The International Bluegrass Music Association’s first weeklong stay in downtown Raleigh was a success. The IBMA struck gold with its move to Raleigh, and tens of thousands of attendees filled the streets to check out variety of traditional roots music.
The past few years have seen a marked increase in bluegrass music’s mainstream market. Acts such as the Avett Brothers and Mumford & Sons have livened up the traditional sound and opened up the doors for countless new listeners to immerse themselves in the age-old genre. Last week’s festival was an excellent display of this newfound success for the genre, as downtown Raleigh was bustling with new and old fans of bluegrass music.
Twelve thousand fans attended two sold-out shows at the Red Hat Amphitheater on Friday and Saturday. Once you factor in all of the festivalgoers that trekked through downtown for the two-day street festival and the weeklong Bluegrass Ramble events, IBMA was one of the finest events downtown Raleigh has held in recent memory.
As I was darting in and out of Fayetteville Street, I couldn’t help but feel like the IBMA was serving as a brilliant intersection of two entirely different cultures. According the 2010 census, about 20 percent of
Raleigh’s population is comprised of people that are between 20 and 30 years old, but bluegrass isn’t the typical genre of choice for these young folks. However, the picture painted by the IBMA has the power to prove otherwise. Venues such as the Lincoln Theatre, Tir Na Nog Irish pub and the Longview Center were filled with just as many grey-haired attendees as there were 20-year-olds. While there was a notably older presence throughout the festival, it was refreshing to see these generations melding together to appreciate a genre that has yet to lose its spark.
On Thursday night, the festival got into full swing with the annual awards show, which took place before a sold-out crowd at Memorial Auditorium. The legendary Tony Rice, now a North Carolina resident, took the stage to accept his entrance to the IBMA Hall of Fame. Fans were treated to a surreal moment as Rice — despite his severely damaged vocal cords — performed live for the first time in about 20 years.
“I couldn’t believe it,” said Eric Dungy, a Raleigh resident who attended the show. “It was so moving. I had tears in my eyes as Rice was playing. Never in a million years did I think I’d get to see that.”
But Rice’s acceptance speech was only the beginning of a weekend filled with marvelous surprises and performances such as this one. The Gibson Brothers, the IBMA Entertainers of the Year, dazzled fans throughout the weekend despite lead vocalist Leigh Gibson’s bronchitis.
“He sounds pretty good to me,” said band mate Eric Gibson.
Eric was right. The band wowed the audience at the Lincoln Theatre on Thursday. Despite Leigh’s coughing between songs, it was difficult to tell he was struggling through the performance. The Gibson Brothers made their jaw-dropping talent look effortless, a feat that can’t possibly be overstated.
But the highlight of this festival wasn’t necessarily the performers, but how fantastically the crowd interacted with the entire event. Welcome banners lined shop and restaurant windows throughout downtown Raleigh and fans echoed those sentiments — friendly vibes were abundant despite the close quarters at many of these events.
Regardless of where you found yourself throughout the weekend, be it a packed venue or a crowded street corner, you were liable to be met with a smile and a warm welcome. It’s rare that festivals of this size can harbor such a strong sense of community, but the bluegrass community is most certainly a welcoming one. Die-hard fans and newcomers alike stood side-by-side for legendary acts such as Del McCoury, superstars such as Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers, and beloved locals like The Barefoot Movement and Kickin’ Grass Band.
As attendees walked past the Sir Walter Raleigh statue outside the convention center they gawked at the banjo slung over his shoulder.
But this visual image is what solidifies this experience for me, because for the better part of a week this hip, young city was completely entrenched in the throes of bluegrass. While some may have balked at last year’s announcement that the IBMA would be coming to Raleigh for the next three years, this past week has surely silenced any detractors.
Last year’s question may have been how can this work, but this year the thought on everyone’s minds is how can next year possibly get any better?”
