Statement By the IBMA Board of Directors

In recent weeks, the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) has been embroiled in a controversy concerning its annual Awards Show and the resignation of Board of Directors Chairperson/President David Crow after the US Navy's bluegrass band, Country Current, performed on the Show a medley of US military service branch anthems the group had previously agreed to omit at the request of the Board's Executive Committee. Following these events, the Committee conducted interviews with relevant parties in order to better understand how and why these events occurred, and to consider the issues raised by the controversy.

The Board of Directors has accepted the Committee's report (appended below), and regretfully acknowledges Chairperson/President David Crow's resignation. We thank him for his outstanding service.

The Board agrees that the IBMA must move forward in a spirit of conciliation, mutual respect and unity to carry out its mission:

IBMA: Working together for high standards of professionalism, a greater appreciation for our music, and the success of the worldwide bluegrass community.

We reaffirm our decision of September 22 to create a Task Force to recommend clearer guidelines for and procedures to oversee the production of the Awards Show, the purpose of which is to celebrate the year's outstanding contributions to the music; highlight Awards nominees; honor our bluegrass heroes and pioneers, and present performances of interest to both IBMA members and the general public.

We also understand and acknowledge that our values as a community - including encouraging diverse perspectives, inclusiveness and freedom of expression along with fostering goodwill and a spirit of cooperation - must be balanced as we find more productive ways to deal with each other with integrity and respect.

We encourage members to contribute to the Task Force their thoughts on how best to achieve these goals.

Following the IBMA Awards Show and the resignation of Board Chairperson/President David Crow, Executive Committee members Greg Cahill, Jon Weisberger and Stan Zdonik interviewed Crow; IBMA Executive Director Dan Hays; Awards Show producers Dell Davis and Wayne Rice; and Country Current members Wayne Taylor and Pat White. The Committee also reviewed the minutes of the Executive Committee's September 19 meeting, the Board's document of September 23rd entitled "2006 IBMA Awards Show" and other relevant documents.

Although the IBMA Board of Directors is ultimately responsible for the Awards Show, direct Board involvement in production has historically been minimal. Our volunteer Awards Show producers, Wayne Rice and Dell Davis, were delegated their duties by the Board and have labored long and hard over the years to produce what many have characterized as one of the finest shows of its kind. They are to be applauded for their work.

As awards nominees were becoming known in mid-summer, the producers issued invitations to several performers, requesting that they submit several options for performance numbers. "‘Til They Come Home," a song that is included on Rhonda Vincent's current All American Bluegrass Girl recording, was one of the options Rhonda submitted. The producers decided to invite her to perform the song and to follow it with the performance of a medley of US military service anthems by the US Navy's bluegrass band Country Current (a signature song for that band). The producers also invited 3 Fox Drive to perform the "Star Spangled Banner," which appears on the Celebration of Life recording that was nominated for Album of the Year.

"Expected to be one of the highpoints of the show is a special patriotic themed production involving Rhonda Vincent and the Rage and the US Navy Band Country Current Bluegrass Unit."

The announcement provoked discussion among IBMA members on the organization's listserv, IBMA-L, and elsewhere. On September 19, Board Chairperson/President David Crow convened a teleconference meeting of the Executive Committee of the IBMA board (responsible for acting whenever it's impractical for the full 18-member body to gather) to discuss the issues, and their conclusions dealt with three performances that were outlined in the show script. Those conclusions are summarized as follows:

The performance of the "Star Spangled Banner" by 3 Fox Drive was acceptable since they were awards nominees, and a recording on which their performance of the song appears was an award nominee. The performance of "‘Til They Come Home" by Rhonda Vincent and the Rage was acceptable since they were award nominees, the song appears on her current recording, and the artist had expressed an interest in performing the song. The Committee noted that they would encourage the artist to note that the performance is for all men and women around the world that have ever served their countries; Because the military themed medley was not connected to any awards nominations, it was agreed this production could be insensitive to international attendees and others and was not consistent with our international mission. The Committee thus requested that the show producers arrange for Country Current to perform a different song, and that the possible additional inclusion of international (non-US) artists would be preferred if it could be arranged. After taking these actions, the Committee communicated them to the full Board during its meeting on September 22 and also requested IBMA staff to communicate them to the Awards Show producers. Those conversations with the producers took place almost immediately and the producers also immediately communicated the request to the US Navy Band Country Current. In addition, the Board decided to establish a Task Force to make recommendations to the Board on guidelines and procedures for increased oversight of future awards shows prior to the next board meeting.

Country Current (several members of which are also members of IBMA), received this information with much grace and understanding and agreed immediately to perform a different song than the medley of military theme songs. The US Navy Band understood our concerns and indicated its complete willingness and agreement to perform a different song. They did note that their protocol prevents them from performing on stage with other artists regardless of where they are from, and the show producers accepted that the Committee's recommendation in this regard would not be implemented. These responses were communicated to Board leadership.

During the business conference that preceded the Awards Show, IBMA Board Chairperson and President David Crow communicated with members to share the actions of the Executive Committee. He noted that the Executive Committee had recommended one adjustment to the show out of a desire to be sensitive to and respectful of the feelings of international members and U.S. members who had expressed concerns; that this adjustment had been agreed to by all concerned, and he personally assured members that the Show would be one of which they could be proud.

