Another side of bluegrass
This is another side of bluegrass: Fabulous groups comin' through a large, densely-populated area, no other competing venues for bluegrass music within 150 miles, very modestly priced tickets, a weekend schedule, and the room is half to three-quarters full. What's up with that?
I'm talking Dry Branch Fire Squad, the Chapmans, Rock County (now morphed into Don Rigsby & Midnight Call), Mountain Heart, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, the Claire Lynch Band, Laurie Lewis & the Right Hands, Chris Stuart and Backcountry, and more.
Folks say that they're hungry for good bluegrass music. Well, there it is, and the promoters can't fill a small auditorium. Pretty disheartening for promoters, bands, and bluegrass enthusiasts alike.
My guess is that publicity/advertising is an issue. Or has the tide of "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" about run its course and we're now in one of those downturns we have seen over the past 30 years? Or would the fans rather pick under a tree somewhere? Or is there some other mysterious influence at work here?
Do the fans just assume that the music will always be there...and they can go NEXT year? Not if they don't support it THIS year!
Get out there! Go find a show in your area, plunk down the bucks for the tickets, go in and enjoy some wonderful bluegrass music! Support your local bluegrass venue, support your local bluegrass bands, and be a real part of the music of America!
United States
March 23, 2006
@kccolorado - Having an organized place to post the details of bluegrass (and folk in general) festivals is part of our mission, although we recognize that we don't make that clear enough with our current site navigation. That is my next major task to tackle. One reason the IBMA and other organizations may not be doing this is the time involved. It takes measurable effort for a local BG club to keep track of local happenings, and that effort does not scale well to the international level at which the IBMA would be maintaining listings.
We've approached the problem by building a platform where festival attendees and promoters can post their festival details. As you've seen, we put those festivals on maps to make it easy for people to find festivals near where they are looking. What you've not seen is the back end automated validation aspect of the site. We automatically follow up with people who post events to folkjam.org, asking them to verify the details of recurring jams or enter next years dates for the festivals and workshops they share on the site.
Are there festivals near Denver that you know about that are not on the site? Share them. And when you get your festival going, we welcome that too.
The people who run a local festival here in Kansas City commented to me that it takes about five years to get going and to begin breaking even or perhaps even turning a profit. Hang in there even if very few people come the first year.
Scott
-site admin
United States
September 18, 2007
I have been asked to help put together a festival and fear doing it for the reasons you mentioned. Even though the locale will be great and the time of year has no other conflicts my fear is will they come? So I guess "Hold it and they will come??" Just isn't enough. I agree advertising is a key issue, We in the BG world think passing out flyers at other festivals are enough. It's not. I search websites all the time for festivals/concerts in my area. Sometimes I never hear about one until it is over. Why doesn't the IBMA have a better organized site listing for people to post the festival or concert they are promoting? Then we can all just go to one site instead of trying to scan 30 of them all. I missed the one you are mentioning and I would go anywhere to hear Clair Lynch.