It is always a beautiful thing watching the folks rolling in for another Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival in the lovely hills of Oakhill, NY. Lots of smiles and hugs. It is in many ways like a family reunion for a lot of folks. A reunion of “created family,” of fellow music lovers of all ages.
Natalie MacMaster, with her husband Donnell Leahy and their kids, were a true delight with a mix of great music and humor. Their eldest daughter joined them on piano. Her main instrument is fiddle, but she was unable to play fiddle on the gig since her right arm was broken. She was able to play piano with her cast on, however and did a great job. She and her father also did a bit of fancy family fun where he did the bowing arm for her so she did get to play just a bit of fiddle with her left arm.
If you listen to this clip you will hear that there was quite a downpour of rain during their set, but the crowd, at least in that tent, didn’t move a muscle as the rains came because they were not going to miss a second of that great set.
Here is a video of the family in jam mode on the Creekside Stage at Grey Fox.
Here are a couple other little glimpses of the wide array of great music. We saw some of the legends of music, as well as an exciting series of emerging artists keeping each day full of great musical varieties.
Jake Blount
Stillhouse Junkies
The Ruta Beggars
