Part Two of Milo Farineau’s interview with Chris Pandolfi about The Infamous Stringdusters’ upcoming festival The Festy, to take place in Nelson County, Virginia, October 6-9
Milo: So, what’s new with the Stringdusters?
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.
