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The International Bluegrass Music Museum

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music mainline – robdickens101 – September 9, 2016 at 04:35PM

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7 September 2016 Owensboro Kentucky

I was staying at Central City as it was the base for two important musical discoveries – one today and one tomorrow.

Today’s highlight was a visit to Owensboro, fifty minutes due north, across The Green River.  Owensboro is on the impressive Ohio River and has a population of around 60,000.  The River is unofficially part of the famed Mason-Dixon Line which, at this point, separates the South from Indiana in The Mid-West.  The Museum is almost right on the river and close to a large, new foreshore redevelopment.  The facility is still affiliated with the influential International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) which started out here in the 1990s, before moving ultimately to Nashville.

The Executive Director of the Centre is Chris Joslin and he was very helpful to me and enriched my visit here.

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Current Museum

On site are a number of interesting permanent exhibits over 22,000 square feet (including office space) across two levels.  The most prestigious is the International Bluegrass Music Association’s (IBMA) Bluegrass Hall of Fame, devoted to the recognition of noteworthy individuals for their outstanding contributions to bluegrass music. Founded in 1991, the Hall of Fame is the bluegrass music industry’s tribute to the pioneers of the music and the people who have made it great.

 

For the records, here is a full list of Hall of Fame inductees:

2015

Bill Keith

Larry Sparks

2014

Neil Rosenberg

Original Seldom Scene

2013

Tony Rice

Paul Warren

2012

Doyle Lawson

Ralph Rinzler

2011

Del McCoury

George Shuffler

2010

John Hartford

Louise Scruggs

2009

Lonesome Pine Fiddlers

The Dillards

2008

Bill Clifton

Charles Wolfe

2007

“Cedric Rainwater” Howard Watts

Carl Story

2006

The Lewis Family

Syd Nathan

2005

Red Allen

Benny Martin

2004

Curly Seckler

Bill Vernon

2003

J. D. Crowe

2002

The Lilly Brothers

Micheal Burt “Bea” Lilly

Charles E. “Everett” Lilly

Don Stover

David Freeman

2001

The Carter Family

Alvin Pleasant (A.P.) Carter

Sara Carter

Maybelle Carter

2000

Lance LeRoy

Doc Watson

1999

Kenny Baker

1998

Chubby Wise

Carlton Haney

1997

Josh Graves

1996

Peter V. Kuykendall

The Country Gentlemen

Eddie Adcock

John Duffey

Tom Gray

Charlie Waller

1995

Jimmy Martin

1994

The Osborne Brothers

Bobby Osborne

Sonny Osborne

1993

Mac Wiseman

Jim & Jesse

Jim McReynolds

Jesse McReynolds

1992

The Stanley Brothers

Ralph Stanley

Carter Stanley

Reno & Smiley

Don Reno

Arthur Lee (Red) Smiley

1991

Bill Monroe

Earl Scruggs

Lester Flatt

Other exhibits include the story of Bill Monroe, the Father of Bluegrass Music (more on him next article). In addition to items from his estate, you can learn about Monroe’s early years and how he came to create this music.  The Timeline of Bluegrass Music is very interesting, tracing the roots of bluegrass music, from the Scots-Irish string bands to camp meetings and gospel quartets, through fiddling conventions, the jazz era, and the folk music revival.

There are a variety of instruments available for viewing throughout the museum, including a showcase of historically significant instruments and the luthiers who crafted them – Pete Seeger’s banjo and Uncle Pen’s fiddle are but two. The cafe is used for live shows (the hardwood floor ideal for cloggers), which includes a jukebox featuring traditional and contemporary bluegrass songs.  The museum presents several new exhibits annually in November and in June.  Openings coincide with the annual Members Night in November and Opening Night of ROMP – the museum’s signature festival – held in June.

The special exhibits on show today were ‘Dixie and Tom T Hall’ and ‘A Celebration of Fifty Years of Bluegrass Festivals’.  Also to be enjoyed is a lengthy film on the derivations of bluegrass, how music changed and evolved as the land was opened up by rail – how the banjo, which came with African slaves, began to be played with the ‘cowboy’ guitar, the romantic mandolin, the fiddle and the lap steel guitar.

The gift shop was terrific and, lastly the ‘Banjokes’ wall.  Here were a few of my favourites:

Q: Why are banjos better than saxophones?  A: They burn better

Q: What is the difference between a banjo and a chainsaw? A: A chainsaw can get louder and softer

Q: What is the range of a banjo? A: About 75 feet if you throw it real hard

New Museum

Chris Joslin is a key player in the building of a new, more high-profile home for The Museum and construction has started on a site only three blocks away.  The space and capability limitations of the existing facility has prompted this big venture which is due to open in the Spring of 2018.

‘There will be a lot more going on in the new building’ says Chris.  ‘This will be the definitive place that’s dedicated solely to bluegrass music’.  It will contain a 450-seat indoor theatre and an outdoor concert space to accommodate up to 2,000, enabling the venue to be a live music hub all-year round.  There will be twice the exhibit space and be more interactive.  Sounds exciting, but there is more – a large seminar space, recording capability, a research library and roof-top restaurant.

If you go the website, there’s a live web-cam, documenting the construction.

Chris Joslin has a vision that he is pursuing.  I now have a vision too.  It is not as grand as Chris’s, but just as tangible.

I want to come back to Owensboro to visit the new, state-of-the-art International Blues Music Museum. And I want to bring some friends with me.

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