Bluegrass artists are struggling, Cantrell tells chamber
“I love it that you guys call yourselves ‘The Bluegrass Music Capital of the World,’ ” Kyle Cantrell, five-time International Bluegrass Music Association broadcaster of the year, told the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce’s Rooster Booster Breakfast on Thursday.
The former Grand Ole Opry announcer said no other city has made the claim, “and you have a right to it. This is a big thing in bluegrass.”
Cantrell, a trustee of the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum, said, “I feel like I’m a transplant. I love this city. I wonder what Bill Monroe would think about Owensboro today.”
Monroe was born in Rosine in Ohio County.
When he was 10 years old — in either late 1921 or 1922 — his appendix burst, and his family rushed him by train to Owensboro for emergency surgery that saved his life.
Cantrell said, “Bluegrass music today is in a bit of a quandary. It’s struggling. People used to buy CDs and tapes, but now they stream.”
And that hurts the artists’ income, he said.
Cantrell said people who visit the Hall of Fame or attend bluegrass shows in Owensboro may have their lives changed.
“You never know how they’re going to be changed,” he said. “You’re kind people, warm and friendly. Keep up the things you’re doing.”
In 1982, when Cantrell was 21, he began working for WSM radio in Nashville, and two years later he became an announcer for the Grand Ole Opry, a position he held for 18 years.
In 2002, Cantrell became the first morning host playing classic country music for Sirius Satellite Radio.
Three years later, he was hired by XM satellite radio to program its Bluegrass Junction channel.
This year, Cantrell launched BanjoRadio.
Candance Castlen Brake, chamber president, said, “As part of our efforts to stake our claim as the ‘Bluegrass Music Capital of the World,’ it is important for us to connect with national figures like Kyle.”
By Keith Lawrence Messenger Inquirer