Diane Farineau, her husband, photographer, Milo and their friend, photographer, Chester Simpson, hatched a brilliant plan last year to write a book about music festivals. Somewhere along the way The Festival Project, as it has now become, turned into a website and a blog and an amazing journey into the world of today's bluegrass and Americana artists and festival scene. When not listening to or writing about music, Diane has a day job as a hospital administrator, is a mom of two musical teenagers, and writes about life's never ending stream of ironies.
As Mother Nature was bearing down on Central Virginia Tuesday night, we found the perfect way to keep warm at The Jefferson Theater in Charlottesville, VA. Warming up the stage to a sold out crowd was the sizzling combination of the Travelin’ McCourys with Jeff Autry and the Yonder Mountain String Band.
After a rip roaring first set, Jason Carter and Ronnie McCoury (of recent Grammy Award fame!) stuck around to join members of Yonder Mountain as they played two full sets late into the evening. Ronnie teased us a little first, though, asking if we wanted a preview on the as yet unannounced DelFest line up for this Memorial Day. YES! “Well…..we’ll be there,” he joked. We knew that!! I guess we’ll have to keep checking the website in the meantime.
Jason and Ronnie joined YMSB, as mandolin player Jeff Austin is home currently with his brand new baby girl. Congratulations to him and his wife! This was one of the last dates on this “combo” winter tour for these guys together, and while Jeff was missed, they’ve all clearly achieved a high level of comfort playing together, and it was a fantastic performance.
Sam Bush headlined the main stage at FloydFest on Sunday, and did a workshop on the Virginia Folklife Porch immediately afterwards.
I wanted to follow up on some buzz he has posted on his website wherein he exercises his new “rights” as a senior citizen by catching the senior shopper and senior movie days.
DF: It’s been a year of losses, in bluegrass. As we start to lose that generation of musicians, and as you’re officially reaching that “age,” do you identify yourself, musically, as a “senior citizen” of bluegrass or Americana yet?
SB: No, not really. Yes, I’ve hit 60, and I’m old enough that I’ve gotten to see all the greats of bluegrass. I got to see the Stanley Brothers, Don Reno and his band, Doc, Bill Monroe, the Osborne Brothers, so I feel pretty fortunate that I’ve gotten to see some of the bluegrass greats when they were in their prime of life. Just this year, we lost Doc, and Earl, and Doug Dillard, so I miss them. I used to get to play with all of them and I won’t get to see them anymore. It makes me sad.
But it makes me happy that I got to play with them so much in their lifetimes. I think a lot of people are missing them right now, because we had them to look up to our whole lives.
DF: At some point do we need to draw a box around bluegrass and say, this is “it” and everything else that happens from here to somewhere else, is great, but “this” IS bluegrass…. This is the pure starting point.
SB: No, I don’t feel that delineation. When I was a kid, people would say (about what we were playing) ‘that’s not bluegrass’ and we would say ‘yes, we know, we agree.’
That being said, Doc never called himself a bluegrass performer. He called it country blues or good old country. So, I think the lines of delineation are drawn by the fans, and not among the musicians. Even forty years ago, in New Grass Revival, with the Osborne Brothers, Jim and Jesse… we all got along, loved each other. They were the big brothers we looked up to, so, I don’t want to think of myself as the father of anything, but I’d sure like to think of myself as the uncle of my young brothers that play bluegrass style music now.
Sam told me he’s in the fledgling stages of planning a mini tour with Del McCoury.
“Del has always encouraged me to sing. I never felt confident as a singer and he has always encouraged me. He is one of the reasons why I sing today. I needed an older brother to encourage me to sing. Those two tunes on Circles Around Me, that we did, Roll On Buddy and Midnight on the Stormy Deep, Del sang with Bill Monroe. I don’t think he ever recorded Stormy, but he did record Roll On Buddy with him.
