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OIBF 2009 21 Oct 2009
Lucky number 13 went quite well I thought. The weather was really very nice, and I believe everyone had a wonderful time. I was really pleased with the youth bands, The Hunt Family and Rockin’ Acoustic Circus. These kids just keep getting better and better! It makes us feel good to know our scholarship money is being well spent. The Alaskan String band is another family band with several young people; they sounded great and made a striking appearance with their neat looking outfits.
Some newer faces at the festival this year were Richard Smith and Chris Jones. Richard and his wife are from England and their show went over very well. Our crowds seem to love them, as I expected they would. What a guitar player! Chris Jones and his band did another great job, and we thank him for broadcasting live from the festival on the Sirius bluegrass station.
Our special guest, Mark O’Connor, with his Appalachian Waltz Trio, did another outstanding performance. What a nice variety of music they made with violin, viola and cello. I thought they fit right in with our festival and I thank them for coming.
Peter Feldman, Wayne Shrubshall and Bruce Thompson gave us some old-time and early bluegrass music. Wayne has to be the best old-time banjo picker around. Thanks to them and also to the musicians in Alan Munde’s group, The Gibson Brothers, the Red Dirt Rangers, Mountain Smoke, Cedar Ridge and Brigade. Individual thanks to Edgar Cruz, Frenchie Burke, Hank Williams (aka Jim Blair), Barry Patton, and of course all the guys in the Byron Berline Band.
A very special thank you to our indispensable emcees who kept us moving right along on schedule: George Wilkinson, Ron Mashore and Jeff Reeves (also our auctioneer). We hope to see you next year for our 14th! Sept. 30 - Oct. 2, 2010
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