I’m from Kentucky so it goes without saying that I love basketball and bluegrass music! In fact, my secret desire has always been to play stand-up base in a bluegrass band. So you can imagine how excited I was to discover the 3rd Annual Winter Bluegrass Festival at the Holiday Inn Select on Naamans Road in Wilmington, Delaware. In addition to great name bands on the Main Stage - like Danny Paisley and the Southern Grass, Mountain Heritage and Blue Detour - there will be more than thirty “emerging” groups looking to be discovered during the three-day event, March 19, 20 and 21.
The style of music we call "bluegrass" takes its name from the legendary Bill Monroe and his "Blue Grass Boys," named after Monroe's home state of Kentucky - "the Bluegrass State." But "bluegrass" music has its roots in Irish, Scottish, and English traditional music, imported by immigrants who settled in the Appalachian mountain region of eastern Kentucky as well as western Virginia and North Carolina. Traditional bluegrass is typically performed on acoustic (for the younger generations that means no electronic amplification) stringed instruments including mandolin, acoustic guitar, banjo, fiddle, and upright bass. In most bluegrass groups the instrumentalists are also vocalists who perform both as solists and as a group, usually with high-pitched harmonies.
Bluegrass music isn’t just "at" the Holiday Inn Select March 19-21, bluegrass music “consumes” the hotel with vocal and instrumental workshops, jam sessions for musicians at all skill levels, and rousing performances as festival promoters from all over the country discover new talent and reconnect with old friends. There’s even a bluegrass menu in the restaurant! The Holiday Inn Select is right off Interstate 95 in north Wilmington, so bluegrass fans from New York to Washington can drive there in two hours or less! It’s even closer for south Jersey and southeastern Pennsylvania bluegrass lovers.
There’s a special hotel rate of $89 a night for festival-goers, but they're expecting more than 1,000 visitors so rooms will sell out fast. You can purchase tickets to the Wilmington Winter Bluegrass Festival for all three days for just $40 ($45 at the door), but there are also tickets available for individual days - $15 on Friday, $20 on Saturday and $20 on Sunday - as well as significant discounts for young people, because the bluegrass musical experience (like barbershop) is definitely family friendly!
The Brandywine Friends of Old Time Music sponsors a great outdoor Bluegrass Fesitval every year on the first weekend in September at the Salem County Fairgrounds in Woodstown, New Jersey. And, just in case you weren't aware, Wilmington has a great bluegrass group of its own - "Whirled Peas." They perform on most Wednesdays at the Bourbon Street Grill in Claymont, so you don't have to wait until March to enjoy exciting bluegrass music (call ahead for a performance schedule).
See you at the Wilmington Winter Bluegrass Festival (I’ll be the one hiding under dark sun glasses trying to figure out how to play a bass fiddle!).
A complete list of articles by the Wilmington Tourism Examiner can be found at
http://www.examiner.com/x-25324-Wilmington-Tourism-Examiner
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