Singing with Del scares the hell out of me. I think if there is a King of Bluegrass, his name is Del. I am flattered that he would consider doing a two man show with me. We’ll do five in November, and then a few more in December and see where we are.
Nobody loves Del McCoury more than I do. Well… maybe Jean does. But by golly, I love Del McCoury.”
When asked which up and coming bands he’s excited about, he laughed.
“Well, see the thing is, if I have time to listen to a lot of new music, it means I’m not that busy, which I am! But right off the top of my head, I’d have to say The Punch Brothers, and The Infamous Stringdusters and Sierra Hull are all great up and coming groups.“
Who else would Sam like to collaborate with? Anyone on his bucket list?
“Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck.“ He paused for a second. “And Ian Anderson! He made this incredible record, solo, The Secret Language of Birds, one of the greatest records ever made in my opinion.“
I had that record on vinyl, and that is certainly a collaboration I would stand in line to see ….here’s hoping!
Sunday at FloydFest 11 (“Lovers Rock”) boasted main stage performances by powerhouses Sam Bush, Bruce Hornsby, and Allison Krauss & Union Station. The side stages were awash with fans, too, with performances by The Rogues, The Steep Canyon Rangers, Ricky Skaggs, Darrell Scott, Morwenna Lasko and Jay Pun and the Love Canon String Band.
Lovers of Rock (and bluegrass, blues, Americana etc.) were not disappointed by this wonderfully organized, staffed and appointed festival. The FloydFest team just seems to set the bar for themselves a little higher each year and exceeds expectations.
While it’s time to shake the dust out of sleeping bags and pack the camping gear, there’s a lot of follow up we need to do with bands we haven’t had a chance to mention yet, including this year’s Under the Radar contenders.
It’s been our pleasure to share a little snapshot of FloydFest with you all.
If you were here, hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. If you missed it, hope you’re making plans to be here with us next year!
Goooood Sunday Morning to you from Floyd, Virginia!
Before we talk about today, let’s backtrack and tell you what happened yesterday!
There’s bluegrass and then there’s everything that happens when you take bluegrass and you start fooling around with its chemistry. Saturday featured a host of musical talent that has a foundation in bluegrass but has added a dash of this and a splash of that and come up with something altogether different but no less amazing.
We caught up with the members of Brooklyn based American group Yarn after their main stage set and talked about their current projects.
Front man Blake Christiana:
“In addition to our March release, Almost Home, we’ve just put out another 3 song EP on Noisetrade for free and we’re hoping to have an acoustic record out before the end of the year.”
The band is touring full time, so how do they log those miles AND manage to put out a recording? Said Christiana,
“You just find the spaces to do it ….we’ve recorded the acoustic record all over the place, from Hickory, NC to New York….. probably a dozen places. It’s kind of a road project!”
Yarn is well known for its fan base (called the “Yarmy”) and their strong connection with their fans.
“Yeah, they’re great. I never really knew it until we started touring. They let us into their homes, even into their fridges. People are amazing.”
Yarn will be paying two more sets this weekend.
Following Yarn was Toubab Krewe, an Asheville, NC based Afropop band. They have the most amazing array of unusual stringed instruments (Bela would be proud!) and the percussion section is arguably the hardest working group here this weekend.
We were then treated to a first Floyd performance by the Punch Brothers. “I’m not sure what happened,” joked Noam Pikelny, “we went to sleep in Colorado, and we woke up in Floyd!”
“I’m pretty sure there were some jet engines involved,” offered frontman Chris Thile.
Whatever it takes to get them here, the Punch Brothers are a natural fit for Floyd Fest. Consummate professionals, in their suits and ties, the Punch Brothers treated us to songs from their recent release Who’s Feeling Young Now? as well as their rendition of Ophelia, which they dedicated to the late Levon Helm.
