By Mark Rutledge
While students and alumni of Bluegrass, Old-Time, and Roots Music Studies at East Tennessee State University were storming the late-September stages in Raleigh, North Carolina, record rainfall from Hurricane Helene was ravaging the mountainous region back home. With many attendees having come from areas affected by devastating flooding, it made for a bittersweet ending to Raleigh’s 12-year run of hosting IBMA’s World of Bluegrass Conference.
When the International Bluegrass Music Association was established in 1985, the first university-based bluegrass program had been operating at ETSU for three years. During the nearly 40 years since, ETSU’s contributions to bluegrass have been consistently recognized and celebrated during IBMA’s annual weeklong conference, music awards and festival. Dozens of students, faculty and staff members from ETSU attended the 2024 conference.
ETSU alumna Becky Buller, a renowned fiddler, songwriter and top act in bluegrass, gave the 2024 World of Bluegrass Keynote Address. Buller used the opportunity to stress the importance of mental health among members of the music industry. One personal struggle she highlighted is stage fright.
“I don’t recall anyone working with me to fight stage fright when I was a kid,” Buller said. “But then again, I was a kid and not paying much attention. Many of us in this room are educators. If you’re not doing so already, please help your students mentally prepare for performance — sharing any tips and tricks you’ve picked up for combating stage fright.”
A strong supporter and advocate for ETSU, the Minnesota native also plugged her alma mater during the speech.
“When I was 16, Lou Reid, Terry Baucom and Carolina put out the now classic ‘Carolina Moon’ album,” she said. “In the liner notes, written by the legendary Jack Tottle, I read about a mythical place called East Tennessee State University, where I could study bluegrass music. It was my ticket south.”
Instruments of support
Buller is a great example among top musicians who devote time and talent toward strengthening the foundations of bluegrass by, among other things, belonging to IBMA. But the IBMA “family” includes about as many non-performers as musicians. Within the non-musician pool of helpers are people like Sam Blumenthal of Charlotte, North Carolina, whose pathway to becoming a member of the IBMA Foundation was influenced by connections to the program at ETSU.
As part of a family that has long supported the arts, it’s not surprising that Blumenthal would seek to encourage and preserve music. He describes his passion for bluegrass, however, as something akin to a spiritual awakening that occurred during his late 50s.
“I was always a music fan,” Blumenthal, a retired clinical psychologist, said. “I loved the Beatles growing up. I was a Rock ‘n’ Roll guy when Rock ‘n’ Roll was awesome in the early days — in the late ’60s and early ’70s.”
Toward the end of the ’70s, he developed an appreciation for jazz fusion and the progressive and melodic influence the relatively new genre was injecting into rock, funk and R&B rhythms. He remains a fan of many artists whose work is rooted in jazz. But his passion for music took a distinctively Appalachian turn after a friend invited him to Wilkesboro, North Carolina, to experience MerleFest, one of the nation’s largest traditional music festivals. It was during a second visit to MerleFest a few years later when he realized that the bluegrass bug would leave a permanent mark.
“I liked (jazz fusion) for a while but nothing really struck strong,” Blumenthal said. “Then I went back to MerleFest in 2015 — and just that weekend, you know, I can’t really explain it. It just really sank into my heart. And I left that week, and knew it.”
Blumenthal began listening to bluegrass music and bluegrass-themed shows through streaming services, podcasts and radio. He did that every day, as if enrolled in a crash course to make up for the decades of his life spent without such a strong appreciation for the music. “Ricky Skaggs said something about how bluegrass touches like a deep well in the soul. And I really believe that,” he said.
Spreading the word
Blumenthal is an author and storyteller. Raised as a Reform Jew, he has a website, samblumenthal.com, where he connects with readers and shares inspirational stories, including his own about becoming a Christian in his 40s. Reflecting a similar passion, he has become a disciple for bluegrass. Before his involvement with IBMA, he started organizing dinner parties for large groups of friends at a Charlotte hotel, where the main course would be a large serving of live bluegrass music.
