Owensboro’s the Bluegrass Music Capital of the World and Now There’s a Song About It

Owensboro, Kentucky recently staked claim as the Bluegrass Music Capital of the World. And, why not? We're home to the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum, which sits in the heart of downtown Owensboro. We're also home to ROMP, one of the biggest and most popular bluegrass music festivals in the world.

On Thursday, at the Rooster Booster Breakfast presented by the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce, we celebrated our new title and the community's love for bluegrass.

And I decided to have some fun with the crowd, which included Chris Joslin, who's the Executive Director of the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame of Museum, and Randy Lanham, local fiddle legend who's toured with a variety of country music stars over the course of his career. Fun fact. Randy recently played his 50th state on his 50th birthday.

I challenged Chris and Randy to write a fun bluegrass song on the spot. However, we threw them a big curve ball. I asked the Rooster Booster crowd to shout out eight buzzwords or phrases that people associate with Owensboro.  Here's what they came up with:

RIVERFRONT

BBQ

BOURBON

BLUE BRIDGE

FREDERICA

SASSAFRASS

JOHNNY DEPP

Chris and Randy had about twenty minutes to leave the room and work on the big debut of their song.  The featured speaker at Thursday's breakfast was Paul Schiminger, a consultant for our Bluegrass Taskforce. In his address to the crowd, he celebrated the laundry list of accomplishments and offerings that really do cement Owensboro as the Bluegrass Music Capital of the World.

Then, to close breakfast, Chris and Randy took the stage with their mandolin and guitar and performed their song. It was absolutely brilliant and hilarious!

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