Hi Anne, not sure how this works but I was reading a wiki on brother Xii and noticed that you edited it and was curious so I then went to your edited page and was curious what the rescues items were. It really piqued my interest. I don't know how to read a reply from this page but I was just curious. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:1006:B153:3C2E:983E:B38B:C9C1:10B4 ( talk) 00:09, 31 May 2018 (UTC) reply

• Hello! I'm a bluegrass musician and a member of the Pineridge Bluegrass Folklore Society. Please leave messages here about the possibility of starting a Wikiproject for Bluegrass music. — Anne Delong ( talk) 00:02, 25 February 2013 (UTC) reply
• I'd like to help, thanks. Artaxerxes ( talk) 18:51, 26 February 2013 (UTC) reply
• I'd be happy to help as well.

Dear Artaxerxes (or is it Empirecontact?): I see that you are from Virginia, so you must have easy access to plenty of local bluegrass information. Do you have any particular type of article that you would like to work on? Anne Delong ( talk) 19:48, 26 February 2013 (UTC) reply

I tried the Wikipedia feature allowing a combining of different Wiki accounts under one user name 'Artaxerxes' and have ended up with a hybrid of sorts. Either name will do. I've created articles about bluegrass acts and edited others. I've also gone through a few music festival pages and made significant 'contributions'. I've created/edited music venue articles, especially for those in Virginia. I've even inserted an edit or two in the bluegrass and old-time genre definition pages themselves. I have an interest in the utilities and automation that can be used when keeping artist pages, for example, up-to-date with their record chart performances. As to what I'd prefer to focus on, I'd say it would be of value to get a read on how the genre is being presented at Wikipedia, in general and in comparison with other music genres, and see what that might say about weaknesses, future direction, and focus. Artaxerxes ( talk) 18:31, 27 February 2013 (UTC) reply

I also upload bluegrass images to Wikimedia Commons (where I go by 'Artaxerxes'), often for specific articles, but also generally bringing in any image I feel might apply/be of use.— Artaxerxes ( talk) 18:48, 28 February 2013 (UTC) reply

I've spent some time 'fixing' festival categories, and populating them; wondering about breaking out one for bluegrass festivals —difficult given the broad application of the term, and fact that festivals are often not dedicated to one genre alone. I've also had some interest in bolstering, or creating, articles on bluegrass-related organizations (a list of which I see at your user page)—as a way of promoting the genre (and useful when linking to them from related articles).— Artaxerxes ( talk) 20:21, 28 February 2013 (UTC) reply

I'm developing something of a general outline/template as I go along for creating/editing artist pages, including infobox (with image), certain headings/sections, media (images/links to video/etc.), layout, references (and other templates), categories, etc. This helps remind me of what might be missing/searched/included, and nudges quality a little higher (hoping). I also like to think that, once set up with sections, headings, reference templates, etc., it's easier for others to build on, especially those new to editing such pages.— Artaxerxes ( talk) 22:07, 1 March 2013 (UTC) reply

I notice that there is a bluegrass festival in Virginia: Troutdale Old-Time and Bluegrass Music Festival. It doesn't have an article. Do you know if this is a notable festival or a small event? — Anne Delong ( talk) 19:48, 26 February 2013 (UTC) reply

I wasn't familiar with the Troutdale festival until you mentioned it. I love the location and name of it. They don't seem to have a website, which might say something about where they are in their development. I'll keep eyes and ears open on it and see what gives/goes down there.

Artaxerxes ( talk) 18:31, 27 February 2013 (UTC) reply

I see that you are the originator of the "Nothin' Fancy" article. Congratulations on having a page with actual reference! I was reading that page because I attended a festival at which they were playing and I added a reference about it. I'm going through all of my old festival programs and club newsletters and adding references to any band events mentioned in them. I figure if a few fans did that, soon the band articles would be half-decent.

Your interest seems to be in enhancing the quality of bluegrass artist pages, which you feel are not of such high quality now. One aspect of this seems to be 'notability' standards, which almost have to be relaxed to keep some of these articles around (at least that's part of how Nothin' Fancy survived a notability challenge). Because so many of these acts are regional phenomena--as befits the genre--much-loved locally, but unknown globally, establishing notability (requiring references) is tougher to do.— Artaxerxes ( talk) 18:48, 28 February 2013 (UTC) reply

Yes, it bothers me seeing pages about groups that I know are excellent musicians, but so little work has been put into the articles. I am not particularly a "fan", so I was hoping to find some band enthusiasts to fix these up. I am more of a participant, playing mandolin and fiddle. I intend to write a "Bluegrass mandolin" page, since I have many books about the topic that I can use for references. However, the maybe-to-be-deleted pages seemed more urgent, and by going through my festival and newsletter info I've been able to add some bits and pieces with references that couldn't be found on line to about 20 pages. Local news is still news! I am glad that you are uploading photos. As many of these events as I have attended, usually with a camera in my van, I never remember to take any photos - too busy jamming. I've started on a plan of attack and put it on this page: User:Anne Delong/Bluegrass Topics —[User:Anne Delong|Anne Delong]] ( talk) 19:10, 28 February 2013 (UTC) reply

