Le Mars to serve as international hub for music

(Sentinel photo by Magdalene Landegent) A bass player throws back his head to sing a traditional country song at last year's Old Time Country and Bluegrass Music Festival. This year, musicians from Greece and beyond are planning to perform. [Click to enlarge]

Le Mars will be an international junction Aug. 31-Sept. 6 when musicians from as far as Greece, New Zealand and the country of Georgia will be taking the stage.

This is Le Mars' second year hosting the National Old-Time Country and Bluegrass Festival at the Plymouth County Fairgrounds.

Love for the traditional style of music will bring more than 600 performers from around the globe to 10 stages at the fairgrounds, explained Tom Mullally, of Le Mars, who is helping coordinate the event.

Bob Everhart, the president of the National Traditional Country Music Association and event coordinator, travels the world during the year and invites musicians to the annual festival.

"Last year we had several people from Australia and New Zealand," Mullally said. "This year some of them will come back, but more will be coming from Greece and Georgia."

A total of 40 people will travel from Greece to Le Mars for the event.

"They'll be performing their version of bluegrass, and they'll be performing all week," Mullally said.

Greece's government is paying for them to travel to Iowa, he said.

During the week, they'll be staying in one of Westmar College's former dormitories.

Another 30-40 people will be flying in from Georgia, a country sandwiched between Russia and Turkey.

"People from all over the world are coming and we need people to volunteer their houses," Mullally said. "It'll mostly be for a place to sleep -- they'll be at the fairgrounds pretty much all day."

The musicians that come are mostly unpaid for performing at the festival, he explained.

Having families host them helps cut down on their expenses and makes their appearances in the festival more affordable for them.

The 34th Annual National Old-Time Country and Bluegrass Festival, in its second year in Plymouth County, also includes Tee Pee Village, which emulates early American culture.

"Some of the people live like Indians," Mullally said. "And we've got mountain men that smell like mountain men."

The 10 stages will feature artists from 9 a.m. to midnight all week long, Mullally said.

Performers will play everything from guitar, banjo, ukelele and steel guitar to the accordion and the bones.

Some of the artists featured in the lineup include Jim Ed Brown, who earned fame as early as the 1950s with his two sisters in the Arkansas musical group The Browns.

Others include Ireland's queen of yodeling, Greta Elkin, and Terry Smith, who performed in Le Mars last year.

A local couple will also perform as part of the Sidetracks band.

"We're also inducting three local people into the hall of fame," Mullally added.

The National Traditional Country Music Association's hall of fame honors traditional musicians with far-reaching achievements.

This year, locals Mike Mullally, Wayne Longtin, Sr., and Elaine Peacock will be inducted into the hall of fame. The inductions take place throughout the week.

Even before the festival begins, two old time country music benefit concerts will be held. One is on Saturday, Aug. 29, at the Plymouth County Historical Museum auditorium benefiting the Le Mars Area Dialysis Services center. The second will be Sunday, Aug. 30, at the Olson Cultural Event Center to benefit the music festival.

For more information or to contact Mullally about hosting musicians, call him at 540-7204.