Phil Nusbaum KB: Kevin Barnes PN
Kevin Barnes Narrator Phil Nusbaum Interviewer May 5, 2010 PN: Phil Nusbaum KB: Kevin Barnes PN: I'm Phil Nusbaum. Kevin Barnes is here. This is part of the Minnesota Bluegrass Oral History Project, and we are at KBEM radio, using the microphones and everything. We are not employed here; we are independent contractors here. KB: But we control the place right now! [Laughing] It is under our control. PN: So, we're here to talk about Kevin's experience in Bluegrass in Minnesota. How did you get started with Bluegrass music? KB: It's funny, because, again, my roots go to Kentucky. I was born in Louisville, Kentucky. I used to travel down, my grandparents lived in western Kentucky, around Hopkinsville, Kentucky - Crofton area, an area that was actually fairly close to Paducah, so, pretty close to where Bill Monroe was from. My uncles - my dad's brothers - were farmers, so, as a kid, I can remember traveling down to the farm, and they'd all be talkin' about the Opry. They'd be talkin' about hearing Mack Wiseman, or they'd be talkin' about, “Oh, did you hear Bill Monroe on last week, and he did this really funny skit.” So, I can even remember as a kid, my family talkin' about Bluegrass music. Before that, and before I played banjo, my grandmother used to talk about her grandmother, actually it's too bad I don't have a - you should see the picture, her name was Algie Hickey from Crofton, Kentucky. She was a seamstress and she was a musician; she was a banjo player, played a 5-string, I've got a photo of her when she's about… PN: This is the grandmother of the grandmother… KB: Yes.
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