Books and Bluegrass Contest

I've just completed Day One here in Owensboro, Kentucky, and I'm getting ready for another day of music with six good friends who have joined me here from all over the country. In fact, we are from seven different states: Texas, New York, Virginia, Tennessee, Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Georgia.

But speaking of books...

I received a really striking book from a publisher just before I left Houston that I would like to give to someone. When I get home I'll do a post about the book and its author, pictures and links included. In the meantime, I'm going to post a few pictures that I will be taking here at the festival but I won't be identifying the singers and bands yet. The person who can correctly identify the most bands and singers in my photos will win the book.

So here's the first batch of photos:

These are three members of one of the best known bluegrass bands in the business (the fiddle player and the banjo player or not shown in this picture). The band leader is the fellow in the snazzy suit. What is the name of this band?

This man is an expert on old-time music and he plays the songs on instruments very much like the ones that the songs were first played on. He shares his surname with his very famous half-brother. Who is this?

These two gentlemen do not usually work together. However, they opened the show last night by doing one song together. The man on the left has one of the best "high lonesome" voices I've ever heard in my life and works hard to preserve traditional American music. The man on the right is an amazing musician and singer who has released solo albums but who has also recorded on the releases of numerous other singers. He is particularly fond of Celtic music and has recently returned from performing in Ireland.

So there you have the first three chances to pick up points. Now I realize that bluegrass fans are not a huge number when it comes to comparison with the number of fans of other types of music. I know this might be difficult but I'm hoping that it might be a fun challenge for everyone and that it might even interest some of you in sampling some of the music. Good luck!

(When I've posted all the pictures, entries can be emailed to me at the address shown in my profile.)

Hold your answers, everyone...keep them a secret and email your answers to me on Monday. I'm going to post two or three pictures in the morning (it's near midnight here and I just made it back to the hotel).