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Brown County Jamboree
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NOTE: If you have any stories, photos or striking
memories of the Brown County Jamboree show, please
contact Tom Adler at banjotom47@gmail.com
and help him with a project he's working on. We'd appreciate that.
Thanks!
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Beginning in September, 1941 (and informally for about
two years before that), the Brown County Jamboree was
presented every Sunday from about April through
October (roughly Easter through Thanksgiving). There
were usually two shows a day, afternoon and evening,
and in the early years (1941 through 1957) a one-hour segment
of the show was often broadcast over various Indianapolis
and Columbus (Indiana) radio stations. Most often
it was broadcast over WIBC, but WIRE and a few other stations
also broadcasted the show.
The Brown County Jamboree began first as a free show,
put on literally at the side of the road (State Hwy. 135)
in Bean Blossom. It was used by local merchants, especially
the Bean Blossom Lunchroom and several local grocery stores,
to help promote business.
In September 1941, it moved to
the Bean Blossom property of Francis Rund, and
the first show (which was broadcast by radio station WIBC)
was held on Sunday, September 28, 1941. An enormous tent
was put up for the show. That tent was used for the first couple of
years for the regular Sunday shows. During that time (especially in
winter) the Brown County Jamboree also traveled widely to other
venues in Indiana and even Kentucky.
The WIBC radio broadcasts in the 1950s were hosted by announcer
Jack Morrow.
—Left to right:
Richard Morrow, Carol Morrow, Jack Morrow (Brown County Jamboree emcee /
WIBC announcer), Linda Lou (champion fiddler), unknown, unknown)
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The artists that appeared on the Brown County Jamboree were local,
regional, and national in reputation, and included such
luminaries as Uncle Dave Macon, Curly Fox and Texas Ruby, Roy Acuff,
Minnie Pearl, Pee Wee King, Little Jimmie Dickens, Rex
Allen, and hundreds more.
In 1942 Rund began constructing a "barn" for
the show, and built a radio control room near the stage
to use for the radio broadcasts. The barn remained the main site of
the weekly shows until after the death of Birch
Monroe, in 1982. The barn was eventually razed by James Monroe in
1987.
That effectively was the end of the Brown County Jamboree, though
the annual bluegrass festivals which Bill Monroe began
to hold at the same site in 1967 went on,
and continue to this day. The park was sold in 1998 to
Dwight Dillman, a former Blue Grass Boy, and
he runs the place, promotes the festivals, and is
considering rebuilding "the barn" or another facility that
would permit him to hold weekly Brown County Jamboree shows again.
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Sonny Grubbs
Paul Grove
Asher Sizemore
Noah Crase
Harry Weger and his Hoosierland Hoedown Gang
Oscar (Shorty) Shehan
Birch Monroe
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