WNCBluegrass.com is a web site and a FaceBook page. It serves as a place wher Bluegrass bands can post announcements of upcoming dates and their fans can share photos, videos, audio files of their favorite bands and find new ones.

It is privately financed and maintained.

This is the most exciting recent update. To add a date to the WNCBluegrass.com website you only have to go to WNCBluegrass FaceBook Page and post a brief entry and add a hash tag at the end of the post. The hashtag must follow this format: #wncbgevent:2012/1/7 .

The first part is always the same: #wncbgevent: (don't forget the colon at the end!)

The second part is in the format of YYYY/MM/DD as in 2012/1/7

In 2011 I built an interface that let bands and venues manage their profiles and add events to the calendar. Looking back I realize that most bands and venues don't have the resources or familiarity to do that. I have returned to the earlier practice of inviting bands and venues to send their information to me at info@WNCBluegrass.com. The caveat is that I add new entries as time allows.

WNCBluegrass.com started in 2007 with one purpose in mind:

To help Bluegrass Fans in the western North Carolina find the many bands in the area

We started by working with a band out of Haywood County to help them increase their visibility to fans via the Internet. This was before MySpace and Facebook was dominate and the quickest way to connect with fans was through searching the web via Google. it quickly became apparent that all the bluegrass bands of the region would benefit if there was a website dedicated to promoting area bands. After all, unless you knew the name of a band in the area how would you know to look for "Balsam Range" on Google?

The quest to identify as many WNC bluegrass bands, festivals, jams gegan in earnest. In the beginning there was even a page dedicated to individual musicians as well as a page for band albums. Keeping those pages current soon proved to be too big of a task to undertake alone. A t-shirt was designed and local bands purchased a rather nice handful. I still fondly recall that Charlest Humphries III (Steep Canyon Rangers bass player) and Darren Nicholson (Balsam Range mandolin player) bought shirts for their family and friends. The proceeds allowed me to hire someone to help with the search for bluegrass in the region. The quest was turning into an exciting journey. Along the way I have met people whom I would have never met and have become solid friends.

About the time that WNCBluegrass.com was getting a solid footing many bands were turning to MySpace as a way to connect with fans. That (intelligent) move by many bands changed some early plans to actually host mini-websites for bands who didn't have the technical knowledge to support their own sites. And then as MySpace began to fade, as many of you know, Facebook came roaring to the front and became the de facto means for communicating with fans. We almost missed the Facebook boat though (primarily due to limited available time outside of my regular work). However, with the help of some friends we were able to quickly come up to speed and as the end of 2011 have nearly 2,800 fans following the WNCBluegrass.com Facebook page.

The website and Facebook fan page have served the community well but there is one area that fans, bands, and WNCBluegrass.com are still struggling with. That is having a single place where every fan, visitor, player and tourist can go to and know they can find a comprehensive listing where they can hear the music that this area is internationally known for. I have taken several different approaches to realize this goal but they have failed. The end result is that fans are not finding bands and that means that those fans can't support the music of the area.

During Christmas 2011 break I met with several friends and asked for their advice. The end result is that I am turning to the power of the social network and going to make it where anybody can easily (and painlessly) add events to the WNCBluegrass.com calendar. At the same time, I've expanded the geographical coverage of the site to include any bluegrass event that is within reach of a day trip from any part of western North Carolina. That means that if you know of an event that you can drive to and back in the same day - well, I hope you will take the time to let us know about that event.

It's an ambitious project and part of a much larger journey. I hope you will join me along the way!