IB bluegrass INTERNATIONAL
Vol. 31 No. 10 November 2016
LONG JOURNEY HOME
A NORTH CAROLINIAN’S JOURNEY TO BLUEGRASS VIA JAPAN
International Bluegrass Editor: Kelly Kessler kelly@ibma.org
Vol. 31 | No. 10 | November 2016
Designer: Erin Faith Erdos erinfaitherdos@gmail.com
STAFF
Paul Schiminger Executive Director
Kelly Kessler Director of Communications and Professional Development
Leah James Director of Member Services
Eddie Huffman Director of Convention Services
BOARD EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
MEMBERS OF THE BOARD
Joe Mullins, Chair Ben Surratt, Vice Chair Denise Jarvinen, Treasurer Regina Derzon, Secretary Alan Tompkins, Executive Committee member
Becky Buller-Artist/Composer/Publisher Jeremy Darrow-Artist/Composer/Publicher Jamie Deering-Merchandisers/Luthiers Mike Drudge-Agents/Managers/Publicists Silvio Ferretti- International John Goad-Print Media/Education Marian Leighton Levy-Recording/ Distribution/Marketing
William Lewis-At Large Steve Martin-At Large Stephen Mougin-At Large Mike Simpson-At Large Wayne Taylor-Artists/Composers/Publishers Bree Tucker-Myers- Event Production Bob Webster-Broadcast Media
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INTERNATIONAL BLUEGRASS
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Statement of fact and opinion are made on the responsibility of the writers alone and do not imply an opinion on the part of the officers, directors, staff or members of IBMA. Portions of International Bluegrass may be reprinted provided that explicit citation of the source is made: “Reprinted with permission from International Bluegrass, the publication of the International Bluegrass Music Association, www.ibma.org.�
TA B LE O F C ON T E N T S INTERNATIONAL BLUEGRASS
NOVEMBER 2016
5 Editor’s note 6 Keynote Address 12 Grammy Panel 14 Town Hall meeting 16 WOB In the news 18 WOB by the Numbers 19 Leadership Bluegrass news 20 Long Journey Home 22 Remembering Vic Jordian 24 New releases/Fresh Takes 26 Industry news Photo credits: David Brainard, Maria Camillo, Todd Gunsher, Willa Stein
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International Bluegrass | November 2016
Letter from the Editor Call for content We value our members. This newsletter is our primary conduit for sharing news across our trade organization. Our goal is to carry news each month from all sectors of our membership.
Deadline info: News items and press releases that reach me by the 12th of the month have a very good chance of running in the next month’s newsletter. Submitting before the deadline is encouraged. Send all materials to me here. This is an invitation, a call for content from all sectors, including: Agents, Managers & Publicists Artists, Composers & Publishers Associations Broadcast Media Event Production International Recording, Distribution & Marketing Merchandisers & Luthiers Print Media & Education Youth Council I look forward to hearing from you, and sharing your news. Best-
Kelly Media guidelines:
• Word .doc or .docx files preferred. • Images welcome. Please send images saved as jpegs at 72 dpi, and not larger than 5 Mb. • Links to video, audio and downloads are all welcome.
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WOB KEYNOTE ADDRESS MARIAN LEIGHTON-LEVY - ROUNDER RECORDS
Bluegrass, Community and Change Marian Leighton-Levy co-founded Rounder Records in 1970 with partners Ken Irwin and Bill Nowlin the year she graduated from college. She focused chiefly on publicity, promotion and artist relations, alongside the sundry responsibilities that come with running an independent record label. Rounder’s catalogue numbers over 3,000 titles, including more than 45 Grammy Awards winners. This label has been a moving force in the careers of Norman Blake, Sam Bush, J.D. Crowe & the New South, Dailey & Vincent, Hazel Dickens, Jerry Douglas, the Earls of Leicester, Bela Fleck, the Gibson Brothers, the Grascals, Alison Krauss, Doyle Lawson, Claire Lynch, Tony Rice, Ricky Skaggs, the SteelDrivers, Steep Canyon Rangers, Tony Trischka, Rhonda Vincent, and many more. Leighton-Levy lobbied for the Performance Rights Act, and has served on the Advisory Board of the Rhythm & Blues Foundation, the Blues Foundation in Memphis and the board of the International Bluegrass Music Museum. She is a current board member of the IBMA. In addition to her work in the field of music, she is devoted to saving old houses, and is pursuing further graduate studies in literary theory/criticism and psychoanalysis
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KEYNOTE ADDRESS
T
hank you, Paul, and thank you all for being here at the World of Bluegrass. It is both an honor and a privilege to have been asked to speak with you today. It’s great to be among friends, and to be able to encourage greater connection and conversation, as we begin another week of this annual pilgrimage. Like probably every person who has done the Keynote, I wondered what I could possibly have to say of note! After nearly 50 years as a Rounder Founder, I have been witness to and part of a great deal of bluegrass history, so that is where I can start, with what I know. The philosopher Schlegel said, “The historian is a backward-looking prophet.” While I certainly do not profess to be either historian or prophet, I do believe that how we regard our past has a great deal to do with where we go in the future. In thinking about this talk, I was reminded of other IBMA keynotes that have stayed with me over the years, which encouraged me to offer some thoughts today about bluegrass history, about the IBMA in bluegrass history, and the evolution of the bluegrass community, its continuity and change. These are not new topics, whether we use exactly the same words or not; there has been ongoing discussion about change and continuity for as long as there has been bluegrass, as long ago as when Bill Monroe named his band the Blue Grass Boys, simultaneously but unconsciously naming a band and a musical style. Nearly 50 years ago, two friends and I released our first two Rounder Records, one of those records being of an old-time banjo-player from North
Carolina, George Pegram, whom we first heard at the Union Grove Old Time Fiddlers Convention. From there and nearly 4000 records later, Ken Irwin, Bill Nowlin, and I sold records at bluegrass festivals, got to interview many early bluegrass musicians, and came along at just the right time to be able to record a whole new generation of musicians, from J. D. Crowe & the New South, to Tony Rice, Jerry Douglas, Ricky Skaggs, and many others who were recording their first records or at least were in the very early stages of their careers. Those were heady times indeed, and to say change was in the air was putting it mildly; festival bluegrass was still in its early days, if not its infancy, with the first generation bands in full matching suits and hats, and other bands like Bluegrass Alliance, the New Deal String Band, Country Cooking, and J.D. Crowe’s band members wearing whatever they chose, not only with no hats, but with jeans! At the same time, musicians were redefining the music with influences from jazz to progressive country, let alone the superficial but very different looks of stage attire. From all those momentous decades, I like to think I’ve tried to pick up at least a little bit of historical perspective. To back up a little bit, we Rounders were all from the North, which was also different from most of the people we initially encountered in the bluegrass world. We discovered bluegrass in college, for the most part, and fell in love with the music each in our own way. For me personally, bluegrass felt familiar almost from the first, from
my growing up in a tiny coastal town in rural Maine, in a county as poor as Appalachia, where I heard traditional country music and Baptist hymns more than anything else. Southern bluegrass fans had a lot in common with people where I grew up; only the accents were different. So there was much about bluegrass culture that felt familiar to me. That said, there is no denying the fact that three northern college students, long hair, blue jeans, looking the part of the hippie stereotype, travelling around and sleeping in a Volkswagen bus, drew a few stares at bluegrass festivals in the early 1970s. During those early years, we received a Youthgrant, a program that existed briefly through the National Endowment for the Humanities, which helped support our interviews and research that became the Early Days of Bluegrass Series at Rounder. Those were clearly our years of apprenticeship, of journeying and learning; we visited the great North Carolina banjo-player Charlie Poole’s grave, sold records at festivals on the weekend, and interviewed and taped conversations with early bluegrass and old-time musicians during the week. We chose the name Rounder itself, in large part due to its being a term in American folk culture for characters like Charlie Poole and George Pegram, rounders being people who travel around, from hobos and tramps, to people who travel around to hear music or play music, as well as records, CDs, being round, even cassettes back in the day, playing round and round.Those conversations and interviews with older musicians were
