This week’s online World of Bluegrass convention epitomizes the global network that supports the business and cultural ecosystem of a core American genre. Before the 1985 formation of the International Bluegrass Music Association, that connectivity was made over rotary phones, at festivals, and immeasurably through the pages of Bluegrass Unlimited magazine, which as of this month is under new management.
As primarily a print publication with dwindling circulation and whose founding editor/owner died in 2017, the future of Bluegrass Unlimited looked uncertain. But in late August, the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Owensboro, KY announced that it had acquired the 54-year-old publication known to many as the “bible of bluegrass.” Days later, it named Dan Miller, founding publisher of Flatpicking Guitar Magazine, as editor.
“We don’t want to stop publishing it as a print magazine because a lot of our subscribers like and appreciate that,” Miller said last week. “But as far as our digital presence we’re going to overhaul and upgrade that.” He said the first Museum-published issue will be November’s, with a series of complimentary digital outlets rolling out about the same time, including a weekly e-mail newsletter, a podcast, more aggressive use of social media and a YouTube channel that can take advantage of the combined voluminous archives of magazine and museum, which opened in a new $15 million home in late 2018.