Ottawa County performs at the 2018 Norwalk Music Festival – photo © Bill Warren
The Norwalk Music Festival started with the 4th of July parade. A giant American flag hanging from a crane overlooks the festival.
Earl “the Pearl” Workman is the MC in control of the stage. He brought Anthony and the Ramblers on stage to open the show. Two of the members of the Ramblers learned at the feet of Larry Efaw. Anthony played guitar and bass at different times as part of Larry Efaw and the Bluegrass Mountaineers. They give a full dose of Stanley style mountain bluegrass. Next up was Breakline, the brainchild of promoter Kurt Hickman. It is a swing trio that injects diversity into the Norwalk show.
Ottawa County is a band that combines sibling harmony of the Mitchell brothers along with their father. They will have the honor of playing with the Cleveland Symphony later this month. Out of Mind Bluegrass closed out the show. This is a young band that can effortlessly make a jump from Rank Stranger to Nellie Kane and make the listener sit up and take notice.
All of these bands are Ohio-based bands. They do their state proud.
Friday and Saturday bring more top notch bluegrass to Norwalk, including Volume Five on Saturday.