During the first such dinner party, he met Tim Stafford of the band Blue Highway, and the two quickly became friends. “That’s another thing about bluegrass,” Blumenthal said. “It’s just so easy to get to know these guys. They’re so down to earth.”
Stafford would convince Blumenthal that a great way to support the music they both love is through the IBMA. From Stafford’s nomination, Blumenthal became a board member of the IBMA Foundation, which raises funds to support programs, education and scholarship initiatives aimed at growing and preserving bluegrass music.
“I knew that he could help with everything that we were trying to get done within the Foundation,” said Stafford, who has been involved in the program at ETSU since it started in 1982, and currently serves as Artist in Residence. “Not even monetarily, but as a person who has great ideas and is just so clearheaded about how he approaches stuff.”
Interested in how ETSU’s program is influencing bluegrass music, Blumenthal visited the Johnson City campus and has since been applying his “great ideas and clearheaded approach” in support there as well. “He’s very passionate about bluegrass and we’re very lucky for that,” Stafford said. “I really consider myself lucky just to know Sam. He’s really taking his love for the music to a new level.”
In recent years, Blumenthal helped found the Earl Scruggs Music Festival in Mill Spring, North Carolina. “It’s hard to believe there wasn’t a festival in Earl’s name,” he said, “but there wasn’t until just about three years ago.” His involvement with that effort “happened through some of these same connections,” he said. “We actually started talking about it in 2019.”
For someone who has been immersed in the genre for only about a decade, Blumenthal is as well-versed in today’s bluegrass, and all that came before, as someone else of his generation who might have played in a family band since they could hold a mandolin. Beyond just enjoying the music, his primary interest is in helping to ensure that it will endure.
“One of the most obvious ways that you’re going to preserve it is to always make sure there are new generations coming up,” Blumenthal said. “More and more people have made supporting young musicians a priority. It’s a big, big part of festivals and other events. ETSU is a great example of taking it to the next level in college and even preparing people to have careers in it. My introduction to East Tennessee State was through Tim, who introduced me to (program Director) Dan Boner. It’s been great knowing them. I’ve been a supporter, that’s one thing. But I really see myself as much as a friend, too. A friend of Dan and others, and of the program.”
Awards
During the 35th annual IBMA Bluegrass Music Awards, the Momentum Mentor of the Year Award went to alumnus Tony Watt, who studied bluegrass at ETSU in the early 2000s under program founder, Tottle, and former program director Raymond McLain. An in-demand guitarist and longtime bluegrass instructor, Watt serves as an associate professor in the Ensemble Department at Berklee College of Music in Boston.
Alumna Grace van’t Hof won IBMA Graphic Designer of the Year for the fourth year in a row. In addition to being a talented graphic designer, van’t Hof is a founding member of the band Bill and the Belles, a founding member of the Grammy-nominated group Della Mae, and currently tours with Chris Jones and the Night Drivers.
Several alumni, faculty and others connected to the ETSU program were nominated for awards:
Trey Hensley, adjunct faculty member, was nominated for Guitar Player of the Year. He’s been nominated in the category numerous times, winning in 2023.
Eli Gilbert, alumnus and banjo player for Missy Raines and Allegheny, was nominated with the band in the Instrumental Recording of the Year category for “Panhandle Country.”
Tim Stafford, who is serving a two-year term as Artist in Residence at ETSU, was nominated with his band, Blue Highway, for Vocal Group of the Year.
Aynsley Porchack, alumna and faculty member, was nominated with alumnus Lincoln Hensley in the Collaborative Recording of the Year category. Porchack (fiddle) and Hensley (banjo) contributed to the recording “Too Old to Die Young,” with Bobby Osborne and CJ Lewandowski.
Adam Miller, alumnus and a member of Lonesome River Band, was nominated for Momentum Vocalist of the Year.
Connor Vlietstra, alumnus, was nominated in the Momentum Band of the Year category as a member of The Price Sisters band.
Ted Olson, faculty member, was nominated in two categories: Liner Notes of the Year (“Nothing But Green Willow: The Songs of Mary Sands and Jane Gentry,” with Martin Simpson and Thomm Jutz), and for Event of the Year for his collaboration on the Doc at 100 concert series.
