The Bluegrass Hall of Fame: Inductee Biographies 1991-2014

Bluegrass music is the purest form of real country music still doing fairly well in today's music marketplace.  Generally speaking, traditional country music has been so overwhelmed by country-pretenders now that the real thing is seldom heard on FM radio stations anymore. Even the record labels are recording very little of it these days.  But somehow, perhaps because so much of it is performed live at festivals during the spring and summer months, bluegrass is actually growing in popularity throughout the U.S. and Canada.  And those fans of traditional country music searching for a place to hear the real thing are turning to bluegrass music as the natural alternative to the trash being played on FM radio stations that dare call themselves country stations today.

Fred Bartenstein

So...bluegrass fans, new and old, this book is for you.  The Bluegrass Hall of Fame: Inductees Biographies 1992-2014 from Fred Bartenstein and Gary Reid celebrates all of the inductees to the Hall since its creation.  The Bluegrass Hall of Fame itself is housed at the International Bluegrass Music Museum in Owensboro, Kentucky, and it is a must-see for bluegrass fans.  

Bluegrass music fans are luckier than fans of most musical genres in the sense that many of its pioneers are still alive (and in some cases, even performing), meaning that they are available to tell their stories in their own words.  And, fortunately, many of the ones who are gone now had their stories recorded by Museum staff in long, formal interviews before they passed on.   The Bluegrass Hall of Fame: Inductees Biographies 1992-2014 continues that tradition:

The International Bluegrass Music Museum presents, for the first time in book form, carefully researched and engagingly written profiles of the pioneers of bluegrass music. The authors, who knew most of the Hall of Fame members personally, document not only the facts and career accomplishments of these men and women, but also capture a sense of their personalities and their impact upon fellow musicians and fans.

The International Bluegrass Music Museum places special emphasis on "first generation" bluegrass artists, those who were there at the beginning to create and perform the music we now call bluegrass.  The exhibits  are both educational and fun to see, and anyone finding themselves near Owensboro should take an hour or two to visit the museum and gift shop.  In addition to souvenirs, the gift shop sells the latest books on bluegrass artists and new and old music.