Welcome to the Home of Bluegrass

Welcome to

By: Danny May // Photos By: AP Imagery

THE HOME OF BLUEGRASS

OWENSBORO HAS LONG BEEN KNOWN FOR ITS BLUEGRASS, BOURBON, AND BARBECUE TRADITIONS, BUT HAS NOW STAKED ITS CLAIMS AS THE “BLUEGRASS MUSIC CAPITAL OF THE WORLD.”

The music scene is very much alive in the “Big O.” Every summer, downtown Owensboro hosts Friday After 5, a free concert series offering a “mile of music” featuring regional and national rock, blues, country, and gospel bands. Tens of thousands of bluegrass and roots music fans come to ROMP festival every June. And our newest music festival, PorchFest is filling more front porches with acoustic, folk, and light rock acts every year.

Not to mention the Owensboro Symphony Orchestra, which offers a free community “Concert on the Lawn” at Kentucky Wesleyan College each August, outdoor concerts at Smothers Park, and musicals at the RiverPark Center.

Yes, music flows through Owensboro as much as the river we founded our city on. Especially bluegrass!

Bill Monroe, the father of bluegrass music, was born 40 miles down the road in Rosine, Kentucky. Which is partially why the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum is located in downtown Owensboro.

“We’re trying to be for Owensboro what the Country Music Hall of Fame is for Nashville or the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is for Cleveland,” says Chris Joslin, Director of the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum. “Certainly bluegrass lives and thrives in many places around the world. But there is not another cultural institution dedicated solely to bluegrass music like we have here at the Hall of Fame and Museum. But it’s not enough to make a claim. You’ve

got to live out that claim in really tangible ways.”

Obviously the $15 million, one-of-a-kind building that houses the Hall of Fame, Bluegrass Museum, Woodward Theatre performance hall, an outdoor stage, and meeting space is the centerpoint to Owensboro’s claim as the worldwide home of bluegrass music, but Joslin says things like ROMP festival, Bluegrass Unlimited magazine that is now published here, and the newly released TV show “My Bluegrass Story,” which was filmed here, are all evidence of living out that claim as well.

According to Mark Calitri, President and CEO of Visit Owensboro, being named the Bluegrass Music Capital of the World will have an enormous economic impact on Greater Owensboro and help improve the quality of life for all residents.

Even if you’re not a fan of bluegrass music per se, that’s something to be proud of and something we can all be a part of.

Whether you’re a “picker” who plays an instrument or a “grinner” who watches and listens, we hope you’ll enjoy all the sounds and rhythms in the Bluegrass Music Capital of the World. O