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KEYNOTE ADDRESS primarily about their music, their history, their experiences and observations, their influences and friends, but there were times when discussions drifted into, or even veered dangerously into, areas where political, religious, and social values differed. Yet never once did visits end on a sour note, nor did we ever part as less than friends, even when we frankly and respectfully disagreed about topics like the Vietnam War or different religious or social values. In fact, I think they found us a little exotic, not folks they ran into every day, and that feeling was certainly mutual. It’s not that we were granted special status by virtue of being a fledgling record company, since we only had released fewer than half a dozen records at that point, and our appearances did not inspire a great deal of confidence. That was a long time ago, when the country was more polarized than it had ever been, politically, socially, culturally, yet today we find ourselves in a time not so different, except arguably even more divided, unbelievable though that seems to those of us who lived through that period. And, yes, those tensions were a part of the bluegrass community, too. Sometimes, disagreements may be over something as subjective and ephemeral as “what constitutes REAL bluegrass?” That’s a perennial source of discussion, with often strongly-held opinions that are unlikely to change all that much, let alone when things move toward advocacy issues, for the IBMA is, after all, a trade organization, and people do not all agree about what form this should take, or if it should take any form at all. As in any community, or in any family, for that matter, how we handle conflict, differing points of view, says a lot about us as a community. In her important thesis on the idea of a
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bluegrass nation, scholar and theorist Jordan Laney asserts provocatively, “There is much to be discovered and celebrated, not only the sounds and musical innovations that have stemmed from bluegrass, but also the ways in which Appalachian music provides both a window into American culture and an adaptable populist identity that people all over the world can . . . rally around.” In speaking of the bluegrass community as “. . . a collective political entity free from geographic boundaries,” today constituting “an imagined community,” more than a strictly geographic one, Laney also quotes Saburo Watanabe’s “feeling of belonging that surrounds and secures the bluegrass community,” a community that is capable of stretching to include people from many different places of origin and different cultures within this country and around the world. The bluegrass community, and bluegrass culture generally, has probably never been more varied than it is now. As such, it is made up of people from more wide-ranging cultural backgrounds and different musical paths than ever before. Yet, still, I am reminded of those early days of Rounder, when we first were getting to know folks whose opinions, about all sorts of things, including music, could not be more different from our own, but with kindness, respect, and openness, friendship and mutuality were always possible. Bluegrass is and has been ever-changing. I think we all know that to be true. One could say that life is always changing, so how could bluegrass not be, but even without that caveat, it’s obvious that bluegrass has always been changing in new and fascinating and ever-evolving ways, about which we all have different reactions and opinions about those changes.
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Even where bluegrass came from, as well as how we define it, has interesting permutations. For example, there is no question that historian Neil Rosenberg’s opening assertion in the music’s bible, “Bluegrass: A History” is factually correct, that “bluegrass is a part of country music.” There is likewise no question that bluegrass played a significant role in the 1960s folk revival, which, as I mentioned before, is the context in which we Rounders first heard it, at folk venues like the Club 47 in Harvard Square; thus, you have the folklorist and collector Alan Lomax, wearing his popularizer’s hat, referring to bluegrass as “folk music with overdrive.” Mr. Monroe named the music when he named his band, but as authority Fred Bartenstein has noted, it wasn’t really until well into the second generation of the music’s existence that it was recognized as a distinctive style in its own right, rather than simply part of country music or, later, on the fringes of folk music. Bluegrass was never squarely in the center, fully a part of, either country music or folk music. Considered too commercial for the folk music world and not commercial enough for the mainstream country world, bluegrass has always found itself on the edges of various musical worlds, including jazz with Bela Fleck, David Grisman, and many others, or the edge of the Grateful Dead music world, for that matter, via Jerry Garcia himself. In the aftermath of “O Brother, Where Art Thou’s” success, as well as Alison Krauss and Union Station, Nickel Creek, and now the Punch Brothers, the music has never been more fluid and diverse in its musical representations in the marketplace. In other words, not being squarely in the center has served bluegrass well, in terms of creativity and innovation; it’s not a bad place to be. Change and new associations have been good for bluegrass music and the bluegrass community.
KEYNOTE ADDRESS
On another major note of change between then and now, it has become almost a commonplace to recognize that there were few women in bluegrass, unless they happened to be involved in the business, like Louise Scruggs, or were married to their fellow-band member like Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper on the Opry. By the ‘70s that was changing, however, with groups scarcely recalled today, though Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard are certainly an exception to that. Hearing them for the first time on a Folkways album and as members of the Strange Creek Singers, and later seeing Hazel at the Festival of American Folklife in 1970, were musical highlights.
They led the way in opening doors for women in bluegrass, not as token females, or in grudging, patronizing ways, - which Murphy Henry’s definitive book on the subject takes note of in her title, “Pretty Good For A Girl” - but in stepping forward to lead their own bands, find a vocal place for the female voice in bluegrass, and become essential contributors to the music. With sufficient hindsight, it’s also interesting to take note of the fact that with the greater inclusiveness of women, who were also songwriters, songwriting started to assume greater importance overall, with greater numbers of bands featuring original material. Today this is almost taken for granted, and is considered one of the marks of a really good band, but this is really a quite recent phenomenon. Bands like Blue Highway, Claire Lynch,
the Gibson Brothers, were basically nonexistent during the early festival bluegrass years. Hazel Dickens went on from Hazel & Alice to become as well-recognized for her songwriting as for her voice, with all her later solo albums comprised of primarily original material. Granted, changes were occurring in bluegrass generally, with D.C. bands and their more folk revival-ish and pop material, and J. D. Crowe with his progressive and alt-country songs, but women in bluegrass strongly led the way in bringing strong, distinctive, and well-written originals into bluegrass, which has continued to this day, with Claire Lynch, Louisa Branscomb, Lynn Morris, Laurie Lewis, Becky Buller, Tammy Rogers King of the SteelDrivers, and many, many others.
