About Bluegrass Virginia

I'm not sure how many readers I will have or from what source they will come, but I wanted to address the title of this blog. It is "Bluegrass Virginia" which is the same as the title of the newsletter I print and mail via USPS to approximately 150 readers. Some of you reading this may be among those readers; thanks for joining me on the web. You will notice for the next six months or so that many of the articles you read here will also appear in the newsletter. This is a transitional period as the printed newsletter will cease publication with the March 2009 issue. It is my hope you will continue to follow my blog in lieu of the newsletter.

For those of you who are new to the blog, welcome. I believe this endeavor will be interesting and hopefully of interest to you. As I learn more about the blogging world I will try to add pictures, links to bands and festivals as well as other places of interest to Bluegrass fans.

The newsletter "Bluegrass Virginia" grew out of an desire to help inform the members of the club I host; The Virginia Bluegrass Family of upcoming Bluegrass events. We meet each month on the 1st Tuesday in the Jahnke Road Baptist Church on Jahnke Road on Richmond, Virginia's south side. The VBF was started about 17 years ago by a friend named Dave Osborne. He was new to the Richmond area and wanted to find some folks to play Bluegrass with. So, way back, those 17 years ago at the August version of the Central Virginia Family Bluegrass Music Festival (Affectionately called the Amelia Festival.), Dave passed out some flyers announcing there would be a meeting at the Jahnke Road Baptist Church on the 1st Tuesday of October. To his surprise nearly 100 people showed up and they were all ready to begin jamming Bluegrass. Word got around and soon the VBF was going strong. Dave started a newsletter for the loosely organized group, but after a few years circumstances led to Dave giving up the club altogether.

We floudered for awhile, but after a meeting with a few of the regular attendees I decided we needed to begin having meetins once more. As the host of the VBF I try to get out as much information as I can about Bluegrass music in the area. The newsletter grew out of this same desire to impart to the public as much information as I could.