Valerie Smith and Liberty Pike to bring even more bluegrass music into Kentucky elementary classrooms!

Valerie Smith and Liberty Pike will perform concerts in 21 Owensboro, Ky.-area elementary schools during the month of January. The All-School Bluegrass Assemblies are a part of the International Bluegrass Music Museum’s Bluegrass in the School Program (BITS).

The January dates mark Valerie Smith and Liberty Pike’s second term as the featured artists for this presentation. They were the very first assembly program presenters in Owensboro in 2004 and their overwhelming popularity created a successful foundation for a program that is now in its seventh year of implementation.

“Our presentation is about 45 minutes and covers the basics about how and where bluegrass was formed,” says Liberty Pike’s Becky Buller. “Valerie is a former junior high music teacher and has a knack for putting together a program that keeps the students engaged 'til the last,” she adds.

The in-school concerts by national acts are a much-anticipated annual event in the Owensboro area, taking place as part of the Museum’s ongoing educational outreach efforts. Schoolchildren, faculty and administrators, as well as parents who take in the concerts during the school day, often report back that they are the best programs they’ve ever seen in the schools.

“The students seemed to have a lot of fun and were really open-minded to learning about this uniquely American music,” Buller agrees. “I would encourage other bands to look for ways to reach out to students in their own communities with this kind of program. Who knows? They may catch the attention of a kid who will grow up to be one of the next icons of our music!”

The Museum’s BITS program is designed to interest elementary-age schoolchildren in bluegrass music. If—after receiving an eight day, in-depth introduction to fiddle, guitar, mandolin and banjo in their classrooms—they want to learn to play bluegrass, they can then sign up for group lessons at the Museum, with instruments on loan as part of the Saturday Lessons Program.

After four years, 1,711 beginning and intermediate students of all ages have taken group music lessons in this one-of-a-kind, authentic and historic setting. There’s nothing else quite like learning to play bluegrass while surrounded by the actual clothing, posters, photographs and artifacts of Bill Monroe and other greats!

"Bluegrass is one of the few truly American musical genres," Buller says. "The museum is preserving all the wonderful stories of Bluegrass' creators and innovators for not only future generations of musicians, but also for the public at large. By becoming a member, we are supporting the preservation of a national treasure," she says.

Sponsors of the Museum’s BITS program are the Michael E Horn Family Foundation, Lester E. Yeager Charitable Trust, Kentucky Arts Council and the John D’Addario Foundation for the Performing Arts. Participating school systems are Daviess County Public Schools, Owensboro Public Schools and Owensboro Catholic School System.

For more information on the Museum’s educational outreach and lessons programs, call Gabrielle Gray at 270-926-7891 or email her at Gabrielle@bluegrassmuseum.org.

Assembly schedule for Valerie Smith and Liberty Pike:

Jan 11
8 am Foust
10 am Newton Parrish
1 pm West Louisville

Jan 12
8:15 am Cravens
10 am Tamarack
1 pm Country Heights

Jan 13
10 am Sutton
1 pm Meadowlands

Jan 14
8:15 Catholic K-3 Campus
10 am Catholic 4-6 Campus
1 pm Sorgho

Jan 15
8 am Whitesville Elementary
1 pm East View

Jan 19
8 am Mary Carrico Knottsville
10 am Saint Marys of the Woods Whitesville
1 pm Deer Park

Jan 20
8:30 am Estes
1 pm Burns

Jan 21
1 pm Southern Oaks

Jan 22
9:30 Audubon
1 pm Highland

Holiday Concert Fun

Our Holiday Concert fundraiser December 10 was a resounding success. Valerie Smith & Liberty Pike were so funny and entertaining that the “sell-out crowd” (about 75 more than filled up the Bluegrass Unlimited Theater) was on their feet clapping several times.



The concert lasted nearly 3 hours and no one left before it was over, amazing for a weeknight. We made a few hundred dollars and many more friends. Now it seems everyone wants a concert date. The show was broadcast on RBI and the museum is getting offers now from other national acts to do benefit concerts in like fashion.




Up-N-Gone opened with a fine 20-minute set, staying to join in for a finale where both bands performed and the audience sang along. A frolicking good time was had by all.

Adding to the Museum Collection: Gabrielle goes to the Christie's Auction

I have just returned from a trip out East during which I attended the auction at Christie's in the Rockefeller Center in New York City. The museum bid on two Monroe artifacts—the Gibson mandolin headstock veneer, which we didn't get, and the statuette commemorating his induction into the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame, which we did get.

It was "Wild and Wonderful" (yes, I drove through West Virginia!) to see all the interest in the Bill Monroe artifacts. When the headstock veneer was introduced, they made an announcement that there had been a LOT of interest in the upcoming piece. I think they were surprised at that, but I certainly wasn't.

See a picture of it here.

There were bidders in the audience (including me) and callers on the phones. The bidding went SO HIGH, SO QUICKLY it made my head spin, and suddenly it was out of reach. I was disappointed because I had driven a LONG way to be there and I wanted that artifact for the museum so that everyone all over the world could enjoy it—and the story that accompanies it—forever, but I know whoever bought it will take excellent care of it because they spent $37,500 (plus taxes & fees) to get it!

Here's what we did acquire:



It’s the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction award presented posthumously to Bill Monroe in 1997. It will make a great addition to our permanent Big Mon exhibit at the Museum.

Concert Video Night Dec. 12!

