(Editor's Note: Read part one of our series on the Dayton Bluegrass Reunion here. Read part two here.) Working on CityFolk's Dayton Bluegrass Reunion, I heard local terminology for the culture in which this music grew. "Industrial working-class Appalachian migrants" was rarely spoken. "Hillbilly" was said sometimes with disdain, sometimes with pride. The preferred in-group…
Editor's note: Read part one of Industrial Strength Bluegrass and the Dayton Bluegrass Reunion here In 1987 I became involved with CityFolk's Dayton Bluegrass Reunion, "An All-Star Salute to Dayton's 40 Year Bluegrass History." Between October 1987 and March 1989, I worked by mail and telephone to help shape the Reunion, planned for April 1989.Ā …
On April 22, 1989, Cityfolk, a Dayton, Ohio-based concert series, mounted their most ambitious evening to date, The Dayton Bluegrass Reunion, "An All-Star Salute to Dayton's 40 Year Bluegrass History." It was held at Memorial Hall in downtown Dayton. I'm reminded of this concert now because of an essay I wrote for its program booklet:…
(Editor's note: Read part one of Neil V. Rosenberg's Bluegrass Memoir on the Earl Scruggs Celebration of 1987 here. Read part two here.) Boiling Springs, NC on Saturday, September 26, 1987: My workshop in the Gardner-Webb College Library with Snuffy Jenkins, Pappy Sherrill and the Hired Hands ended at 4:30 that afternoon when Dan X.…
(Editor's note: Read part 1 of Neil V. Rosenberg's series on the 1987 Earl Scruggs Celebration here.) My diary for Saturday September 26, 1987 -- Earl Scruggs Celebration day at Gardner-Webb College in Boiling Springs, North Carolina -- begins with an entry on foodways: I meet Tom (Hanchett) and Carol (Sawyer) at 7:30 and we…
