IBMA in Raleigh through 2021

[AlanN]

Hot diggety dog! Great news this...

https://www.wral.com/world-of-bluegr...2021/17594127/

[John Soper]

We loves our Bluegrass! Glad they loves us!

[Mark Wilson]

Absolutely! - heard it on the radio today. Favorite September thing to do

[addamr]

Glad to see it is going to be around a while. Last year was my first time going. Just went or the day. Thinking seriously about trying to make a few days out of it this year.

Adam

[Bernie Daniel]

I was thinking that they would pick Cincinnati...........

[Willie Poole]

I have been waiting for them to bring it to the Maryland area, I used to go just about every year when it was at Owensboro but it seems that it has become way to commercial now days, and the voting for musicians is a joke...But so is what they call bluegrass now days...YES I AM BITTER...

Willie

[Ivan Kelsall]

Willie - We've talked about this 'til the cows came home & went back out again - ALL music CHANGES !!. If it didn't,all we'd have is a bunch of Bill Monroe / Flatt & Scruggs ''sound alikes'',singing the same old,same old, over & over & over ....!.

I've been involved in Bluegrass music as a player for over 50 years,like many folks on here,& even i don't want that scenario any time soon. Plenty of bands still play the old songs,but they also come up with new ones in a True Bluegrass style. Remember,all Bill Monroe's & Flatt & Scruggs' songs were 'new' at one time - so why should anything need to be different these days.

I do however agree,that 'some' Bluegrass bands are maybe 'mislabelled' & aren't Bluegrass as we both understand it - but to some folks they have their own validity as 'bands' - so be it. There's still plenty of bands playing Trad.style Bluegrass, singing & playing their own songs / tunes,so as long as that goes on - i'll stick with it. I listen to, & play what i like - what i don't like i'll leave on the edge of my plate !!.

Here's my current favourite band - Blue Highway,playing one of my favourite songs of theirs. Yes,it a 'new' song,but IMHO - every bit as valid as a 'true' Bluegrass song, as any that Bill Monroe etc. ever wrote,
Ivan

[Bernie Daniel]

Willie - We've talked about this 'til the cows came home & went back out again - ALL music CHANGES !!. If it didn't,all we'd have is a bunch of Bill Monroe / Flatt & Scruggs ''sound alikes'',singing the same old,same old, over & over & over ....!.

I've been involved in Bluegrass music as a player for over 50 years,like many folks on here,& even i don't want that scenario any time soon. Plenty of bands still play the old songs,but they also come up with new ones in a True Bluegrass style. Remember,all Bill Monroe's & Flatt & Scruggs' songs were 'new' at one time - so why should anything need to be different these days.

I do however agree,that 'some' Bluegrass bands are maybe 'mislabelled' & aren't Bluegrass as we both understand it - but to some folks they have their own validity as 'bands' - so be it. There's still plenty of bands playing Trad.style Bluegrass, singing & playing their own songs / tunes,so as long as that goes on - i'll stick with it. I listen to, & play what i like - what i don't like i'll leave on the edge of my plate !!.

Here's my current favourite band - Blue Highway,playing one of my favourite songs of theirs. Yes,it a 'new' song,but IMHO - every bit as valid as a 'true' Bluegrass song, as any that Bill Monroe etc. ever wrote,
Ivan

I agree Ivan -- everything changes. So let it change. But one thing that does bother me about this change is that it really seems more like seems more like "merging"? Everything becoming more like pop music --both country and bluegrass trending that way?

If you happened to watch the Country Music Awards last week or the week before -it seemed hardly different than any kind of pop music awards show?

If you listen to Bluegrass Junction on SiriusXM you hear all kinds of stuff by new artists like Molly Tuttle and folks like Kristy Cox and afaic there is no semblance of "bluegrass" about their music Most of her songs have no banjo or mandolin in them.

IMO -- it is more like modern country with strong influences from the major female pop singers evident That is not a slam or a criticism just an observation.

I don't see why is Molly Tuttle not trying to put her stuff played on the Country Music stations? Some of her music I suppose could even crossover to the pop side? That is what it is essentially -- the topics of her songs and her singing style. There is lots more money and fame in pop. She is very talented but nothing I've heard on her new CD being played on Bluegrass Junction is bluegrass?

If you think I care about this you'd be wrong. I don't care what she or others want to present -- I just switch to the 50s,60s or 70s channels when those kinds of songs come up. I listen to what I want to listen to.

[AlanN]

I rented a vehicle a couple of months ago and it came with Sirius XM (yes, am behind the times...). I set the bluegrass station as a preset, along with a classic jazz station, the Grateful Dead station and a couple of others. Hitting the bg station over the 2-3 days I had the car, I caught Ned Luberecki's time and some others. Most, if not all of the playlist was new stuff - Flatt Lonesome, Molly Tuttle, some others - with the occasional Del and others. I heard no F&S, Monroe, Osbornes, Lonesome Pine Fiddlers, Country Gents or later bands like Bluegrass Cardinals, Larry Sparks, (you fill in the names). The playlists seemed bereft of any historical bands or even some of the newer bands in the true style - Bibey, Jr. Sisk, Blue Highway, IIIrd Tyme Out, et. al. Pretty lame, imo. And with a guy like Ned, I was surprised at the lack of earlier grass.

Hence, I mostly listened to the 50's jazz station or The Dead or comedy.

[Ivan Kelsall]

From Bernie Daniel - " If you happened to watch the Country Music Awards last week or the week before -it seemed hardly different than any kind of pop music awards show ? "

Bernie - It's been that way for a long time. Back in 1992,when i was over in the US,me & my work's colleague,Andy,stayed 2 nights at a Days Inn in Lexington Ky. One night the CMA was on, broadcast live from Nashville, & me,Andy & a road re-paving gang from Texas that were staying there sat down to watch it - in hope more than expectation. All we saw was a host of guys with long hair,wearing large stetson hats in an array of colours,receiving awards for Lord knows what. One of the guys from Texas was laughing out loud & said - ''Look at that bunch of turkeys ''. In all honesty,all the pop music awards shows that i've seen in the UK were considerably better !.

Alan - I listen to a couple of I/net Bluegrass stations broadcasting from the US,& i find the same thing -but,they do still play some of the 'old' stuff. I get the impression that it's new stuff to attract the current crop of listeners,rather than folks like us who've been in Bluegrass for decades. So be it ! - i can always turn it off & listen to my own collection of trad. Bluegrass. Also,maybe the mcees want to be seen as 'hip' rather than stuck in a rut from back in 1950 - who knows ??,
Ivan