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The Bluegrass Preservation Society (BPS) which is home based in Gassaway, West Virginia has a free weekly podcast hosted by Mr. Ewell Ferguson and his Bluegrass kitty cat - Buster. Buster is a three legged bluegrass kitty cat that helps his partner man the sound board during bluegrass concerts.
The mission of the BPS is to share and preserve the bluegrass music heritage in the West Virginia area. Mr. Ferguson has done an outstanding job of this. He holds concerts, maintains the website, hosts a weekly podcast and has recently started a TV show.
PODCAST- Every week has a one hour radio show that is very entertaining. The radio show is filled with information and music. Some weeks the focus of the show is to highlight one bluegrass band. Other weeks he focuses on a style of bluegrass music (for instance; bluegrass instrumentals also called the cardiovascular exercise part of the show) or different genres of bluegrass music (gospel, train songs, etc). The radio shows are distributed by podcast for free on I-tunes. Just conduct a search on I-tunes for ‘bluegrass’ and it’s located in the podcast section. The radio show can also be streamed at http://www.bpsmusic.com/radioshow.aspx
TV Show- Ewell recently started a TV show that is played locally in West Virginia. DVD’s of the TV show can be purchased at the web site http://www.bluegrasspreservation.org/bpsshop6/shopdisplaycategories.asp
Merchandise- the BPS music store always has a great amount of merchandise to purchase. They also maintain a deal for FREE IPODS! Currently if you buy $100 worth of merchandise (10 CDs) you get a free IPOD shuffle, $200 of merchandise you receive a free video IPOD Nano! You can’t beat this deal! About a year ago I ordered $100 in merchandise and I received a free IPOD shuffle. It works great! I filled it with the great sounds of bluegrass.
The music the Ewell plays on the radio show is local bands from WV. Just because they are local, does not mean that they are not talented. Bands like The Vaughns, Once Blue, and Roaring Creek (and many others) are very talented and could be easily played on radio stations throughout the world. The music is tight and very professional.
I have been listening to Ewell’s podcast for about a year. I download it every Monday morning. If there is any room to improve, I would like to hear from bluegrass bands from throughout the world, not just the WV area. However, Ewell has so much talent in his area that he can continuously fill a weekly podcast with just WV music. Perhaps more bluegrass podcasts are in order to showcase music throughout the world.
If you are a fan of bluegrass music, then you must get to the BPS website at http://www.bluegrasspreservation.org. I know you will not be disappointed.
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