The Country Pickers bow out to a full house

The BIB learns with regret from Richard Thompson's feature on Bluegrass Today that the Country Pickers of Switzerland, originally founded in 1960 as a country music duo and subsequently developed into a full bluegrass band, will play their final show this coming Sunday (12 Mar.) at a hotel near Basel. The show is already sold out.

A brief history of the Country Pickers is supplied by Paolo Dettwiler (mandolin, vocals), who has also served European bluegrass as founder and editor of Bluegrass Europe magazine, co-founder and chairman of the European Bluegrass Music Association (EBMA), and international representative on the board of the IBMA. He has no intention of withdrawing from bluegrass activity after Sunday. Richard Thompson's article includes a discography and two videos, one of which is an eight-minute review of the band's history (also on YouTube).

© Richard Hawkins

The EBMA - to be or not to be?

The board of the European Bluegrass Music Association (EBMA) has announced on the EBMA Facebook that it will recommend to the membership that the Association should be dissolved. The board's statement continues:

This decision has come after serious consideration about the role and ambitions of EBMA, its resources and its effectiveness, as well as the growth in national and local initiatives that play a much greater part in supporting and promoting bluegrass music around Europe.

EBMA has made a large contribution to bluegrass music in Europe and has been a strong advocate for the music originating from within Europe. Now, it is time to recognise that EBMA, as an association of members, is not sustainable.

The Board has set in motion a plan to close down EBMA over the coming months in accordance with its rules and to meet its financial and legal obligations.

It is reported that a more comprehensive and detailed statement will be sent to all EBMA members for their comments; that the EBMA has no financial problems; that all moneys received since 1 Jan. 2022 are being refunded; that any remaining financial assets will be distributed to organisations with similar aims through a clear and transparent process; and that as the EBMA is constituted under Swiss law, all appropriate procedures will be followed.

There have already been responses urging that the EBMA can and should be continued, and further developments are sure to come. Since its foundation in 2001, the EBMA has shown its recognition of bluegrass in Ireland: in 2013 Niall Toner received the first ever EBMA award of European Bluegrass Personality of the Year (see the BIB for 10 Mar. 2013), and two years later two gifted young Irish banjo-players, Evan Lyons of Co. Tipperary and Tabitha Agnew of Co. Armagh, were awarded the first two EBMA Youth Scholarships to attend the 2016 Sore Fingers Week in England (see the BIB for 13 Nov. 2015). In 2014 the EBMA received the International Bluegrass Music Association's Distinguished Achievement Award.

© Richard Hawkins

A successful first Trafaria bluegrass festival (update)

Norwegian band Buster Sledge playing at Trafaria
(photo: Maria Lazaro)

Thanks to Andre Dal Lentilhas, the moving spirit of bluegrass in Portugal, for his report on the successful holding of Portugal's first ever international bluegrass festival - Trafaria Bluegrass - Festival by the River. The completely free event was held on 9-11 September in the small fishing village of Trafaria on the south bank of the Tagus, close to the river mouth and Lisbon.

As reported on the BIB on 26 July, the lineup comprised Rawhide (BE), the Often Herd (GB), the Original Five (SE), Buster Sledge (N), and the home team, Stonebones & Bad Spaghetti. Each band played twice on the weekend: once on the main stage in the village square, and again on one of the five side stages in other locations. Photos of the programme are shown on the festival Facebook. Five instrument workshops (guitar, mandolin, dobro, banjo, fiddle) were also held on Saturday and Sunday mornings, and Andre writes: 'Jams were encouraged as a lively and vibrant part of the festival.'

A subsidiary programme was also developed to show Trafaria, its surroundings, and its people to vistors, including storytelling for children, walks around the village, archeological tours, active aging and intergenerational interaction encounters, and recycling workshops.

View from the main stage at an evening concert (photo: Felipe Lima)

Presentations and speeches were made by the president of the organising team, Recreios Desportivos da Trafaria, João Horta; the artistic director, André Dal; and the mayors of Almada city council (Inês de Medeiros) and Trafaria parish council (Sandra Chaíça). Andre writes:

Even though public transportation is sparse and needs to be improved, the festival was a huge success. The small village of Trafaria was crowded during the whole weekend and all stages were packed. The audience felt the vibrant performance of the bands and responded accordingly. Because this was the first ever bluegrass festival to be held in Portugal, the organization's team did not have an idea of the number of people who could join the event.

