Happy 75th birthday, Bluegrass! at the Opry (and on YouTube)

The logo on the right has been carried on the BIB throughout 2020, and today the IBMA sends this reminder to tune in this Saturday (5 December) at 8.00 p.m. ET / 7.00 p.m. CT for a special Grand Ole Opry show featuring the Del McCoury Band, the Travelin' McCourys, Darin & Brooke Aldridge, and Sister Sadie to celebrate the 75th anniversary of bluegrass music.

On Saturday 8 December 1945 Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys, already a successful Opry act, first brought their new banjo player, the 21-year-old Earl Scruggs, to the Grand Ole Opry stage in Nashville. The impact of Scruggs's playing on the audience has led to this event being seen as the 'birth of bluegrass'. A lively correspondence is developing on Bluegrass Today in response to David Morris's suggestion that Earl Scruggs should be considered the Father of Bluegrass, rather than Bill Monroe.

Details for tuning in to this Saturday's event are on the IBMA announcement, which also has a link to a YouTube video, 'Happy 75th birthday, Bluegrass!', with contributions from many familiar faces including our old friends Greg Cahill and Rick Faris of the Special Consensus.

Update 7 Dec.: The three-and-a-half hour show can be watched on YouTube or on Bluegrass Today, where John Lawless points out that the music starts at about 35 minutes in.