The Golden Anniversary of the Classic Movie
Bluegrass Country Soul
Thousands of fans applaud as the Country Gentlemen take the stage at Carlton Haney’s Labor Day Weekend Bluegrass Music Festival in Camp Springs, NC, 1971 (photo by Robert Kaylor)
Bluegrass Country Soul is Now Available to Stream Worldwide
Hello, newcomers and long-time subscribers,,
We are proud to announce another milestone in Bluegrass Country Soul’s extraordinary history. Now, there are two ways to enjoy watching this classic concert documentary.
The restored feature film in our Golden Anniversary box set is still available to own. And now you can stream it online, too.
ABOUT STREAMING:
Through our partners at Kinema, Inc., you may now rent Bluegrass Country Soul to stream on your device of choice (smart phone, tablet, computer, or smart TV), and watch at a time convenient for you.
Here’s how. The link below takes you directly to Kinema.com to set-up an account (it’s free), using your name, the email address you wish to use to stream, and a password you make up.
Once you charge the rental fee for the movie, you will have a 30-day window to start watching it, and then 48 hours to complete the streaming. It’s that simple.
Stream Bluegrass Country Soul.
ACCESSIBILITY
If you wish, streaming offers the options to watch with captions (for the hearing impaired) or audio description (for those with low vision).
GIFT RENTALS
You can also purchase a rental of Bluegrass Country Soul to give as a gift. When you go to the purchase page on Kinema, check the Gift option for details.
GROUP RATES
If you have a music class, club, or other organization with whom you’d like to share the film experience, contact us about special group rates.
ABOUT PURCHASING:
Box set with Combo pack, CDs and Companion Book
To own your own 50th Anniversary Edition of the restored film (in 4K, HD, and Dolby Sound), go to our Shop Now page. Video descriptions of all items on sale can be viewed below. (Please Note: The DVD “Special Features,” listed in these videos, are not available with streaming. They are only available with the purchase of the Blu-ray and DVDs).
Sam Bush and Tony Rice
Bill Emerson in the banjo finale
The Bluegrass 45 Group
Group in the Field at Night
J. D. Crowe in the banjo finale
For those new to Bluegrass Country Soul’s website –
A BRIEF HISTORY
On July 7, 1972, hundreds of bluegrass artists and fans packed the mammoth Virginia Theatre in Alexandria, VA, for a World Premiere. One week later, the Washington Post announced –
Bluegrass Country Soul: New High
“… The flowering interest in bluegrass has spawned its first film: Albert Ihde’s Bluegrass Country Soul, which opens today at six local theaters. It is filled with good music, good photography and interesting people. But above all else it is delightfully enjoyable to watch.”
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Tom Zito, Washington Post, July 11, 1972
Read the full review, and many others, click here.
Bluegrass music has come a long way since then, thanks in part to the multi-day bluegrass festivals that Carlton Haney created. This music quickly spread to nearly every state in the Union. Bluegrass Country Soul captured this growth at an important turning point. This was the beginning of “new grass.” In the movie, we hear Carlton tell us how he saw it coming: “It’s a new thing that’s happening across the country, and it’s caused a lot of the younger boys to get into the music.”
In 2019, Henninger Media Services in Arlington, VA, digitally restored the sole surviving 35mm print, which had been deteriorating rapidly. It was re-released in a Golden Anniversary box set, and is now in the permanent collection of the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum in Owensboro, KY.
“It’s impossible not to be captivated by Bluegrass Country Soul, a vivid documentary that puts you front and center at a legendary 1971 bluegrass festival where the future and past made beautiful music together. Anywhere you turn, the sound is pure joy.”
– Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times, July 28, 2020
Bluegrass Country Soul Inspired
Creation of Netherlands’ Festival
Albert Ihde and Ellen Pasternack on stage at KINO Rotterdam for a Q&A after the sold-out screening of Bluegrass Country Soul, July 2025. (photo by Johannes Odé)
On July 2, 2025, Bluegrass Country Soul was honored by the Rotterdam Bluegrass Music Festival with an SRO screening. Ellen and I experienced first-hand the fervent love of bluegrass music within the European community.
