20 years ago (i.e., in 2005) Western Kentucky University sponsored the first-ever academic symposium on Bluegrass Music. 

      Many fine presentations were offered during the weekend conference, and I had the honor of contributing some  of my own research findings in the form of an illustrated Powerpoint talk on the topic of "Rural Country Music Parks."

      I have now recreated that illustrated talk as a ~33-minute video.  Though the narrated text is certainly dated (and poorly recorded on my part, with numerous plosive "pops"!), some may still be interested in my exploration of this topic...  If that includes you, viewer, you have my thanks, and I welcome your comments, criticisms and corrections.   — January, 2025
      The text of this presentation was published (in Japanese) in the April 2025 issue of the premier Japanese bluegrass fan magazine Moonshiner.  My thanks to Megumi Wright for doing the translation and to Shin Akimoto for publishing this piece!

The Old Country Doctor

This song, which I composed around 2016, celebrates the life of my dad: Dr. Richard F. Adler, a Viennese physician and refugee who escaped Hitler's Europe in 1940. 

This version is annotated with on-screen lyrics and images of Dr. Adler from his early-1940s base in Frenchburg, Kentucky.   The song is performed by me, with Lexington, Kentucky-based bluegrass band LIBERTY ROAD. 

Fifty-some years ago, while I was finishing up in the M.A. folklore program at SUNY/Oneonta's Cooperstown Graduate Program, I helped to create a mid-winter blues concert that we called "The Way It Spozed to Be."

It featured one very young local blues aficionado, Creighton Lindsay, and two venerable performers who were then living in Rochester, NY: Lesley Riddle and "Son" House, who represented two very different but significant streams of the blues tradition.

The reel-to-reel audiotape that was made of the 75-minute concert was thought to be lost; but when I received it from a CGP student recently, I knew right away that it should be digitized and preserved..

This is just an excerpt from that show, but if you're interested in country blues, you may enjoy this "teaser" video...  If you do, let me know by commenting on YouTube.