Showcases
The festival portion of the IBMA conference includes showcase performances involving both legendary and up-and-coming artists. The live events take place in hotel suites and conference rooms, outdoor Streetfest stages, conference center spaces, and exhibit hall booths. ETSU students, alumni and faculty members were part of at least 23 showcase bands this year, either as featured artists or band members.
ETSU alumni were featured among performances on the event’s biggest stage, Red Hat Amphitheater. Alumna Amythyst Kia was a featured artist there, as was Rhonda Vincent & the Rage, which includes alumnus Jacob Metz on reso-guitar.
Other showcase performances that either featured or involved ETSU-affiliated artists include: Tray Wellington Band, Lydia Hamby & Company, The Burnett Sisters Band, Pythagoras, The Global String Band, Liam Purcell and Cane Mill Road, Wyatt Ellis, Trey Hensley, Chris Jones & the Night Drivers, New Dangerfield, ETSU Bluegrass Pride Band, Compton and Newberry, Barefoot Movement, Caroline Owens, The Price Sisters, Tennessee Bluegrass Band, Sage & Prairie Wildflower, Seth Mulder and Midnight Run, Thomas Cassell, Amanda Cook Band, King Springs Road, and Becky Buller.
Conference highlights
Included among the five-day IBMA Business Conference schedule of events are industry-related workshops, meetings and symposiums on varied subjects from songwriting, financial coaching, and instrument building to bluegrass vocals, and cultural diversity in traditional music. ETSU students, faculty members and alumni led or participated in several of the events.
Dan Boner, director the Bluegrass, Old-Time and Roots Music Studies program, helped lead an afternoon session titled “Everyone is a Singer — The Voice is an Instrument.” Along with panelists Stephen Mougin of the Sam Bush Band, and Dede Wyland, a vocal coach and teacher who has worked with top artists in bluegrass, Boner shared insights, anecdotes, and techniques in vocal instruction. The symposium was aimed at raising awareness of bluegrass vocals and the importance of voice instruction.
Lee Bidgood, an instructor in the program at ETSU, led a showcase and discussion titled “Black Music in Appalachia.” Musicians participating in the program included Dr. Dena Ross Jennings, a physician and artist in Central Virginia who grew up in Kentucky; Kelle Jolly, a master ukulele player, vocalist and storyteller who calls herself an “Affrilachian-Georgia-lina-Peach;” and ETSU alumnus Tray Wellington, a critically acclaimed banjo player who grew up in Western North Carolina. Bidgood, who is director of the Institute for Appalachian Music and Culture at ETSU, moderated a discussion with the musicians about how their music is influenced by the Appalachian region, and about their experiences as Black artists performing traditional Appalachian music.
The IBMA Industry Awards Luncheon was hosted by music collaborators Mike Compton and Joe Newberry. Among the world’s top mandolin masters, Compton is an instructor in the ETSU program and a past Artist in Residence. Current Artist in Residence, Tim Stafford, presented the IBMA Distinguished Achievement Award to Cindy Baucom during the luncheon. Baucom is host of the syndicated radio show “Knee-Deep In Bluegrass.” She is an award-winning broadcaster, producer, promoter, singer, musician, writer, photographer and master of ceremonies.
The ETSU Bluegrass Pride band performed during a Bluegrass College Info Session, where high school students and parents were invited to hear about bluegrass programs and degree opportunities in higher education. Boner participated in the discussion as well.
Chattanooga bound
Since its beginnings in the mid-1980s, the IBMA World of Bluegrass has been held in two Kentucky cities, Owensboro and Louisville, and in Nashville, Tennessee, before landing in North Carolina’s capital city. Raleigh’s 12-year run hosting the event is the longest. Tourism officials in Raleigh estimate that during those years, the event brought more than a million people to the city, injecting nearly $100 million into the local economy.
For at least the next two years, the biggest show in bluegrass heads back to Tennessee, where Chattanooga is the host city for 2025 and 2026.
Mark Rutledge is managing editor of Appalachian Places and communications coordinator for the Department of Appalachian Studies at ETSU.
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