29 September 2020

The last BU from Warrenton, VA

The October 2020 issue (vol. liii, no. 4) of Bluegrass Unlimited, the Mother of Bluegrass Magazines, is now out, coinciding with the holding this week of the IBMA's World Of Bluegrass. This is the last BU that will issue from the historic office in Warrenton, VA, as the magazine is being taken over by the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum in Owensboro, KY, and the November issue will be the first from the new home.

Earlier this year there were apprehensions that the pandemic might make it necessary to interrupt the monthly sequence of issues. Not only has this not happened: BU has continued with all its regular features except the personal appearance calendar, and if anything the number of features on bands and artists seems to have increased. Special thanks are due to the editorial staff - Linda Shaw, Kim Yates, Pat Jeffries, and Sally Pontarelli - and Murphy Henry, who has been contributing the 'General Store' pages since 1987, thanks them in an elegiac column this month.

Chris Joslin, executive director of the Hall of Fame, pays tribute to Pete Kuykendall (1938-2017), and undertakes to grow BU, with enhanced design and layout and an upgraded website, as an integral part of the Museum's mission. Dan Miller, former publisher of Flatpicking Guitar Magazine, will be the new BU editor.

The cover feature of the October issue is on Rodney Dillard (see the BIB for 12 Sept.), and other contents include Gary Reid's obituary of Steve Gulley, Bob Allen's article on Jordan Tice (see the BIB for last Friday, 25 Sept.), and much more.

BIB editor's note: When Carol and I first visited Nashville in 1996, we went to the celebrated RCA Studio B. I asked at the shop for records by the great fiddler Tommy Jackson; none were there, and even the name wasn't recognised, though it was on the wall a few yards away. That need no longer happen. A six-CD box set, Tommy Jackson, Nashville fiddler: the complete solo recordings collection, has been issued on the And More Bears label, and it gets a Highlight Review from Robert C. Buckingham in BU. As Jackson set the standard for country fiddle style and played on many bluegrass recordings as well, this set should be widely known.

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