Chris Thile will be doing a solo set later this evening on the Virginia Folklife Workshop Porch. (A hint for your prospective Floyders…the “Porch” is THE place to be to really see your favorite artists up close and personal. Artists have time to tell stories and entertain questions in this secluded little spot on the festival grounds.)
Following the Punch Brothers I caught up with North Carolina artists, Big Daddy Love. BDL won the Under the Radar Series in 2010 and we interviewed them last year. They’ve had few changes to the band since we saw them last year. They sounded fantastic, and they feel great about where they are and where they are headed. Featuring a new guitarist/vocalist and drummer, both of whom bring both talent and dedication to the effort, I asked them how winning UTR in 2010 has impacted their momentum.
“Winning under the radar put us at a whole new level. That really helped us. Everywhere we played in VA people would come up and say ‘Hey we saw ya’ll at Floyd Fest!’ “
Dedicating themselves to the music full time now, Brian said,
“It really makes a difference. My banjo teacher (national champion, Steve Lewis) told me one time, that the when the British Navy would launch an attack, they would send the soldiers to shore in little boats, and they would set fire to the big ship, so that when the soldiers looked back they knew that they couldn’t go home…. there was no turning back, they had to see the fight through to the end. He described that to me (as an analogy) for music. You have to be willing to burn your ship down and commit yourself completely to moving forward. We now have a group of guys who are willing to do that.”
Taking their Love up to New England, back to Colorado, back and forth to Florida, now they’re really starting to branch out. The talent has been there, but the passion has a new fierceness to it that feels exciting and new. This band is going places, and you should check out a live performance and their latest effort, Let It Grow.
Every year there is an act that blows me out of the water. The top contender this year is the March Fourth Marching Band (A date. A command. A band.). Not bluegrass. Not acoustic. Not anything you’ve ever seen before. A Portland, OR based marching band (I think we counted 18 members last night) with all of the traditional brass instruments, this group takes the marching band experience you might have had in high school, gives it shot of steroids, a dusting of glitter, turns the amps up to 11, and throws in a burlesque stilts act. My inner band geek (I played clarinet and oboe) jumped for joy as I watched an entire audience, young and old, bouncing in time to this infectiousness.
Check them out on Youtube or catch them live somewhere soon, they play close to 300 shows a year!
FloydFesters were treated to a fantastic set of bluegrass with a side helping of Gospel from the Steep Canyon Rangers this morning.
I spoke with guitarist Woody Platt after the performance. Just coming off a couple weeks touring out West, he told me…
“We’ve been out on the road for a little while now. We flew in yesterday from Oregon, and Floyd is close enough for us to make it home for dinner, so that feels great!
We started this tour at Red Rocks with Arlo Guthrie and Emmy Lou Harris, so to end up here, surrounded by friends and family, it’s pretty perfect!”
It’s been a whirlwind couple of years for the band, touring regularly with Steve Martin in support of their collaboration project, Rare Bird Alert.
“It’s kind of caught us all off guard, but it’s been special.
You know, we were doing well, things were going great, but when Steve came along that gave us a new energy and a new audience. He’s gotten really serious (about it) so we put out the record with him, and then we have our new record.
There’s a lot going on. We have a lot to juggle with our band and our material, and then Steve’s band and that material. It’s been a challenge, but it’s really been great!”
He explained that folks will come just to see Steve, and then realize they’re experiencing bluegrass for the first time. I asked him what he thought about being in that unique position.
“In a way, I feel like we always have been sort of ambassadors, because we’ve enjoyed going to these more eclectic festivals, some where we were the only bluegrass band on the bill.
We have always taken the music to nontraditional venues, like rock and roll bars. But now, with Steve, we have a chance to get on television and on stage in front of larger audiences. So we are now, and feel like we’ve always have kind of been or at least we’ve wanted to be, ambassadors of bluegrass.”
The guys will be home for a few days, and then back out on the road with Steve. They’re bound to be at a venue near you soon. Don’t miss it!
