...the "2005 International Bluegrass Music Print Media Person of the Year," is a journalist and photographer whose work has focused on bluegrass and traditional folk music since 1975, when she was hired as an editor of the seminal bluegrass magazine, Pickin’. For more than three decades her in-depth interviews and reviews have appeared in publications on both sides of the Atlantic and her photographs have circled the globe in books, magazines, recordings and museums. Her lengthy credits include co-editing Hot Licks for Bluegrass Fiddle (Oak Publications) and authoring the "Folk Music" entry for the Encyclopedia of New Jersey (Rutgers University Press, 2004). Her most recent liner notes can be read in Troubled Times, the 2005 recording from James Reams and the Barnstormers, while her photos grace the entire CD booklet for Smithsonian Folkways’ Classic Bluegrass Volume 2. Perhaps her best known image is the front cover of Rounder Records' Johnson Mountain Boys At the Old Schoolhouse. In May 2007, in recognition of her long career achievements, Ledgin was honored at Belmont University, Nashville, at the International Country Music Conference, where she received the Charlie Lamb Award for Excellence in Country Music Journalism.

Released to critical acclaim in 2004, Homegrown Music: Discovering Bluegrass (Praeger Publishers) is Ledgin’s first book. Library Journal declared "every library should own a copy," while Bluegrass Unlimited described it as "a needed addition to the canon of bluegrass scholarship." With a foreword by Ricky Skaggs, it is a lively introduction for newcomers to the music yet presents a novel perspective for those "in the know." Within its first three months of availability, Homegrown Music went into second printing and was nominated for the Belmont University Curb Music Industry Country Music Book of the Year Award.

In his foreword, CBS News personality Charles Osgood invites the reader to "feel and hear" the music through the 200 photographs in Ledgin’s second book, From Every Stage: Images of America’s Roots Music (University Press of Mississippi, 2005). Rare, previously unpublished interviews are also featured in this full-color photo narrative Publisher’s Weekly Online called an "exhilarating collection." A companion photo exhibition was featured at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville and at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. The images will be on display for a year-long exhibition at the International Bluegrass Music Museum in Owensboro, Kentucky, opening June 21, 2007, to coincide with the annual River of Music Party (ROMP) Festival.

From 1987-2004, Ledgin published The Traditional MusicLine, comprehensive monthly calendar of acoustic music events. For eighteen years, it was considered the "bible" for folk music in the Northeast.

Having already dabbled in artist bookings, Ledgin jumped into major concert promotion when she initiated a new bluegrass series at New York City’s legendary Lone Star Cafe in December 1987, kicking it off with the Johnson Mountain Boys. It is her photo taken that evening that appears on the front cover of the Grammy-nominated album The Johnson Mountain Boys At the Old Schoolhouse. In 1988 and 1989, Ledgin presented the National Council for the Traditional Arts’ Masters of the Folk Violin, introducing then rising star Alison Krauss to New York City audiences. From 1988 through mid-1991, she co-produced the long-running bluegrass and old-time music shows at New York City’s Eagle Tavern.

During her Eagle Tavern days, Ledgin met Italian flatpicking guitar wizard Beppe Gambetta, who promptly hired her to arrange his next U.S. tour. The success of that tour led to Ledgin quickly assuming full responsibilities as Gambetta’s manager as well as his booking agent. This ten-year relationship (1989-1999) brought appearances at major concert halls and prestigious festivals throughout the United States and Canada, national media exposure, recording contracts, instructional and performance videos as well as product endorsements, including clinician status for Taylor Guitars.

Still another role was introduced into her portfolio in 1994 when Ledgin was appointed Director of the New Jersey Folk Festival and consequently lecturer at Rutgers University. Held annually since 1975 in New Brunswick, this student-run, free, not-for-profit event attracted a record-breaking 18,000 for its 2002 event, the last year in which Ledgin was fully involved. She stepped down in 2003 after planning that year’s program. Under her direction the festival grew in size and scope, featuring four stages of music, dance and workshops, a juried craft market, children’s activities, a folk marketplace and a diverse array of ethnic food vendors. She also authored a tailor-made, 300-page manual on folk festival management. Her leadership brought major sponsors including Cablevision and UnitedTrust (now PNC Bank).

Supplementing these many activities, add concert and festival emcee, as well as radio show host. Ledgin was one of the original announcers for New York City public radio WFUV-FM’s CityFolk format begun in 1989. Her intros have been heard on numerous stages in the Northeast and at MerleFest. Since the publication of her books, she is in demand for speaking engagements, workshops and book festivals. An invited author at the first ever New York Times’ Great Read in the Park in NYC, she presented a paper at the 2005 International Bluegrass Music Symposium, Western Kentucky University.

Ledgin’s biographical entry appears in Marquis’ Who’s Who in America and Marquis’ Who’s Who of American Women. In 2005, she was elected to the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Board of Directors, representing Print Media/Education. Fall 2006 brought the release of Homegrown Music in paperback (University of Illinois Press), with an all new front cover design, spotlighting one of Ledgin's photographs, in addition to the 25 included in the original hardcover edition. Projects in the works include two books, Discovering Folk Music (Praeger 2008 anticipated) and Beyond Your Cat’s Meow, as well as a special music series under development for nontraditional electronic broadcast.

Honors & Special Recognition

Affiliations

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