The festival is held on Jerusalem Ridge, just outside of Rosine, KY., on highway 62 and will run for four full days from October 1st through October 4th, 2009.

The 2009 event features a long roster of performers including Dr. Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys who will be appearing for one BIG show on Friday, October 2nd! The entire lineup of artists is at www.JerusalemRidgeFestival.org web site and includes bluegrass music greats Melvin Goins and Windy Mountain, Larry Sparks and the Lonesome Ramblers, Big Country Bluegrass, David Davis and the Warrior River Boys and over 40 acts in all. This is one heck of a show and a helps to fund the preservation of the treatured home of bluegrass music.

The Monroe family lived in a small, but comfortable cabin on the Monroe family farm, called Jerusalem Ridge, overlooking Rosine, Kentucky that has been in family since 1801. This beautiful, peaceful, and majestic setting is where Bill, Charlie, and Birch Monroe grew up and learned the roots of what was to eventually evolve into what we know as "bluegrass" music. Their formative years on Jerusalem Ridge, the sounds and sights of nature, the honest, backbreaking farm work and logging, the trials and tribulations, the joys and the heartaches, all provided a rich source of subjects and material which became the inspiration for many of Bill's songs and firmly established his legacy as the main author of bluegrass music.

Hard times in the late 1920's eventually drove the Monroe family north to Indiana to seek employment. Jerusalem Ridge, his precious ancestral farm, was lost 35 years later due to medical bill's that had accrued from are of Betty, Charlie's wife. Bill attempted to buy the farm back as soon as he learned that a local pharmacist had suddenly ended up with the farm, but these negotiations and several later attempts at negotiation all fell through. So, Bill settled for occasional pilgrimages to his own home from 1965 until his death in 1996.

Combine attendance at Jerusalem Ridge with a visit to the nearby International Bluegrass Music Museum, a fascinating institution in Owensboro devoted to preserving all things bluegrass. The IBMM is also home to the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Hall of Fame, recognizing noteworthy individuals for outstanding contributions to bluegrass music. New members are inducted each year.

The IBMM hosts its own annual mega-festival, the River of Music Party (ROMP), each June in Owensboro. This festival includes stellar bands from North America, Europe and the Far East, the Bluegrass Masters Film Festival, instrument workshops, juried arts and crafts, clogging and camping. For more info, visit www.bluegrass-museum.org/RiverOfMusic.

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