The Venue

Iowa’s Oldest and Largest Bluegrass Festival In Northeast Iowa, around 4 miles south of a small town called Strawberry Point (home of the World’s Largest Strawberry) and a few miles north of Backbone State Park, lies a picturesque 20-acre wooded site. During the last full weekend of July, this beautiful location is full of campers…

IBMA’s 2025 Event of the Year Winners Written By Dale and Darcy Cahill Being lifelong lovers of bluegrass and thirty-year veterans of attending bluegrass festivals in New England: Grey Fox, Thomas Point, Podunk, and many others, we have never attended a festival in the southern states. When we saw the Earl Scruggs Music Festival lineup…

Photos Courtesy of Alisa Murphy People describing the Station Inn, Nashville’s iconic music venue, use such words as home and family. Some call it magic. An Ohio couple who retired to Nashville for the music and who regularly attend the Sunday jams and Monday shows called it their church. Greg Cahill of Special Consensus, looking…

Photo Courtesy of Roy M. Andrade The tiny Appalachian town of Mountain City, Tennessee (population around 2,500), sits in the northeastern corner of the state, about halfway between Bristol, Tennessee, and Boone, North Carolina.  At 2,418 feet, it is the highest incorporated town in Tennessee, and the county seat for Johnson County, in one of…

We Interview Some of the People Involved with All Stages of the IBMA’s History Photos Courtesy of IBMA It was in 1985 that the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) was officially formed, which makes 2025 its 40th anniversary year.  In this article, we are not going to do a deep dive into the logistics and…

Photos by Will Price When it comes to the rich history of American roots music that collectively pre-dated and led to the creation of bluegrass in 1945, local culture and geography were key to different styles arising.  That phenomenon often happens with music that organically evolves, no matter the genre. In the 1700s and 1800s,…