8th Bühl International Bluegrass Festival

The BIB editor reports:

The Bühl International Bluegrass Festival can be thoroughly recommended. Founded in 2003 as a one-day event, it receives full support from the pleasant, compact city of Bühl on the edge of the Black Forest, just south of Baden-Baden in south-west Germany. With continued and growing success, it expanded to two days last year, and it's no accident that the formation of a new German Bluegrass Music Association was announced at this year's event. Full details of the 2010 festival lineup and schedule, with many photos and press reports, can be seen here.

Thanks to our good friend Jan Michielsen of 4 Wheel Drive (D/NL/B) for this link to a five-minute feature from R.TV Baden-Baden. The footage was shot at the free open-air concert by 4WD in the Johannesplatz, Bühl, on the morning of Saturday 15 May (see photo above), and includes an interview with Walter Fuchs, country music historian and guiding spirit of the festival.

The Sons of Navarone: (l-r) Thierry Schoysman, Benjamin Steegen, Guido Bos, Eugene O'Brien

Not least among the delights of the 2010 festival were the sets by the Sons of Navarone from Belgium, who have been building a strong reputation for themselves in successive tours of the UK with their powerful harmonies and instrumental work, imaginative choice of material, and sheer gift for entertainment. Making their German debut at Bühl, they closed both Saturday indoor concerts (a slot usually reserved for the senior visiting American group), earned a great reception, and sold a lot of CDs. Irish festival organisers should consider booking this band - they even include a Dublin-born banjo-player, Eugene O'Brien, who was prominent on the south-east England bluegrass scene before moving to Brussels.