IBMA's World of Bluegrass 2011 - Monday

IBMA's World of Bluegrass kicked off its revamped 2011 convention on Monday with the crowd building all day long. The seminars were interesting, entertaining, and informative. Sessions on "Internet Broadcasting," "What Makes a Great Show?" Monroe style mandolin, and Internet Streaming, and How to Get Endorsements contained practical, useful information for musicians, talent buyers, promoters, and fans. A new kind of program called "Crowd Sourcing" broke participants into small groups to explore a variety of problems facing bluegrass. The reports of the groups at the end of the session form the initial content for working groups to continue developing approaches to many of the issues involved in spreading the word and increasing income.  WAMU's Bluegrass Country was live on-the-air with good music and enthusiastic audiences. Tune these sessions in on your computer from 4:00 - 7:00 EST each day. Tune it in here. What follows here is a series of impressions for the day with minimal comments. It's must not possible for us to attend, participate, and post detailed blog entries. Longer analyses and discussions of the event will follow over  the next few weeks. The new pricing system appears to be very popular, allowing people many choices, saving them money, and opening the doors a lot wider. Just as an aside: I hate taking pictures of people on stage wearing hats! It's almost impossible to show faces without a big shadow.  Performers can dress pretty much as they wish, as far as I'm concerned, but hats should be left in the green room.

IBMA Executive Director Dan Hays

Orientation

 

Ronnie Reno - Keynote Address

Internet Broadcasting

What Makes a Great Show?

Bill Monroe Mandolin

Our Lunch Wagon

Crowd Sourcing Event

WAMU's Bluegrass Country

Live Interviews

Acoustic Blue

 18 South

Katy Daley - On Air

  

Mike Bub

Official Showcases

Each evening five bands chosen by a committee perform from the main stage with full lighting, big sound, plenty of seating around tables, and a cash bar with sofas and an area for people to mix. The bands were new to most people. For me, the blowout favorite was The Hillbenders, but the bands were distinctive and quite different.

Jett's Creek

Bluegrass Regulators

  

Foghorn Stringband

Rockin' Acoustic Circus

 The Hillbenders

After Hours Showcases

 A swirl of bands playing in rooms up and down the hallways for enthusiastic and discerning audiences, kids jamming in the halls (and some not so young kids), chatting, networking, enjoying the scene, good fun, and the crowd growing as people come in for the rest of the week.  

The Roys

 Jamming in the Hallway

 Judge Telford Band

  

The Baucoms

  

Rebecca Long

 Chris Jones and the Night Drivers