Bob Black & Admirers... L to R: Bob Black, Bill Merchant,?,? Bean Blossom Jamboree Park, Brown County Ind.  ( 1978 )

Kenny Baker and Blackie Bean Blossom Jamboree Park, Brown County Ind.  ( 1978 ) Photo by Jim Moss

Kenny Baker Arriving at the 1978 Bean Blossom Festival. Bean Blossom Jamboree Park, Brown County Ind.  ( 1978 ) Photo by Jim Moss

 

Gray Eagle (Classic Bluegrass) mpeg mp3 (.870 meg. = 3 mins at 28.8 ) a must!

This recording was made by me at Bean Blossom in June of 1973.  It is here, this very night, that Kenny Baker first jammed with Bob Black, an event that kicked off a musical relationship that would produce many albums and a tour of duty as one of  Bill Monroe's Bluegrass Boys.  You can hear the excitement of the moment in this live field recording made at around 4:30 am Bean Blossom time.  Everyone felt that Bob's playing was really different as he played Baker's breaks note for note.  This can be heard to some extent in this recording of their first take at Gray Eagle.  Kenny Baker has given his approval to include this field recording as part of this web project.  It is this web-site's on-going effort to make available (legally) to both young and old Bluegrass musicians, live recordings of the pioneers creating and defining this art form.   As for this recording, it is the first time it has been made available as it remained archived away in boxes of old field tapes for over 24 years.  Jim Moss

 
 

 
 

The Main Stage. Bean Blossom Jamboree Park, Brown County Ind.  ( 1978 ) Photo by Jim Moss

 
 
 
 
 

Bill Monroe's Bus Parked Near the Park Entrance. Bean Blossom Jamboree Park, Brown County Ind.  ( 1978 ) Photo by Jim Moss

The Barn. This is the site of the concerts in the 1960's pictures in the other galleries. The barn was later used for concerts at the festival when the weather got rough... like when a tornado came through... which you would be expected to endure as just another event at the festival.  In fact, at this year's festival  a tornado came through and at its peak I saw the trees in the top picture (of Bob Black) bent to about 30 degrees off the ground.  The regulars at  the festival remained un-impressed and never stopped picking.   I was impressed with the tornado's train sound.  The barn was lined with 2 rows of wood burning stoves that would be fired up by Birch Monroe when needed.   The barn was burned down to clear the land for a museum along with the main stage which was replaced by a moreMODERN stage...  The first time I visited the barn was in 1973.  That evening, I wandered  in to find Bill Monroe, with Kenny Baker, Jack Hicks and band playing a square dance for the folks who had come to  festival. So much for history... Bean Blossom Jamboree Park, Brown County Ind.  ( 1978 ) Photo by Jim Moss   Additional Comment: The little ticket house visible to the right of the Brown County Jamboree Barn in the picture on your web site was used as a play house by my three daughters when they were small.  We took it to Bean Blossom in 1965 when we leased the property from Birch to run square dances and shows, and it was used as a ticket house for many years.  It originally belonged to the minister of our church who gave it to us when his daughters outgrew it. Jim Peva

The Bluegrass Boys at the Main Stage. L to R: Kenny Baker, Butch Robins, Bill Monroe, Randy Davis,  Wayne Lewis. Bean Blossom Jamboree Park, Brown County Ind.  ( 1978 ) Photo by Jim Moss

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