Official Showcases are considered the prime platform for introducing talent and new music to the bluegrass community during the genre’s annual industry gathering and family reunion. Selected for official showcases during the IBMA Bluegrass Ramble at six venues throughout downtown Raleigh are Carley Arrowood, Breakin’ Strings, Cedar Hill, Chicken Wire Empire, Kristy Cox, Crying Uncle Bluegrass Band, Damn Tall Buildings, Echo Valley, Rick Faris, The Foreign Landers, Frog Holler, Full Cord, Hayde Bluegrass Orchestra, Jig Jam, The Kody Norris Show, Jake Leg, Lonesome Ace Stringband, Lover’s Leap, Mile Twelve, Missy Raines & Allegheny, My Brother’s Keeper, Nefesh Mountain, Nick Chandler & Delivered, Nick Dumas & Branchline, Caroline Owens, Clint Roberts, The Slocan Ramblers, Songs From The Road Band, Williamson Branch, and Zoe & Cloyd.

They were chosen through a juried selection process that took into consideration the applicant’s entertainment value, level of professionalism, potential appeal, quality of work, and potential to benefit from the opportunity. Selected Official Showcase acts will have at least two performance opportunities — typically once during the IBMA Business Conference and a longer set at an IBMA Bluegrass Ramble venue. They also will receive full conference registration, complimentary exhibit hall booth space during the business conference, up to three individual IBMA memberships, and various pre-event promotional opportunities.

Ten talented songwriters/songwriting teams will perform their songs during the IBMA Songwriter Showcase at the Raleigh Convention Center on Thursday afternoon, September 29. This showcase is part of the songwriter track during the annual IBMA Business Conference, September 27-29. Songwriters selected for this coveted opportunity include Aaron Bibelhause (“Long Hill to Climb”], Valerie Smith & Ashley Lewis (“A Dollar Looked Mighty Good”), Ashlee Watkins & Andrew Small (“Finish What You Started”), Carley Arrowood (“Moondancer”), Timothy Scott Williams & Sarah Williams (“Big Table”), Michelle Rivers (“Gone”), Theo MacMillan (“Getting Over”), Lizzy Ross of Violet Bell (I Can’t Say Nothing”), J.M. Clifford (“Slow Rolling Train”), and Buddy Guido & Paul Kelly (“John Dear”).

These songwriters were chosen through a juried selection process based on the applicants’ quality of work and appeal to bluegrass audiences. Songwriters could submit one song per entry and were limited to two entries. Besides showcasing, these songwriters and others participating in the conference’s songwriter track will be provided with resources to help cultivate their craft, develop solid business practices, network, engage in one-on-one mentoring sessions, and pitch material to bluegrass artists and producers.

A Bit About IBMA Word of Bluegrass and the Organization Behind It

The IBMA’s annual World of Bluegrass week has taken place in Raleigh since 2013 – apart from 2020 when the trade and professional association for the global bluegrass community shifted to online presentation of its professional development seminars, artist showcases and awards. In addition to Bluegrass Ramble official showcases and the IBMA Songwriter Showcase, IBMA’s World of Bluegrass generally features a wide array of professional development seminars, meetings and forums; sponsored artist showcases and late-night hospitality functions, plenty of networking and relationship-building opportunities; the International Bluegrass Music Awards Show; and the IBMA Bluegrass Live! festival.

Registration is now open to attend the 2022 World of Bluegrass conference, while tickets are available for the IBMA Awards Show on September 29 and ticketed Bluegrass Live! festival performances over the weekend at the Red Hat Ampitheater. A two-day free street festival, September 30-October 1, marks the culmination of IBMA World of Bluegrass and draws throngs of music lovers to downtown Raleigh to enjoy more than 100 acts on different stages set up along Fayetteville Street — from the state capitol to the Duke Performing Arts Center. The StreetFest also includes an arts market, exhibit hall, master workshops, youth performances, food and beverage vendors, and more. The NC Whole Hog Barbecue Championship also takes place downtown that weekend.

IBMA (ibma.org) seeks to facilitate the growth and development of the bluegrass community – for professionals and enthusiasts who share a passion for the music. More information about IBMA’s World of Bluegrass will be posted on AcousticMusicScene.com in coming months and may also be found on WorldofBluegrass.org.

The newest of the five regional affiliates of Folk Alliance International, SERFA (www.serfa.org) seeks to promote, develop and celebrate the diverse heritage of roots and indigenous music, dance, storytelling and related arts in the southeastern United States. Its annual conference is a primary means of doing that. This is the fifth consecutive year that it is being held at the same location — a beautiful and tranquil spot nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

“SERFA provides an annual gathering, a place to gather each year at the same time and often at the same place to connect and reconnect, to celebrate and mourn, to feel that special sense of community and solidarity, of mutual concern and respect, that those who practice a trade, a craft, an art recognize in each other,” says Si Kahn, a renowned folksinger, songwriter, author and community activist who will have a major presence this year. He describes the conference as “a family reunion that reminds us we are not alone, that we have not just a common trade, but a common purpose; and that together we can raise our voices not just in song, but in the hope of a better, kinder and more just world.”

