Sam Stout, President and Coordinator of the Smithville Jamboree and Crafts Festival, was recently awarded the honor to play at the legendary Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. Stout played accompaniment guitar to fiddle player Jimmy Bilbrey of Cookeville, Tennessee. Bilbrey was recently named the winner of The Annual Uncle Jimmy Thompson Bluegrass Festival Fiddle Competition for 2017. As part of the award, Bilbrey was asked to perform at Bluegrass Nights at the Ryman Auditorium, choosing Stout to play accompaniment to the tune Ashokan Farewell. Bilbrey and Stout performed just after intermission, prior to Dailey & Vincent taking the stage to perform the second half of the show.
Jimmy Bilbrey is a well know bluegrass performer with bluegrass bands across the Upper Cumberland. Both Bilbrey and Stout are also one of the weekly announcers of the Sutton Ole Time Music Hour Bluegrass Dinner Show at Sutton General Store in Granville, Tennessee.
“This was an unbelievably humbling experience,” said Stout, “Thinking about all of the great entertainers and artists that have performed on that stage at the Ryman is simply incredible. It was a privilege to play alongside my good friend Jimmy Bilbrey. He is such a talented musician, and we had a wonderful time. It was an additional honor to perform on the same night as Jamie Dailey and Darrin Vincent, and we appreciated the warm welcome and hospitality that was shown by all.”
Every summer for more than two decades, Ryman Auditorium has celebrated their distinction as the birthplace of bluegrass music with their signature Bluegrass Nights summer series. When the the Grand Ole Opry put down roots there in 1943, the world would never be the same as the live radio and TV show brought the likes of Elvis Presley, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins, Minnie Pearl, Patsy Cline and Roy Acuff to the stage and into living rooms around the country for thirty one years. For more information on the Ryman, go to: ryman.com
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