Nevertheless, local people from the village of Trafaria came in great numbers, as well as from other parts of Portugal and also from abroad, and more than 3,000 people attended enthusiastically to all the concerts. Portuguese and foreign musicians took part in the jams with the bands' musicians, and locals felt the village had a great atmosphere. The side activities were also packed with people trying to discover more about the village. Children and adults were eager to learn more about bluegrass music as well.

It is safe to say that due to the success of this first event, the city council of Almada and the parish council of Trafaria will extend their support for next year's edition and hopefully, with the help of local companies, associations, institutions, EBMA, and private people as was this year.

BIB editor's note: Why does it not surprise us that Rawhide took part in forging a new musical genre, 'Fadograss', together with the Portuguese singer Ana Margarida?

Update 21 Sept.: The full text of Andre's report, together with two videos and more photographs from the Festival, can now be seen on Bluegrass Today.

Andre (banjo) with his band Stonebones & Bad Spaghetti
(photo: Maria Lazaro)

© Richard Hawkins

Eberhard Finke, 1943-2022

The BIB editor writes:

I learn from Richard Thompson, with great regret, of the death of Eberhard Finke (right), one of the prime movers of bluegrass music in Germany and beyond. Meeting Eberhard and his wife Monika at bluegrass events in Europe was always a pleasure for me and Carol, and we are especially sorry to hear that his death came after a long period of illness. He played an important part in the founding years of the European Bluegrass Music Association (EBMA), and this tribute appears on the EBMA Facebook:

It is great sadness that the passing been announced of Eberhard Finke. A kind and warm hearted man, and one of the staunchest supporters of European bluegrass.
He was a good friend and host to numerous touring musicians and bands, as well as being the founder of the German bluegrass magazine Bluegrass Buhne.
Condolences from the entire bluegrass community to Monika and to all his family.

Thanks again to Richard Thompson for this link to the obituary and tribute on Bluegrass Today by Mark Stoffel, who toured Ireland in 2018 as mandolinist with Chris Jones & the Night Drivers. A further tribute has been posted on the German Bluegrass Music Association Facebook.

© Richard Hawkins

EBMA needs YOU!

The European Bluegrass Music Association (EBMA) announced on its Facebook on 23 May:

In recent years EBMA was restructured to proactively support fans, bands and artists, festivals, young musicians and commercial partners.

In addition to providing information and being a focal point for bluegrass in Europe, EBMA has financially supported young musicians through the Youth Scholarship programme; it has created a musicians network; it has contributed prize money for the European bluegrass band competition at La Roche, as well as making grants available for band projects and new events. Member bands and artists, festivals and commercial partners also have their own dedicated pages on the EBMA website.

Now that life is getting back to somewhere near normal, EBMA is also coming back to life.

… But!! we do not have enough resources within the EBMA Board to maintain this level of commitment and so we need more people to join the EBMA Board and take an active role in the following Business Areas:

Membership - Membership administration and members point-of-contact. Promoting EBMA, increasing membership and developing cost effective proposals for members benefits.

Member Bands and Artists - Regular contact and liaison to promote their activities and CD reviews. Updates for their EBMA website pages and promotion on social media.

Member Festivals - Regular contact and liaison to promote their activities. Updates for their EBMA website pages and promotion on social media. Listings other festivals on the events agenda.

Commercial Partners - Regular contact to promote their products and services, updates for their EBMA web pages and promotion on social media.

Youth Scholarships - Processing and approving applications. Regular contact and liaison with the organisers of workshops and camps. EBMA point of contact for the new initiative 'Kids on Bluegrass Europe'.

Audio and Video Broadcast - Point of contact and development. EBMA already has an Internet radio outlet for European bluegrass and has been invited to participate in an Internet video channel for acoustic music.

Newsletter - Define the content and produce a regular newsletter in coordination with the webmaster.

Social Media - Developing EBMA presence on social media, and coordinating with other business managers and the webmaster.

Finance - Support the Finance Manager with overall financial control and annual audit.

Without more support, EBMA will not be able to do all that it should be doing and may even have to close.