The conference opens with lunch on Thursday, followed by an opening reception, workshops, group mentor sessions, dinner, three-hours of official showcases and nearly three-and-one-half-hours of late-night guerilla showcases. It concludes on Sunday morning with breakfast and SERFA’s annual general meeting. For those opting to arrive early for the conference, there also will be a buffet dinner, a one-woman show: Precious Memories by Kahn and featuring Sue Massek, and a two-hour informal open mic on Wednesday evening, May 13.

Honoring Folks for Outstanding Contributions to Music and Culture in the Southeast

Special guests at this year’s conference include Kahn, Alice Gerrard and the founders of Rounder Records (Ken Irwin, Bill Nowlin, Marian Leighton Levy) – all of whom will share the second annual Kari Estrin Founding President’s Award for Outstanding Contributions to Music and Culture in the Southeast, to be presented on Friday afternoon. In addition, they will take part in a 90-minute “Wisdom of the Elders” panel discussion moderated by Art Menius on Saturday.

Gerrard is one of the pioneering women in bluegrass and old-time music. Rounder Records, a leading American roots music label founded in 1970 and acquired by the Concord Music Group in 2010, has released more than 3,000 albums in such genres as bluegrass, Americana, Cajun and Zydeco, folk, singer-songwriter, and children’s music. Rounder also has been in the forefront of the preservation and re-release of historic recordings by the likes of Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, the Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers, and Mississippi John Hurt, as well as a number of anthologies from the Library of Congress and the Alan Lomax Collection.

(The inaugural award was presented last year to The Highlander Research and Education Center, which serves as a catalyst for grassroots organizing and movement building in Appalachia and the South and integrates music with social change.)

“That’s very similar to what SERFA has done. It’s become a place where musicians who are just starting out can connect as equals with artists who, like Alice Gerrard, have been working at this time-honored trade for 60 years a and more.”

Kahn also will lead a “Music Can Make a Difference” workshop and participate in a “Theater for Folk Musicians” workshop during the conference. Singer-songwriter Tish Hinojosa will speak on “From Major to Indie;” Tim Grimm and Jim Photoglo will conduct songwriting workshops; and Cosy Sheridan will lead a performance master class. Graphic design and imaging, harmony, “The Herstory of Oppression and Resistance in Appalachia,” international touring, performance rights organizations (PROs), and sound are among the other workshop topics. A series of group and one-on-one mentoring sessions also are on the conference agenda, as are participatory instrumental and dance clinics.

Artists to Showcase Their Talents on Thursday, Friday and Saturday Nights

The following artists and bands present official showcases on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights following dinner: The Barrel Jumpers, Bobtown, Mary Bragg, Shawna Caspi, The Early Mays, Angela Easterling, Wyatt Easterling, Kala Farnham, Tim Grimm, Tish Hinojosa, Kaia Kater, Paddy Mills, Danielle Miraglia, The Misty Mountain String Band, Zoe Mulford, Matt Nakoa, Jim Photoglo, Bruce Piephoff, Jefferson Ross, Sheltered Turtle, Cosy Sheridan, Underhill Rose, Dan Weber, The Yes Team, and Zoe & Cloyd. Nothing else is scheduled during these showcases, which are also open to the local community. Persons not registered for the conference can attend these juried showcases for $10 each night or $25 for all three nights (cash only). Tickets will be available on-site at the Assembly Inn Convocation Hall.

Following the official showcases, eight meeting rooms will be abuzz with late-night guerilla showcases that extend until 2 a.m. AcousticMusicScene.com, which has had a presence at the SERFA Conference for the past four years, will host late-night showcases on Thursday, May 13, overnight in Room 230. These will take the form of song swaps.

AcousticMusicScene.com showcase schedule:

10:40: Sharon Goldman, Bev Grant
11:00: Si Kahn Sing-along with Kari Estrin
11:30: Rob Lytle, Kipyn Martin and Paddy Mills
12:00: Mary Bragg, Shawna Caspi and Matt Nakoa
12:30: Redneck Mimosa: Todd Hoke, Carmody & Carver
1:00: Harmonic Convergence: The Early Mays and Underhill Rose
1:30: Blues & Roots: Lorraine Conard, Danielle Miraglia, Jon Shain

Editor’s Note: In addition to hosting an AcousticMusicScene.com showcase, I will be part of a concert and festival presenters panel discussion and will join Lorraine Conard in a group mentoring session on Performers and Presenters Partnering in Promotion. I’ll also offer some one-on-one mentoring on public relations, strategic communications, artist bios and one-sheets, website content and social media, and other topics of interest to artists and presenters.