Congratulations to Neil Rosenberg

rosenberg photoTonight, the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) will induct folklorist, musician, bluegrass historian, and University of Illinois Press author Neil V. Rosenberg into the International Bluegrass Hall of Fame at its awards show in Raleigh, North Carolina. Rosenberg currently serves as Professor Emeritus in the Department of Folklore at Memorial University of Newfoundland. With the IBMA honor, Rosenberg adds to a meritorious career that includes a 1997 Grammy Award and the Marius Barbeau Medal for lifetime achievement given by the Folklore Studies Association of Canada. As the IBMA notes:

Neil Rosenberg specializes in the study of contemporary folk music traditions, investigating the ways in which popular music interacts with local and regional folk music traditions, and examining processes of cultural revival. Rosenberg conducts research in Canada and the United States, focusing upon the lives and music of professional, semi-professional and amateur old-time, bluegrass, country and folk musicians. A performing musician since childhood, Rosenberg utilizes his skills and experiences in bluegrass, country, folk, jazz, classical and experimental music to gain a closer understanding of the processes he studied. His books include Bluegrass: A History, the definitive work on the genre, which was reprinted with a new preface for its 20th Anniversary Edition in 2005. Other books include Transforming Tradition, a collection of studies on North American folk music revivals; and Bluegrass Odyssey: A Documentary in Pictures and Words, co-authored with photographer Carl Fleischhauer of the Library of Congress. In 1996 he began working with the late Charles Wolfe on The Music of Bill Monroe, a bio-discography published in 2007 that updates and expands his long out-of-print Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys: An Illustrated Discography. He has published over sixty articles and review essays. In 1981 he originated the column “Thirty Years Ago This Month” in Bluegrass Unlimited, and wrote it until 1993.

For those eager to listen in, the IBMA Awards Show will be broadcast live on Sirius XM Satellite Radio (Bluegrass Junction), streamed live at ibma.org, and syndicated to more than 300 U.S. markets and 14 foreign networks.