If you are interested in the future of European bluegrass and feel you might be able take on the work involved, then for further information and more detail on what it would involve, please email us at board@ebma.org.

BIB editor's note: The very first EBMA Youth Scholarships went in 2015 to two young banjo-players from this island: Evan Lyons of Co. Tipperary and Tabitha Agnew of Co. Armagh. See the BIB for 13 Nov. 2015.

The EBMA: Bluegrass camp for kids at La Roche 2022

The European Bluegrass Music Association (EBMA) announces that the first bluegrass camp open to kids from any country in Europe will be held together with this year's La Roche Bluegrass Festival (3-7 Aug. 2022) at La Roche-sur-Foron in Haute Savoie, on the edge of the French Alps. The camp is open to anyone aged 6 to 16 who can hold an acoustic instrument and play three chords. It will operate from 9.00 a.m. to noon on the three days 4-6 Aug., at a cost of €30 per person for all three days. Full details are on the EBMA web page and can also be reached via the EBMA Facebook.

© Richard Hawkins

A virtual Italian Bluegrass Meeting 2020

DANILO Cartia - moving spirit of bluegrass music in Rome and organiser of the Italian Bluegrass Meeting, held every autumn in Cremona, Italy, as part of the Acoustic Guitar Meeting - sends this message to the European Bluegrass Music Association:

It’s been eight years since the first edition of the Italian Bluegrass Meeting.

First of all, I would like to thank Alessio Ambrosi and his Acoustic Guitar Village for embracing my idea and for giving us the opportunity to achieve all of this. We hosted musicians from all over Italy, Europe, and illustrious guests from the United States. Non-stop live concerts, jam sessions, and workshops.

Also, thanks to Cremona Mondomusica for having us in the splendid venue of one of the best European music fairs.

Last but not least, a big thank you to all these amazing musicians, always devoted to the world of bluegrass music, who over the years cooperated with us for making this happen.

To take the place of this year's Meeting, Danilo accompanies this message with a YouTube video in which he and sixteen other musicians - all from Italy, except for one from Poland and two from France - play 'Blackberry blossom' on banjo, guitar, mandolin, and fiddle, all from their various lockdown locations.

European bluegrass CDs wanted for new EBMA radio show

CONGRATULATIONS to Ronnie Norton (left) of Dublin, ace bluegrass photographer, critic, reporter, and radio presenter, who is taking up a major role in promoting the cause of bluegrass in Europe.

The board of directors of the European Bluegrass Music Association (EBMA) announce to EBMA national representatives and supporters:

European Bluegrass has been very quiet these past months, as you might expect. However, we do have some good news for you and the European bluegrass community.

We are very pleased to announce a regularly scheduled EBMA internet radio show dedicated to promoting European bluegrass. The show will go out on 2 July on the established platforms of WorldWideBluegrass.com and BluegrassCountry.org.

Ronnie Norton, who has recently joined the EBMA board together with Mats Wikström, will host the show. Ronnie is an experienced and well-known broadcaster on country and bluegrass internet radio stations.

We are currently compiling a list of European bands to invite them to submit CDs. Please check for your country and fill in any gaps for bands that we have missed. We need the name of the band of course, as well as the name of the person to contact and the contact email address.

Check band list here.

Please add it directly to this shared sheet above if possible or send your input to webmaster@ebma.org.

Thanks for your help and commitment to European bluegrass.
It may be some time before we return to 'normal'.

Stay safe!
EBMA Board

Update 8 June: Ronnie has some up-to-date news on the airing of the show, which we hope to be able to post very shortly.

Tony de Boer

The BIB learns with regret of the death of Tony de Boer, 'grandfather of Canadian bluegrass', on 20 May. Tony was born in the Netherlands eighty-one years ago; and though his family moved to Canada when he was 9, he always gave a very warm welcome to the European Bluegrass Music Association (EBMA) contingent attending IBMA's World Of Bluegrass events over the years, and saw to it that the EBMA's hospitality suite was well supplied with Canadian beer. His much greater achievements for bluegrass in Canada, over nearly half a century, are indicated on Bluegrass Today.

