WAMU's Bluegrass Country

Katy Daley is emceeing the International Bluegrass Music Museum’s ROMP 2009 music festival and providing Bluegrass Country with regular on-air and online news updates.

12:22 pm CT, Saturday

Could it be any hotter? That’s the standard ROMP greeting of the day. I don’t have the official temperature and dewpoint so just think Washington, DC in August. It’s well into the mid-90′s and humid. But in good bluegrass festival tradition, the show goes on.

Many of the Pioneers of Bluegrass kicked the show off with performances from Bud Reed, Dave Reed, Ralph Reed, Tommy Scott, the Ozaki Brothers, Roger Sprung, Al Hawkes, Carl Pagter and many, many more. At first glance the audience looked pretty sparse. But if you looked under the big awnings and along the tree line you could see that the bluegrass fans were there and enjoying the music while trying to stay out of the direct sun.

I was glad to see some of our “hometown talent” there. All4Hym — who you will all remember performed at the first BGC Open House — did a great set. Williams & Clark Expedition pleased me immensely when Kimberly sang her great version of Tennessee Waltz. That was a real crowd pleaser; they should include it in very set. Can’t match them musically but I can hold my own in the backstage battle of hats & sunglasses. Here I am with W&C’s Wayne Southards.

By the time the sun and the temperatures started to drop, fans came out of the tree line shade and set their lawnchairs up directly in front of the stage to see the great Bobby Osborne and Rocky Top X-press, JD Crowe and the New South and the Josh Williams Band. If we lined up all of the awards those three acts have won, we would have run out of room on the stage.

More music at Yellow Creek Park on Saturday, while Oral Video History films continue to run in the air-conditioned IBMMuseum downtown. More later from ROMP in Owensboro, Kentucky.

- Katy

Editor’s note: Nice fedora.