Casey Driessen at the 2024 Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival – photo © Tara Linhardt
Saturday at the Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival in Oak Hill, NY was definitely chocked full of some of the nation’s top acts in the world of bluegrass. But lots of people were also talking about and excited by some of the performers that they were just discovering as well. One had a smorgasbord choose among throughout the day and evening, with dance, singing, songwriting, and instrumental workshops.
The Kids Academy kids were busking throughout the festival grounds, a family tent had a full day full of shows and activities, four main stages with sound systems, and this year a new addition was offered with a new smaller acoustic stage as well. So many choices to please all sorts of fans.
At 6:15 the Kids Academy took to the main stage for their big performance. First the senior group played, followed by the larger main group. One of the truly wonderful things about the Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival is that they do a wonderful job of not just offering a platform for some of the nations top bluegrass acts, but also making sure to encourage the next generations so that they continue making and loving traditional music at the festival.
Every year they also present awards towards college costs for hard working young musicians with their Bill Vernon Memorial Scholarships. This year’s recipients are Ethan Church (Newland, NC) a sophomore and ETSU; Jachin Irwin (West Union, OH) a junior at Morehead State University; and Megan Mendenhall (Bedford, MA) who will be a freshman at ETSU.
There was also a surprise as one of the Kids Academy students was presented with a mandolin by Della Mae. It had been provided for this purpose by Mike Marceau, a bass player in the Washington, DC area. Mary Hamilton was the young student who won the mandolin for her hard work in the Kids Academy. Hopefully, she will be back next year still having lots of fun playing music.
Pictrola was a real hit at Grey Fox, a quickly up-and-coming band out of the Northern Virginia and Washington DC area. Here they are performing their original song on the High Meadow Stage, written by guitarist Mike Shade entitled Shine.
Many of the main acts on the other larger stages also graced the stage of a lovely little stage sponsored by New Belgium Beer. The small acoustic setting gave audiences a nice chance to hear the music up close and unamplified, offering a much different feel. Below are a few examples from this stage.
Wyatt Ellis Band
Rachel Sumner and Traveling Light
Country Gongbang from South Korea
And of course the main High Meadow stage had crowds entertained all day and far into the evening. Here is a taste of the magnificent original instrumental trio known as Hawktail.
And, of course, photos…
