Carlton Haney

It was stunning.

So that summer, through the auspices of Bluegrass Unlimited and all the network we've met, Dad decided we're going to buy a camper and go to Berryville, Virginia to Carlton Haney's Festival in 1970, which we did.

Oh, cool.

And I can't begin to describe it.

Learn more at bluegrasshall.org. I'm your podcast host Dan Miller.

This week I'm talking with Fred Bartenstein about his many contributions to bluegrass music over the years, starting in the 1960s with his work with Carlton Haney's Music Festivals and Events and the Mule Skinner News.

Our September 2026 issue focuses on bluegrass in New England, and when Fred was in college at Harvard starting in 1969, he co-founded the first Bluegrass Music Association in Boston.

So I'll also talk to Fred about those Boston years.

And that was when I began to see bluegrass and country music on TV, most notably Red Smiley and the Bluegrass Cut-Up, who came on the station from Roanoke.

And I would watch their top of the morning live TV show every weekday morning.

So from all of that, how did you get involved with Carlton Haney and the festivals and Mule Skinner News?

All right.