Hall of Fame Homecoming Weekend
Joe Mullins and The Radio Ramblers enjoyed a most memorable weekend September 1 and 2, 2023. Our band was very fortunate to host the Hall of Fame Homecoming for the Bluegrass Hall of Fame and Museum, Owensboro, Kentucky. Let us never forget the importance of the leadership in the City of Owensboro, Daviess County and the state of Kentucky, since they first opened opportunities for the International Bluegrass Music Association in the 1980’s. Our bluegrass “home” in Owensboro includes a magnificent facility on the riverfront that opened in 2018. The Bluegrass Hall of Fame and Museum is a magnet for downtown Owensboro and a variety of quality restaurants, hotels, shops and other attractions are thriving within easy walking distance to the Hall of Fame.
The Radio Ramblers were to perform Friday and Saturday nights. A two-night package had been offered throughout the summer for those who could attend for the weekend. Delicious meals catered by Owensboro’s famous Moonlight Barbecue were served each evening at the comfortable banquet space at the Hall of Fame and lodging was provided at hotels nearby.
Friday evening, we were grateful to have an audience of JMRR devotees who had traveled from my home base in Ohio. Owensboro is over 250 miles from Dayton, Ohio, making the trip a good weekend getaway. But our band was also very thankful for Ramblers fans and friends who journeyed from South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Virginia, North Carolina and other states, as well as many neighborhood guests too, from central Kentucky and southern Indiana.
We performed Friday evening in the Woodward Theater at the Hall of Fame. This intimate venue (less than 500 seats), is perfect for connecting with an audience and has outstanding sound and lighting. The quality facilities at the HOF and tremendous talent lineup from bluegrass, Americana, country, gospel and other roots music genres has made the theater a successful destination for concert goers. And, everyone who enters can learn about the founders and history of bluegrass!
Saturday, September 2 was a busy but blessed day. For the morning program, I was scheduled to sit down with museum director Chris Joslin on the theater stage and present visitors with details on Ohio’s bluegrass history. The Hall of Fame is currently featuring an exhibit on Industrial Strength Bluegrass, following the book of the same title and the IBMA “Album of the Year” for 2021. Bluegrass historian and a co-author of the book, Fred Bartenstein, allowed me to use his audio-video presentation and I spoke to a nice audience of enthusiasts. We also discussed my dad’s history and contributions, as Paul “Moon” Mullins was a class of 2022 Hall of Fame inductee.
During Saturday afternoon, an on-stage interview with Hall of Fame member Paul Williams was certainly inspiring. Paul is one of many “twice selected” members of the Hall; as a band member with the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers, and as an individual for his decades of writing and recording some of the greatest songs in the history of the genre.
Paul has been a personal, family friend and mentor for many years, so I was grateful for the opportunity to have him share his experiences and thoughts with an audience who also loved him. As I knew he would, he shared his heart and wisdom in many ways. Born in 1935, and beginning his career as a musician and singer on radio at age 12, Paul is so very fortunate at age 88 to still enjoy stable health and an outstanding ability to communicate with details, grace and humor. To share an afternoon of outstanding bluegrass history, laughter, fond memories and a few tears of joy with this dear friend was unforgettable for me and all in attendance. Paul and I both spoke of our great friend Doyle Lawson. He was scheduled to be part of the weekend but is not traveling at all while assisting his wife and family through a health care situation.
Bluegrass history was made on stage Saturday night, September 2, 2023, in Owensboro! As a beloved Hall of Fame member still touring full time, we were very fortunate that Del McCoury made himself available for the homecoming. We all know he’s logged millions of miles as a veteran road warrior. Del rode the McCoury bus from Nashville to Ohio Thursday, August 31, then to Mill Spring, North Carolina, for his performance at the Earl Scruggs Music Festival. His bus landed back in Nashville the day of our homecoming event at 4am. Always the pro, Del and a few family members joined us at the Hall of Fame Saturday for an afternoon rehearsal and sound check.
From the time Paul Williams and Del McCoury shook hands, hugged necks and began swapping stories of their years of performing, writing, recording and perfecting bluegrass music, there was excitement and magic in Owensboro. Cell phones grabbing videos and photos of the two legends, constantly. The smiles, laughter and high lonesome sound was sheer joy to all of The Radio Ramblers and everyone in the building. We were in awe to see two of our heroes really enjoy making pure bluegrass music, in a wonderful facility built to honor them and their peers. Paul and Del smiled and laughed so freely while running through classic songs they had written or first performed decades ago. And even at age 88, we practiced a few of Paul’s songs he had written and recorded in recent years, and recorded a demo backstage of a song he just wrote a few weeks ago!
The Radio Ramblers opened the show at 7pm with a few of our songs and introductions. The auditorium was sold out and even Terry Woodward, an IBMA founder and bluegrass Hall of Fame member whom the theater is named for was in attendance. Paul Williams joined us on stage to a standing ovation. His clear, tenor voice rang through the rafters, effortlessly. The selection of songs, most of which he had written, included his recent recording of “Abigail” to his classic “My Brown Eyed Darlin’,” which Paul wrote and recorded 71 years ago. He finished with “Fraulein,” and left the stage with another standing ovation.
Then, with his famous silver hair looking spectacular, Del McCoury took the stage with The Radio Ramblers. We were excited, nervous and anxious to play with one of most significant bluegrass creators of the last sixty years. Del was, as always, his completely laid back and unassuming self. He greeted the audience with his huge smile that closes his eyes and said “I don’t know what we’re gonna do, I’m still enjoying what Paul sang on ‘Fraulein’!”
I had the good fortune to jam with Del half the night a few times many years ago. But to play HIS hits with him on stage was amazing for all of us. “I Feel The Blues Moving In,” “Rain and Snow,” “The Bluest Man in Town” and others have been classics for so long, and performed by one of the most awarded and recognizable bands in history. We did our best, and Ramblers Chris Davis, Jason Barie, Adam McIntosh and Randy Barnes were all spectacular.
Then the magic, excitement and entertainment went to another level when Paul Williams came back on stage to join Del. The love, laughter, respect and music shared by these two, The Radio Ramblers and the audience was surreal. Their voices peeled the paint off the auditorium on classic bluegrass—”There Ain’t Nobody Gonna Miss Me,” “Hit Parade of Love,” “Little White Church” and more. Their duet on “Old Crossroads” was so special—Paul singing tenor to Del’s lead on the first verse and chorus, then they traded parts for the second verse and chorus! Unbelievable performances between jokes about their medications and remembering songs they first performed before bluegrass festivals even began made the evening fly by.
Del recalled seeing Paul decades ago with Jimmy Martin and The Sunny Mountain Boys. Del laughed and told stories of Paul fronting the show and having a great comedy routine. Paul’s composition “My Walking Shoes” was the closer but left the crowd demanding more. The show had ran nearly two hours, but Paul belted out “The Hills of Roane County” crystal clear. Del brought the house down the final time with “The Prisoner’s Song” and the historic night wrapped up.
I spoke with Paul Williams a few weeks later and he said, “It was an honor and privilege to be on stage at the Hall of Fame and I really enjoyed the entire event.” To the team at the Bluegrass Hall of Fame and Museum, Kentucky and Davies County tourism, the hundreds of people in attendance to encourage us, thank you so very much from The Radio Ramblers for the honor of hosting such an extraordinary weekend. Most of all, thank God for blessing Paul Williams and Del McCoury with their amazing gifts and a lifetime of devotion to our community. They made time stand still for an evening in Owensboro.
