20151021

Remembering Miss Dixie Committee Announces Grants‏!

Image635810080416642457The Remembering Miss Dixie Committee has announced five grants to the following organizations in October 2015.

The five grantees are:

  • Youth Scholarships to the Steve Kaufman Guitar and Mandolin Workshops Nov. 13-15 in Lebanon, TN;
  • The Youth Bluegrass Boot Camp at the Bill Monroe Music Park in Bean Blossom, IN;
  • The Kentucky Center for Traditional Music at Morehead State University in Morehead, KY;
  • The Bluegrass, Old Time and Country Music Studies Program at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, TN;
  • Gideon Bibles International.

Four scholarships for musicians age 21 and younger will be funded for guitar and mandolin workshops taught by Steve Kaufman at Fiddler’s Grove Historical Village in Lebanon, TN Nov. 13-15, 2015. Organized by the Wilson County Convention & Visitors Bureau, the Friday - Saturday guitar workshop will cover core picking skills and techniques, repertoire, and building blocks for growth in small group and one-on-one formats. The two-hour mandolin workshop will take place on Sunday afternoon, Nov. 15. Kaufman will also headline a concert Saturday night, Nov. 14 at the historic Capitol Theatre off the square in Lebanon. Workshop class sizes are limited. Contact Terri Merryman at (615) 453-9644 or terrimerryman@visitwilsoncounty.com to apply for a scholarship. Concert ticket info is at www.CapitolTheatreTN.com.

A number of wonderful bluegrass degree programs have sprung up at colleges across the country in recent years for young people working to improve their instrumental, vocal, songwriting, instrument building and music engineering skills.

The Remembering Miss Dixie Committee is pleased to announce contributions to the Kentucky Center for Traditional Music directed by Raymond McLain at Morehead State University in Morehead, KY and the Bluegrass, Old Time and Country Music Studies Program directed by Daniel Boner at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, TN. The Halls have a longtime scholarship association with the Commercial Music Program at South Plains College, in Levelland, Texas. In 1979 Mr. Hall brought a Nashville film crew to produce a mini-documentary on the South Plains country and bluegrass music program, and in 1987 the Tom T Hall Production Center opened. The Tom T. and Dixie Hall Scholarship is awarded annually to a freshman or sophomore student majoring in commercial music.

A donation has been made to the 2016 Youth Bluegrass Boot Camp directed by Sarah Wasson, which takes place in June during the Bill Monroe Memorial Bluegrass Festival in Bean Blossom, Indiana. The Boot Camp offers young attendees more than 15 hours of hands-on instruction from professional musicians, with a grand finale performance on the main stage. (www.billmonroemusicpark.com)

One hundred hotel Bibles were donated to The Gideons, in honor of Miss Dixie’s longtime friendship with prolific bluegrass songwriter Billy Smith, the Area 6 Director for The Gideons in Davidson, Williamson, Robertson and Cheatham Counties in central Tennessee. Miss Dixie and Billy co-wrote a number of songs together. The Bibles will be placed in Nashville, Tennessee area hotels.

“Miss Dixie was known in the bluegrass music community for her kind heart and generous spirit,” said Annette Kelley, treasurer of the Remembering Miss Dixie Committee. “We are so pleased to be able to honor her wishes and just continue to extend a helping hand to young people pursuing their Bluegrass dreams, in Miss Dixie’s memory.”


The Remembering Miss Dixie Committee was established earlier this year to oversee plans and programs created in memory of Miss Dixie Hall, the accomplished bluegrass songwriter and philanthropist who passed away January 16, 2015.

Miss Dixie left funds available and named the committee to assist organizations who are helping young musicians pursue their Bluegrass music dreams.


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