Lilly of the West story:

Biography:

Lilly Drumeva heads the popular band known as Lilly of the West. Born in Bulgaria, she was raised and educated in a number of European countries including Germany, France, Austria and the Czech Republic.

She was exposed to country and bluegrass music in Vienna in the early 1990s and upon her return to Bulgaria in 1996, formed her own group. Her first album was released not long afterwards and personal appearances were soon held in a number of countries: Czech Republic, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Estonia, and Poland.

An early career highlight was her appearance in the 1998 European World of Bluegrass gathering in The Netherlands. Significantly, her band won the "Best European group of the year" award. Later that same year, she performed at the IBMA World of Bluegrass events in Louisville, Kentucky and was a presenter on the organization's awards show.

For several years she resided in London where she worked at the BBC's Bulgarian section. Lilly also organized a group with British bluegrass musicians Rick Townend and Rosie Davis; they released a mini-CD called Lilly And Rosie that included several nice traditional tracks.

Since 2003 Lilly has been back in Bulgaria where she is part owner of a radio station. She continues to perform and record.

Since March 2006 Lilly Drumeva has been presenting her own country music show on Balkan Bulgarian Television. She was also elected in the Board of the European Bluegrass Music Association.

Contacts: lili@retroradio.bg, +888 660 990, www.lillydrumeva.net

Last updated june 2007