September 2023

September is “Worldwide Bluegrass Music Month.”

For the beginning of football season, play “The Great Joe Bob” by The Country Gazette (on their “Hello Operator” album) or “Drop Kick Me Jesus” by Paul Craft (on his “Too Bad You’re No Good” CD).

For the start of school, play “Late For School” by Steve Martin (on his “The Crow” CD) or “The Little One Room Schoolhouse” by the Bressler Brothers (Prime Cuts, Vol. 53)

1

Tom Ewing born, 1946
Roger Williams born, 1948
Gary Gordon born, 1953
Buddy Spurlock born, 1941 (died 9/21/2022)

2

Bill Evans born, 1956
Buck “Uncle Josh” Graves first recording with Flatt and Scruggs, 1955

3

Darren Nicholson born, 1983
Billy Hawks born, 1968
First day of the first multi-day bluegrass festival, 1965 (Carlton Haney’s Fincastle, VA festival)
Keith Case died, 2019

4

Labor Day
(For song suggestions, click here)
Bill Monroe records “Blue Moon of Kentucky” for Decca, 1954

Harold “Shot” Jackson born, 1920 (died 1/24/1991)
Ed Dye born, 1936 (died 3/19/2009)

Randy Graham born, 1946

5

Ron Thomasson born, 1944

6

John Herald born, 1939 (died 7/18/2005)
Buzz Busby born, 1933 (died, 2003)
Roy Huskey, Jr. died, 1997
(Song Suggestion: Play “Song for Roy” on Sam Bush “Howlin’ at the Moon” album.)
President Wm. McKinley shot by anarchist Leon Czolgosz, 1901
(Song suggestion: Play “McKinley” by the Greenbriar Boys or  “The White House Blues” by various artists
Vince Gill receives a star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame, 2012

7

Barry Poss born, 1944

8

“Singing Brakeman” Jimmie Rodgers born, 1897 in Meridian, Mississippi (died 5/26/1933).
(Song suggestions: Play “The Train Carrying Jimmie Rodgers Home” by the Nashville Bluegrass Band, “Jimmie Rodgers Rode a Train” by Thomm Jutz, “Jimmie Rodgers’ Last Blue Yodel” by Tasty Licks, or “Jimmie Rodgers Blues Medley” by Merle Haggard.)

9

Bill Monroe died, 1996
(For song suggestions, click here.)
C.F. Martin III born, 1894 (died 6/15/1986)
Paul Adkins born, 1952
James King born, 1958 (died 5/19/2016)
Herschel Sizemore died, 2022

10

National Grandparents Day
(For song suggestions, click here.)
Matthew Allred died, 2006

11

Richard Bailey born, 1961
Dave Hardy born, 1955
Mark Hembree born, 1954

Terrorists strike America, 2001.
(Song suggestions: “United Flight 93” by Caleb Bailey; “Mama, Will You Call My Daddy” by Doug Bartlett; “911” by Lawrence Bishop, “When the Twin Towers Fell” by the New Roanoke Jug Band; “Smoke on the Water” by the Tennessee Mafia Jug Band; “Falling Man” by the Steeldrivers.)

12

John McGann born, 1959
Wade Mainer died, 2011

13

Bill Monroe born, 1911 (died 9/9/96)
(For song suggestions, click here.)
Willis Spears born, 1940 (died 9/17/2023)
Lou Reid born, 1954
Willis Spears born, 1940
Joe Stuart died, 1987
Wilma Lee Cooper died, 2011
Earl Scruggs was honored at Turner Field in Atlanta as part of a pre-game show for an Atlanta Braves home game featuring 239 banjo players playing “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” at the same time, a world record, 2006

14

Bill Harrell born, 1934
Tim Stafford born, 1960
Rick Pardue born, 1952
Herb Trotman born, 1944
Lloyd Loar died, 1943

