Fred Robbins has spent many years chronicling bluegrass music, as a photographer and audio recordist starting in the 1960s, and more recently as a videographer as well. He has had articles published in Bluegrass Unlimited and is an active member of the Hudson Valley Bluegrass Association where he lives in eastern New York state.
Fred has graciously granted us permission to publish a number of his classic photos this past few years on Bluegrass Today, and he maintains a tremendous archive of these images on his web site.
Over the past few months, Fred has been videotaping Bluegrass In The Schools presentations sponsored by the HVBA at the Poughkeepsie Day School in Poughkeepsie, NY. He has videos online for the banjo, resonator guitar, fiddle, bass and mandolin sessions.
But the one that has him especially psyched is the video of Greg Cahill and Special Consensus doing their presentation to the school.
http://frobbi.org/video/BGschools-SpecialCsampler.wmv“After living in this area for 40 years, I finally got involved with the Hudson Valley Bluegrass Association thanks to longtime friend, banjo player Jerry Oland, currently with Buddy Merriam & Back Roads. I caught up with Jerry a few years ago and he encouraged me to join the HVBA. I enjoy shooting bluegrass video, so when the project came up I was asked to help out. I actually shot the pilot program over a year ago. It’s also on my Picking Page. Thanks to HVBA jams, I’m slowly getting my rhythm guitar chops and runs back too.
We’re so thrilled and honored that Greg Cahill approved my video sampler of Special Consensus’ school program. It’s the first time ever that SpecialC has authorized any web video! What a pleasure to work with such a terrific guy like Greg.”
See the rest of Fred’s Bluegrass In The Schools videos on his web site.
