Rob McCoury at the 2024 Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival – photo © Tara Linhardt
By Friday morning the whole community of Grey Fox is up and running with the campground neighborhoods, options for morning meditation class, yoga class taught by Jill Alix, and then a full day of multiple stages with all sorts of great music from all over the globe. Some were full time touring acts, but Grey Fox also encourages musicians to sit in with each other and have some spontaneous jam moments on the stages. These tend to be a huge hit.
Della Mae was this year’s Artist in Residence, so they were sitting in with bands throughout the weekend. But there were plenty of other fun surprises, with artists showing up on each other’s sets giving the crowd lots of special treats.
There were workshops and interviews on certain stages, jams throughout the campgrounds, the Kids Academy students working hard in their classes, and also busking throughout the festival grounds raising money to support the Kids Academy program that they love. For some of these kids, the most amazing part of the festival is them getting to play music no matter what level their playing may be, and have money come on in along with compliments and encouragements from lots of festival attendees as they pass by.
Some bands may even use the picturesque Walsh Farm where Grey Fox is held to shoot some music videos, like Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway did at the old barn in the festival campground this year.
There is so much activity and so many positive vibes through the whole weekend. The variety of small and large stages, and the many types of bands and activities means that there is bound to be plenty to please a wide array of folks with various interests. The magic of Grey Fox was definitely experienced by so many people, in so many different ways, each day of the festival.
Bruce Molsky, Darol Anger, and Celia Woodsmith on the High Meadow Stage
Casey Driessen’s Red Shoe StringJam at the Catskill Stage had a rotating roster of amazing musicians rocking some spontaneous musical adventures with an on-stage jam session. An array of all star guests were featured throughout the set.
Here is a small taste…
And a fabulous on stage frolicking fiddle frenzy as part of Casey’s StringJam
And some Friday photos…
