We’ve been in touch recently with Fred Robbins, a photographer and bluegrass enthusiast who has posted a brilliant set of photos from the 1972 Country Gentlemen Festival at Indian Ranch online. This was the first such festival hosted by the Gents, held in Webster, MA.
Fred tells us that he just stumbled across the slides after decades sitting in a box, and says that he is delighted to be able to share them with the bluegrass community.
If you enjoyed the Bluegrass Country Soul DVD released in 2006, you are sure to appreciate Fred’s photos, which were taken a year after the festival documented in that DVD. New bluegrass fans will get a kick out of seeing some of today’s premier artists when they were younger, and folks who were following bluegrass in the 1970s will have some powerful memories rekindled.
There are shots of The Country Gentlemen, The Kentucky Gentlemen, Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys, James Monroe, Bluegrass 45, The McLain Family, Mac Wiseman, IInd Generation and the original Newgrass Revival.
Here are a few images Fred agreed to let us post, but you really need to see them all, put together in a very nice slide show online.
Fred also has a great many audio and video recordings from bluegrass events posted where they can be seen and heard online.
