2004-11-14 - 7:55 p.m.
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Grey Fox – July 16th
Nestled in the beautiful Berkshire Mountains, this festival is in an idyllic location. The first year we played Grey Fox we camped. Not an optimum situation as it’s mostly various degrees of vertical hill camping. We were very happy to be invited back, even though we knew we’d be up against the bluegrass elitist and their drum phobias. The first time we did this fest a gentleman stopped Carey on the way up to a rehearsal at our campsite. Noticing that Carey was carrying a snare drum he said, “ Whoa boy! I think you took a wrong turn!” to which he quickly responded, “ No this is a collapsible banjo.” Now that’s thinking on your feet!
Our east coast friends set up a great camp and the day started off with great food and drink and a nice set of music from our friends The Lost Ramblers. John played with them and I sat in. Fun stuff!
We were last up on Saturday, after Tim O’Brien. We lost some of the trad bluegrass fans as soon as the drums went onstage but we still had at least 2/3 of the hill and we played well. The crowd was wild and surely woke up the sleeping bluegrass conservatives!
Falcon Ridge – July 22nd – 24th
I love this festival! It’s old home week for me. I’ve been in the house band for four years and most of the artists and staff are old friends by now. Too bad Railroad Earth didn’t do this fest this year. WFUV sponsors it and they’ve been playing The Good Life consistently. I enlisted Andy for the house band this year and Jake Armeding (fiddle/mando) was also on board, so with Mark Dann on bass and Radoslav Lorkovic on keys it’s more of a Falcon Ridge orchestra! We got to back up the Friday night song swap, which included Greg Brown, John Gorka and Eliza Gylkison (who was phenomenal!) One of my favorite bands, Brave Combo, played in the dance tent. I had a great time teaching my wife to polka and then proceeding to half drag; half spin her all over the dance floor! She’s so understanding. I led a fiddle workshop that included Caroline Pond from the Snake Oil Medicine Show. Too much fun!
Camp Creek - July 24th
Andy and I broke out of Falcon Ridge on Saturday afternoon to play a set with RRE at this festival put on annually by Max Creek. We were in and out. The small crowd seemed to enjoy it.
Nelson Ledges – July 30th
Way out in the Ohio countryside is this cool private swimming park, Nelson Ledges. It was a long drive and the stage was a little small but it was a fun show and I got to dive off the ledges and the food that was provided for the band was unbelievable!
Bucks County Bluegrass Festival- July1st
This was really, really fun and a great show! It was put on by and for the benefit of the Delaware Riverkeepers. This is a fantastic organization that is largely responsible for the continued health of my beloved Delaware River. We hope to work with them again soon! After the show Andy and I found the most amazing tree about 50 yards from the stage. It was an absolutely huge Purple Beech tree that had to be at least 200 years old!
Jerry’s Birthday Bash at Sunshine Daydream - Aug 7th
This was the first time we got to play with String Cheese and what a blast! I got to sit in with my buds New Monsoon (you should have seen me frantically learning the 2 songs I did with them off the cd in their RV as they were already playing on stage. But one of the highlights took place in the Cheese’s rehearsal room. We did some fine pickin’ with Bill Nershi and bassman, Keith. But the highlight of all highlights was when we played Terrapin Station. It took us 3 days to learn it (I have to admit I wasn’t that thrilled to do it; boy was I wrong) and when we started playing it, I swear I heard 1000 people take a breath. We got a phenomenal response and members of Stringcheese and the Flecktones were stage side checking it out. Bill Nershi sat in with us on our Sunday set and our mutual friend, Brad Lyman, brought out a bottle of very expensive tequila and past it around in a friendly onstage toast. Brad has been looking forward to the two bands playing together and the toast was a symbolic tribute to the moment.
Floyd Fest – August 13th – 14th
This was up there with my favorite festivals this year not so much because of the line-up (which was a good one) but because of the site itself. Perched on a ridge just off the Blue Ridge Parkway, it seemed like a forest city in the clouds. We narrowly missed one of the summers many hurricanes as it moved by to the east but as a result were treated to cool weather and the cloud-like effect I just mentioned. The East Coast hobo’s had an amazing camp set up and our dance stage set was off the hook. Jeff from New Monsoon sat in and he and I traded off licks. What great fun!
Knowleton River Fest – August 27th
Our hometown gig! I live 15 minutes from the site! The place was freakin’ packed and electric! The loudest crowd all year!!
Strawberry Fest – Sept 2nd - 5th
Ladies and gentleman, we have a winner! This was, bar none, my favorite festival all year. It’s held twice yearly, Memorial Day weekend and Labor Day weekend. The site is hard to beat being 14 miles from Yosemite and right in the middle of a one thousand year old redwood forest. Backstage courtesy was as good as it gets and the sound was fantastic! We flew out and used rented backline gear. We were put up on site in rustic old cabins. Our soundie Cal and I (Mike Partridge had to be in a wedding) went to Yosemite and had our minds blown. Our friend Pete Grant played with us and sounded great. All of this made for an amazing experience but the most incredible thing about this festival is the shear amount of quality jamming that goes on in the campground. Walking from camp to camp you could listen to and play with really quality players playing music of all genres. Bluegrass, singer-songwriters, old timey, blues, swing and Mexican folks songs could be heard ringing through the trees until the wee hours. I even stumbled on a camp of people singing show tunes! After the last jam I hit on our last night I wound up in a clearing lying on the hood of a Jeep staring up at the Milky Way whirling overhead. The wind rushing through the towering redwoods that ringed the clearing seemed to be blowing the spirit of the place straight up to the stars. I will never forget the feeling of absolute awe. Even though the moon had set, the starlight was so brilliant I could see the path clearly on my way back to the cabin.
Black Swamp Fest – Sept 10th
Our good friend Tom in Bowling Green, Ohio has taken over running festival this year and the line-up was great! Once again I got dance polka to Brave Combo (this time with Gayle!) This was our second time at this festival and we had a great time!
Harvest Fest – Sept. 18h – 19th
This was another festival barely dodging a hurricane. We got to the site just in time to do our workshop with Jeff Austin from Yonder Mountain Stringband. He’s a great entertainer, all around nice guy and funny as shit! We got to see Ally, our former merchie. She looked great! Miss you girl! My highlight of the fest was watching Derek Trucks wreck the place! I had a great musical conversation with him backstage. He sounded like he had been listening to the same Hindustani musicians I’ve been listening too recently. Sure enough, he told me he’s been influenced by the great saranghi master Ustad Sultan Khan and the sarod master Ali Akbar Khan. He has so seamlessly integrated the western and eastern styles, he’s created his own unique style.
Terrapin Hill – Sept 25th
This was a neat little festival in Kentucky. The coolest thing for me was when we arrived backstage some of my musical heroes had just started their set. I had never seen Goose Creek Symphony but had all their records when I was teenager. They were a huge influence on me as they, along with the Band, introduced me to Americana music before it had a name.