On December 12, 2009 at the International Bluegrass Music Museum in Owensboro, Kentucky, the museum will present a night of Old-Time & Progressive Bluegrass as videotaped by Kentucky Educational Television for their “Jubilee” series on public television. All these performances were videotaped at ROMP, the Bluegrass Museum’s annual festival which takes place the 4th weekend of June.

The event is free and open to the public. Featured artists and times are:

5:00 PM Foghorn String Band (Old Time)
6:00 PM Tim O’Brien (Progressive)
7:00 PM Uncle Earl (Old Time)
8:00 PM Adrienne Young & Little Sadie (Progressive)
8:30 PM Cadillac Sky (Progressive)

This event is part of The Holiday Stroll, during which many downtown Owensboro businesses will be open and welcoming to the public, showing off their holiday decorations, exhibits, menus and merchandise. Free refreshments will be served at numerous businesses, including the Bluegrass Museum. Get into the holiday spirit with strolling carolers, live performances, and storefront decorations making this a reminder of the good old days of being downtown at Christmas. Singers, instrumentalists, dancers, storytellers and actors will perform in storefronts and outside along Second and Third streets from Daviess to St. Ann.

The Bluegrass Museum is located in the RiverPark Center Complex, 117 Daviess Street, in downtown Owensboro just under the blue bridge… over the legendary Ohio River that is the subject of so many bluegrass songs.

Calling all bluegrass associations around the world!

The International Bluegrass Music Museum wants to partner with you! We’re starting an official Bluegrass Museum Ambassadors Program, and we’re inviting your association to participate.

Your association will appoint or elect a person who is willing and enthusiastic about being an Ambassador from your association to the International Bluegrass Music Museum. This Museum Ambassador will work with the Bluegrass Museum on special projects, report news and information for our newsletter, report Museum news back to your association for members and newsletters, encourage Museum membership and donations, encourage donation of bluegrass artifacts to the Museum and attend a yearly meeting of Ambassadors at ROMP in Owensboro each year. ROMP takes place the 4th weekend of June.

Ambassadors will receive a complimentary IBMM membership, a VIP ROMP pass (which includes VIP access to all events, backstage privileges, meals with Artists/Pioneers), and an Ambassadors t-shirt. The museum will arrange low-cost lodging for your stay at ROMP, getting you in on our artists’ rates (typically $54/night + tax).

What we need from you:
Designate your official Museum Ambassador and send us the following information.

Association Name:
Ambassador:
Mailing Address:
Phone Number:
Email Address:
T-shirt size: S M L XL 2XL

Please mail this information to the address below or email it to gabrielle@bluegrassmuseum.org.

International Bluegrass Music Museum
Attn: Bluegrass Ambassadors
207 East Second Street
Owensboro, KY 42303

Holiday benefit concert at Bluegrass Museum

Valerie Smith & Liberty Pike will be giving the International Bluegrass Music Museum an early holiday present—a concert benefiting the museum on December 10th at 7:00 p.m. with opening support by Up-N-Gone.

“We love spreading the joy and meaning behind the Christmas season in song,” Smith says. “We are especially grateful this holiday season for our wonderful fans; you folks have made it possible for us to continue doing what we love to do, even in this difficult economy. Thank you!”

This concert will take place in the museum's ‘Bluegrass Unlimited Theater’ and will be broadcast globally over RBI: Radio Bluegrass International, the museum's online radio station. If you can't make the concert, you can still be there virtually by going to the museum’s website, www.bluegrassmuseum.org and clicking on RBI (the radio icon on the upper left-hand corner of the home page).

“The International Bluegrass Music Museum is preserving an important part of America's musical history in a very welcoming, interactive, fun yet classy way,” Smith says. “We're proud to be part of their outreach to the community, both as part of their upcoming ‘Bluegrass In The Schools’ program in January and with our Christmas Concert on Dec. 10th, where folks can expect a mix of our regular material as well as songs of the season.”

Concert seating for Valerie Smith & Liberty Pike is quite limited—call in advance for reservations. Tickets are $10 per person, in advance or at the door. For reservations, call 888 MY BANJO (888-692-2656).

The Bluegrass Museum is located at 117 Daviess Street, in downtown Owensboro, Ky. The museum is inside the RiverPark Center Complex, a large red brick building on the right, just beside the blue bridge over the Ohio River. Directions are on the museum's website under ‘Plan A Visit.’

Blue Grass Boys Reunion!

The International Bluegrass Music Museum will host a gathering of all living Blue Grass Boys who played with Bill Monroe as part of the Pioneers of Bluegrass Reunion held during its River of Music Party (ROMP) in June.

This will be the third annual reunion event, but the first to include a Blue Grass Boys gathering. To date, more than 60 “pioneers”—those musicians who were working in bluegrass before 1960—have attended the event. ROMP 2010 is scheduled for June 24-26, and museum director Gabrielle Gray says she hopes to attract as many of the 90 or so living Blue Grass Boys to the event as possible.

The Museum will also be making a documentary of the gathering, to supplement its Video Oral History Project that has recorded 175 interviews with bluegrass pioneers. In addition to the reunion events and main stage concert, ROMP features a Pioneers Recognition Ceremony, the Legends Supper, the IBMA Bluegrass Hall of Fame unveiling, a film festival and more.

For information on the reunion, call the museum at 888-MY BANJO or e-mail Gray at gabrielle@bluegrassmuseum.org.