WAMU’s Bluegrass Country broadcasted live from Nashville September 26-30 during the IBMA World of Bluegrass Conference. In addition to our broadcast, we also blogged daily. Summing up our trip is our last blogger– Bluegrass Country host Bob Webster.
Support for today’s blog comes from Make Welcome Entertainment.
Hopefully you read last week’s earlier posts about our fifth trip to IBMA’s World of Bluegrass held in Nashville, TN. Trying to summarize such an intense week is a big task for such a limited space, so here are a few final notes.
The 22nd Annual IBMA Music Awards ceremony was conducted at the old Ryman Auditorium where Bill Monroe’s spirit still resides. You can learn about the winners at ibma.org. And what a treat to host the award winning Boxcars on our Friday afternoon broadcast (photo below). These fellows, like so many other bands, are amazing with their stamina to perform at various places during IBMA week, as well as rehearse at the Ryman, attend the pre-awards reception, perform again during and after the presentations, and conduct seminars and meet with their publicists, etc. Then they play Fan Fest on the weekend.
Learn more about Fan Fest at bluegrassfanfest.org and appreciate the fact that this is a benefit concert. The proceeds from admissions support the work of two important non-profits… the Bluegrass Trust Fund which provides financial aid to bluegrass pros in time of emergency need and IBMA’s efforts to promote the music around the world. Every artist that appears during the weekend is also donating their performance.
We at Bluegrass Country perhaps raised our “bar” this year with the broadcast being conducted in the Convention Center right in the middle of the activities. This was somewhat similar to being in the middle of a shopping mall where everyone eventually comes by, wonders what’s going on, and how do I get in there or on the schedule to perform. Hopefully we’ll welcome more regular listeners as the concept of listening to the radio on the computer doesn’t seem like such an alien concept (photo below: onlookers at our broadcast). On Thursday evening practically everyone involved in the Awards program walked right by our door and read our signs on their way to the reception and I got to answer their questions and explain our programming. Many artists are also buzzing about what fun they had playing for our listeners as well as our “studio” audience in such a low pressure and intimate setting.
Seeing folks I typically see only once a few times a year in the Bluegrass Community is another great benefit of attending the World of Bluegrass. This year I met new friends and was given a pin to wear in the shape of a kangaroo sitting on a boomerang from a Bluegrass fan attending from Australia. Thus even more realization that this organization is indeed international.
There are also those spontaneous hallway meetings and resulting discussions with song writers, record label personnel, and publicity folks that enhance our relationships regarding the business behind the scenes that result in us getting music sooner and from a wider range of artists for you to enjoy over the airwaves. We also get to conduct some off-air interviews with artists and, after some editing, we’ll get those on the air as well for you to enjoy. (photo below: Mike Scott performing)
Thanks to our all our listeners who support our programming and make these live broadcasts available to you.
Bob Webster
Host, Stained Glass Bluegrass