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KEYNOTE ADDRESS Of great songs, Rebecca Solnit expresses some of their importance and magic, “The landscape in which identity is supposed to be grounded is not solid stuff; it’s made out of memory and desire, rather than rock and soil, as are the songs. People look into the future and expect that the forces of the present will unfold in a coherent and predictable way, but any examination of the past reveals that the circuitous routes of change are unimaginably strange.” I’ll limit my observations about change in bluegrass to just one more major shift. When we started Rounder, we called ourselves a “collective,” a working and living collective, in fact. We did this because of our political beliefs, because it seemed equal and fair. What, you may wonder, could that have to do with bluegrass? Perhaps not much, but perhaps more than you think. The first generation of bluegrass bands generally had one strong male leader, like Bill Monroe, or perhaps a partnership, like Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs. They were generally run by the “Boss Man,” as in Jim Rooney’s book on Bill Monroe and Muddy Waters, as strong forefathers of blues and bluegrass, both considered the only indigenous American musical forms, along with jazz, and they were certainly the prototypes against whom all others were measured. Certainly more and more bands today are organized with all the musicians as equal partners, perhaps with some weight given to seniority, but that is obviously very different from the founding fathers of bluegrass. Today’s bands function less like autocracies and more like democracies, I think it’s fair to say. When J. D. Crowe was getting ready to record the first New South album, he and his manager were in touch with us, despite the fact that we had done very little “major” or “more commercial” bluegrass at that point, and one of the reasons was that he wanted to structure a deal that would be more cooperative, more of what came to be known as a joint venture or profit-sharing agreement, partly because he believed so strongly in that band, but also because it seemed fairer, ahead of his time in business as well as music. When we did a special LP release of 0044 for Record Store Day last year, a limited edition just for indie stores, we realized that when the cover was changed from its original to the later one without the humorous original photo, more had been changed than just the photo, which by the way, would barely raise an eyebrow in today’s bluegrass world, but was regarded as pretty shocking back then. No, just to illustrate my point about musicians wanting to have more of a stake in their bands, the original album was called simply “The New South.” However, by the time the cover was changed in the next pressing, the band was no longer together, and J. D. had reverted back to taking ownership, and the title became “J. D. Crowe & the New South,” but for a brief halcyon moment, they had all been equal members of a legendary band, all in the same groove!
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KEYNOTE ADDRESS These are, of course, only a few notable changes over the past years we have been releasing bluegrass on Rounder, a couple of anecdotes, if you will, from our own experiences. However, these are changes that were generally occurring throughout the bluegrass community, and I think it’s not much of a stretch to say that those changes have generally been going in the direction of greater participation, greater ownership, and greater inclusion of folks who had not previously been included in the bluegrass canon. The International Bluegrass Music Association has its own venerable history at this point, 30 years and more. My Rounder fellow-traveler, Ken Irwin, was there for the founding of the IBMA, was an early Board member, and graduate of the first Leadership Bluegrass class, if I recall correctly. I only got around to doing that this year, and I have to say it is as much fun and as great as all alumni say it is. Obviously the IBMA has changed, too, with the same kinds of waxings and wanings that the music generally has experienced, with the move here to Raleigh for the annual World of Bluegrass 3 years ago, being a major recent change. In conclusion, what I wish for from this year’s World of Bluegrass is that we might all take a cue from the many changes in bluegrass music itself, recognizing that change is something from which and with which we learn and grow, that inclusiveness, openmindedness, and fearlessness have all benefited the music that brings us here each year. If there are any conversations that might be sparked by some of these themes, conversations with people who may be differ-
ent from us, which can be conducted with directness and a sense of openness and respect, that is really more the point of these words than speechifying for its own sake. Does that mean all differences can be magically resolved? Of course not, and that is not really the point, but we will learn to be more accepting of change and less fearful and threatened by difference, a simple but worthy goal we can work toward. One of the paradoxes of bluegrass today is the need for both greater professionalism, combined with a DIY ethic, among bands, the industry, and the IBMA itself. That means a team approach is more important than ever, with a need to coordinate clearly and effectively what each part of a band’s team, or record company’s, or booking agent/manager’s team, is doing. Recognition of interdependence and cooperation within the bluegrass community is essential, with everyone pulling together, learning to listen better, in order to achieve our shared goals. In last week’s “Bluegrass Situation,” Craig Havighurst singled out Bryan Sutton’s acceptance speech at the IBMA Awards last year for winning Guitar Player of the Year, once again. On that occasion, rather than thanking his business team, God, and family, he took his time in the spotlight to acknowledge 15 young guitar players! Havighurst continued, “This was, in a nutshell, what’s wonderful about bluegrass music. It supports and nurtures its next wave of talent and fans without fear of being displaced or outgunned. This is not a time of great expansion in the bluegrass world, unlike 14 years ago when Alison Brown, banjo-player
extraordinaire and record company owner/executive, delivered the IBMA Keynote. Yet there was still prophetic resonance in some of what she had to say that year, which is well worth recalling now, from the “Tear Down the Walls” speech, as I like to think of it, “ ... in the bluegrass community, ... there is a tendency among some people to want to build a wall around the music in the hopes of preserving the tradition. Well, I think that when you put a wall around something, you stand more chance of keeping people out than keeping people in. That type of thinking is a real detriment to the music.” I concur wholeheartedly. From the beginnings of bluegrass, people have always come to the music from different places, whether it’s Bill Monroe learning from a black guitarplayer in western Kentucky to jazz or folk or chamber music influences in more recent generations. John Virant, the fourth Rounder, came up with a good line for some of our ads at this year’s World of Bluegrass, one we Rounders all wholeheartedly embrace, “Music doesn’t discriminate.” There is a lot to be learned from music and from musicians, always evolving, experimenting, and growing, because, when it comes right down to it, if music doesn’t discriminate, then, I ask you, why should we? Thank you. Photos on facing page, from top: Marian Leighton-Levy at the keynote address; speakers before Leighton Levy’s address included (left to right) Loren Gold of GRVCB, Laurie Okun of RCC, and IBMA Executive Director Paul Schiminger. Raleigh’s mayor, Nancy McFarlane, (not shown) also spoke.
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WOB SEMINAR HIGHLIGHTS THE GRAMMY AWARDS: PASSION, PURPOSE AND COMMUNITY Jon Weisberger, past chair of the IBMA Board of Directors, moderated a panel about The Recording Academy® and its Awards process at WOB 2016. Of particular interest, of course, was the Best Bluegrass Album GRAMMY. Panelists included Jerry Douglas, Rounder’s Ken Irwin, and Executive Director Alicia Warwick and Membership Manager Laura Crawford, both from The Recording Academy Nashville Chapter. The Recording Academy is the organization that awards the GRAMMY®. I sat down with Jon and asked him for this recap of the panel. “The panel was about bluegrass as it relates to the GRAMMY awards. There are a couple different facets to it. The primary one – the one that got everyone’s attention – is whether The Recording Academy will continue to award the Best Bluegrass Album GRAMMY. The Academy, which gives out over a hundred awards each year, is always looking to make sure their categories reflect their understanding of the recording industry and the world of recorded music. Their terminology is that each genre is broken up into Fields and Categories. Country is a Field. Pop is a Field. And they have a Field called American Roots. Within each Field, there are Categories. So we have a GRAMMY Category for the Best Bluegrass Album. This American Roots thing is a couple years old. Before that, the GRAMMY for Best Bluegrass Album was in the Country Category. So The Recording Academy is always looking and tinkering. One of the things they do to assess the value of an award in a given Field is ask: are there a lot of records being submitted? The Recording Academy is also known as the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. That’s very important because it means its membership only partly overlaps with the country music industry’s, or the bluegrass industry’s or any other industry’s trade association membership, because it’s only concerned with recordings. Everything is refracted through that lens. They have a nomination process. The first step is a window of time each year where members of the Recording Academy can register eligible recordings. After a committee reviews all submissions to insure their eligibility, voting members get a list of all eligible recordings and they vote on that, and that’s how it gets down to the five final nominees in each category. It’s a two-round process, not like the IBMA’s three-round process.
