Bill Monroe "Bean Blossom" (MCA)

Shades of Bean Blossom, Ind., 1973 will be cast over the Graves Mountain Festival of Music in Syria, Va., next year.

First, back to Hoosier land in 1973, when Bill Monroe’s bluegrass festival at his campground in Bean Blossom had become so popular that MCA Records produced a live, long-play album at the festival, titled appropriately, “Bean Blossom”.

MCs were Hairl Hensley of WSM radio in Nashville and Billy Cole of WHO, a popular Iowa radio station. The six acts recorded on the album provided a good cross-section of the music. The album also included the closing of the festival by a dozen fiddlers, virtually a “who’s who” of bluegrass fiddlers, all performing together on stage under the direction of Monroe.

By this time the annual Bill Monroe Bluegrass Festival at Bean Blossom had come into its own. Its reputation was unsurpassed for bluegrass talent and both professional and amateur jamming. It didn’t hurt a thing that the festival’s founder and campground owner had become an American music legend in his own lifetime, according to bbjfoundation.org.

The landmark recording featured Monroe, Jim and Jesse, Jimmy Martin, James Monroe and Lester Flatt and his Nashville Grass band.

Rural Rhythm Records hosted a VIP Showcase during IBMA's World of Bluegrass that included a special preview of the upcoming Graves Mountain event.

Now, bounce to the present day and take one more small leap to June 4, 2010. That’s when Rural Rhythm Records and Graves Mountain Festival of Music will stage “Rural Rhythm’s 55 Year Celebration at Graves Mountain,” which will include a commemorative live recording taking place that Friday during the festival’s three day event (June 3-5, 2010) in Syria, Va.

The resulting live album will be released on Rural Rhythm Records in October 2010.

Kyle Cantrell of Sirius-XM Radio’s popular “Bluegrass Junction” will serve as Master of Ceremonies for this event, which will include performances by The Lonesome River Band, Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out, Carrie Hassler & Hard Rain, Audie Blaylock & Redline, Lou Reid and Carolina, and The Crowe Brothers. Mark Newton is producing the event with Gene Daniel Sound overseeing the sound. Highlights will be broadcast on Sirius-XM “Bluegrass Junction” soon after the festival.

During the recent International Bluegrass Music Association’s (IBMA) World of Bluegrass, Rural Rhythm Records hosted a VIP Showcase that included a special preview of the ucoming Graves Mountain event. Carl Jackson, Mark Newton, Russell Moore, Lou Reid, Audie Blaylock, Carrie Hassler, Wayne Benson, Sammy Shelor, Mike Anglin, and Mike Hartgrove performed Carl Jackson’s original song, “Graves Mountain Memories.”

The group will perform the song during the Rural Rhythm recorded event next June along with other special shows. The lineups for the special performances are:

• Crowe Brothers with Russell Moore, and Sammy Shelor
• Carrie Hassler & Hard Rain with Brandon Rickman
• Audie Blaylock & Redline with Carrie Hassler, Russell Moore, and Lou Reid
• Graves Mountain Jam: Lou Reid and Carolina, Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out, Lonesome River Band, Carrie Hassler & Hard Rain, Audie Blaylock & Redline, and The Crowe Brothers.
• “My Home’s Across the Blue Ridge Mountains” – Brandon Rickman, Crowe Brothers, Audie Blaylock, Mike Hartgrove, Wayne Benson, Steve Dilling, Edgar Loudermilk

Tickets and information on the three day Graves Mountain of Music Festival can be found at GravesMountain.com. For more information on Rural Rhythm Records and their artists, please visit RuralRhythm.com