Great live bluegrass at Bean Blossom

Well, I got my fill of great live bluegrass music at at Bean Blossom, Indiana this week.

My wife and youngest daughter and I attended the last three days of the 8-day Bill Monroe Memorial Festival Thursday through Saturday.

Some of the highlights for me were hearing Matt Leadbetter (Phil's son) on dobro with Marty Raybon, Daily & Vincent, Cherryholmes, Alecia Nugent (with Steve Huber on banjo and Thomas Whyrot on guitar), Tim Graves on dobro with Bobby Osborne, and The Seldom Scene band.

This was my first time to see Daily & Vincent, Alecia Nugent, and The Seldom Scene live.

In other news, it was also my first time to see the legendary Ralph Stanley live. It's kind of heretical to say this in bluegrass circles, but there are a lot of bluegrass artists I like better than Dr. Stanley.


As a musical bonus Thursday evening, I attended the flood benefit at the Indigo hotel in Columbus and got to hear Barney Quick on jazz guitar with my neighbor Robert Haysmith on bass and also Tim Grimm with his wife and son. Tim did some great singing and guitar picking.

This was my first time to hear both Barney and Tim and I look forward to hearing more of both in the future.

Bill Starr
Mon, 23 Jun 2008, 12:23 am EDT