Bluegrass

Bluegrass

BlueHighways TV and the International Bluegrass Music Association 

 

Earlier this month the IBMA Convention and Fan Fest were held in Nashville at the Convention Center for an entire week of Bluegrass and Family Fun. BHTV has had a booth at the convention for three years now and has become part of the Bluegrass Family.

 

I will try to give you some highlights of the convention and maybe next year you can come and visit us.

 

The week starts off with a bang as the exhibit hall opens with booth exhibits for artists, agencies, instrument dealers, record companies, just to mention a few-and of course we have our booth promoting BHTV  and giving out our popular free gifts.  There are about 100 booths that promote Bluegrass music, the making of instruments such as Gibson, Martin, Derring and many more kinds of luthiers in the industry.

 

We then move to the IBMA Music Awards at the Grand Ole Opry house on Thursday to honor all the wonderful artists who have shined this past year. Each year we present special awards to two new inductees to the Bluegrass Hall of Fame; this year we were happy to induct Carl Story and Howard Watts, congratulations to both for their induction into the Bluegrass Hall of Fame and thanks for all the great memories and music.

 

Our Fan Fest starts on Friday and goes through Saturday night. We start about 10 o’clock a.m. and go until 11 p.m. that night in the Convention Center Ballroom. It’s one of the biggest shows of the year and features some of the top names in Bluegrass.

 

I’m proud to say that I played the very first Fan Fest in Owensboro, KY some 20 years ago and I tell you, fan Fest has grown by leaps and bounds ever since.

 

BlueHighways has always gone the extra mile to support Bluegrass music and this year was no different. We gave out lots of goodies at the booth and put on a great show Tuesday night at the Fisk ballroom by premiering a new special produced on Mac Wiseman. It features classic footage recorded back in the 70’s and has new footage with Mac as he explains some of the history of Bluegrass. We had a big screen TV, popcorn and cold drinks to make the evening an enjoyable one. We were packed this year and even had some tell us this was the highlight of the convention.

 

I will say this in closing that we are proud to carry the banner for Bluegrass music and I hope all will enjoy our classic shows and also put in a plug for Reno’s Old Time Music Festival.

 

For more info on the IBMA go to their website at www.IBMA.org. We hope to see you next year at the IBMA Convention and Fan Fest in Nashville TN.

 

The Bluegrass Convention Junkie 

Ronnie Reno