Book: Czech Bluegrass: Notes From the Heart of Europe

Lee's book takes readers insider Czech bluegrass communities, performances, sounds, jokes, and arguments, opening discussions about where music can belong, and how it can thrive in unlikely places.  

"Lee Bidgood is the first person to do a serious accounting of the forces, political and artistic, that have contributed to the popularity of this outlier music in this unlikely locale. By putting himself in the narrative, he gives us an up-close and personal sense of the various aspects of the bluegrass and old-time music wave that has swept across the Czech and Slovakian musical landscapes for years—and still counting."

                                          - Tony Trischka, from the foreword

Available directly from the University of Illinois Press (consider buying from them to support this kind of production!), or from other online resellers.

Film: Banjo Romantika

Full length documentary film based on Lee's field research with Czech bluegrassers; directed by Shara Lange, coproduced by Lee and Shara, distributed by (and available for sale from) Documentary Educational Resources. Visit film site HERE.

 “In Tennessee every cowboy or every farmer loves this music and that's why everyone young and old knows how to play it. Guitars, harmonicas, banjos, bass…I'll stay forever in the land of this music.” 
— "Bluegrass Tennessee" (song originally composed in Czech) 

“It was the discovery of a musical genre…because it was forbidden, it was more tantalizing.” 

— Marko Čermák, banjoist for White Stars and Greenhorns

Album: Banjo Romantika Soundtrack

Produced by Lee Bidgood, this compilation features full performances of musical materials used in the film Banjo Romantika, and includes some tracks from artists featured in the film.  Distribution is in the works - in the meantime, contact me to request a CD.