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2018 Board of Directors Officers President: Leo Pearson Vice President: Merdick Brown Secretary: Kathy Klein Treasurer: Willie Wells Directors Ken Baldwin Larry Klein Staci Jones Patrick Russell Nathan Speare Ben Wooten Tommy Thomas - Past President Larry Turner - Membership Chairman Some Past Association Accomplishments 1991 Golden Leaves Bluegrass Festival at Oconee State Park 1992 Month long exhibit of Bluegrass instruments at SC State Museum Redcliffe Plantation Festival Givhans Ferry Festival 1993 Redcliffe Plantation Festival Givhans Ferry Festival Golden Leaves Festival 1994 Alison Krauss & Union Station Concert @ The Koger Center Bluegrass Cardinals Concert @ Bill's Music Shop J.D. Crowe & Del McCoury Concert @ Bill's Music Shop Movie: High Lonesome shown at Bill's Music Shop 1995 Alison Krauss & Union Station/The Cox Family Concert @ The Koger Center Lauire Lewis & Grant Street Corner Concert @ Bishopville Opera House Brief Bluegrass History and a Concert by Crossroads @ SC State Museum 2015 Bluegrass History Presentation and band performance by Palmetto Blue @ SC State Museum SC State Museum monthly acoustic jam SC BTMA T-shirt fundraiser - shirt designed by Board Member Ken Baldwin Sponsored book signing of Carolina Bluegrass: A High Lonesome History by Gail Giarratano @ SC State Museum 2016 SCBTMA Concert Series - 4 concerts during the year featuring member bands. Sponsored a Bluegrass educational and historical series at the Lexington Main Library with Willie Wells & the Blue Ridge Mountain Grass. Staffed an informational table at multiple events and festivals with membership and retail materials. Offered a Youth Scholarship Program for young stringed instrument players. Co sponsored the "Pickin' with the Pros" series at Bill's Pickin' Parlor welcoming professional musicians Mark Johnson and Emory Lester. 2017 Sponsored monthly jam sessions at the SC State Museum in Columbia. Sponsored a Bluegrass educational and historical series at the Lexington Library's South Congaree Branch. Sponsored the Congaree Bluegrass Festival. Awarded three youth scholarships to young stringed instrument players. Co sponsored the "Pickin' With The Pros" series at Bill's Music Shop. |
The SCBTMA's
primary objectives are to preserve, promote, publicize, and
support these unique musical styles through concerts, workshops,
and public education programs. We invite you to join us in
sharing the future of bluegrass and traditional music in South
Carolina. Your membership and personal involvement can
make a difference. The SCBTMA: • Works with other nationally recognized organizations with the same objectives. • Consciously provides a family setting in which experienced musicians can pass on this musical heritage to younger ones via the oral tradition. • Strives for public recognition of outstanding SC musicians. SCBTMA Bylaws PDF |
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A Brief SCBTMA History
by Pat Ahrens The SCBTMA was co-founded in 1991 by the late Bill Wells and Pat Ahrens. Two people who were instrumental in its organization were Frank Stover, who helped write the Association By-Laws, and Terry Murphy, who helped secure the 501 C-3 articles of incorporation. As required by law, public disclosure and the names of its officers appeared in local papers. The officers elected were: President: Bill Wells; Vice President: Pat Ahrens; Secretary: Susan Coleman; and Treasurer: Terry Murphy. The Board of Directors included Homer "Pappy" Sherrill, Claude Lucas, Dr. Larry Klein, Frank Stover, Lester Gantt, and State Department of Parks, Recreation & Tourism Liaison Joan Davis. Membership goals included providing a "family setting" to allow experienced musicians to orally pass on this musical heritage to youngsters. The Association strives to publically recognize outstanding S.C. musicians and to work with other national organizations having the same goals. Its educational programs incude presenting concerts by both professional and local amateur bluegrass bands, holding workshops for teaching the acoustic stringed instruments played in the genre, and publically supporting the music. For over a decade, the Association has presented a program at the SC State Museum which includes a brief history of the music and a performance from a live bluegrass band. Early on, the Association had partnered with the Parks, Recreation and Tourism (PRT) to produce day long bluegrass festivals throughout various SC Parks such as Oconee, Redcliffe Plantation, and Givhans Ferry. Bluegrass luminaries such as Alison Krauss, J.D. Crowe, Del McCoury, Laurie Lewis, and The Nashville Bluegrass Band were presented in concert by the Association. The attractive Association logo was designed by graphic artist Dee Lucas and Pat Ahrens. A newsletter featuring current news of interest and a calendar of band appearance dates was mailed to members. At that time, the Association had 7 bands who were members. Board member Larry Klein served as host of the NPR radio program "The Bluegrass Sound" and retired in 2015 after over 30 years of playing the best in contemporary and traditional bluegrass music. The Association's "home address" has always been Bill's Music Shop & Pickin' Parlor located at 710 Meeting Street in West Columbia, South Carolina. A purely social event and yearly highlight has been the traditional Christmas meeting where everybody brings their favorite dish and "Pot Luck" reins among the jamming by members.
The Association has a proud history of past accomplishments. Some
of these include sponsoring:
Artist and board member Ken Baldwin desgined a beautiful T-shirt for the Association that has been a popular fundraising item for 2015. An afternoon of bluegrass documentary movies plus a bag of popcorn morphed into a pot-luck dinner, and a membership "jam" was another Association fun fundraiser. The Board has worked hard in 2015 to get the Association name into public notice by partnering with USC's McKissick Museum during their Folk Fabulous Festival; the SC State Museum's montlhy Tuesday night jam session in conjuction with their Carolina Makers exhibit, and the Congaree Bluegrass Festival by both being a sponsor and hosting a tent for "jamming" during the event. The Association can be reached through Bill's Pickin' Parlor at (803) 796-6477. |