The Bluegrass, Old-Time and Roots Music Program at ETSU will hold its Spring 2025 BLUE Preview Feb. 13 from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Martin Center’s Powell Recital Hall. This event will showcase many of the bands within the program and give them an opportunity to share their passion with the community.
“One of the biggest goals is just to treat our community to our bands and the kinds of stuff we’re doing in the Bluegrass, Old-Time and Roots Music Program at this time. We want to share this music with everybody who’s interested in it and get people out so they can experience it with us,” said Nate Olson, the academic director of the Bluegrass, Old-Time and Roots Music Studies Program. “There’s an educational reason as well. We recognize that having the students perform like this at a public event early in the semester is a great way to help them jumpstart their semester, get right into the music they’re playing and get focused on practicing and learning the things they need to learn.”
ETSU’s Bluegrass, Old-Time and Roots Music Program was founded in 1982 and is the largest of its kind in the world. Since it’s focused on this specific kind of music, rather than being a broader music program, it has a unique opportunity of bringing in students both locally and from around the world. Recently, the program has had students from many other countries including Iran, Japan, the Netherlands, Scotland, Ghana and India.
“Students from all over the world have come here because they want to take a deep dive into this music and that’s what our program offers,” said Olson. “It has become kind of a magnet for people that are passionate about this music. And I think what our program really offers is the opportunity for students to immerse themselves in the music they love.”
The program has multiple alumni and faculty that have won Grammys and other prestigious awards. One faculty member, Trey Hensley, just won his first Grammy on Feb. 2 at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards.
“Some of our faculty members are nationally and internationally recognized as masters of the genre and so that’s another thing that attracts students to our program,” said Olson. “Another thing we offer is the opportunity to study with people who have not just made a living in this music but made an important contribution to it as well and are recognized for that.”
The program also has Artist in Residence Tim Stafford, who was a student at ETSU in the 1980s and went on to become a multi-award-winning artist in bluegrass music.
The program will be having more events throughout the semester including multiple square dances, the Blue Highway Concert and a Singer-Songwriter Night which will be hosted by Stafford. Many of the students also participate in the Boones Creek Opry, which occurs every Saturday night.
“BLUE Preview is going to be a great night and we hope that everybody will come out,” said Olson. “It’s going to be really fun, there will be lots of students there and I’m sure people will really enjoy it.”
