Lynn Russwurm in the Woolwich Observer

There’s a full-page write-up on Lynn Russwurm in this week’s Woolwich Observer:

Country’s musical roots on display for all to hear throughout the summer

by Will Sloan
May 24, 2013

Lynn Russwurm in his office

Lynn Russwurm plays guitar

Lynn Russwurm’s office is packed with records and CDs

Lynn Russwurm at work

Lynn Russwurm and some of his record collection

[…] as Lynn Russwurm prepares for another year of his Elmira Showcase Concert series, he entertains the question: “why country and bluegrass?”

“I’ve been in country all my life – I’ve been performing for all my life,” says Russwurm in his Floradale home, a place bursting with CDs, LPs, books, and assorted knickknacks from the past century of popular culture. “Bluegrass is part of country music. Originally there wasn’t a distinction.”

He continues, “It’s an honest music, and bluegrass musicians are some of the greatest musicians who don’t have any training, but they’ve got natural skill. It’s a natural kind of a music – very basic, and complex, too.”

Now in his eighties, Russwurm still recalls falling in love with the sound. “My dad had a pile of 78s and a record player, and I’d play them, and I loved those records.”
[…]
“A lot of the dealers look at what’s coming out of Nashville as garbage. The old music is the music, as far as us old-timers are concerned.”

The Woolwich Observer is sponsoring Lynn’s Summer Showcase Concerts, taking place every Sunday from 7:00pm to 9:00pm in the bandstand of Elmira’s Gore Park (map)