Another February Palatka Bluegrass Festival is in the books.
The stage show was kicked off by The Amanda Cook Band. The band provided a good mix of bluegrass favorites and their own original music. The Moron Brothers were unable to perform at the festival due to a family emergency, and the band that filled in called themselves Johnny and the Roundups. A familiar face to the Florida fans was John Apfelthaler. John is the banjo player for Penny Creek. Another familiar face to a lot of traveling bluegrass fans was that of Joe Soward. Joe promotes the Dumplin Valley Bluegrass Festival in Kodak, Tennessee. They played a lot of familiar standards to the delight of the audience.
The Little Roy and Lizzy Show hit the Palatka stage at their typical hundred miles an hour. Roy has more energy than most men half his age! Lizzy has had quite a bad case of the flu and is just getting over it. She did an excellent job for someone who is just nicely out of a sickbed. Ron Thomason once again regaled the audience with his stories of his younger days and his observations on the rest of this. Perhaps his best quote is: “Nobody could make this up.” Ron did his “hambone” at promoter Norman Adams’ request. One of Little Roy’s “characters” joined the Dry Branch Fire Squad to do some picking.
The Gibson Brothers gave another pair of top shelf performances. They are one of the “must see” bands.
The Festival was closed out by the Earls of Leicester. Jerry Douglas opened the show by saying: “If you don’t like Flatt & Scruggs music, you may as well leave.” No one left. The band has arguably some of the very best musicians in bluegrass music. They dress the part, play the part, and sing the part. An audience can not ask for more. They provided the frosting on a great festival cake.
The Candidpix.info cameras will be at the Florida Bluegrass Classic in Brooksville, Florida beginning February 19th. Join us for more bluegrass fun!
