WE NEED YOUR DONATION TO CONTINUE PHASE 3 "IN DEMAND."

Fund Raising Phase 3 Begins after the success of Phase 2.  Thanks to all who contributed!

In Phase 3 we will do the Principal Shooting at the "High Mountain Hay Fever Bluegrass Festival in the Summer of 2018 and then do the final editing.  This is the big cost of this project.  Thus we need to raise much more money through donations and investors.

My partners and I started this project, Bluegrass Court Jester: Ron Thomason, An Unusual History of Bluegrass Music,  in November of 2016 with a trip to do an interview with Ron at his ranch in the high mountain desert of Colorado.  We then spent the next five months planning for the April 2017 concert by the "Dry Branch Fire Squad" the bluegrass band that Ron leads.  This concert was performed in front of a full house for the Institute of Musical in Silver Spring, MD.  We videotaped this concert with four cameras to capture the concert professionally.   

Here is what one fan wrote about the April concert: 

I first saw Dry Branch in 1980 at the Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival that I have attended ever since.  I have seen the band perform well over 100 sets.  In all that time, the show last night was the very best.  The band is now very tight very great picking and harmonies.  Keep it up!

Also during Phase 1 we videotaped a terrific interview with Chris Teskey, Program Director of Bluegrass Country Radio in Washington DC.

Our video at the beginning of this page features clips from the April concert, excerpts from the Ron Thomason and Chris Teskey interviews.  This 7 minute video will give you an idea of the approach we will use on the one-long concert documentary, Bluegrass Court Jester: Ron Thomason, An Unusual History of Bluegrass Music,

In addition in Phase 1 we set up our social media sites on Twitter and Facebook and created our website.

Phase 2 included:

Completed--The July trip to Westcliff to scout last summers High Mountain Hay Fever Bluegrass Festival

A trip to IBMA and participate in the Exhibit Hall.

Another interview with Ron Thomason and Heidi Clare at the Colorado Ranch in November 2017.   

Produced a concert with Kaia Kater and also shot in with a four camera shoot.  Kaia will be a featured young performer in our film along with 10 String Symphony who we will shoot at a concert in the October.  

We want you to be involved and know that your contribution will make this project happen.

Music downloads from the April concert, a DVD of the final video and various forms of recognition for you contribution are available in the different levels of contributors.

Thanks in advance for you support.

The End Product

We are going to talk with various cable networks to find the right broadcast outlet for what we know will be a unique look at this music we all love.