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So if The Academy sees that there’s not a lot of recorded product in a musical Category, then the question arises: does it make sense to give an award in a Category where there’s a lack of robust competition and activity? And for some number of years the number of bluegrass releases that were being submitted for consideration for the GRAMMY has declined. So Jerry Douglas wound up having a long talk with one the big guys in The Recording Academy at Telluride this year, and that really got him fired up. Why is he fired up about it? Well, it turns out a bluegrass GRAMMY is a useful thing not just for individual artists but also for bluegrass music in general. It’s visible. It’s one of the things Ken Irwin pointed out on this panel. You can see the impact that nominations have on album sales. (It is the recording industry, after all.) Gigs? Who knows? Although it’s hard to believe that saying “GRAMMY nominated” wouldn’t have an effect in the right direction on your price. So the GRAMMY has value, and it’s not something that’s reserved only for the most exalted artists. This is something that’s really important, and the representatives from The Recording Academy Nashville Chapter really made a strong case. If you look at who’s been nominated for the Best Bluegrass Album GRAMMY over the years, it includes not just Alison Krauss or the Del McCoury Band, but James King, the Boxcars, Dale Ann Bradley and Special Consensus. Folks that you and I all actually know can be nominated. So it’s important for people to understand that it really is something that can serve the interests of our industry as a whole. Lastly, just as it’s important for bluegrass professionals to belong to IBMA, a trade organization that represents their interests as bluegrass industry members, there is also value to belonging to the Recording Academy. They’ve got MusiCares, a fabulous program that is like a super-sized version of our Trust Fund, and a founding principle of their
GRAMMY PANEL
organization. They do all this great work and have helped thousands of people – not just members – in the recording industry. [Editor’s note: This includes their generous Health Fair contributions at World of Bluegrass, where professional musicians received free eye exams and eyewear, free dental exams and teeth cleaning, and free custom-fitted ear protection.] The Recording Academy does education. They do advocacy for recording artists and for all sectors of the recording industry. An example of their advocacy is the introduction of the Fair Play Fair Pay Act. So The Recording Academy is for anyone in our industry involved in the recording end of bluegrass, whether as an artist, a label, an engineer, a producer or as someone writing the liner notes or involved in graphic design. You can only join as an individual.
There’s no company membership. Being a secretary or a mail clerk at a record label won’t qualify you to vote. It’s for people who are involved in the recording industry as creators. But if you’re in a bluegrass band and you have made a record, you are eligible to be a member, and to contribute and get the benefits of being involved in a professional trade association. It’s a trade that intersects with the bluegrass industry So there are benefits, there’s value to it. And you get to vote on the Best Bluegrass Album Category for the GRAMMY Awards. And you get to submit recordings. So when you make a record and you’re a member, you submit your record. And then we have a healthy number of recordings being submitted to The Academy. You can submit as many eligible recordings as you want.”
I asked Alicia Warwick, Executive Director of The Recording Academy Nashville Chapter, for her thoughts on WOB 2016’s GRAMMY panel. She writes: “We were so pleased to be invited by the IBMA to present a panel at the World of Bluegrass Conference this year for the first time. The Recording Academy understands that Bluegrass is a thriving genre so we jumped at the opportunity to really delve in and explain how the awards process works.”
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WOB
NOTES FROM IBMA’S TOWN HALL MEETING
SEPTEMBER 29, 2016
WOB BUSINESS CONFERENCE
Notes taken by Regina Derzon, IBMA Board Secretary (*Denotes action items and/or items for further consideration) The annual IBMA Town Hall Meeting was held on Thursday, September 29, 2016 beginning at 9:45 a.m. during the IBMA Business Conference in Raleigh, North Carolina. A majority of Board members were present: Joe Mullins, Ben Surratt, Denise Jarvinen, Regina Derzon, Mike Drudge, Becky Buller, William Lewis, Stephen Mougin, Steve Martin, Jeremy Darrow, John Goad, Wayne Taylor, Bob Webster, Marian Leighton-Levy, Alan Tompkins, Silvio Ferretti. IBMA Executive Director Paul Schiminger was also present. There were more than 100 additional attendees. Joe Mullins expressed gratitude to Tim Surrett, recently resigned IBMA Board Chair, and wished him good health on behalf of the Board and IBMA. Joe also expressed gratitude to Ben Surratt for stepping in after Tim’s illness and serving as de facto Board Chair. Joe noted that the Board holds meetings two times a year in person (one at WOB and one in the late spring in Nashville) plus usually two or more teleconference meetings in the interim. The Executive Committee consists of the 4 elected officers plus one additional member of the Board along with the Executive Director as a non-voting ex officio member. Joe reported that the Business Conference attendance is up by at least 20% from last year. Joe acknowledged newly-elected Board member Jeremy Darrow. Additionally, there are approximately 2500 IBMA members (professional and grassroots). Joe encouraged everyone to help expand membership by saying “if you don’t pitch in your part, you won’t have a part to pitch in.” Joe reminded members that the reason for the WOB event is to support the Bluegrass Trust Fund. The Bluegrass Trust Fund is a not-for-profit which offers finan-
cial assistance to bluegrass music professionals in time of emergency need. Stephen Ruffo congratulated Paul and the Board for the inclusivity and tone of the conference. The audience concurred. The future of IBMA being held in Raleigh was discussed. We are guaranteed through 2018 and are in negotiations for future years. *Pete Wernick mentioned that the loss of institutional memory was a problem for IBMA and he encouraged the Board and staff to check in with past leaders. The Board and Paul concurred. *Pete Wernick suggested that the membership form could be modified to include a check box “I was recommended by X person” and offer a slight discount to the recommending member. He suggested we try it for a year. *Pete Wernick suggested that IBMA should be able to develop an IBMA volunteer list and coordinate the effort to increase involvement on the part of the membership. *Several members expressed concerns about the IBMA website – out of date; lacking specific details, etc. It was suggested that we use volunteers to help. Paul acknowledged that the website needs work and it remains a priority for the organization and the staff. *It was suggested that we extend time for the Constituency Meetings going forward. It was believed that one hour is not sufficient time to meet for most of these groups. *Joe reminded the attendees that college students enrolled in a bluegrass music program get a year of free membership in IBMA (and the resulting discounts). We will make sure this is broadcast more
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broadly to the members and to the appropriate school programs. *It was suggested that we have IBMA membership forms (cards) available to folks attending various events and festivals. Paul noted that members can request those be sent to them or, better yet, a downloadable form can be made available on the website for anyone needing them. *Patrice O’Neill acknowledged the change made in paying the bands that perform during WOB. She added that she would like to see a line item in the budget for paying outside experts during the Business Conference. Paul explained that the IBMA budget is basically a break-even budget and there is little, if any, room for expansion of expenses at this time. He added that we would like to get to the point financially where we can offer honorariums for speakers. Raising the level of sponsorship revenue will be one of the keys to that occurring. Mike Marceau notified the audience that the radio station WAMU’s Bluegrass Country (88.5FM) which broadcasts from the Washington, DC area (and streams online) is seeking a new owner. If a new owner is not found, the station will go away as of December 31, 2016. He encouraged folks to contact him if they had questions. Ted Lehman reminded folks that we continue to seek grassroots members (nonvoting members) to join IBMA.