In the days prior to the Show, Country Current members continued to reiterate their willingness to perform something other than the service anthems medley and the Committee's interviews following the Show made clear the band received and understood the request from IBMA's leadership, staff and show producers. However, during the Show itself, the group chose to perform the medley, and the Committee's subsequent interviews produced different opinions on why the group made this decision. The Committee believes that further investigation or speculation would serve no useful purpose.

Following the Awards Show production, its producers edit and remix the show to get the best sound quality possible and to fit the Show into a 2 hour program that is distributed to radio stations all over the world. This year, the Show ran approximately 2 hours and 40 minutes. Of the three components of the Show (music, awards and commercials), only music and awards are eligible to be deleted from the program. Based on prior Show experience, in which edits have included cutting out awards presentations in several categories entirely along with music, the producers had pre-planned the presentations for all Instrumental Awards to be done at one time, in hopes that the shorter time would allow them to be included in the broadcast. With that change, and leaving that presentation in the Show, a decision was made to edit music from the Show. Since they were not nominees for any award, the US Navy Band's performance was deleted, as was one of the two songs in the finale which had serious sound mix problems. Neither the Board nor anyone else in the IBMA's leadership directed the deletion of these songs.

Following the Show, David Crow chose to tender his resignation as IBMA Board Chair and President. While we respect and have accepted David Crow's resignation, we do not agree with his conclusions that he "lied to the membership" nor that he should hold himself personally accountable for the circumstances. For these reasons, the Committee tried to convince him to rescind his resignation, but he has requested that we honor his decision and we will respectfully do so. We regret that we are losing an admired and valued leader in David Crow.

The Executive Committee deeply regrets that its wishes were not respected. However, we also believe that the best action at this point is to move forward together in a spirit of conciliation and mutual respect and recommend the organization implement policies and procedures that more fully take into account our values as a community to guide future productions of the Show.

The Committee concludes that the ultimate source of the controversy lay in inadequate guidelines for the Awards Show producers and insufficient oversight of the planning and production of the Show by the Board. The Board has a responsibility to provide clear guidance and resources to any of the committees or staff to which it delegates authority, and must create checks and balances which permit it to entrust others to do their job. In addition, the organization has and will continue to rely heavily on artists and others to involve themselves in presentations that fit within the values of our community and to help accomplish the Show's objectives. We also note that the Board's strategic plan calls for vigorously pursuing television broadcast of the Awards Show, and that this will inevitably involve more partners in the form of broadcast outlets, television producers and sponsor interests. We need to be very clear in what our goals are and what we can and cannot do to help achieve them. The Committee notes the Board's prior decision to create a Task Force to recommend clear guidelines and oversight procedures that will facilitate the identification and accomplishment of these goals.

Finally, the Committee notes that, despite the controversy, we have much to be proud of. As previously stated, the purpose of our Awards Show is to celebrate and honor outstanding contributions to our music. In so many wonderful ways this year's show did that and more, and to those nominees, awards recipients, presenters, performers, our host, the production crew, members who voted and others involved, we thank and congratulate you.

International Bluegrass Music Association 2 Music Circle South • Suite 100 • Nashville, TN 37203 615.256.3222 p • info@ibma.org • www.ibma.org

In the overall scheme of things, this might not seem too important. Still it is odd that something like this has occurred. Bluegrass, a down home mountain music, was some time ago hijacked by Northeastern liberals. And while this may have kept the music going when it was out of favor, and certainly contributed to the popularity it enjoys today, it's also responsible for this strange cultural clash. Does this gibberish sound like anything mountain folks would understand, let alone agree with?

US Navy's bluegrass band, Country Current, performed on the Show a medley of US military service branch anthems...

This is bad because?

Does this gibberish sound like anything mountain folks would understand, let alone agree with?

No. The ones I know would have shot the board about the third paragraph...I would have shot them sooner.

3 posted on 11/09/2006 2:55:31 PM PST by crazyhorse691 (Diplomacy doesn't work when seagulls rain on your parade. A shotgun and umbrella does.)

I propose a simple choice: one can be an IBMA member, or a US citizen, but not both at once.

8 posted on 11/09/2006 3:05:04 PM PST by LiteKeeper (Beware the secularization of America; the Islamization of Eurabia)

Translation: anti-American IBMA wanted the NAVY bluegrass band to not perform American military anthems.

Oh, in that case: Screw the IBMA.

Anyone care to translate this from bullsh*t into English?

Too funny! I was thinking the same thing.

These people have trouble with anything patriotic. You would think that the Navy group was going to do a live sex act on stage, or something.

Their tangled words stem from their tangled thoughts and emotions.

"Does this gibberish sound like anything mountain folks would understand, let alone agree with?"

If I, and some other mountain boys that I know, had been there, and had known about this; Mr Crow and all of the other "wine and brie" members of the IBMA board would have been the recipients of a stern "talkin' to" ;>)

/jasper

Because the military themed medley was not connected to any awards nominations, it was agreed this production could be insensitive to international attendees and others and was not consistent with our international mission.

If those un-American freaks think that US military songs should be banned from their venue because of their concerns that they "could be insensitive" to their "international" members, may I suggest to those weasely dirtbags to get the hell out of the U.S. and reform in France.

Has anyone heard what any of the major (AMERICAN) Bluegrass stars had to say about the controversy?

Like, Ricky Skaggs, or Del McCoury, ot Rhonda Vincent, or Allison Krauss & Union Station...? Hmmm, I bet Allison is a Lib though, which would be a shame....

Can't imagine Ricky or Del being in support of it for a minute. Remember Del dropped out of a tour with Steve Earle because Steve was so foul-mouthed.

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