Phil Zimmerman's Bluegrass Time

Well-known bluegrass festival photographer Phil Zimmerman has just released a book “Bluegrass Time: A Musician’s Photographs of the Early Days of Bluegrass Festivals.”

It is being published by Greenwell-Chisholm Printing Co., of Owensboro, Ky.

Previews and ordering information are available at Zimmerman’s photography Web site, www.bluegrasstime.com.

Featuring photographs taken between 1972 and 1984, the book documents the passing of the torch from the first generation pioneers of bluegrass to their successors, who include some of today’s top performers.

Well-known for his outstanding photographs of bluegrass performers, Zimmerman has the unique perspective of being both a bluegrass musician and a photojournalist. The result is a book of photographs that capture the drama in bluegrass performances.

While some of the photographs in Bluegrass Time are familiar in the bluegrass community, many have never been seen before. The book is printed in black and white using four-color rich black process to achieve the highest possible quality.

The pioneers documented by Phil Zimmerman include Bill Monroe, Ralph Stanley, the Osborne Brothers, Lester Flatt, Don Reno, Curly Ray Cline, Kenny Baker, Tex Logan, the Lilly Brothers, Don Stover, Buddy Spicher, Paul Warren, and Joe Stuart.

Among the next generations photographed by Zimmerman were ground-breaking performers Charlie Waller and the Country Gentlemen, J. D. Crowe and the New South, Sam Bush and New Grass Revival, as well as John Hartford, Ricky Skaggs, Tony Rice, Jerry Douglas, David Grisman, Doyle Lawson, Tony Trischka, Marty Stuart, Bela Fleck, Emmylou Harris, Frank Wakefield, Del McCoury, Peter Rowan, Bill Keith, Vassar Clements, and Butch Robins.

Bluegrass Time includes a foreword by Rhonda Vincent, an introduction by bluegrass historian Fred Bartenstein, and extensive captions about the performers featured in the book. Also included is “The First Festival,” a narrative by the author describing his experience at the world’s first multi-day bluegrass festival, held at Fincastle, Va., in 1965.

The publication of Bluegrass Time coincides with the opening of a year-long one-person exhibition of Zimmerman’s photographs at the International Bluegrass Music Museum in Owensboro, Ky.

The exhibition features 52 large format prints of images from the book, all of which Phil Zimmerman has donated to the museum’s permanent collection.