spot on the WOB schedule for the Broadcasters to meet with Record Label representatives. The desire is to have a longer opportunity to discuss getting products into the Broadcasters’ hands, keeping lists up-to-date, playlists, etc. Such a meeting was a past practice some years ago but has not been on the schedule since the move to Raleigh. Ken Irwin thanked the Board for the change in the format of the Town Hall Meeting, especially with a quick entry into the Q&A from members. Regina Derzon noted that the notes from this THM will be posted on the website as soon as practical. Ken also noted that the IBMA-L (listserv) is not very active. Justin Hiltner (one of the moderators of the session “Bluegrass Belongs to Us All: Creating an Inclusive Environment at Your Event, Gig, and in your Career”) commented on the importance of the Diversity Showcase. He stated that regardless of anyone’s beliefs, it is good for IBMA on a business level to be open. Kitsy Kuykendall reminded everyone that “IBMA is a bluegrass organization and that’s what we need to remember … that’s what we do.”
*Dustin Boyd (Planet Bluegrass) recommended that IBMA get materials out to events around the country and beyond. Additionally, he recommended we con*Roy Moore (Broadcaster/Host of the “The duct more in-depth seminars and take Old Country Store,” WQFS-FM Guilsome sessions to the next level. Jeremy ford College, Greensboro, NC) noted the Darrow (Education Committee Chair) Broadcasters are requesting an additional noted there will be more “201” level
seminars in the future. *Trisha Tubbs commented that the IBMA website should include information about the history and legacy of bluegrass music. Also, she noted that the Hall of Fame should include Hazel Dickens. She suggested that someone should review the demographics of the Hall of Fame electors. Joe Mullins clarified that the Hall of Fame will induct three members beginning next year. This change was voted on by the IBMA Board at the June 2016 meeting (“…change the annual number of Hall of Fame inductees from 2 per year to 3. We will continue to induct a non-performer every other year.”). Trish suggested that seminars could be conducted via WebEx or a similar application. A portion of the fee for participating could go to the presenter. (For consideration: If we pay people to conduct a webinar, what about seminar presenters at the Business Conference? Is that different?) Trisha encouraged folks to participate in the Leadership Bluegrass program. She asked how many people in the room had gone through Leadership Bluegrass. There was a large show of hands. Kitsy talked about Pete Kuykendall’s involvement in the beginning of the Leadership Bluegrass program. Aengus Finnan (Folk Alliance) acknowledged the civil and collaborative conference theme.
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WOB IN THE NEWS This year’s World of Bluegrass received good coverage in the press. We credit this, in large part, to the quality of our music and the efforts of IBMA’s publicist, Ronna Rubin.
Rolling Stone:
Earls of Leicester, Flatt Lonesome win big at Bluegrass Awards
Huffington Post:
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band celebrates 50 years with new album, first-ever IBMA performance
Music Row magazine:
Top IBMA awards go to Earls of Leicester, Flatt Lonesome
Tennessean:
Murfreesboro’s Flatt Lonesome wins big at IBMA awards
News & Observer:
WOB set new attendance record in fourth year in Raleigh Al Roker entertains an early downtown crowd In fourth year in Raleigh, World of Bluegrass is up close and accessible Backstage at the IBMA Awards, an atmosphere of family and fun Backstage jam with Del McCoury and his band Sierra Hull talks backstage about her IBMA award IBMA Wide Open Bluegrass slideshow With HB2 in news, diversity takes World of Bluegrass spotlight this year
ABC/Raleigh affiliate:
IBMA’s World of Bluegrass returns to Raleigh
North State Journal:
A Wide Open Bluegrass preview Time is on Flatt Lonesome’s side The Honey Dewdrops bring their original blend of roots and folk to Wide Open Bluegrass
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NEWS RELEASE
IndyWeek:
Fifteen years later, bluegrass is still reeling from O, Brother, Where Art Thou? The Less Expected: IBMA acts to catch off the mainstage Got ‘grass? IBMA returns to Raleigh for Round Four this week
bluegrasstoday.com:
World of Bluegrass kicks off in Raleigh Young folks at World of Bluegrass 2016 2016 IBMA Awards results
raleighagenda.com:
Twelve must-see acts at Wide Open Bluegrass (for free) Wide Open Bluegrass 2016 in 20 pictures
musicityroots.com: Fair Claire and Talent to Spare
Americana Rhythm Music magazine: IBMA Awards winners and recap
cybergrass.com:
2016 World of Bluegrass Blew My Socks Off!
theboot.com:
International Bluegrass Music Association Crowns 2016 Awards Winners
savingcountrymusic.com:
Winners of the 2016 IBMA bluegrass Awards
singingnews.com:
Joe Mullins Wins Multiple IBMA Awards, Appointed IBMA Chairman
eyeonnorthcarolina.com:
IBMA World of Bluegrass: The Slocan Ramblers – Raleigh, North Carolina
thetrianglebeat.com:
Don’t Miss the Wide Open Bluegrass Street Fest
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HEADLINE HERE
WOB BY THE NUMBERS
We had a strong bump up in our numbers at World of Bluegrass in September. Granted, when it comes to attendance, it isn’t hard to see improvement when your previous year included a hurricane. What we’re excited about is attendance was up nearly 16% over WOB’s best year ever. 2014 drew 180,000. 2016 saw that number climb to 208,000. This demonstrates remarkable enthusiasm for a bluegrass event. “This year’s big jump in business conference, Wide Open festival, and exhibit hall attendance numbers are proof that the genre continues to grow at both professional and fan levels,” says Paul Schiminger, IBMA executive director. Business conference attendance was 1449, up over 15% from last year. Exhibit Hall traffic is estimated at 12,000, which was up sharply from last year. Sponsorships were also up 6% over 2015.
