MountainGrass launches in Australia

A new organization has been chartered in Australia to promote bluegrass and old time music on the mainland and in New Zealand.

This all grew out of a meeting last month in Harrietville, VIC, the site of a popular bluegrass festival which ran for 24 years before folding earlier this year. More than 50 bluegrass enthusiasts, musicians, and local business people attended the meeting, called to examine options for continuing a festival in that part of the country.

It was decided that the formation of a not-for-profit organization was the best route to take.

The Australiasian Bluegrass & Old Time Music Association was officially announced yesterday (5/6), and an interim executive committee established to start the planning for a new festival in Harrietville, to be known as MountainGrass, and which will debut November 22-24, 2013.

Financial and strategic plans are being drawn up by the interim committee, which consists of:

President – Will Manovel (NSW)
Vice-President – Lachlan Davidson (VIC)
Secretary/Public Officer – Gregory McGrath (QLD)
Treasurer – Blair Webb (VIC)

Ordinary Committee members:
Helen Ludellen (ACT)
Geoff Bridgeland (SA)
Rebecca Bradbury (Harrietville VIC)

As you can see by this list, ABOTMA is specifically intended to include and serve the needs of musicians, and communities throughout Australia and New Zealand.

The committee is also working on a web site for the organization, which should be online soon. In the meantime, you can visit the site for MountainGrass 2013, where they will post artist and ticket information as soon as details are available.

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About the Author

John Lawless

John had served as primary author and editor for The Bluegrass Blog from its launch in 2006 until being folded into Bluegrass Today in September of 2011. He continues in that capacity here, managing a strong team of columnists and correspondents.