-2 Ruud de Bruin, Hoogaars 146, NL 3232 TH Brielle, The Netherlands Email: rde.bruin@zonnet.nl Website: except2.home.xs4all.nl Andy Glandt Emil-Woelk-Strasse 29, D-07747 Jena, Germany Phone: +49-3641-331001 Email: info@andy.glandt.com Website: www.andy.glandt.com Lluis Gómez C/Gibraltar 6-8 3º1ª, 08330 Premia de Mar, Barcelona, Spain Phone: 93 754 8590 Email: lluisgomez@mac.com Website: http://web.mac.com/lluisgomez Groundspeed/Looping Brothers Matthias Malcher, Mozartstrasse 21, D-49525 Lengerich, Germany Phone: +49 548181746 Email: MMalcher@gmx.de Website: www.groundspeed-looping.com Rüdiger Helbig & Huckleberry Five Einsteinstrasse 123 D-81675 Munich, Germany Phone: +49 89 448 46 19 Fax: +49 89 448 70 93 Website: www.ruediger-helbig.de Lazy Tater Beppie Gasman, Zuiderdiep 61, NL 9521 AB Nieuw Buinen, The Netherlands Phone: +31 599 212454 Email: j.pals@wxs.nl Website: www.lazytater.nl Lilly of the West Lili Drumeva, 25 Marin Drinov, Apt. 3, BG-1504 Sofia, Bulgaria Phone: +359 888 660 990

Active Members Email: lilly@techno-link.com Website: www.lillydrumeva.net Mala & FireMoon Cornelia Gassmann, Verenamatt, CH-6206 Neuenkirch, Switzerland Email: info-mala@gmx.ch Website: www.myspace.com/malaandfiremoon Mala Cornelia Gassmann Verenamatt, CH-6206 Neuenkirch, Switzerland Email: info-mala@gmx.ch Website: www.myspace.com/corneliamalagassmann Matching Ties Paul Stowe, Kirchenweg 6a, D 83104 Schoenau, Germany Phone: +49 (0) 8065-90 91 56 Email: info@matchingties.com Website: www.matchingties.com Mideando String Quintet Stefano Santangelo, v. P. Vergerio 6, I-35100 Padova, Italy Email: stef61@tin.it Website: www.mideando.it New River Train Mojmir Sevcik, Schützenweg 13, A-4820 Bad Ischl, Austria Email: mo.sevcik@aon.at Website: www.nrt.cz Night Run Bluegrass Band Wittmer Alfred, Mausbergweg 30, D-67346 Speyer, Germany Email : wittmer.alfred@t-online.de Website: www.nightrun-bluegrass.de Rawhide Thierry Schoysman, Oudergemseweg 58 B-3080 Tervuren, Belgium Email: info@rawhide.be Website: www.rawhide.be Red Wine Martino Coppo, Genova, Italy Email: coppom@libero.it Website: www.redwinemusic.net Skyland Elly Beurskens, Merwedehof 29 NL-1316 EL Almere, The Netherlands Phone: +31 36 5332757 Email: e.beurskens@hccnet.nl Sons of Navarone Guido Bos, Gorenstraat 32, B-3290 Diest (Deurne), Belgium Email: guido@sonsofnavarone.com Website: www.sonsofnavarone.com Steel String Session Lisa Jacobi, 166 U.S.A. Drive 37317 Copperhill, TN, USA Phone: +423-496-4653 Email: music@SteelStringSession.com Website: www.SteelStringSession.com Strictly Bluegrass Band Dieter Rahner, Bärlauchweg 18, D-80997 München, Germany Phone: +49 089-146141 Email: d.rahner@web.de Website: www.strictly-bluegrass.de Sunny Side Pavel Handlik, Michalovice 60, CZ-293 01 Mlada' Boleslav, Czech Republic Email: musicbg@centrum.cz Website: www.sunnyside.cz Jussi Syren and the Groundbreakers Jussi Syren, Lillfors 006, SF 10410 Aminnefors, Finland Phone: +358 19 238610 Email: info@syren.fi Website: www.syren.fi Jean-Blaise Rochat Ch. de la Bruyère 10 CH-1197 Prangins, Switzerland Email: rorol@bluewin.ch

Festivals (* = EFN member festivals)

Camps & Teachers

Appalachian & Bluegrass Music Festival * Omagh, Co. Tyrone, Northern Ireland Email: richard.hurst@uafp.co.uk Website: www.folkpark.com Banjo Jamboree * Phone:+420-777-564-578 Email: p.brandejs@orlicko.cz Website: www.banjojamboree.cz Big Bear Festival * Zuidlaren, Netherland Website: www.strictlycountry.nl Bluegrass Meeting Birkenried * Birkenried, Germany Website: www.cwf-koetz.de Didmarton Bluegrass Festival * Kemble Gloucestershire, UK Website: www.didmarton-bluegrass.co.uk EWOB Festival * Voorthuizen, The Netherlands Website: www.ewob.eu GrevenGrass e.V. * Ulli Sokoll, Schruenderring 71 D-48268 Greven, Germany Email: u.sokoll@gmx.de Website: www.grevengrass.de International Bluegrass & Acoustic Music Festival * Abaliget, Hungary Website: www.hubma.hu International Buehl Bluegrass Festival * Buehl, Germany Website:www.bluegrassfestivalbuehl.de Jamboree (Strakonice) * Petr Kuklik, Tyloviska 24, CZ 15521 Praha 5, Czech Republic Phone: +420 241 402 569 Email: petrkuklik.servis@seznam.cz Website: www.jamboree-cz.com Johnny Keenan Banjo Festival * PO Box 15, Longford Phone: +353 87 281 7825 email: chriskeenan2007@hotmail.com Web: www.johnnykeenan.com La Roche Bluegrass Festival * Christopher Howard-Williams F-74800 La Roche sur Foron, France Phone: +33 450 03 42 04 Email: christopherhw@mac.com Website: larochebluegrass.fr Munich Bluegrass Festival * Munich, Germany Website: www.munichbluegrassfestival.de PicnicFestival of Namur Laurent Eeckhout, 19, rue de Soye B-5190 Spy, Belgium Phone: +32 472 22 03 26 Email: laurent.eeckhout@skynet.be Website: www.picnicfestival.be Risør Bluegrass Festival * Dagfinn M Pedersen, Klingra, Gjernes N-4990 Sondeled, Norway Phone: +47 37154528 Email: dagfinn@bluegrass.no Website: www.risorbluegrassfestival.no Spring Bluegrass Festival Willisau * Joe Frei, Appenzellerstr. 75 CH-8049 Zuerich, Switzerland Email: joe@bluegrass-willisau.ch Website: www.bluegrass-willisau.ch