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“Almost half of this year’s attendance – an estimated 92,000 people – came from outside Wake County. The influx contributed to…direct visitor spending of $11.5 million – also a new high point, up from 2014’s figure of $10.8 million”, notes David Menconi of Raleigh’s News & Observer. “This year, the city also reaped a media-exposure bonus when NBC broadcast part of [morning program] ‘Today’ from downtown Raleigh on Sept. 30. That was part of an estimated media value for the city of $1.3 million.” The Bluegrass Ramble, IBMA’s venue showcase series, runs during the business conference. The Ramble provides the opportunity for talent buyers and audiences to discover new talent, as well as new projects by established artists, in a live club setting. In 2016, the Ramble continued to be a successful approach to showcasing, with estimated overall attendance just shy of 3400, and a marked increase in sponsorships.
DEADLINE
HEADLINE HERE
APPLY FOR Leadership Bluegrass 2017
Apply for Leadership Bluegrass by November 15, 2016 Dates: Mon-Wed, March 20-22, 2017, in Nashville Leadership Bluegrass, an IBMA program, is an intensive, 3-day workshop which interconnects members who have demonstrated leadership qualities into a network to foster growth in the bluegrass community. Up to 25 participants examine the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, challenges and new trends in bluegrass music. Leadership Bluegrass participants are prepared to focus and succeed in the individual organizations, companies or groups in which they choose to serve.
“I thought I might get bored at Leadership Bluegrass and be rewarded like a Girl Scout on my name tag at the next World of Bluegrass. I cannot express how wrong I was, and how valuable and essential this experience and these people will be for my career and life.” – Emilee Warner, Music Marketing, Cracker Barrel “I knew it would be good, but it’s so much better than good!” – Mary Tyler Doub, Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival “Leadership Bluegrass is the most intense and idea-generating exercise of the brain I have had in years. Thanks to all involved for enriching my vision and deepening my circle of friends in this industry.” – Tom Nechville, Nechville Musical Instruments “I left LBG feeling rejuvenated as well as inspired to be a more active and engaged member of the bluegrass community. It was a truly remarkable three days of learning.” – Juli Thanki, The Tennessean “Leadership Bluegrass: Just do it. The music industry deserves your energy, and needs it.” – Frank Solivan, Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen
Leadership Bluegrass seeks to explore bluegrass music and its place in the larger world of entertainment through: • A systematic study of the business of bluegrass, its institutions and organizations, their needs, problems and resources • Exposure to a wide variety of current music leaders and notable persons • Independent thinking, fresh perspectives and approaches • Examination of relevant issues facing bluegrass, as we consider lessons learned in the past and move forward • A look at how related issues in the broader music and entertainment industry impact bluegrass • High quality interactive sessions for the participants.
Apply Here Applications are due by Nov. 15, 2016.
To learn more about Leadership Bluegrass click here, or contact Kelly Kessler at (615) 256-3222, or at kelly@ibma.org.
SAVE THE DATES: Monday-Wednesday, April 24-26, 2017. Leadership Bluegrass Alumni Retreat at Blue Ridge Assembly Conference Center, Black Mountain, NC.
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LONG JOURNEY HOME A North Carolinian’s journey to bluegrass via Japan “This is, I think, the only – well not many music - are good enough to be an art. One is bluegrass, jazz, classical music, you know. Those musicians is so good. You know that. So this is not the American music. Maybe American people will say like that, but I keep saying this is not American music. Of course not Appalachian music anymore. I think this is one of the great musics of the world.” -Saburo Inoue, founding member of Bluegrass 45 and editor of Moonshiner magazine These words, from one of the key figures in the Japanese bluegrass community, lit a fire in my North Carolina soul, and ironically Sab was the catalyst for my entrance to the stateside bluegrass community. I grew up in the mountains of North Carolina, but the music of the region was not a part of my childhood. I acquired my first mandolin because I won it off a fishing bet, not because I wanted to emulate Sam Bush. Well before I helped form the stringband, Mipso - and became obsessed with the sounds and words of folks like Tim O’Brien and Larry Sparks - it was a Japanese bluegrass musician who brought me to the music. My first encounter with the world of Japanese bluegrass was a total accident. Desiring an upgrade from my starter mandolin, I ventured from my home in Chapel Hill out to Tony Williamson’s famed Mandolin Central instrument shop one afternoon. The width of my wallet kept me far from the Loars on the wall. Instead I gravitated towards an instrument by a maker whose name I didn’t know - Wade. A few double stops later had me begging for information about the luthier responsible for this mandolin. I was shocked to find out that the instrument was made by a luthier based in Osaka, Japan named Yoichi Ueda. I began pondering why someone in Japan had devoted a life to the making of an American folk instrument. Two months (and countless hours on YouTube) later I flew to Seattle to attend Wintergrass with a press pass and high hopes of meeting the legendary Japanese band Bluegrass 45. Watching sets with the band throughout the weekend, and staying up late each night to eagerly trade a case of Budweiser for some of their fabled stories, led to an invitation to travel to Japan the upcoming summer. It also led to an idea to use their knowledge of the Japanese bluegrass community as the foundation for the thesis on the geography of music that I was writing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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Founding members of Bluegrass 45 Toshio Watanabe & Sab “Watanabe” Inoue pose with Jacob Sharp on site at the Takarazuka Bluegrass Festival. Credit Yuiko Inoue
The legacy of the American occupation of Japan after World War II left its fair share of impacts. From democracy and blue jeans to baseball and music - streaks of the American culture we hold most dear were presented to the Japanese people. Why bluegrass took such a stronghold is of particular interest. An academic might say it has to do with the urban migration that both the USA and Japan experienced in the 1940s and 1950s. As people looked back on the rural lives they left behind, the messages found in bluegrass - of heartbreak, homesickness, loss, and passionate relationships - rang true. As bluegrass fans know, the high lonesome sound knows no bounds. The quality and depth of bluegrass music transcends cultural differences. Although the diffusion of bluegrass music was certainly a product of post-war cultural imperialism, the agency and affinity of the early Japanese bluegrass community contradicts the dominant unidirectional flow of cultural imperialism. Within the context of globalization – and the corresponding increase in global connectedness – Japanese bluegrass presents itself as a prime example of transculturation. While bluegrass music is decidedly not traditional to Japan, the rich history of bluegrass in the country and the vibrant community that still exists today reveal that there certainly is a tradition of bluegrass unique to Japan. No one could have predicted how large an impact the music would make. The third oldest bluegrass festival in the world, the Takarazuka Bluegrass Festival, is in the hills outside Osaka. In response to the folk revival of the 1960’s
in the USA, bluegrass clubs would take hold at Japan’s public universities, creating legions of bluegrass masters striving to play this music at the highest level. J.D. Crowe once said that the closest he felt to The Beatles was on his first tour of Japan in the 1970’s. Fans mobbed autograph sessions at local record stores, and a police escort was needed to get the band across Tokyo. That legacy continues today. There are fans as eager for the music of the Punch Brothers as for Mandolin luthier Yoichi Ueda holding Flatt & Scruggs, and there two master model Wade mandolins are players and fans alike outside his shop in Osaka, Japan. Credit with a desire to play and Jacob Sharp. hear all variants of the bluegrass music spectrum.
Members of the bands All That Grass and Chocolate Fountain Girls pose after a show in Osaka. Credit Jacob Sharp.