La Roche 2020 cancelled

THE La Roche Bluegrass Festival at La Roche-sur-Foron, on the edge of the French Alps, is Europe's largest festival dedicated exclusively to bluegrass music. A month ago the organisers were still planning for a full festival this year (30 July-2 August), but were prepared if necessary to reduce size and content, depending on the state of coronavirus restrictions.

On 1 May the organisers and the La Roche town council issued a joint press release announcing with regret the cancellation of this year's festival. The full text of the release can be read on the Festival website and on the European Bluegrass Music Association (EBMA) Facebook.

As a small consolation - in place of the previous one-minute video teaser, the Festival website now features a new ten-minute (well, nine-and-a-quarter) film shot by Fred Glas last year, which powerfully conveys the setting, the size, and the community atmosphere of the La Roche Festival. Well worth watching! This film can also be seen on YouTube - look out for a glimpse of Co. Armagh's Cup O' Joe.

Kruger Brothers on live stream from North Carolina

THANKS to the European Bluegrass Music Association (EBMA) for sharing on its Facebook a video by the Kruger Brothers of a live-stream concert they gave recently. The venue was The 1915, the former federal courthouse and post office building in Wilkesboro, NC, which now houses a music hall, restaurant, cafe, and meeting place, and hosts the series 'The 1915 Shows'. The video can be seen here.

The EBMA takes a further step forward

Thanks to Eugene O'Brien, chairman of the European Bluegrass Music Association (EBMA), for a copy of the following message which has been sent to selected EBMA members throughout Europe:

Dear Bluegrass Friends,

As its main priority, EBMA is focused on sustaining and growing European bluegrass by actively promoting European bands, festivals, commercial activities, concerts workshops/camps and any other bluegrass-orientated events or activities.

Having been quiet for some time we now have a new dynamic website, with a musicians network and individual pages for Member Bands and Partners. We have negotiated discounts for Paige capos, Banjo Newsletter, and the Station Inn TV, with hopefully more to come. We continue with Youth Scholarships and are partnering the La Roche Festival with prize money in the European Band Competition.

We are creating a network of national/regional representatives who will be a full part of the EBMA structure; to be the EBMA link at local level for members, festivals and events, as well as being an 'advisory group' for the EBMA Board, and with the power to post directly on the EBMA Facebook pages. Each will have a listing on the website as the National/ Regional Representative.

Some specifics:

• Identify anything within their country or region that needs to be publicised.
• Offer feedback and ideas to the EBMA Board.
• Help with recruiting new members and distributing flyers at festivals and concerts etc.
• Contribute to the newsletter.
• Post directly on the EBMA Facebook pages.
• Identify potential scholarship students.

You have already been approached, or have volunteered, or have even been electronically kidnapped to become an EBMA National/Regional Representative. This is not to be an isolated task but in full coordination with the EBMA Board and the plans for the future.

Please let me know if you are still interested and we can get things going.

Very Best Regards

Eugene
EBMA Chairman

BIB editor's note: Anyone in Ireland who is an existing or prospective member of the EBMA and wishes to take up Eugene's offer will have the BIB's blessing and support in doing so.

The EBMA needs you!

The European Bluegrass Music Association (EBMA) announces:

We are looking for enthusiastic, talented and energetic people to join the EBMA Board in growing European bluegrass. The EBMA Board operates as a team, but the small team that we have right now cannot do everything. We need YOUR help!

Specifically, the EBMA is keen to take on a newsletter editor (or preferably two), a membership manager, a partners manager, and a bands manager. The Board emphasises:

Nobody on the Board works in isolation; we all contribute to the overall aims and decision, and a helping hand from each other will always be there. For more information and to have a chat, mail us at info@ebma.org.

Application forms can be filled in and sent from here.

Pete Stanley, 1937-2020

The BIB has just learned with regret of the death of Pete Stanley (left), devotee of the 5-string banjo and British (and European) bluegrass pioneer, at the beginning of this year. His funeral was held in Exeter, Devon, on Wednesday 22 January. His daughter Saro has announced on the Mudcat online forum that

there is also a memorial concert/ tribute planned later at Cecil Sharp House London for 16 May 2020. Details to follow. We also are planning to show a collection of photos and memorabilia throughout Pete's long career from the late 50s onwards to view at the concert venue.

