The City of Owensboro on Friday officially declared itself as the Bluegrass Music Capital of the World. A committee of community members has also been formed to help use that title to generate economic development. The project was completely paid for by private funding.
“The idea is to create a sustainable structure and utilize our bluegrass music presence to build out economic development opportunities and increase tourism,” Mayor Tom Watson said. “In short, attract new businesses that manufacture or provide services that are consumed outside our community connected to bluegrass music and attract people to Owensboro, the epicenter of bluegrass music.”
Watson said the announcement has been about 15 months in the making. He said it was important to note that no taxpayer money was used in the process.
“Funds have been raised through the private sector,” he said. “This will not be financed by local government or taxpayers. There’s enough people so interested in it that we’ve raised a little bit of capital, and we won’t be dipping into the funds because this is going to be freestanding and it’s going to last forever.”
Watson’s proclamation pointed to numerous factors giving legitimacy to the claim, including:
- Bill Monroe, the Father of bluegrass music, was born and raised just south of Owensboro;
- The annual Romp Music Festival has become a nationally recognized Bluegrass and Roots Music Festival, attracting more than 25,000 people to the community each year from nearly every state in America and over a dozen countries;
- Bluegrass Unlimited, a publication of the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum, is produced in Owensboro and is the most important print and digital media resource in bluegrass music; and
- Owensboro is the location of the Bluegrass Hall of Fame & Museum and is the only cultural center in the world dedicated solely to bluegrass music
Mike Simpson, president of the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA), said bluegrass music is an odyssey.
“The odyssey of this original American art form started right down the road here in Ohio County, and much of its history can be traced right here to Owensboro,” he said.
Simpson noted that Bill Monroe, known as the Father of Bluegrass, influenced other genres of music and other artists ranging from Buddy Holly and Elvis Presley to Ricky Skaggs and Alison Krauss.
Simpson said in the 1980s, Owensboro’s Terry Woodward saw a void of organizational structure and a home for the bluegrass music genre. So, the International Bluegrass Music Association was formed. Woodward was the first person from Western Kentucky to serve as president, and Simpson is now the second.
Simpson said “things turned not so good” for Owensboro when the IBMA left. The World of Bluegrass Festival moved from the Owensboro riverfront to Louisville then Nashville and is now in Raleigh. The World of Bluegrass Festival is now the largest convention for Raleigh.
He said it all started in Owensboro, though.
“Much of the history of this music can be traced back to here,” Simpson said. “We christened this beautiful building about four or five years ago. No one else in the world has a Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum. The history and the heritage are here. The roads of bluegrass music all lead back to here. So today the people, the culture, the history, the passion have all intersected right here to make a claim Owensboro can support. Years of passion, persistence, generosity and philanthropy have aligned today to give Owensboro the credence to make this claim.”
Chris Joslin, Hall of Fame Executive Director, added that those involved are embarking on the “next phase of our journey” with the proclamation.
He also pointed to the rise of bluegrass in Owensboro in the early 1980s — from the concerts that drew national attention to the creation of the IBMA.
“I think it demonstrated that bluegrass music could be a differentiator for this community, creating something unique, creating something that no other community has,” Joslin said.
Woodward and others led the effort to eventually help create the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum. The new state-of-the art Hall of Fame building opened on the corner of 2nd and Frederica streets in 2018.
Joslin said despite the challenges of the pandemic, the Hall of Fame continues to innovate.
“We launched Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine, which is really the most important media voice in bluegrass music with both print and digital,” he said. “Next month will unveil season one of My Bluegrass Story, a nationally distributed television show filmed right here in Owensboro.”
Joslin noted that the Hall of Fame has created those two media brands by working closely with local business partner Tanner+West, a full-service agency known for advertising, branding, graphic design and video production.
“This is just one example of how we can develop the industry of bluegrass music leveraging Owensboro-based talent and innovation to help establish our reputation as the Bluegrass Music Capital of the World,” Joslin said.
He said the opening of the Hall of Fame in 2018 was a signal to the world that they meant business, and that it was part of a larger economic strategy.
“I believe most communities like ours, they want to be known for something, something that matters, something that is authentic and compelling, something that has a positive, tangible impact on their community,” Joslin said. “I contend that if the news of that something extends beyond the city limits and the county line, there is opportunity there. And opportunity attracts people, it attracts investment, entrepreneurs and industry to our community. I contend that this is our time. This is our opportunity, and we’re claiming it today as the Bluegrass Music Capital of the World.”
That opportunity to draw businesses and visitors was a major reason that a “task force” was formed. Watson said he calls them the “guardians of bluegrass music.”
The committee is chaired by David Johnson. Also on the task force are Jimmy Staton, Candance Brake, Brittany Johnson, Claude Bacon, Sarah Ford, Randy Lanham, Jason Tanner, and Keith Sharber.
“Those people are going to pick this thing up and move forward so that we can continue to do what we’re supposed to do in Owensboro,” Watson said. “ That’s to provide economic development and a community we can be proud of.”
