How does a genre rooted in back-porch jam sessions build an organization capable of producing a dynasty like the Del McCoury Band, which won Entertainer of the Year nine times between 1994 and 2004, including five consecutive years? This episode examines the International Bluegrass Music Association, founded in 1985 as a nonprofit trade association in Owensboro, Kentucky, at a moment when MTV-era pop and polished commercial country threatened to swallow acoustic music whole. We unpack its mission to honor tradition while encouraging innovation and how it drew a protective economic boundary around the banjo, double bass, fiddle, mandolin, and acoustic and resonator guitars.

The conversation follows the 1987 launch of the World of Bluegrass trade show and awards event and its migration from Owensboro to Louisville in 1997, Nashville from 2005 ...