Bluegrass Brass

The Bluegrass Brass drum & bugle corps was organized in the fall of1991 and originally based out of Lexington. Their founder was Mike Phillips and sponsored by the Kentucky Horse Park.

The sponsor relationships was mutually beneficial as the park was searching for an organization that could provide music and pageantry for the park events. The corps first made a public announcement of the formation of the corps at a 1991 contest in Bloomington and their first organizational meeting was held in September at the Hyatt Regency in Lexington. They made appearance at the KY High School State Band championship in Richmond and their first playing appearance in the malls of Lexington.

In 1992, the corps became a member of the Drum Corps Midwest (DCM) senior circuit and competed at the championships throughout their 8 year existence. Their first performance was held at the Lexington Governor’s Breakfast, State Capitol Building. They placed 4^th at the 1992 DCM senior preliminaries, repeating their 4^th place finish the following season. In 1994, sporting new “Blue Devil” style uniforms, the corps relocated to Louisville as an independent unit after losing sponsorship from the Kentucky Horse Park.

They went on to 6^th place finishes the next two seasons at the DCM prelims and in 1996, with the purchase of new battery percussion equipment, improved to a 5^th place position that year. The following season, the corps acquired a van and equipment trailer as well as partial new uniforms in transition to full new uniforms in 1998, the remaining portion included a sharp blue jacket and cool sash with alternating blue and white triangles. Those two years saw Bluegrass capture 4^th place at the DCM championship prelims.

In 1998, the corps hosted their first contest, the Bluegrass Classic but the 2^nd annual show was a financial failure that would, in part, lead to the corps’ demise. With only a membership of 17, the corps competed one last time at the 1999 DCM prelims, placing 5^th.

They disbanded in 2000.

DCW, 4/93, p.13; Paul Legault (DCX)

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