In 2013 Pete Stanley was one of the first to receive a European Bluegrass Pioneer Award from the European Bluegrass Music Association - thanks largely to information supplied by Rick Townend, who himself recently received the Jan Jerrold Award from the British Bluegrass Music Association. A biographical article on Pete Stanley by Richard Thompson is in preparation, with which the BIB will not attempt to compete.

Longtime attenders at festivals in Athy, Co. Kildare, will recall Pete playing there around the turn of this century with Brian Golbey, one of his longtime musical partners. Niall Toner also sends the memory that when he and his late wife Moira were living in London in the early 1960s, he learned from Pete how to play banjo in old-time two-finger style, 'which', Niall writes, 'I still play today, in the privacy of my mountain home'.

The EBMA newsletter is back!

The European Bluegrass Music Association (EBMA) announces its December 2019 newsletter, with this table of contents:

- Changes in EBMA memberships
- La Roche band competition 2019
- EBMA's interview with Missy Raines at La Roche
- Adiaha’s 2019 Bluegrass Camp - Pick your passion
- Bluegrass Jamboree 2019
- Sore Fingers 2020 - 25th Anniversary Week
- Bluegrass Festival Freiolsheim

- and includes a reminder that standard EBMA membership is FREE till the end of March 2020. The Freiolsheim festival report, by the way, includes an account of the headliners, the Sons of Navarone, who will be touring here in January together with performing at the 21st Shannonside Winter Music Festival.

Much more is on the newsletter. Check out the completely remodelled EBMA website as well.

The EBMA marks World Bluegrass Day

Last Tuesday (1 Oct.) was World Bluegrass Day, and the European Bluegrass Music Association (EBMA) prepared for it by posting the previous day on Facebook a four-minute film in which quite a number of well-known European musicians (including Tabitha Agnew Benedict from Co. Armagh), as well as some Americans, spoke of what bluegrass means to them. The video can also be seen above and on YouTube.

The latest BBN (and some Irish connections)

The BIB editor writes:

The summer/ autumn 2019 issue (no. 87) of British Bluegrass News, the magazine of the British Bluegrass Music Association (BBMA), is now out, and as always it is designed and produced to very high standards, profusely illustrated with excellent photos, and full of solid content.

It also ranges far beyond British bluegrass affairs: the feature on the Philadelphia band Man About A Horse wouldn't be out of place in Bluegrass Inlimited; four of the five CDs reviewed are by US artists; and Eugene O'Brien of the European Bluegrass Music Association (EBMA) contributes a feature on the La Roche Bluegrass Festival (which the BBN editor considers 'without question the best bluegrass festival in Europe') and on Czech instrument maker Jarda Prucha. Navan's Pilgrim St appear twice in this issue - once in the list of BBMA Band and Media Members, and again in the full-page ad for the Moniaive Michaelmas Bluegrass Festival on the back cover.

The cover feature, and the largest article in the issue, is a celebratory farewell by Trevor Simpson to the thirteenth and final Orwell Bluegrass Festival (in which Bill Forster took part). Eugene O'Brien also laments the closing of festivals, the ageing of audiences, 'and more and more touring bands... much to the detriment of home-grown talent' in Europe.

The post of editor will in future be held by Chris Lord, banjo player with the Vanguards; but for the past four years Dave Teague, the BBMA chairman, has been BBN editor as well. Dave states on the BBMA website: 'In the future, I would hope to see the magazine as a definitive resource for all things bluegrass, not just in Britain, but also in Ireland and into mainland Europe.'

New start, new look, new facilities from the EBMA (UPDATE)

The website of the European Bluegrass Music Association (EBMA) has been completely reorganised and redesigned, following a basic restructuring of the organisation. (Cup O' Joe from Co. Armagh are among the bands shown on the website's front page, listed under the heading 'EBMA bands and artists'). The EBMA board announce on the EBMA Facebook:

Dear Follower or Member of the EBMA,

We are fully aware that there has recently been some silence about EBMA's activities. Due to personnel changes, we were in a restructuring process and took time to reflect on how we want to handle our support for European Bluegrass in the upcoming future.

What's new?
As a first step of improvement we are excited to announce our new website www.ebma.org with the first European Directory of Bluegrass Musicians, Bands, Events and Commercial Partners.