FloydFest 11 is off and running! This is an incredible venue, if you’ve never been, so sheltered on the breathtaking Blue Ridge Parkway (Mile Post 170.5) and seemingly remote, but packed full of revelers, vendors and enough musical acts to keep six music stages full at all times. The sun keeps peeking out from behind storm clouds, which only lends to the air of magic that permeates this festival.
I arrived last night in time for a performance by fiddle phenom Nate Leath, with his new band Leathal Matter. Nate is all over Floyd… also playing with his Boston Boys, sitting in with Love Canon, and a guest appearance late night with Drew Emmit’s band (which turned out to be most of Leftover Salmon in the end. Teaser alert: Yes! They are back! Hopefully more on them later.) We will chat with Nate, too, about the band’s forthcoming album, a preview of which we got last night.
We hit the ground running this morning, catching the second act on the main stage, L Shape Lot, out of Wilmington, NC. We camped next to them last year, and so just happened to both listen to and interview them about their opportunity to participate in the FloydFest Under the Radar Series. Turns out L Shape Lot was THE 2011 winner! The “prize” was a prime time slot on this year’s main stage.
We caught up with the guys afterwards. Guitarist Alex Lanier told me that band mate and funnyman, Eric Miller called to tell him the news “I thought is this April Fools? We really won?”
Beating out a stable of other contestants, I asked him what he thought the band’s “it” factor was in the end. “I think our Americana sound really suits the Floyd vibe well,” said Alex Another in a growing group of bluegrass bands with drums and electric guitars, they were joined on stage by Brian Swank from 2010 UTR winning band Big Daddy Love (we’ll catch up with them later, too!) I asked if they had any clue how this honor would impact the band’s momentum. “Are you kidding,” asked Eric “this is our Super Bowl!” Their performance was a touchdown for sure.
The main stage is going to be a real who-is-who of Bluegrass and Americana this weekend. Gary Clark Jr., just finished his blistering blues/funk set, and the Drive By Truckers are setting up, to be followed by Leftover Salmon. Saturday boasts a wide array of artists from the Punch Brothers to Michael Franti & Spearhead, and Sunday should knock anyone who is still standing over with Sam Bush, Bruce Hornsby, the Steep Canyon Rangers, Ricky Skaggs and Alison Krauss.
There are still tickets left, and the weather is fantastic up here. There’s a perpetual breeze and brilliant sunshine. It’s not too late to throw your tent in the car and join us!
While we had hoped to post live from the Infamous Stringdusters’ Festy in Nelson County, VA this past weekend, the lack of both power and signal made that a little more challenging than we had anticipated. It was, however, a phenomenal festival experience.
The Stringdusters do enough festival touring that they really know what works, and have managed to create a destination event that features phenomenal music, a breathtaking venue, great camping, and delicious food – I had to go back to the Shrimp and Grits vendor for seconds and they had homemade doughnuts every morning!! There were also outdoor events (running, biking, yoga), and a wealth of family and general interest activities – speakers and workshops on things like beer making, winter camping, outdoor safety, and a full blown kids’ space with tie-dying!
I’ve said this before, but Festy reminds me of FloydFest, only it is so much smaller that it has a real sense of intimacy. The artists that came to perform stuck around to watch each other; many of them camped over for the weekend.
We were privileged to sit around the campfire with the Keels and Natural Bridge several nights while they jammed with friends, family, and other performers who stopped by. The Stringdusters played multiple times, in addition to joining a number of friends on stage (Emmet-Nershi, Jim Lauderdale, David Grisman), and they could all be found at various points during the weekend on the side stage conducting workshops.
The Festy was the perfect venue to the kick-off event for the ‘Dusters Fall Tour, and release their new live effort and in spite of a very recent change in band members, their performances (especially Sunday night’s) were truly inspired. The word is out about this festival, and in spite of being a little bigger, it managed to feel even better.
