With Wayne Rice, Sundays from 10:00 p.m. to 12 midnight

For the past 35 years, KSON's Bluegrass Special has been Southern California's only all-bluegrass music radio program featuring the best of today's bluegrass music along with a mix of oldies, local artists and bluegrass gospel music. The show also features news and information about San Diego's bluegrass music scene.

Want to know where to hear bluegrass music LIVE in San Diego? Click on the banner below for the Bluegrass Bulletin Board!

About Wayne Rice:

• Has hosted KSON's Bluegrass Special since March 7, 1976.
• Former member of Brush Arbor, a country/gospel group that recorded for Capitol Records in the early 1970's and won the Academy of Country Music's Vocal Group Of The Year Award for 1973. Plays 5-string banjo and guitar (and sings, too!)
• Currently performs with a local San Diego Bluegrass band called Lighthouse, and another called Grassology.
• Recipient of the 1995 International Bluegrass Music Association's "Broadcaster of the Year" award.
• Is a lifetime member of the Country Music Association.
• Is also a well-known author and speaker on the subject of youth and family issues, the co-founder of an organization called Youth Specialties.
• He serves as one of the pastors at College Avenue Baptist Church in San Diego.
• Visit Wayne's personal web site at www.waynerice.com.  You can e-mail Wayne at this address: wayne@kson.com.

The San Diego Bluegrass Society "Live" on KSON

Listen on the Sunday night before the 4th Tuesday of each month to hear "The San Diego Bluegrass Society Live" featuring local and regional bands live from the KSON Studio in Mission Valley. Pictured below is the Anderson Family, performing live in studio on Sunday night, August 22, 2010. Thanks to Dennis Anderson for the photo.

Seen Recently on a Car Window in San Diego:

Thanks to 16-year-old Tanya Brandon for sending in this photo of a window sticker her dad had made as an "inside joke" that only fans of KSON's Bluegrass Special would get. Very cool.

About Bluegrass Music:

Bluegrass music is a unique form of country music which was created in the 1940's by the late Grand Ole Opry star Bill Monroe, also known as "The Father of Bluegrass Music." The style was named for Monroe's band The Bluegrass Boys and his home state of Kentucky. Other bluegrass pioneers include Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, the Stanley Brothers, Jim and Jesse McReynolds and the Osborne Brothers.

Bluegrass music has it's own distinctive sound. It is usually acoustic (unplugged), and it primarily features the fiddle, banjo, mandolin, guitar, bass and dobro, along with tight-knit harmony singing. Famous bluegrass songs include "Rocky Top", "Fox On The Run", "Foggy Mountain Breakdown", "Man of Constant Sorrow" (from the movie "O Brother Where Art Thou" and "Dueling Banjos" (from the movie "Deliverance") Contemporary bluegrass stars include Alison Krauss, Ricky Skaggs, Dolly Parton, Del McCoury, and Rhonda Vincent.  Vince Gill, Emmylou Harris, Joe Diffie, The Dixie Chicks and Marty Stuart are among the many country artists who began their musical careers in bluegrass.

There are numerous independent record labels which continue to produce new bluegrass music. Among them are Rounder, Sugar Hill, Rebel, Pinecastle, Rural Rhythm and Skaggs Family Records. 

The International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA), headquartered in Nashville, is the primary trade organization for today's bluegrass music industry. The IBMA hosts it's annual "World of Bluegrass" Trade Show and Fanfest in Nashville as well as the IBMA Awards Show, the biggest night of the year for bluegrass music artists. Locally, the San Diego Bluegrass Society, the North County Folk and Bluegrass Music Club, and the Bluegrass Association of Southern California help to promote the music and provide opportunities for fans and musicians to get together.

Listen each week to the Bluegrass Special for the latest information on where to hear bluegrass locally or check out our "Bluegrass Bulletin Board" which is updated weekly.

Regular monthly events:

• 1st Tuesday of the month: The North County Bluegrass and Folk Club presents bluegrass at Round Table Pizza, Ash and Washington, Escondido (7-10 p.m.)
• 2nd Tuesday of the Month: The San Diego Bluegrass Society presents bluegrass at Fuddruckers in La Mesa at the Grossmont Shopping Center (6:30-9 p.m.)
• 3rd Tuesday of the Month: The San Diego Bluegrass Society hosts an open mike and jam at New Expression Music (4434 30th Street, San Diego) from 6:30 to 9:00pm. "Slow Jam" from 6:30 to 7:30.
• 4th Tuesday of the month: The San Diego Bluegrass Society hosts an open mike and jam at the Boll Weevil Restaurant (9339 Clairemont Mesa Blvd)) in San Diego. (6:30-9 p.m.)

• "Bluegrass Unlimited" Magazine
  P.O. Box 111
  Broad Run, VA 20137
  Subscriptions: 1-800-BLU-GRAS
  E-mail to editor@bluegrassmusic.com
  Website: http://www.bluegrassmusic.com
  
• "The San Diego Troubadour"
  A free monthly newspaper featuring news and articles about San Diego's acoustic music scene. Available in music stores and other venues around town (or online.)

• New Expression Music
  4434 30th Street
  San Diego, CA 92105
  (619) 280-9035
  
• Traditional Music
  1410 N. Highway 101
  Leucadia, CA 92024
  (619) 942-1622