Oct. 12, 2012 —
“Sunshine is good for your teeth and so is Bluegrass music.”
Like many others, we were saddened this week to learn that Bluegrass music and local Bluegrass fans had lost a legend – Sandy Knipp.
The longtime host of “Bluegrass Diversion” on Morehead State Public Radio died at the UK Hospital at the age of 62, a victim of kidney failure and other medical issues that finally overcame his tenacious will to live.
Despite two kidney transplants and a series of other medical procedures, this soft-spoken man of good humor never lost his zest for life or his love for Bluegrass music.
He wrote it. He picked it on a guitar or a banjo. He sang it on stage. And he played it thousands of times on his radio shows for more than 20 years.
He knew everyone who is or was anyone in Bluegrass music and he introduced most of them at local music festivals as a stage host.
He wrote songs he recorded himself and that other performers recorded. And he most likely never met a Bluegrass song or musician he didn’t like.
Sadly, his health problems kept him from experiencing the culmination of his vision of a modern facility devoted to the teaching and appreciation of traditional music.
Years ago he wondered aloud why MSU, which already had a world-class music program, couldn’t also devote some resources to the acoustic music our ancestors brought into these hills so long ago.
The answer was the Kentucky Center for Traditional Music (KCTM) and Sandy became its founding director.
He was a retired elementary school principal and his health problems had started but he got the ball rolling with traditional musicians across a wide area.
His radio show gave him a pulpit from which to preach the virtues of Bluegrass music, in particular.
The quote at the top of this editorial was his signature expression. With trusty sidekick Bob Christian, Sandy distributed tee shirts and autographed photographs to promote their show and the music.
He traveled thousands of miles to introduce KCTM and traditional music to school children of all ages.
He always left them tapping their feet and smiling, with a newfound pride in their music that began in rural America and spread around the world.
KCTM today has a new, $3.5 million home. It embodies everything Sandy Knipp dreamed about in those years when KCTM was just his good idea.
Thanks, Sandy, we know today you’re picking or hosting on the biggest stage of all.
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