Volume 38, No. 10 © Central Texas Bluegrass Association October 2016 The Earls Are Coming to Farmers Branch! believe this is the seventh year for the Bloomin’ Bluegrass Festival at Farmers Branch His- I torical park, and it just gets better each year. It’s hard to see how Alan Tompkins and the Bluegrass Heritage Association could top this. The festival is Friday and Saturday, October 14- 15, and the real excitement will happen at 6:30 PM on Saturday evening with what I’m calling the “Early” show. The Earls of Leicester cleaned up at last year’s IBMA awards show, and they’ve done pretty well at this year’s show as well, winning the Entertainer of the Year award as well as three of the instrumental awards (Charlie Cushman for banjo, Jerry Douglas for do- bro again, and Barry Bales for bass). They were also nominated for Vocal Group and Instru- From the historical photo archive: Sharon White and Cheryl White Warren at the Kerr- ville Bluegrass Festival, September 2, 1978. Photo by K. Brown. October birthdays: Martha Adcock, Bob Amos, Terry Baucom, Stoney Cooper, Ray Deaton, To- ny Furtado, Eric Gibson, Leigh Gibson, John Hickman, Clay Jones, Vic Jordan, Curtis McPeake, Bud- dy Merriam, Joe Mullins, Sonny Osborne, Don Parmley, Sammy Shelor, Jim Shumate, Blaine Sprouse, Blake Williams, Chubby Wise. CTBA board meeting: Sunday, October 16, 3 PM at Hill’s Café (board meetings are open to all CTBA members). The Central Texas Bluegrass Bulletin is published by the Central Texas Bluegrass Association, a 501(c)(3) tax- exempt Texas nonprofit corporation. Contributions are deductible as charitable and educational donations. Work published in this Bulletin is used by permission of the writers, artists, and photographers, who retain all copy- rights. Jamie Stubblefield, president Jason Pratt, vice president Central Texas Bluegrass Association Box 9816 Sam Dunn, board member Austin, Texas 78766 Mike Hurlbut, membership chair Nan Hurlbut, board member www.centraltexasbluegrass.org/ Alice Moore, secretary Lenny Nichols, treasurer Jeff White, webmaster Tim Towell, board member Ken Brown, hapless newsletter editor Bob Vestal, board member 2 mental Group of the Year (but those went to Flatt Lonesome and Frank Solivan, respectively). They’ve got two absolutely outstanding albums to their credit (see the review of Rattle and Roar in last month’s issue). If you’re too young to have seen Flatt and Scruggs in action, here’s your chance to recreate the experience. Watch Jerry Douglas receive his well-deserved Blue- grass Star award Saturday afternoon. But that’s not all. Also on the bill are the Herrins, Gold Heart, Texas and Tennessee, the Gib- son Brothers, Rhonda Vincent and the Rage, Sister Sadie, Tim O’Brien, the Band of Ruhks, and tagging the Saturday evening show, the Del McCoury Band with guest David Grisman. On Saturday morning, the day’s events begin in downtown Farmers Branch, at the rose garden near City Hall, starting at 9:30 AM with an open jam with Gold Heart, followed at 11 AM by a performance by Augusta Road. Augusta Road is an east Texas band featuring Jed Mobley, Dennis Clute Julie Tucker, Mike Tucker, and Lynn Gray. Some of you probably remember Dennis (one of the best dobro pickers in Texas) and Lynn (from Grapeland, one of the best flatpickers). At noon on Saturday, the music resumes at the Historical Park. Texas and Tennessee (from Hendersonville, actually) features John Bowman (a veteran of Quicksilver, AKUS, the New South, and the Boxcars) and Steve Huber (builder of the Huber banjos and tone rings, and banjo picker for Kenny and Amanda Smith). Sister Sadie is a fairly new supergroup consisting of Dale Ann Bradley, Tina Adair (mandolin), Deanie Rich- ardson (fiddle), Gena Britt (banjo), and Beth Lawrence (bass). They have a CD by the same name, available from Pinecastle. The Band of Ruhks is another supergroup of sorts con- sisting of Ronnie Bowman, Don Rigsby, and Kenny Smith. Their album Bowman, Rigsby & Smith is on 101 Ranch Records. Schedule Friday, October 14 5 PM Gold Heart 6 PM Texas & Tennessee 7 PM The Gibson Brothers 8:30 PM Rhonda Vincent and the Rage Saturday, October 15 9:30 AM Open jam with Gold Heart (City Hall) 11 AM Augusta Road (City Hall; remaining shows at the Historical Park) Noon The Herrins 1 PM Gold Heart 2:15 PM Sister Sadie 3:45 PM Tim O’Brien 4:45 PM Bluegrass Star award to Jerry Douglas 5 PM Band of Ruhks 6:30 PM Earls of Leicester 8 PM Del McCoury Band with David Grisman Except for the Saturday morning events, all this takes place at Farmers Branch Historical Park, 2540 Farmers Branch Lane, Farmers Branch, Tx 75234. 