Fred Bartenstein

The Fall 2020 catalog from the world-renowned University of Illinois Press (UIP) is now available and the most notable feature for bluegrass music enthusiasts is the inclusion of the book, Industrial Strength Bluegrass, about bluegrass music’s legacy in south-western Ohio.  Sub-titled

We often think of bluegrass music as an old genre, even though it “officially” didn’t begin until the mid-1940s. However, we’re fortunate it began to grow and flourish in a time when technology was booming, allowing our parents and grandparents

On This Day … Starting on Friday, September 3, 1965, the first Fincastle Bluegrass Festival, in Fincastle, Virginia, took place. “Wow, hard to believe it's been fifty years ago ...  I was there for both of Carlton's first multi-day festival in 1965

Every year since 1991 the IBMA initiates the induction of deserving personnel into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame (first called the Hall of Honor). The Hall of Fame is situated in the Owensboro, Kentucky-based International Bluegrass Music Museum and

Bluegrass Bluesman: A Memoir, the autobiography of Josh Graves (edited by Fred Bartenstein) has been awarded a Certificate of Merit by the Association for Recorded Sound Collections. Since 1991, the ARSC has sought to preserve and study historical sound recordings of,

Thursday, September 27 is the 85th anniversary of Josh Graves's birth in Tellico Plains, Monroe County, TN. To mark the occasion the University of Illinois Press is hosting a birthday party, launching their new book about Graves - Bluegrass Bluesman:

Guest Questioner and Prize This month’s guest is a respected mover-and-shaker in bluegrass: the Yoda of Yellow Springs, the Doyen of Dayton, the Savonarola of Southern Ohio—Fred Bartenstein. Fred was the editor of Muleskinner News from 1969 to 1974, and has been

Janet and I just got back from Sore Fingers Summer School, a bluegrass camp in the Cotswolds in England—affectionately dubbed by Tim O’Brien, Hillbilly Hogwarts. We taught a week-long class on bluegrass harmony to 30 Brits who spent their hard-earned pounds

For years, the indefatigable Fred Robbins has been posting and maintaining an online archive of bluegrass memorabilia, in the form of photographs, video and audio files. His particular specialty is the early history of bluegrass festivals, from the late 1960s

Richard Thomspon has prepared this brief biography of Carlton Haney. Its publication has been delayed awaiting some of the personal tributes that are included, and a spot of poor health on Richard's part. Carlton L Haney, one of the most colorful,