Sa-lute! to Penny Parsons

balloon trophyLast week, the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) named UIP author Penny Parsons Bluegrass Print/Media Person of the Year. A tireless music journalist, Parsons also published Foggy Mountain Troubadour: The Life and Music of Curly Seckler, an account of the bluegrass icon’s long career as a musician and part-time firefighter who, as part of his duties in Flatt and Scruggs’s Foggy Mountain Boys, had to put whatever flames erupted on the band’s tour bus.

As energetic on the road as she is with her prose, Penny is currently crisscrossing North Carolina and nearby regions to introduce readers, radio listeners, and bookstore patrons to Mr. Seckler’s music and life. Those of you lucky enough to be near Garner, NC can catch her at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, October 14, at Lorraine’s Coffee House and Music. The bluegrass-and-java mainstay will host Penny’s book signing and it wouldn’t be all that surprising if a little music broke out afterwards.