Perhaps even more importantly, the Japanese bluegrass community and the unique spaces it occupies around the country - from the tiny bluegrass venues found in most major Japanese cities to the festivals, and all of the tatamimat jam sessions held at folks’ houses in between - are as intact and sanguine as ever. My travels there certainly showed the overwhelming power of music to help us connect with one another, and highlighted a brand of hospitality so much warmer even than ours in the South. Jacob Sharp is a founding member of the Chapel Hill, NCbased stringband, Mipso, and a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with degrees in Human Geography and International Studies. He currently resides in Brooklyn, NY. This is the first installment of a series on the bluegrass community in Japan with the conclusion in the following edition of IB.
Tokyo’s famed bluegrass club Rocky Top seen before doors open. Credit Jacob Sharp
Mipso joins Japanese band Bluegrass Police onstage for an encore at Tokyo’s famed bluegrass club Rocky Top. Credit Jon Kasbe.
The Japanese bluegrass community is in large part a result of the bluegrass clubs that have existed at public universities for decades. Members of the Tokohu University club in Sendai pictured here. Credit Jacob Sharp
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Remembering Vic Jordan by Greg Cahill
Vic Jordan was a consummate musician. He was a gifted player who was always humble, respectful and supportive of the musicians around him throughout his amazing career and he brought the sound of the bluegrass banjo to the masses through live appearances, recordings, television and radio jingles and movie soundtracks. Vic ‘s banjo-playing career included stints with most of the first generation bluegrass pioneers – from Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper to Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys (with Roland White, Byron Berline, Kenny Baker and James Monroe) to Jimmy Martin, Jim and Jesse and Lester Flatt (with Roland White, Josh Graves, Paul Warren and Jake Tullock). He played the classic banjo solos on the Bill Monroe recordings of Gold Rush, Sally Goodin, Train 45, Kentucky Mandolin and Crossing the Cumberlands, on many of Bill’s classic songs, and on several of Lester Flatt’s recordings. Vic wrote the quintessential banjo tune Pickaway and he played the off-camera banjo parts on the popular Hee-Haw television show.
By the 1990s, Vic was well known in the Nashville music scene, where he played on television shows like Nashville Music, Nashville Now and Hee Haw as a staff band member. He then went to work with Wayne Newton in Branson, MO for about two years and then headed back to Nashville where he played the incidental banjo music for the movie Coal Miner’s Daughter (Bobby Thompson played banjo on that song) which led to him playing on the movie soundtracks for Concrete Cowboy and Smokey and the Bandit Two. Vic even played Hail to The Chief with the Opry house band when they introduced President Richard Nixon at the dedication of the new Grand Ole’ Opry House in Nashville. Vic’s true character shone through when he came to Raleigh in 2013 to receive the IBMA Distinguished Achievement Award. Here was a humble man who had this incredible career at the event to receive a prestigious award and his comment about the experience was not about himself nor the award but that he was absolutely amazed and thrilled to see so many young people, male and female, playing outstanding bluegrass music. This quote is from an interview I did with Vic for Banjo Newsletter: “…And these kids, sitting out on the street in Raleigh, or in the hotel lobby, playing— they weren’t taking any prisoners. They were doing hard stuff: fiddle tunes in minor keys, and playing the melodies CLEAN, FAST, and GOOD. And I told my wife, I wouldn’t get in the middle of that if you paid me!”
Vic’s recording of his tune Pickaway
He also played on many familiar radio jingles and television commercials for Bisquick, Budweiser, Burger King, Campbell’s, Coca Cola, International Harvester, Kodak and the original “Me and My RC” commercial. His good friend and banjo great Bobby Thompson encouraged him to pick up playing guitar in addition to banjo, and that brought him into recording studios as a multi-instrumentalist. Bobby often sent session work Vic’s way when he was already booked for something. As a result, Vic ended up playing guitar (and sometimes banjo) on some number one and number two charting recordings by artists like Dave and Sugar, Leon Everett, Lorretta Lynn, the Oak Ridge Boys and Dolly Parton.
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We will remember Vic Jordan not only because he was a great player but also because he truly had the wonderful perspective of one who was there with the first generation masters who saw the growth and changes in bluegrass music over the years as a positive and rewarding factor. He was a real gentleman, a virtual scholar of bluegrass music, and a mighty fine human being who we will miss dearly.
Vic with Bill Monroe: When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again
Kenny Baker, Vic Jordan, Bill Monroe, Roland White. Photo by Artie Rose
Vic Jordan
Bill Monroe, Vic Jordan, Roland White. Photo by Artie Rose
Vic Jordan with Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper
Vic Jordan with Don Reno and Ralph Stanley
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NEW RELEASES
CD Reviews by Megan Clarke and Kelly Kessler Jeremy Garrett The RV Sessions 2 (Self-Released)
Michael Cleveland Fiddler’s Dream (Compass Records)
Claire Lynch North by South (Compass Records)
Fiddle player Jeremy Garrett (of the Grammy-nominated Infamous Stringdusters) has released his third solo album, The RV Sessions 2. Like The RV Sessions, his last solo outing, The RV Sessions 2 was recorded during Jeremy’s time on the road in the “home” he shares with his wife - a 40-foot RV. Garrett gives a nod to the bluegrass tradition of the all-instrumental album, yet ranges across a broad sonic landscape peppered with rock, jazz, pop and other influences. While he’s best known as a fiddler, The RV Sessions 2 attest to his increasingly impressive skills on guitar and mandolin. Add in his savvy excursions into tech, and this album delivers an exploration of both inner and outer landscapes encountered along Jeremy Garrett’s ongoing journey. Website. Listen to Garrett’s Fair Enough here.
The title track of Michael Cleveland’s long-awaited solo album Fiddler’s Dream kicks off with a fair warning to buckle up and hold on for a thrill ride. The signature expressiveness of this 10-time IBMA Fiddle Player of the Year, his all-star lineup (Jason Carter, Sam Bush, Barry Bales, Lloyd Douglas, Jeff White, and Jeff Guernsey) and a fresh mix of originals and classics prove a winning combination. This album came into being in part to showcase Cleveland’s songwriting and mandolin playing. Do not miss his fiddle showdown with Jason Carter on Monroe’s “Tall Timber”. Website.
Three-time IBMA Female Vocalist of the Year Claire Lynch’s North by South celebrates Canadian songwriters with a 10-track set of Americana and bluegrass songs that fit her winning voice well. She adds one song of her own, “Milo”, for her Canadian husband who inspired this project. In addition to Lynch’s fine band (Mark Schatz, Jarrod Walker and Bryan McDowell), Lynch brings in the added firepower of Bèla Fleck, Jerry Douglas, David Grier, Kenny Malone and Matt Wingate. In a delightful changeup for bluegrass, Claire Lynch turns her compass north and she finds gold. Website.
FRESH TAKES Ned Luberecki stopped by the IBMA office on a mission in October. John Hartford’s buried not far away, and he had a gazebo built so musicians could come pick there, or as John said, “I played for you my whole life, now you can come play for me.” With Chris Luquette, Jordan Tice and Dan Eubanks along for the ride, they headed out to make this video.
