David Dees
David is the Assistant Dean in Enrollment and Academic Services, here at UCF, He is also an Associate Professor in Sociology.
David Has been Doing the Bluegrass Show at WUCF for 10 years now.
In his spare time he enjoys playing bass and banjo.
The Bluegrass show on WUCF-FM 89.9
Bluegrass Festivals
Local Bluegrass Jams
Bluegrass Links on the Net
THE BLUEGRASS SHOW ON WUCF-FM 89.9
Hosted by Dr. David Dees
(Sundays 3:00 - 6:00 pm)
Bluegrass is an acoustic music, performed principally on the mandolin,
banjo, fiddle, guitar, and bass fiddle. Lyrics draw upon folk ballad styles
and emphisize traditional themes of family and home. As a musical genre,
bluegrass arose in the middle of the 20th century from the fusion of British and
African-American folk music traditions in the Southeastern United States.
The name is taken from the musical group, the Blue Grass Boys, formed by
Kentuckian Bill Monroe in 1939. Blending the Scots-Irish jigs and the reels
of string bands with the syncopation and extemporaneous improvisation of jazz
and the expressiveness of the blues, Monroe created a musical style which
stressed instrumental virtuosity, distinctive high-pitched vocals, and
accelerated tempos. Almost obscured by the rise of "rock and roll" and
"the Nashville sound" in the 1950's, bluegrass was "discovered" by a new
audience during the urban folk music revival of the late 1950's.
Bluegrass made the transition from a regional to a national or even
international music in the late 1960's. Up to this time, it had generally
been located in the Southeastern united States, particularly in Appalachia,
a continuing repository of Scots-Irish traditions. Much of the impetus for this
transformation occured on college campuses, as a part of the broader rejection
of commercial "pop" music which followed through the social transformations of
the late 1960's. This period saw the emergence of the bluegrass festival,
usually a weekend camping event held in a rural area with bluegrass bands
performing on stage and extensive informal jam sessions scattered throughout
the campground. From the first festival (held on Labor Day weekend) in 1965,
the number of major festivals held annually in the U.S. noe exceeds 600. In
addition there are annual festivals in Australia, the former Czechoslovakia,
Denmark, Estonia, Italy, Japan, Canada, England, Russia, Scotland, Switzerland,
and other nations.
Several writers had suggested contemporary bluegrass offers re-caption of
an idealized bucolic past, perhaps an antidote for the rushed, impersonal pace
of modern urban existance. In the 1990, U.S. Census data indicated that
bluegrass now ranks 9th among musical preferences (listed by 30% of the
respondents), following jazz (33%) and classical music (34%).
BLUEGRASS FESTIVALS
December
31-Jan. 1. Date City. Seretoma Youth Ranch. New Year's Eve party. Gillis Brothers, Sand Mountain Boys, Bass Mountain Boys, Doug Cloud & County Line, others.
January
12, 13, & 14. Horton Ranch Festival. Kissimmee - St. Cloud. J. D. Crowe & the New South, IIIrd Tyme Out, Lonesome River Band, High Strung, Charlie Waller & the County Gentlemen, Larry Sparks and the Lonesome Ramblers, Lost & Found, Osborne Brothers, New Coon Creek Girls, Lou Reid, Terry Baucom, & Carolina, Redwing, and Bluegrass Heritage. (407)847-0561).
18, 19, 20, & 21. Yeehaw Junction. Bass Mountain Boys, Chubby Wise, Alabaster Sisters, Kevin Williamson & Shadow Ridge, Pthe rospectors, James Rogers & Family, Flatland, Gilbert Hancock, Smokey Green, South Ocean String Band, White Sands, Palms Bluegrass, Tater Hill, Tommy Cordell, Carl Bailey, Rambling Roses, Doug Cloud & County Line, Bluegrass Heritage, others. ( 1-800-329-89930.
February
16 & 17. Daytona Beach. Municipal Stadium. Daytona Bluegrass Music Festival. Lonesome River Band, IIIrd Tyme Out, and Claire Lynch and the Front Porch String Band.
16, 17, & 18. Waldo. Trading Post Festival. Jim & Jesse and the Virginia Boys, Larry Stephenson Band, Jaames King Band, the Freddie Clark Family, the Platt Family, Churchmen, Red & Murphy and their Excellent Children, Buck Lewis and the Broken Stones, Bluegrass Heritage. (904) 468-2622.
March
7, 8, 9. & 10. Kissimmee Festival. Osborne Brothers, Lewis Family, Lonesome River Band, Lynn Morris Band, Reno Brothers,Red & Murphy, Continental Divide, Rarely Herd, Porchdogs, Doug Cloud & County Line, Hand Picked, Southern Rail, Randall Hylton, and Bass Mountain boys. 1-800-473-7773.
14, 15, 16, & 17. Sunshine State Bluegrass Festival. Puna Gorda, FL -Harbor - Laishley Park. Mike Snider, Sand Mountain Boys, Country Current,Chubby Wise, James King Band, Chapman Fmaily, Baldridge Family & Goldwing Express, Bob Lewis Family, Palms Bluegrass, Kevin Williamson and Shadow Ridge, and Tater Hill. (941) 639-5966.)
15, 16, & 17. Auburndale. 20th Anual Florida State Chammpionship Bluegrass Festival. Market World Flea Market. US Highway 92, W of Auburndale. (813-967-4307).
29, 30, & 31. Withlacoochee Festival. Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, Lewis Family, Osborne Brothers, Jeff & Sheri Easter, Reno Brothers, Marksmen, New Coon Creek Girls, Cherokee, Neshoba, Gillis Brothers, Bluegras Heritage, Endless highway, and Jimmy C. Newman & Canjun Country. ( 904-489-8330).
April
13 & 14. . Dunnelion Florida. Will Mclean Music Fstival. (904-465-2708).
Local Bluegrass Jams