Our Host

I was distressed to learn that Jim Wilder passed away in December. Jim had promoted and hosted bluegrass festivals in Charlotte and Milan, Michigan, for many years. I'm gonna miss him.

Over the years I figure I spent a hundred days or so at the Charlotte show, which billed itself as "Michigan's Oldest Continuously-Held Bluegrass Festival." Wilder was the festival's third proprietor.

A partial list of bands we've seen and heard in Charlotte would begin with Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys, and would continue with Jim & Jesse, the Osborne Brothers, and Jimmy Martin. We've heard the Bluegrass Cardinals, the Seldom Scene, the New Coon Creek Girls, and the Dry Branch Fire Squad. Rhonda Vincent's been a regular of late, as have IIIrd Tyme Out, Charlie Sizemore, the Grascals, Audie Blaylock, and Del McCoury. Dailey and Vincent showed up one year; so did Lou Reid, and so did Dale Ann Bradley. Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver performed here from time to time. And Jim's predecessor John Morris brought us Wade Mainer, a recording pioneer who pre-dated even Bill Monroe as a radio star.

Of course, Bill and his (late-model) Bluegrass Boys graced the Charlotte stage for several years.

This list of highlights doesn't begin to exhaust the range of talent Wilder and his predecessors brought to our community in forty years of festivals.

Looks like the Milan festival will be held this summer, but Charlotte's probably going to be scrubbed. Let's hope it's a short break, rather than an ending. [See Below]

Jim's health's been obviously problematical for the past few years, and I made it a point to thank him last June for bringing a weekend of joy into my life every summer. He credited Faye, claiming "she did all the work." So I thanked her, too.

Gonna miss you, guy. Thanks again.