At IBMA: Postcard from the bluegrass trade show
If you’ve been reading the All In Blog this week, you already know that I’ve been attending the IBMA convention in Raleigh, NC. Wednesday is the middle day of the conference, and one day closer to the IBMA awards gala, followed by a huge outdoor bluegrass street festival in downtown Raleigh.
There’s a lot of meet & greet here. Cds and business cards exchanged. Bands get booked. Festival schedules get filled up for next summer. Faces finally match up to the names. Fame brushes anonymity. Bands audition in every open space, for anyone that will listen. Jam sessions pop up in every hallway. Bands actually give concerts in the hotel suites. Booking agents showcase their stables of talent for anyone wearing a name tag. It’s bluegrass hospitality week on steroids.
My day was filled with seminars on how to improve your stage presence, your stage sound, your record label, understanding your insurance liability, copyright information, and just about everything else related to music performance and industry.
The bluegrass trade show opened today in the Raleigh Convention Center, and I thought I’d send a few photos along, since it’s impossible to capture it all in words. There’s a little of everything:
… like bands looking for more exposure.
… used instrument dealers.
Magazine subscriptions.
… the Banjo Museum!
Custom thumb picks.
Instrument stands.
Leather instrument straps.
… and a few non-musical vendors:
The IBMA has its merch booth here too:
.. and the networking continues on every flat surface in the area:
I collected new music from all of these folks:
Dan & Caroline Routh, a.k.a. Nu-Blu.
Scott Anderson with his new cd, Tales from The Swamp.
John Goad, a.k.a. the Bluegrass Weather Man, who is also a publicist for other acts, and a writer for Bluegrass Today.
Tori Gold, from the 3 sisters band, Gold Heart. Their new album is almost done, but Tori sent along a 2-track sample for you.
Meet Driven – from the midwest – they play ‘Bluegrass Without Mercy’.
Oh, Mercy!
Donna Hughes. Her new cd is called From The Heart.
Jim and Lynna Woolsey. Their album is titled The Road That Brings You Home.
It’s been a FULL day of meet & greet at IBMA. The evenings and nights offer about 60 different concerts in a dozen different venues around Raleigh, with a free bus to take you from one event to the next. It’s called The Bluegrass Ramble…and a stalwart fan can ramble until about 2:30 in the morning, enjoying a different band every 45 minutes at most venues, then ramble off to a hotel suite and jam until dawn.
Thursday night is the biggest night of the week here: the IBMA Awards. You can stream the show live on your computer at www.IBMA.org, and tune in next week for the String Fever award winners show for this year.
Thanks for following me to Raleigh. Wish you were here, and I’ll see you soon on the radio!
Tags: IBMA, Raleigh, String Fever
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