Milo caught up with Andy Hall to talk about how the weekend was going, but firstI have to set the stage. Picture a gorgeous 78 degree afternoon. The Wood Brothers have just finished on the main stage, The Good Lovelies are playing on the Southern Stage, and the Falco Brothers are conducting a workshop. Across the field (where the Farmers Market was set up), Chris Pandolfi is engaged in possibly the most acrobatic badminton game I’ve seen ages). This was the backdrop for the following conversation:
So, Andy, do you think you were able to accomplish the same great Festy vibe that you had last year?
“I think we did better. From just the first year you’re able to learn so much about, from the infrastructure to what kinds of bands you want. There is a real sense that there is a lot to do here this year. There are all these different stages, the campground is amazing, the bike race, the running race, I feel like we really got it dialed in. Everyone I’ve talked to seems to be having fun. What really matters is if the fans are having fun, it feels like a special experience for them.”
In the wake of Jesse Cobb’s announcement that he is leaving the Infamous Stringdusters tell me about the addition of Dominick Leslie to the band. How did you guys connect?
“We’ve known Dominick for a long time since he was a young teenager. He’s obviously a phenomenal player but he’s also just a great guy to be with, he’s creative and open. As of now it’s just sort of temporary to see what happens. Jesse is such a fantastic player, and we’ll just have to see, plus Dominic has the Deadly Gentlemen, so we’re just enjoying playing with him right now. He’s doing a great job. He was the obvious choice to help us out just because of his playing and his personality.”
Note: if you’re not familiar with The Deadly Gentlemen, they’re worth checking out, these guys have an impressive bluegrass pedigree collectively, in spite of the sharp turn they’ve taken musically.
The live CD, how do you decide what goes on that? How many times did you change your minds?
“We wanted it to be a mix of music that some people had heard but also some newer stuff that possibly they hadn’t heard. It was a great opportunity for us to include some of the longer improvisational sections that are difficult to capture in the studio. We’ve been hearing for a long time that fans wanted a live record because of that. With the studio you don’t get the experience of long improvised sections, so we chose some songs that had those long extended different jams, so we wanted to include some of that. And then we just listened for what came out as quality singing and the quality of the song, because, you know, we make mistakes, and mistakes are fine, but … what came out good, and mistakes are fine, but you look for the best performances that will best represent a good live show. We picked from 4 or 5 shows and just tried to pick the best stuff. Get some jams in there.”
Are you all involved in the process? How does that work?
“Yeah, it can be difficult! You have to be forgiving of yourself and your band mates because if you’re really critical you wouldn’t end up with anything. So, you have to be willing to let some of the details go on a live recording, and we did, we wanted it to be an honest live recording. There are no overdubs no tuning, nothing like that, it’s just us playing the songs live.”
Is one Festy a year enough?
“No! I don’t think so. We’re only 2 years in and we’re doing well, and because we’re a band that plays so many festivals, we feel like we know what makes a good one. And that‘s why we decided to do this. We have a few different ideas in the works to expand and maybe have another festival. We’d have different festivals cater to different themes. We’re hoping to expand this Festy.”
The title of their album, available now, is We’ll Do It Live. And do it live they certainly did this weekend, and very well indeed!
Chris: You can expect the release of our first live album which we’ve pretty much got done and are really exited about! We went out and recorded some shows, you know, put on our big show that we are really in to with our light designers, we took it to some markets where we have some really great fans from Charlottesville up through the Northeast and we caught some great current versions of the band’s live show. We only get to put an album out every two years or so, and meanwhile we’re doing this really great show 150 nights a year, that’s our thing, so to get that captured in a version that we are really proud of is a great moment in our career.
Milo: You’ve had a tour-heavy summer, how is that going to impact The Festy?
