BGCS Newsletter Vol. I #2, October 17, 2018
Greetings!

Welcome to our 2nd "BGCS Newsletter!" Watch for additional newsletters coming your way in November. There is so much we'd like to share with you that we can't cover them fully with only one newsletter a month.
 
As we continue with our preparations to RESTORE our film and donate a high-definition copy to the Bluegrass Hall of Fame & Museum, we need to ask for your help in getting word of our website and newsletter to all your bluegrass friends. New subscribers can catch up on past issues of our newsletter on our Archive Page.
 
Congratulations to the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum on the opening of their brand new building. We can't wait to get there to see the exhibits and hear all the great music.
 
Best Always,
Albert Ihde
Producer/Director
 
TWO BGCS STARS TO BE HONORED THIS WEEKEND
Bobby Osborne (left) and Doyle Lawson (right).

This Thursday evening, two stars of Bluegrass Country Soul will be among those being honored during the Grand Opening of the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum in Owensboro, KY.
 
The $15 million building will celebrate its Grand Opening this weekend with three days of music. Among the performers being honored on October 18 are two mandolin players who played significant roles in Bluegrass Country Soul. Bobby Osborne is seen singing with his brother Sonny and Ronnie Reno with such numbers as "Ruby (Are You Mad at Your Man)," "Rocky Top," "Listening to the Rain," and "Take Me Home Country Roads." Doyle Lawson had joined The Country Gentlemen a few weeks prior to their Labor Day weekend appearance in 1971. He fit right in and is seen in BGCS performing "Matterhorn" and "Fox on the Run."
EVERY MUSEUM HAS A GIFT SHOP!
Bluegrass Hall of Fame & Museum and BGCS Playing Cards
The Bluegrass Hall of Fame & Museum (left) and Bluegrass Country Soul playing cards (right).

 When you visit the Bluegrass Museum exhibits, be sure to look for Bluegrass Country Soul . Herb Smith from Appalshop used footage from our film in the video exhibits he put together. Licensing this use of Bluegrass Country Soul will help us cover some of the expenses of making the archival copy we will be donating to the museum. And if you haven't purchased your deck of custom BGCS playing cards yet, you can do so in the museum Gift Shop! The profits from card sales all go toward our museum donation as well. Of course, if you can't get to Owensboro to do your Christmas gift shopping for all your bluegrass family and friends, you can buy your decks of cards here .
WHO IS THE "RAIN GIRL"?
Girl in Rain Poncho
Over the years, many have asked about the young lady under the poncho during the rain sequence. Does anyone know her name? We'd love to hear your memories of the festival.
 
Also, we are trying to contact all the groups who performed at this festival but were not in the film. They are listed on our Cast List page. Can you help us contact them?
BEHIND THE SCENES: JOEL JACOBSON,
Editor and Title Design

Joel Jacobson & Title Credits
Decades before computer editing became a reality the only way to edit a movie was the old fashioned way: searching through thousands of feet of celluloid, matching it with sound on magnetic stock, and splicing it together. This took a lot of skill and patience. Fortunately for us, Joel Jacobson and Doug McCash knocked on the door of a soundstage in Georgetown while my partners, Robert Leonard and Robert Henninger, and I were trying to start editing our film on an old, upright Moviola. "I hear you're looking for an editor," Joel said. He then showed us a fascinating short film he'd made cutting close-ups of hundreds of different people lip-synching to "Blue Suede Shoes." I hired him immediately. Joel, Doug, and I spend the next several months putting the film together on a flat-bed editing console. Joel also took the extreme close-ups of the bluegrass instruments and designed the opening titles. You can read the fabulous, rave review Joel received from the Washington Post.
 
You can see Doug, our Assistant Editor, on his mandolin at the start of the film. We'll introduce you to the others on our production team in future newsletters.
A MUST HAVE CD

Epilogue CD Cover
This is an exquisite album. But even though I have a personal connection to much of the music, I highly recommend it to folks who may not be familiar with the Country Gentlemen or the Seldom Seen. It's the kind of CD that you'll play often.
 
There's more than one connection to BGCS . "Epilogue" was produced by Akira Otsuka, the mandolin player from the Bluegrass 45. It's clear how much Akira admired John Duffy, and the mandolin playing on the CD is performed by many of the best musicians around today: Sam Bush, Bela Fleck, John Cowan, Bruce Molsky, Tim O'Brien, Don Rigsby and more.
 
Akira plays the last track, "First Tear," a hauntingly beautiful, solo mandolin piece, which is also found on his CD of the same title. Check out Smithsonian/Folkways to preview the tracks and to order your copy.
..and one more note on a recent CD Release
Del McCoury
A couple of weeks before his first LP was released, Del McCoury (left) performed in Bluegrass Country Soul , filmed during Carlton Haney's 1971 Labor Day weekend festival. His latest album (right), recently released, has a title that says it all. I hope to tell you more about this in an upcoming BGCS newsletter.
Please pass along our web address to everyone you know who loves bluegrass music:
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