Create your own musicians-listing to let the world know you are there! Help other people connect with you and find out where other musicians live. As a 'Band Member' you can now easily list and promote yourself.

EBMA is dedicated to the development of European Bluegrass and the promotion of Bluegrass around Europe. Therefore we are seeking partnerships with all the big bluegrass festivals and events, the luthiers, the bluegrass camps, the radio stations and many more. As a member you may benefit from discounts and special offers.

Are you already an EBMA member?
Due to our new membership administration it is necessary to register to our new website once. It helps us to minimize administrative work. Best of all: Standard Membership - it’s free until March 2020!

Help us to build-up this online community!
Join in and help the European Bluegrass community to grow. It’s all there in our database.
Thanks a lot for your continued support!

BIB editor's note: The BIB is now subscribed to receive the EBMA's e-newsletter. The first of these gives essentially the same text as above, and also includes a screen shot of the new online interactive directory - on which the image of Cup O' Joe is clearly visible. The news blog on the EBMA website also includes a feed from Bluegrass Today.

Good news from Europe

Red Herring: (l-r) Joram Peeters, Paul van Vlodrop,

Loes van Schaijk, Arthur Deighton

Thanks to Loes van Schaijk of Red Herring, based in the Netherlands and Czech Republic, for the news that the band will be on tour in these islands in late May and early June 2019. They already have some major anchor engagements, and are available for additional gigs.

Red Herring consists of Arthur Deighton (vocals, mandolin, guitar, bouzouki), Joram Peeters (vocals, fiddle, viola, guitar, bouzouki, mandolin), Loes van Schaijk (vocals, upright bass), and Paul van Vlodrop (banjo, mandolin, guitar, vocals) - all of them among the most capable and experienced bluegrass musicians this side of the Atlantic. Paul, a former member of 4 Wheel Drive, has been called 'the best mandolin player in Europe' by no less than Martino Coppo of Red Wine. Loes is also author of the outstanding book High lonesome below sea level on bluegrass in the Netherlands. More on all the members can be found on the band's website, together with videos and a downloadable press kit.

This year the band came in second in the European Bluegrass Band contest at the big La Roche Bluegrass Festival in France; they had previously won the #1 Audience Popularity Award at the Bluegrass Beeg Festival in 2014, and the #2 Audience Popularity Award at the European World of Bluegrass Festival the following year. They have just released their third album, Here to distract you, comprising mostly original songs and a few covers.

Loes sends links to their first official video, 'Wedding dress', their second, 'Pigs upon a ninja', and a video of a live performance in Rotterdam of 'No hearts won'. (You can also find on YouTube their version of the Paul Brady song 'Marriage made in Hollywood'.)

Red Herring expect to be in Ireland during the first two weeks of June. For more info and bookings, contact Loes through the band website, by 'phone (+31(0)6-14362134), or e-mail.

*

Although the European Bluegrass Music Association's Bluegrass Europe has ceased publication as a print magazine, its Facebook continues to carry news of bluegrass events in Europe, and the latest item there advertises Red Wine's tenth Bluegrass Party concert, to be held this coming Saturday (17 Nov.) as part of their fortieth anniversary celebrations.

Bluegrass news from Europe in a new format

Supporting European Bluegrass and Bluegrass in Europe

As a result of feedback received from readers, the European Bluegrass Music Association (EBMA) has issued the first of its monthly e-newsletters for 2018 in a new format. From now on, the e-newsletter will contain article headlines, with links to the full articles (reviews, etc.) which are on the EBMA website. This reduces the amount readers have to plough through in the mail, allowing them to focus on items of prime interest.

This month's items include EBMA scholarships (BIB readers may remember that two years ago the first of these scholarships went to Evan Lyons from Co. Tipperary and Tabitha Agnew from Co. Armagh); an interview by Richard Thompson of US scholar and picker Lee Bidgood, whose book Czech bluegrass: notes from the heart of Europe was recently published by the University of Illinois Press; an appreciation by Tom Klingl of the dobros, resonator guitars, and other instruments made by Markus Koch in Germany; and an important article 'Do you play? So listen' by the Czech musician Ondra Kozák, which includes a list of recommended bluegrass recordings.

You can arrange to receive the newsletter by contacting the EBMA board, without having to be an EBMA member.