The Commonwealth of Kentucky is music. \u00a0We are soaked in it, it is part of us. \u00a0Birthplace to\u00a0an inordinate number of famous musicians, namesake for song titles, fodder for ballads, origins of that high and lonesome sound, you would be hard pressed to name another state with such rich musical heritage.<\/p>\n
Legendary names like\u00a0Bill Monroe, Roscoe Holcomb, Jean Ritchie, Hylo Brown, The Osborne Brothers, John Prine, Lionel Hampton, John Jacob Niles, The Everly Brothers, J.D. Crowe, Larry Vincent, Jackie DeShannon, Rosemary Clooney, and Skeeter Davis all called Kentucky home. \u00a0From one single rural highway winding through Eastern Kentucky was born the likes of Loretta Lynn, Dwight Yoakam, The Judds, Crystal Gale, Tom T Hall, Ricky Skaggs, Billy Ray Cyrus, Patty Loveless, Keith Whitley,\u00a0and\u00a0Gary Stewart. \u00a0Hoping to secure their name in the history books are a new breed of Kentucky musicians like Adrian Belew, Jim James and My Morning Jacket, Sam Bush, Cage the Elephant…<\/p>\n
Calling back to locations like Rosine, Muhlenberg County, the Cumberland Gap are song titles like Monroe’s seminal\u00a0Blue Moon of Kentucky<\/em>, Kentucky Waltz<\/em>, Paradise<\/em>,\u00a0Rose of Old Kentucky<\/em>, I’m Going Back To Old Kentucky<\/em>,\u00a0On My Way Back to the Old Home<\/em>, The Everly Brothers’ beautifully harmonized Kentucky<\/em>, and perhaps most famous of all, Kentucky’s state song, penned in Bardstown, Stephen Foster’s\u00a0My Old Kentucky Home<\/em>. \u00a0Kentucky is even the home of “The Most Recognized Song in the English Language” according to Guinness, Happy Birthday<\/em>, written\u00a0by sisters Patty and Mildred Hill in Louisville, 1893.<\/p>\n And then there’s Bluegrass. \u00a0The music born from Bill Monroe’s lightning fast mandolin leads, listening to his Uncle Penn’s fiddle on their Rosine porch. \u00a0Hammered out at the weekly Barn Jamboree, and let loose on the hills of this beautiful rolling countryside. \u00a0What can be more Kentucky than Bluegrass?<\/p>\n Kentucky is music.<\/p>\n I’ve been driving around my home state, music turned up,\u00a0trying to find what is left\u00a0of\u00a0the stories, the sites and sounds that inspired countless artists before me. It’s an ongoing project that could very well take my whole life, but what a wonderful way to pass the time.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n\t\t\t