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NEW RELEASES Mary Beth Cross Feels Like Home (Self-Released)
Sister Sadie Self-Titled (Pinecastle Records)
Joe Mullins and the Radio Ramblers Sacred Memories (Rebel Records)
Singer-songwriter Mary Beth Cross blends folk, bluegrass, pop, and country together in her new EP, Feels Like Home. She offers a fresh remake of Paul Simon’s “Kathy’s Song”, and she weaves together “The Medley”, blending the Gershwins’ “Summertime” and Van Morrison’s “Moondance” with two songs of her own. The acclaimed players who back her up here - Chris Pandolfi, Jeremy Garrett, Tyler Grant and Adrian Engfer - do so in service of the song, crafting elegant settings to highlight Cross’ warm voice and her talent for storytelling. Website.
On the first listen through their debut album, it becomes obvious why Sister Sadie was nominated for IBMA’s 2016 Emerging Artist of the Year. This allfemale quintet is made up of some of today’s finest musicians in bluegrass. Dale Ann Bradley (five-time IBMA Female Vocalist of the Year) lends her vocal prowess and Appalachian timbre on quite a few tracks, including the single “Unholy Water”, written by fiddle player Deanie Richardson. Richardson and Bradley are joined by Gena Britt (banjo, guitar, vocals), Tina Adair (mandolin, guitar, vocals), and Beth Lawrence (bass and vocals) who shine throughout the entire album. Hard-driving tunes “Not This Time” and “Don’t Tell Me Stories”, along with straight-ahead “Now Forever’s Gone” show off just how much of a collaborative effort this debut was. It’s time to jump aboard the Sister Sadie train! Website.
Joe Mullins and the Radio Ramblers’ latest offering is an uplifting bluegrass gospel album that marries powerful material to soaring vocal work. The title track, Dolly Parton’s classic “Sacred Memories”, finds Mullins trading the lead with guest vocalists Ricky Skaggs and Sharon White Skaggs, while Kelsi Harrigill and Charli Robertson of Flatt Lonesome chime in with the Ramblers in the “choir”. Listen also for top drawer appearances by Rhonda Vincent and the Isaacs. It’s evident, though, that the Ramblers need no added star power to deliver the goods. “All Dressed Up” (penned by Jerry Salley and Diane Wilkinson), the touching track featuring just Mullins and the boys, just garnered JMRR IBMA’s 2016 Gospel Recorded Performance of the Year. David Morris has said, “A Ramblers record is almost always cause for happy ears,” and we couldn’t have said it better. Website.
We value our members. We invite publicists, artists, and managers to submit new releases by our members for review in IB. Please send a CD and one-sheet to Kelly Kessler, IBMA, 4206 Gallatin Road, Nashville, TN 37216. Or submit a digital album and one-sheet to kelly@ibma.org. International Buegrass
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INDUSTRY NEWS November 2016 Broadcast Media
Attention, DJs: 2016 IBMA Awards Show Available for Broadcast The 27th annual IBMA Awards Show, held September 29, 2016 in Raleigh, North Carolina, was full of surprises, heartwarming acceptance speeches, great songs, and lasting memories. We make the show available for broadcast so that your audiences are able to experience it for themselves. The show is now available to radio in a “broadcast-quality” format. It is free and easy to download from Noisetrade. Download today! Click to download. If you were there in person, we hope you enjoyed the show, and your experience in Raleigh. If you were not able to be there, we’ll save you a seat for 2017! Thank you for sharing the 2016 IBMA Awards with your radio listeners, and thanks for all you do year ‘round to promote bluegrass music. We appreciate you!
The 27th Annual International Bluegrass Music Awards Show was sponsored by:
Bluegrass Country Post - WAMU A call for proposals to save the bluegrass programming closed on October 17, 2016. A single proposal, “Keep the Music Playing!”, Many readers know that Bluegrass Country (a broadcast tradi- was submitted by the Bluegrass tion in the D.C. area for nearly 50 Country Foundation, a non-profit years) will lose its historical prom- formed by prominent members of inent position at WAMU-FM, by the area’s bluegrass community. the end of the year due to fiscal concerns. The bluegrass content [Editor’s note: you can donate to currently pulls 30,000 listeners a the Foundation here. Donations week, vs. WAMU’s overall audiare tax deductible.] ence of 800,000 per week. Coverage of this story in the Washington Post included the following: “In its proposal, the Bluegrass Country Foundation, which includes former Bluegrass Country director of operations Dick Cassidy on its board, said it had raised $90,000 and expects to raise $200,000 by January. The group says broadening its appeal to younger listeners will be crucial to its survival. “By introducing more varied content gradually, we aim to keep the station’s existing listenership, while adding to it,” the proposal read, pointing out that Bluegrass Country’s audience is predominantly white and male and that 43 percent of listeners are older than 65. “We will target younger listeners as an important component, underrepresented in today’s audience, who will be the station’s mainstay in years ahead.” The new Bluegrass Country would also retain a relationship with WAMU, the proposal said, and be broadcast on one of the station’s HD channels, as it is now. It also might stay on the dial at 105.5 FM — a frequency WAMU leases, with much less broadcasting power than 88.5.” [Read the rest of the Washington Post story here.] Send any industry news items for publication in IB to Kelly Kessler at kelly@ibma.org. Deadline info: news items and press releases that reach me by the 12th of the month have a very good chance of running in the next month’s newsletter. Submitting before the deadline is encouraged. Media guidelines: • Word .doc or .docx files preferred. • Images welcome. Please send images saved as jpegs at 72 dpi, and not larger than 5 Mb. • Links to video, audio and downloads are all welcome.
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Print, Media & Education
Constituencies
Bluegrass Central – an Android app for fans
AGENTS, MANAGERS & PUBLICISTS
ARTISTS, COMPOSERS, & MUSIC PUBLISHERS
BLUEGRASS MUSIC ASSOCIATIONS
BROADCAST MEDIA
EVENT PRODUCTION
INTERNATIONAL
RECORDING, DISTRIBUTION & MARKETING
MERCHANDISERS & LUTHIERS
PRINT, MEDIA & EDUCATION
YOUTH COUNCIL
Mel Matthews has developed Bluegrass Central, an app to help fans connect with bluegrass. Matthews felt something was lacking in existing apps: they seemed to lack the enthusiast’s touch. From the app’s description on the Google Play store: “Stay connected to what’s happening in the world of Bluegrass Music or choose from several Bluegrass Radio Stations and enjoy. There are links to the International Bluegrass Music Association and several Bluegrass news blogs from around the world. There are also links to bluegrass festival information. This application was developed by a bluegrass musician who actually knows what Bluegrass Music is about. Therefore, the radio stations listed in this application actually play bluegrass music. This is your quickest access to everything Bluegrass. Enjoy. I am considering the addition of a luthiers’ page as well. If you are a producer of bluegrass instruments or supplies and would like your company or business included, email Mel Matthews.”
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IB
International Bluegrass Music Association empowering the global bluegrass community