To our surprise and delight, we were told that: “In 2009, Bluegrass Country Soul inspired the creation of the annual Rotterdam Bluegrass Festival.”
The festival’s founders, husband and wife team, Guido de Groot & Daira Visch, were our charming hosts. They arranged a very special celebration for the first European Theatrical Showing of our bluegrass movie.
Albert was applauded when he pointed out, “It’s only taken us 53 years to bring our movie across the pond.”
As the final credits rolled, the audience’s enthusiastic response was absolutely wonderful, and a warm and fitting tribute to each and every bluegrass artist in the film.
Streaming offers an easy way for viewing movies almost anywhere, and the first bluegrass movie can now be enjoyed this relatively new way.
How many more festivals around the world might Bluegrass Country Soul inspire?
Please help us spread the word by sharing the link in the picture below, so that everyone you know can watch the famous banjo finale of our movie. They’ll see Earl Scruggs and a stage filled with banjo pickers playing Earl’s “Foggy Mountain Breakdown.”
Earl Scruggs closes his “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” as Saburo Watanabe and Sonny Osborne watch in awe. (photo by Albert Ihde)
We hope to meet you at a bluegrass festival, soon.
Best Always,
Albert & Ellen
Albert Ihde, Producer-Director, Ellen Pasternack, Executive Director
2 – Combo Pack (Blu-ray and standard DVD) plus Bonus Disc. Click on the photo above for video.
3 – Companion Book. Click on the photo above for video.
4 – Additional Music. Click on the photo above for video.
The Golden Anniversary, Legacy Edition of
Bluegrass Country Soul
The multi-media experience of a legendary bluegrass festival.
There are four ways to enjoy the multi-media experience of this legendary bluegrass festival
1 – The 3-Piece Collection – introduced in the video above
Over 7 1/2 hours of fascinating bluegrass video and audio, plus a 168-page book. Each set arrives carefully packed in a custom mailing carton, containing the Combo Pack (Blu-ray and standard DVD) plus Bonus Disc, Companion Book, and Additional Music, as described below.
2 – Combo Pack (Blu-ray and standard DVD) plus Bonus Disc
The newly restored, Golden Anniversary version of Bluegrass Country Soul in enhanced surround sound and the wide-screen format in which it was originally shown in movie theatres; a newly revised commentary track by noted bluegrass historian Fred Bartenstein; exclusive, contemporary video and audio interviews with performers who were there such as Ricky Skaggs, Bobby Osborne, Ronnie Reno, Bill Emerson, Akira Otsuka, Doug McCash, Robert White aka Quail, and Missy Raines; a brand-new documentary, The First Bluegrass Movie, about the making of Bluegrass Country Soul, featuring behind the scenes photos and interviews with filmmakers; a Bonus DVD containing additional video interviews with Del McCoury, Sam Bush, J.D. Crowe, Everett Lilly, Jr., and a Photo Gallery.
3 – Companion Book
A 168-page, coffee table book with hundreds of color photos and information about the festival musicians, telling the stories, many in the musicians’ own words, behind Carlton Haney’s legendary, 1971 Labor Day weekend festival. Includes a reprint of the festival schedule!
4 – Additional Music
Two CDs with 24 songs from the festival stage that were not included in the movie, plus stage announcements, musician introductions and highlights from the “Muleskinner News” awards show.
Your purchase helps to make this restoration project possible!
(US purchases include free shipping. For international sales, please choose “Outside the US” in the shopping cart.)
IT’S IN THE CARDS!
Bluegrass Country Soul Playing Cards
Announcing, for the very first time, a commemorative deck of playing cards featuring some of the greatest icons of bluegrass & country music.
Here’s the perfect gift for the bluegrass music lover who has everything. You’ll find a different still from the movie on the back of each of the 54 cards in this poker deck. Your purchase of this unique gift will help defray some of the costs of restoring our film and donating an archival copy to the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum in Owensboro, KY.
Visit our Shop Now page for full details.
Examples of just a few of the photos in the 54 card deck.
A selection of a few of the stills on the backs of the playing cards.
