Editor and General Manager | Dan Miller |
---|---|
Former editors | Peter V. Kuykendall |
Categories | Bluegrass and Old-time music |
Frequency | monthly |
Circulation | 11,330 (2018) |
Founder | Pete Kuykendall, Gary Henderson, Dick Freeland, Dick Spottswood, and Dianne and Vince Sims [1] |
Founded | 1966 |
First issue | July 1966 [2] |
Company | Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum |
Country | United States of America |
Based in | Owensboro, Kentucky |
Language | English |
Website | www.bluegrassmusic.com |
ISSN | 0006-5137 |
OCLC | 1788602 |
Bluegrass Unlimited is a monthly music magazine "dedicated to the furtherance of bluegrass and old-time musicians, devotees and associates." [3] First published in 1966, as of 2008 the magazine had a circulation of more than 25,000 copies and is widely considered the premier magazine for bluegrass music. Bluegrass Unlimited is a founding member of the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA). [4]
Folklorist and music scholar Neil V. Rosenberg, in Bluegrass: A History, sets out the history of Bluegrass Unlimited and thereafter notes its prominence and influence as the oldest of the nationally distributed bluegrass magazines. [5] The magazine launched, in 1966, in a typed, mimeographed 7– x 8½–inch booklet-like format [6] with a hand drawn logo, and was available for US$3(equivalent to $27.06 in 2022) per year. [7] In the fall of 1970, the magazine moved from an informal to a full-time operation with "new publishers" Pete and Marion Kuykendall upgrading it to a larger, standard format on glossy paper. [8] The current[ when? ] U.S. subscription rate is $25.00 per year [9] and the magazine is full-color and printed on high-speed web offset presses. [3]
As music historian Bill C. Malone observed, Bluegrass Unlimited magazine was initially devoted primarily to bluegrass music in the US and abroad with occasional reference to old time country music. [10] It is now a treasure trove of information on every phase of bluegrass and old-time music - biographical articles, discographies, record and book reviews, concert and festival dates, interviews, classified ads, and songs. [10] "Bluegrass Unlimited has always been a thorough compendium of material on bluegrass and old-time music." [11]
Speaking of founder Pete Kuykendall and the influence of Bluegrass Unlimited, David Freeman, owner of Rebel Records and County Records, said: "When the magazine started publishing, bluegrass was pretty much at a low point. The magazine spread the word and highlighted the artistic aspect of the music, which helped to bring it out of the bars where it was in the 1950s. Without him I don’t know where the bluegrass industry would be today." [12]
The 1996 International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame citation inducting Pete Kuykendall says that Bluegrass Unlimited magazine is "a publication affectionately referred to as the 'bible of bluegrass music'". [13]
In 2020, the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum acquired Bluegrass Unlimited. [14]
William Smith Monroe was an American mandolinist, singer, and songwriter, who created the bluegrass music genre. Because of this, he is often called the "Father of Bluegrass".
Lester Raymond Flatt was an American bluegrass guitarist and mandolinist, best known for his collaboration with banjo picker Earl Scruggs in the duo Flatt and Scruggs.
The Stanley Brothers were an American bluegrass duo of singer-songwriters and musicians, made up of brothers Carter Stanley and Ralph Stanley. Ralph and Carter performed as The Stanley Brothers with their band, The Clinch Mountain Boys, from 1946 to 1966. Ralph kept the band name when he continued as a solo artist after Carter's death, from 1967 until his own death in 2016.
Paul Allen Rothchild was a prominent American record producer of the 1960s and 1970s, widely known for his historic work with the Doors, producing Janis Joplin's final album Pearl and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band's first two albums.
Charles Samuel Bush is an American mandolinist who is considered an originator of progressive bluegrass music. In 2020, he was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame as a member of New Grass Revival. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame a second time in 2023 as a solo artist.
Benny Edward Martin, was an American bluegrass fiddler who invented the eight-string fiddle. Throughout his musical career he performed with artists such as the Bluegrass Boys, Don Reno, the Smoky Mountain Boys and Flatt and Scruggs, and later performed and recorded with the Stanley Brothers, Hylo Brown, Jimmy Martin, Johnnie and Jack, and the Stonemans, among others. He was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2005.
Induction to the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame, called the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor from its creation in 1991 through 2006, is managed by the International Bluegrass Music Association, and the Hall itself is maintained at the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum, Owensboro, Kentucky.
The International Bluegrass Music Association, or IBMA, is a trade association to promote bluegrass music.
Bryan Bowers is an American autoharp player who is frequently credited with introducing the instrument to new generations of musicians.
Richard K. "Dick" Spottswood is an American musicologist and author from Maryland, United States who has catalogued and been responsible for the reissue of many thousands of recordings of vernacular music in the United States.
Doyle Wayne Lawson is an American traditional bluegrass and Southern gospel musician. He is best known as a mandolin player, vocalist, producer, and leader of the 6-man group Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver. Lawson was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2012.
"Darlin' Cory" is a well-known American folk song about love, loss, and moonshine. It is similar in theme to "Little Maggie" and "The Gambling Man" but is not considered the same as those songs.
Rual Holt Yarbrough was an American five-string banjo player who worked with some of the most famous bluegrass musicians.
Bill Clifton is an American bluegrass musician and singer who is credited with having organized one of the first bluegrass festivals in the United States in 1961.
Bluegrass fiddling is a distinctive style of American fiddle playing which is characterized by bold, bluesy improvisation, off-beat "chopping", and sophisticated use of both double-stops and old-time bowing patterns.
Peter Van Kuykendall also known as Pete Roberts, was an American bluegrass musician, songwriter, discographer and a magazine and music publisher. He was a co-founder of Bluegrass Unlimited magazine and its editor since 1970. He was instrumental in the formation of the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) in 1985 and the International Bluegrass Music Museum (IBMM) in 1991. In 1996, he was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame.
Larry Richardson was an American bluegrass and old time banjoist and guitarist from Galax, Virginia. He is known for his work with the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers, Bill Monroe and His Bluegrass Boys, and the Blue Ridge Boys.
Lawrence Carlton Haney was an American booking agent, festival promoter, and songwriter primarily active in bluegrass music. Once dubbed “The P.T. Barnum of Country Music” for his large personality, Haney is best known for organizing the first multi-day bluegrass music festival as well as influencing the careers of the Osborne Brothers, Porter Wagoner, Conway Twitty, Merle Haggard, The Statler Brothers and Loretta Lynn. He was inducted to the Bluegrass Hall of Fame in 1998 by the International Bluegrass Music Association.
Ray Legere is a Canadian bluegrass fiddler, mandolinist, guitarist and band leader from Sackville, New Brunswick.