15

Rosh Hashanah (3-day Celebration of the Jewish New Year 5784)
Roy Acuff born, 1903 (died 11/23/92)

(Play “Old Roy and Brother Oz” by the Osborne Brothers “Class of “96” album.)
Stanley Bros. record “How Far to Little Rock”, 1959
John Bowman born, 1970

16

The “original” bluegrass band (Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, Chubby Wise and Howard Watts) records for the first time, 1946.
Barry Mitterhof born, 1952
Paul Henning (TV Producer who wrote “The Ballad of Jed Clampett”) born, 1911 (died 3/5/2005)

17

Walden Dahl born, 1952
Kevin Williamson born, 1963
Willis Spears died, 2023

18

Michael Cleveland born, 1980
Carl Jackson born, 1953

Bea Lilly died, 2005

19

Carlton Haney born, 1928 (died 3/16/2011)
Kenny Smith born, 1967
Clyde Moody born, 1915 (died 4/7/1989)
Ervin T. Rouse born, 1917 (died 7/8/1981)

Kathy Kallick born, 1952

20

Les Woodie born, 1931 (died 3/23/2018)
Charles Sawtelle born, 1946 (died 3/20/99)
Steve Gulley born, 1962 (died 8/18/2020)

21

Ginger Boatwright born, 1944
Shawn Lane born, 1971
Daryl Mosely born, 1964
Rual Yarbrough died, 2010
Buddy Spurlock died, 2022
Mike Henderson died, 2023

22

Autumn Begins
(For song suggestions, click here.)
Wiley Morris (of the Morris Brothers) dies, 1990.

Pop Lewis born, 1905
Buddy Griffin born, 1948

Wiley Morris died, 1990
Jimmy Stoneman died, 2002

23

Steve Scruggs died, 1992
Jack Dempsey lost to Gene Tunney in World Heavyweight fight, 1926
(play “Jack Dempsey’s Crown” by Jim Lauderdale, from his “Reason and Rhyme” album).
Jim & Jesse received a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment of the Arts, 1997
Ken Burns’ “Civil War” documentary airs on PBS for the first time, featuring Jay Ungar’s “Ashoken Farewell,” 1990

24

Yom Kippur
(Now would be a good time to play something by Jewish bluegrass artists like Nefesh Mountain, Andy Statman or Barry Mitterhof. Song Suggestion: “Berditchever Sher” by Zoe and Cloyd)
Kevin Church born, 1963

Flatt & Scruggs record “Ballad of Jed Clampett”, 1962
Paul Mullins born, 1936 (died 8/3/2008)
Larry Gillis born, 1962

25

Steve Thomas born, 1962
Larry Sparks born, 1947
Charlie Leet born, 1944

26

LeRoy Drumm born, 1936 (died 2010)
Lynn Anderson born, 1947
The Beverly Hillbillies makes its debut on the CBS-TV network, 1962

27

Sierra Hull born, 1991
Josh Graves born, 1928 (Died 9/30/06)

(Song suggestion: Play “Uncle Josh the Dobro King” by Deeper Shade of Blue.)
Wreck of the Old 97 near Danville, VA, 1903
Charlie Monroe died, 1975

28

IBMA Awards Show in Raleigh, North Carolina
Ronnie Reno born, 1947

Laurie Lewis born, 1950

29

Dan Crary born, 1939
Doc Watson was presented with the National Medal for the Arts by President Bill Clinton, 1997

30

Marty Stuart born, 1958
Carmella Ramsey born, 1972
Phil Rosenthal born, 1948
Josh Graves died, 2006
(Play “Pickin’ on Josh” by the Steep Canyon Rangers from their “Lovin’ Pretty Women” album.)
Stanley Brothers record “How Mountain Girls Can Love,” 1958
Jerry Scoggins (singer of the Beverly Hillbillies theme) born, 1911 (died 12/7/2004)

Now would be a good time to play “September’s End” from Northern Lights’ “Can’t Buy Your Way” album.