Banjo Camp Munich Adiaha Bürkmiller, München/Chiemgau Phone: (49)-176-23640702 Email: adiaha@banjocamp.de Web: www.banjocamp.de Mandolinenunterricht Rupert Paulik, Freischuetzstrasse 48, D-81927 Munich, Germany Phone: +49 89 7167 3333 Email: info@mandolinenunterricht.de Website: mandolinenunterricht.de Sore Fingers Summer Schools John & Moira Wirtz, Park Farm, Buckland Down, Frome, Somerset, BA11 2RG, England Phone: (44) (0) 1373 813590 Email: john@sorefingers.co.uk Web: www.sorefingers.co.uk

Media BLUEGRASS EUROPE Angelika Torrie, Holeerain 29 CH-4102 Binningen, Switzerland Email: editor@ebma.org Website: www.ebma.org Bluegrass Ireland Richard Hawkins, 86 Barton Road East Dublin 14, Ireland Email: richardhawkins@tinet.ie Eberhard Finke Schülinstraße 3/3 D-89073 Ulm, Germany Fax/phone: +49 731 1761771 Email: eb.finke@t-online.de muzyka-country.pl Pawel Minakowski Furtwänglerstr.9 D-76571 Gaggenau Phone: 49 (0)7225-77306 Mobile: +49 (0) 157-745 03 196 E-mail: pamin@arcor.de Website: www.muzyka-country.pl Thirsty Lizards 86 Ironworks Hill Road, Brookfield, CT 06804, USA Phone: 203-775-0520 Website: www.thirstylizards.commedia Richard F Thompson Email: bluegrassmercury@gmail.com

Merchandisers BanjoStore.net S L Weissenborn c/ Peñalara, 3 3A 1ºB Pozuelo de Alarcon E-28224 Madrid, Spain Phone: 0034 600448866 Email: info@banjostore.net Website: banjostore.net The Fellowship of Acoustics Rudi Bults, Kanaalweg Oost 36, NL-7691 CE Bergentheim, The Netherlands Phone: +31 523 23 22 05 Email: info@tfoa.eu Website: www.tfoa.eu Martin´s Musik-Kiste Martin Hense, Postfach 1210 D-24560 Kaltenkirchen, Germany Phone: +49 4191 77810 Fax: +49 4191 60813 Email: info@martinsmusikkiste.de Website: www.martinsmusikkiste.de

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Active Members Patuxent Music PO Box 572, Rockville, MD 20848, USA Phone: 001-301-294-0502 Website: www.pxrec.com Musikhaus Saitensprung Franz Elsener, Unterstadt 27 CH-8200 Schaffhausen, Switzerland Phone: +41 52 6258111 Fax: +41 52 6248668 Email: saitensprung@schaffhausen.ch Website: www.saitensprung.ch The Original Folkladen Einsteinstrasse 123 D-81675 Munich, Germany Phone: +49 89 448 46 19 Fax: +49 89 448 70 93

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Radio The Bluegrass Mix! Col. Thomas Taylor Website: bluegrassmix.com

Records Acoustics Bruno Steffen, Untersottike 1 CH-6130 Willisau, Switzerland Phone: +41 41 9703026 Fax: +41 41 9703027 Email: bsteffen@acoustics.ch Website: www.acoustics.ch Hillbillie Guesthouse Klaus Grotel眉schen, Bahnhofsallee 55 D-26133 Oldenburg, Germany Phone: +49 (0)441 4860826

Fax: +49 (0)441 4860827 Email: hillbillie-guesthouse@t-online.de Website: www.hillbillie-guesthouse.de SCR - Mail Order Shop & Record Auctions Rienk Janssen, Postbus 32, NL-9540 AA Vlagtwedde, The Netherlands Phone: +31 599 312663 Fax: +31 599 313285 Email: rienk.janssen@planet.nl Website: www.strictlycountry.nl SCR Productions Pieter Groenveld, Postbus 628, NL 2130 AP Hoofddorp, The Netherlands Phone: +31 297 347101 Email: scr@pietergroenveld.com Website: www.strictlycountryrecords.com

Tree O Records Inc. Listen to the great music at Tree O Records for the phenomenal list of artists: Carter Brothers Band (featured ”Cedarhouse”) Chris Cook (Latest release ”Remembering”) George Harper (”I'll be Back”) Danny Reid Carter (”Barcelona”)

www.treeorecords.com www.carterbrothersband.com www.chriscookmusic.com

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