If you capture images with a mind to having them contributed to Wikimedia Commons, apart from uploading them there yourself one-by-one, one option is to use Flickr as a photo-sharing service—then assigning image rights through Creative Commons (as outlined at my Wikimedia user page, only 'Attribution Creative Commons' and 'Attribution-ShareAlike Creative Commons' Flickr rights options are acceptable in Wikimedia). People like me then come along looking for images to upload to Wikimedia from Flickr and may upload without first asking the uploader to change the rights.— Artaxerxes ( talk) 20:21, 28 February 2013 (UTC) reply

Do you have a copyright free photo of a Gibson F-style mandolin for my Bluegrass mandolin page? I can photograph my own mandolin to get an A-style picture. — Anne Delong ( talk) 05:39, 5 March 2013 (UTC) reply

First, congrats on the page, it looks quite good (I might be able to help with notable musicians). Second, sorry I've been so late getting back to you; this is the first 'new message' notice I've seen since the first round (thought for sure you'd given up on me). Third, Wikimedia Commons has a number of mandolin images. A search on 'mandolin' should bring up a related category to look through. If you can't find what you really want/need, I should be able to find more for you out there in the broader world of images. You should be able to find images of bluegrass mandolinists actually playing their instrument, too. (Though they seemed to be frowned on, you might consider a gallery of images.) Please let me know how I can help on this. Artaxerxes ( talk) 19:44, 9 March 2013 (UTC) reply

That was a good idea. I had looked under "mandolin", but I didn't think to check under "mandolin player" and "bluegrass". The pictures of people actually playing the mandolins are more interesting anyway. Here's how the page looks now: Bluegrass mandolin — Anne Delong ( talk) 19:13, 13 March 2013 (UTC) reply

I've made a new page, Bluegrass mandolin. Have a look and see if you have anything to add or something that should be changed. — Anne Delong ( talk) 01:41, 4 March 2013 (UTC) reply

The List of bluegrass musicians had individual names and band names mixed together. I've separated them and created a List of bluegrass bands. The lists are a bit skimpy, though. We'll have to keep an eye open for more musicians and bands to add. — Anne Delong ( talk) 06:04, 4 March 2013 (UTC) reply

Artaxerxes, have you come across any musicians of bands that are not on these lists? — Anne Delong ( talk) 15:07, 9 March 2013 (UTC) reply

I've just added a couple. Safe to say I know a few more; and have come across a number of others. Wondering how closely these have been crossed with the related categories? Also if instruments they're noted for should be added somehow. Other than that, adding as we go may be what we need to do (unless and until a better way comes along).— Artaxerxes ( talk) 20:01, 9 March 2013 (UTC) reply

I asked about references in lists, and was told that the people/bands on the lists should be ones that have their own page, or else there should be a reference to notability included on the list. Bear that in mind if you are adding any names. Thanks — Anne Delong ( talk) 20:48, 9 March 2013 (UTC) reply

EmpireContact, I saw that you added some history to the Biscuit Burners article. That article is really short on sources. Do you have a source for that info, or was it just from their web site? — Anne Delong ( talk) 15:27, 9 March 2013 (UTC) reply

(I don't know how the 'you have new messages' warning is triggered from someone else's talk page, but if it depends on your using my user name as you have here, Empirecontact may be the way to go. They seem to come up differently depending on use.)— Artaxerxes ( talk) 20:13, 9 March 2013 (UTC) reply

I don't think I had much in the way of proper sources for it. This was one of my earlier efforts. I'm no longer proud of most of them, especially in terms of references, but they were part of my learning process. This particular group has apparently been on hiatus since 2009. (see the tour page at their site) I'm a little burned out right now after overdoing it on a couple artist pages (everything properly referenced this time!), and I've got other bluegrass artist pages I'd put effort into before this one (some you've noted need dedicated pages from the Walker's Run page). I'll reinsert it on my list of articles to brush up when I get/take the chance. (Billy Cardine, who used to have his own page, should be included on the list of bluegrass musicians.)— Artaxerxes ( talk) 20:13, 9 March 2013 (UTC) reply

I don't think it matters if a band isn't together any more. Neither are the Beatles. — Anne Delong ( talk) 20:50, 9 March 2013 (UTC) reply

In the 1970's I bought a book by Tony Trishka, "Banjo Song Book", that has biographies of many banjo players that were popular at the time. I never did learn to play the banjo, so the book has sat on my shelf all of these years, and now the glued binding has all fallen apart. Thanks to Wikipedia I have finally found a use for it. I made up a reference to the book, and then I went through and added one or two references and facts to every banjo player mentioned in the book. It was 'way faster than working on one article at a time. — Anne Delong ( talk) 20:27, 14 March 2013 (UTC) reply

I have created an article about John P. Allen, a Canadian fiddler, and another about a truly strange film, Rigoletto... in Bluegrass, a bluegrass adaptation of an 1851 Italian opera, in which instead of a Duke and his court, we have instead Duke and his bluegrass band. — Anne Delong ( talk) 17:48, 19 March 2013 (UTC) reply

Here are two more newly created articles about bluegrass: Tottenham Bluegrass Festival and Foggy Hogtown Boys. — Anne Delong ( talk) 03:30, 21 March 2013 (UTC) reply