Alan Bibey

Allan Bibey has been one of the most exciting, versatile, and influential mandolinists on the bluegrass scene since the early ’80s. He first came to attention with the New Quicksilver group, one of several progressive bluegrass outfits which he helped start up. Another was IIIrd Tyme Out, and the mandolinist also enjoyed stints with Lou Reid & Carolina and Blue Ridge, all of which furthered his reputation considerably. In the late ’90s he began moving even further out front with groups such as Baucom, Bibey & Blueridge, and Baucom, Bibey, Graham & Haley. In 2002 he finally cut an entire project under his own name, the wonderful In the Blue Room, released by the Sugar Hill label., featuring a plethora of talented guests including dobro player Jerry Douglas. Bibey’s status as a mandolinist that other mandolin players stare at and imitate was obtained through extensive musical experience that has gone well beyond simply jumping on-stage with this or that hotshot combo. In the early ’90s he was based out of the atrocious beach community of Myrtle Beach, VA and worked in the original cast of a country music variety show entitled Southern Country Nights. He could also be seen regularly on the Family Channel during this period, playing not only on various country music specials but on commercials as well. In the mid-’90s he was invited into the Young Mando Monsters project with several other young upstarts, but also had the rich experience of working with an elder statesman of the mandolin, Herschel Sizemore. Bibey won two important awards from the International Bluegrass Music Association in 2001 for instrumental recording of the year and recorded event of the year. The following year he released an instructional video which would replace the Bible in motel rooms if mandolinists ruled the world. The latter development would certainly be something that bluegrass fans would find to be trilling — ouch! ~ Eugene Chadbourne