Chris: That’s what our festival is all about. It’s such a great things for us to be able to pool all of our observations and experiences (from the road) into our own festival. This summer there were a few festivals that stuck out for me, like Floyd Fest and Electric Forest, just in terms their having of such a unique and exciting and inventive space. A really beautiful area they’ve created for the festival to take place in. I think that means a lot when you’re some place for a weekend participating in a big musical experience, the aesthetics of the area. Those festivals, in particular had really amazing on site design. Those things, and then the hospitality complex at events, where they put such a premium on treating the artists like gold. It is no wonder that these huge amazing acts want to be part of these same festivals year after year. You’ll never find a great festival that doesn’t have A+ artist hospitality all the way. We’re always looking for the stuff that works.
In anticipation of The Festy, the Stringdusters will be spinning tracks live in a Turntable.fm room on Friday, September 16th from 4:00 – 6:00 p.m. The guys will be chatting with fans, taking requests, highlighting tunes from performers coming to this year’s event, as well as some deep tracks from their own catalog. They’ll let fans know the name of the room on the day of the event, so log in to either the event site, the Stringdusters site, or on Facebook.
Milo: You’ve been invited to deliver one of the World of Bluegrass Keynote Events at the International Bluegrass Music Association’s annual business conference this year. Can you share your thoughts on that?
Chris: I am flattered and excited. I think it is a cool opportunity for someone in my position to be able to share my experiences and hopefully that will help us all figure out what a productive solution if any solution at all, it isn’t really clear, is needed, I don’t know, it isn’t even clear. More than anything I want to be a moderator and encourage people to speak openly and honestly and as long as they do that it should be easy to figure out as a group what a reasonable next step should be. So I’m excited for the opportunity. Some people, I think, have kind of misconstrued my message a little bit or maybe have taken things out of context but the only reason that I am in to any of this is that I think the music is so excellent. For me that’s enough. That’s a good reason and I think that there is nothing for me to really gain from any it’s just because I’ve had such an awesome experience with this community with all these people and it’s a big opportunity to give back.
Milo: Did you see this coming?
Chris: No, I definitely did not see this coming. Seriously, before last April, when I wrote that first article on my blog, that was very impromptu action. It sort of came out of a conversation I had had with my friend Craig Havighurst who will be introducing me at the speech, and who has been an inspiration to me on many fronts. I didn’t premeditate that. I had had a blog for months where I would write occasionally something kind of substantive about what we did and I think it just caught people’s attention because it was the true story of the Stringdusters and then one thing lead to another but it was sort of accidental for me to be on that scene and doing this. I definitely didn’t see it coming at all.
Milo: Who else will be speaking with you?
Chris: Ronnie Reno will be speaking Monday, followed by me on Tuesday and then Ben Kaufmann and Dave Johnston from Yonder Mountain String Band on Wednesday.
Milo: Do you think that that’s some sort of sign that they’ve chosen a wide range of speakers?
Chris: I think it’s a great sign….. it can’t be a bad sign. It can’t be bad to hear about people’s experiences. If you decide that’s bad before even giving it a chance, I think that’s counterproductive. I think that this is maybe even overdue. People have been talking about this kind of ting for a while and we can only get more information and gain from hearing from these guys who have had a very unique and successful experience. From Ronnie Reno, who is from the more traditional side, who I think will talk about what the IBMA is now, and how he has experienced that in his career, to the Yonder Guys, I think it shows that the board members and membership there is enough people who are interest in this side of things that they want to start getting these perspectives, these opinions on a more prominent level in the bluegrass community. I think it is cool!
Milo: How are you preparing?
Chris: One of the main things I’m doing to prepare is talking to my band mates at length, we talk for long periods of time about all the issues of perception around the bluegrass community and how interesting it is for us. You know we’ve won three IBMA awards one year and we were firmly in that scene. And now, by choice we’re in a bigger scene that includes part of that bluegrass world and part of this other world. You know, we think a lot about this stuff, my band mates have helped me think a lot about the issues. I’ve also been making a lot of phone calls, talking to people, IBMA Members, Board Members, members of other bands, radio DJs, everyone I can think of. I want to try to understand what is going on here and then try to think it through and maybe offer some positive views on that in Nashville.