3 The festival officially opens at 4:30 PM Friday and runs until 10 PM Saturday. Having attended all but one of these festivals since they started, I can testify that the vendors’ food is a cut above the usual festival fare. I’m not sure who they’ll have this year, but there’s usually Mexican food from Nuevo Leon Restaurant. To get to the Historical Park, take I-35E north from Dallas, exit at Exit 441 just past the I-635 cloverleaf. Go east on Valley View Lane, turn right (south) on Denton Drive, turn left (east) onto Villa Creek Drive, crossing the DART tracks, turn left on Ford Road, then turn right into a large parking lot (12300 Ford Road), where you can catch an open-air shuttle to the park. Be aware that this lot fills up quickly on festival days. The shuttle is very efficient and runs every couple of minutes, and there’s plenty of room to carry folding chairs onboard. This festival is probably the biggest, best-organized and most efficiently run bluegrass event in Texas. And did I mention it’s free? That’s right, no tickets, no wristbands, and no admission fee to see some of the top bluegrass acts in the country. When the festival first started seven years ago, there was little in the way of daytime jamming in the park, but it has increased over the years, and now you can find multiple jams all over the grounds. But with a lineup like this, how are you going to drag yourself away from the stage? http://www.bloominbluegrass.com/ 4 Above, the daytime crowd spreads over the lawn; below, vintage buggy in the freight depot at the histor- ical park. Photos by K. Brown. 5 The Gibson Brothers at Farmers Branch, 2014. Photo by K. Brown. Rhonda Vincent at Farmers Branch, 2014. Photo by K. Brown. 6 Sunday, November 6: Annual Membership Meeting; Officers and Bylaw Amendments ere’s an early heads-up. The annual CTBA membership meeting (required by our bylaws) Hwill take place on Sunday, November 6, at 2-6:30 PM, beginning with a short business meeting, and then some live music and, if past history is any indication, lots of jamming. Loca- tion to be announced later. Before the meeting, you’ll receive an E-mail ballot listing nominees for open slots on the 2017-2018 Board of Directors, as well as an opportunity to vote on a few minor tweaks to the CTBA bylaws. Officers are selected by the Board of Directors at their ini- tial January meeting. More details to follow in the November issue. Saturday, October 8: Bluegrass in Burleson nd here’s another promising event co-sponsored by the Bluegrass Heritage Association. ABluegrass in Old Town Burleson, 124 W. Ellison Street. It’s free, rain or shine. Here’s the schedule: 10 AM Phil Ferguson and Texas True 11 AM Bobby Giles and Music Mountain Noon Quibble Brothers 1:45 PM The Herrins 2:45 PM Downtown String Band 3:45 PM Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Bluegrass Band Saturday, October 22: Tomball Bluegrass Festival ocated at the historic downtown depot, 201 South Elm St. in Tomball, this free festival Lstarts at 11:30 Am and features David Davis and the Warrior River Boys, and the Border Town Ramblers. Check out the ice cream parlor while you’re downtown. 2016 IBMA Awards Male vocalist: Danny Paisley Female vocalist: Becky Buller Emerging artist: Mountain Faith Instrumental group: Frank Solivan and Dirty Kitchen Vocal group: Flatt Lonesome Album of the Year: Flatt Lonesome, Runaway Train Song of the Year: Flatt Lonesome, “You’re the One” Banjo player: Charlie Cushman Dobro player: Jerry Douglas 7 Bass player: Barry Bales Mandolin player: Sierra Hull Fiddler: Becky Buller Guitar player: Bryan Sutton Entertainer of the year: Earls of Leicester And congratulations to Jake Workman (you may remember him from the BABA contests at the KOA campground in Montgomery a few years ago), one of three instrumentalists selected for an IBMA Momentum Award. Texarkana Fall Jam, October 9-15 he fall multi-day jam at Texarkana RV Park will take place Sunday through Saturday, the Tweek of October 9-15, if you happen to be up in that corner of the state. It’s at 64 Sam Thomas Rd, Texarkana 75951 (formerly the Strange Family Bluegrass Park). For more infor- mation, call (903) 255-0011. Bluegrass Photo Exhibit Runs to End of October ictures of Pickers is the name of an exhibit of bluegrass concert photos. The photos P(mostly from Texas) include Bill Monroe, Hot Rize, Della Mae, Blue Highway, Jack Cooke, Danger in the Air, the Stringdusters, Junior Sisk, the Gibson Brothers, the Toy Hearts, Rob Ickes, Del McCoury, Kati Penn and NewTown, Rhonda Vincent, the Seldom Scene, and many others, including some local pickers you’ll recognize. It all happens at Precision Camera, 2438 West Anderson Lane, Suite B-4, Austin 78757.