Since this interview, Chris has updated his blog with a post titled “Have Faith in the Music You Love” that is a testament to his ongoing and thoughtful consideration of the state of bluegrass today.
Watch for a Part 2 of this interview with Chris Pandolfi on Thursday (9/15), where he’ll let us know what’s new with the Stringdusters, and what we can expect from their own rapidly approaching music event The Festy in October!
Sunday afternoon at FloydFest was a bluegrass lovers dream come true.
The morning began with Peter Rowan playing on The Porch with members of Tony Rice’s Unit Band. Peter, looking very dapper in his seersucker suit, moved straight to the main stage to play with his full band, while David Grisman and his Sextet took their place on The Porch. The Tony Rice Unit followed Peter Rowan on the main stage, joined at the end of their set by Grisman, who then took over the whole stage to close out the afternoon there.
In the meantime, Larry Keel and Natural Bridge were playing the Hill Holler stage, and were followed up there by the Del McCoury band!
We did a LOT of running back and forth to make sure we saw everyone, dodging thunder, lightning and intermittent showers, none of which seemed to matter to anyone (except Milo and his camera equipment) one bit.
I’d only seen Tony Rice one other time, last year at The Festy in Nelson County, (that’s the Infamous Stringduster’s own festival, and this year’s line-up for which can be found at www.thefesty.com. I am digressing, but The Festy is in many ways a smaller and younger version of FloydFest as it attracts similar talent and is equally well run, and we’ll be there later this year!) and he played a lot, but didn’t really provide a lot of commentary, which was sure not the case at Floyd! When Grisman joined him onstage Tony introduced him by saying “This man and I started a damn revolution in 1975!” There was a lot of love on stage, not just there, but across the entire festival grounds on Sunday, it felt like I’d been invited to a reunion of really good old friends.
Ever since meeting Mr. Del McCoury at his festival this spring, I have a real appreciation for what a consummate performer and professional he is. They played a number of Bill Monroe tunes and said that they’ve got their Bill Monroe “dedication” album down to 11-12 songs now that are mixed but not mastered and that they expect to have it out in time for Monroe’s birthday in September. They played one of my favorites, Body and Soul.
Can I wax philosophical for a moment? Body and Soul is an interesting way to think about what my first FloydFest (and certainly not my last) meant to me. There is by now a huge body of bluegrass music, and about half of the performers this weekend were in attendance to perform their original contributions for us in person. The other half of the performers, however, and there was a VERY wide range, drew from that library, injected their own soul and spun out new, sometimes very different, but without argument, all very talented interpretations based somehow on the bluegrass classics. I spent a lot of time this weekend thinking about the connections between all of these different artists. The Under the Radar series is such a great way to hear new artists, not all of which are “bluegrass” but if you dig down deep enough, there is always a connection. As Eric Miller (front man of one of this year’s contestants, Wilmington based L Shape Lot, which are described as new/blue/country grass) said to me “Well….if you like a little twang in your bluegrass, then you’ll like us.” I do, and I did.
When I came back to work, my colleagues wanted to know what kind of music festival I had attended, and I hesitated to give an immediate answer. Two things happened this weekend that shaped what is now an epiphany for me. First, as you walk into the venue, on the hill are four 10 foot tall letters that spell “LOVE.”
Second, I bumped into Stringdusters banjo player Chris Pandolfi who, as he told me, was just “taking the weekend off and hanging out.” To paraphrase him from his earlier treatise this year on the current state of bluegrass, “maybe one shouldn’t try to define bluegrass at all, maybe we should just define a new spirit of openness and let all the related music speak for itself.”
Was FloydFest a bluegrass festival? Yes. But more than that, it was a Love OF bluegrass festival, and that was just really really cool.
