Video: Del McCoury gets his own festival

I had a chance to sit down with Del McCoury during the RiverCity Bluegrass Festival to get a preview of the first DelFest, which will be held in Cumberland MD on Memorial Day weekend combining bluegrass, jam band and country artists. In the interview, he remembers the early bluegrass festivals where he appeared with Bill Monroe and also reflects on his future and legacy.

Tune Up for Wintergrass

Tune up for the festival with our playlist of two songs likely to be played by each major artist at the upcoming Wintergrass 2008, which takes place in Tacoma WA February 21-24. The lineup and playlist is especially strong in contemporary acoustic and traditional bluegrass, with significant forays into Afro-American roots, gypsy jazz, jamgrass and other styles. Downloads are served by Amazon.com.

Ruffo previews Wintergrass highlights

Considering that RiverCity is sort of an upstart festival compared with the better established Wintergrass, coming the following month in a neighboring city, it was something of a surprise to find none other than Stephen Ruffo, one of the Wintergrass partners, working RiverCity as the artist liaison.

There's nobody better for such a role than Ruffo. the personable, silver-maned promoter who seems to know everybody in the business. He allowed that it isn't ideal to have two festivals competing for the same audience, especially with Seldom Scene heading both lineups.

"Both festivals have the mission to further bluegrass, so it's all good," he said.

I took the opportunity to ask Ruffo about the Wintergrass lineup and about the festival theme of "transformation."

"The hotel change was huge," he said, referring to the makeover of the festival hotel following a change of ownership. Gone is the Sheraton Tacoma name (now it is The Murano), but the changes are much deeper than just the nameplate. Positioned now as a boutique hotel, the decor and fixtures were significantly upgraded, and some architectural changes were also made.

The latter necessitated some changes to festival performance venues. The upper lobby hotel bar is no longer available as a stage, but the roof restaurant will now be used. Beds can no longer be removed from rooms for picking suites, but all the usual public jam spaces will be available. Seating capacity is a little less in the main pavilion because different bleachers will be used.

"I'm a guy who doesn't like to buy new pants, I like the comfortable old ones. But, hey, they did a beautiful job with it. People are going to like it," he said.

On the program, Ruffo said he was excited about the special Thursday night show Black and Bluegrass with Laura Love, Ruthie Foster, the Carolina Chocolate Drops and others, exploring diverse early influences to bluegrass music.

The lineup offers plenty of straight-ahead bluegrass, from Bobby Osborne to Michael Cleveland, but Ruffo is most jazzed about the lineup of progressive bands such as The Infamous Stringdusters, Crooked Still and especially Chris Thile's Punch Brothers band.

"Wintergrass has always been progressive. It is about a morphing of styles, and how that happens organically. We're always going to be a little edgier than a regular bluegrass festival," he said.

RiverCity notebook

Various musicians pulled double duty by sitting in with other bands as well as their own. Ron Stewart, who plays banjo with Dan Tyminski, filled in on fiddle with Rhonda Vincent on short notice when Rage standby Hunter Berry came up lame. Here's hoping Hunter is back on his feet soon.

Marty Stuart came with a partial lineup of Fabulous Thunderbirds and filled it out with the McCoury boys--Ronnie on mandolin and Rob on banjo. The two bands have gigged together before and there was lots on onstage chemistry in Portland, especially the dueling mandos with Ronnie and Marty.

I hadn't realizedthat Chris Eldridge, late of the Infamous Stringdusters and set to debut in Chris Thile's Punch Brothers band, is also a sometimes member of his dad's band, Seldom Scene. And he looked so young in his short haircut and striped shirt that at first I thought he might be a younger brother. Sure enough, it was Critter himself, adding some six-string firepower to the Scene's instrumental attack.

I had forgotten that Bryn Davies holds down the bass part in Republic of Strings. Having missed her since she stepped down from the Rowan-Rice Quartet last year, it was nice to see her trademark moves as she more than held her own with the rest of Anger's virtuoso band.

Ron Thomason and Dry Branch Fire Squad were in fine form, delivering two sets of traditional bluegrass along with a welcome helping of Ron Thomason's comedic monologues. I was familiar with riff on Utah Philips leading into "Orphan Train" and his antiwar commentary introducing "He's Coming to Us Dead," but they are equally powerful in the retelling. The band's Sunday set was all gospel. I buttonholed Thomason afterwards asking for a comment on the Grey Fox site relocation, but he didn't want to say anything on the record.

John Reischman & The Jaybirds impressed with their bluegrass chops but also their sweet original songs, several sung by bassist Trish Gagnon. It turns out that Gagnon, a Canadian, almost didn't make the gig over a visa problem until the festival management asked for help from U.S. Senator Ron Wyden's office.

Filling Rushad's big shoes

I had a chance during RiverCity to chat with Tristan Clarridge, the young fiddle and cello virtuoso who was performing with Darol Anger's Republic of Strings. Tristan fit in the gig between rehearsals and recording with his new band Crooked Still, where he has stepped into the big shoes belonging to Rushad Eggleston, the wild man of the new acoustic scene. [Photo: Tristan Clarridge with Republic of Strings.]

"There will be fewer pink suits on stage, but we'll have the same musical integrity," he said. Clarridge and Eggleston grew up together as musicians, as part of a cohort of string music prodigies, including Brittany and Natalie Haas and Clarridge's sister Tashina, who were nurtured by veteran artists Mark O'Connor, Alistair Fraser and Darol Anger, among others.

"Rushad's cello style started a revolution and many of us are following in his path," Clarridge said. Besides Clarridge's cello, the new Crooked Still includes Brittany Haas on fiddle. Casey Driessen will continue to sit in with the band when available, Clarridge said.

"We offer a big string texture," he said. "I like that there is space for every one to try out new ideas. And I like that we take traditional melodies and play with them."

Clarridge said the new band mates had spent several weeks in December arranging and rehearsing, and that he was flying out from Portland to join the band in a recording studio in upstate New York. The reconfigured Crooked Still begins touring in February, and will have its first big performances at Wintergrass in Tacoma WA in about six weeks.

A California native, Clarridge had resettled in Boston even before joining the Crooked Still, living with five other performers in what he calls a "music house." Besides joining Crooked Still and continuing with Republic of Strings, Clarridge is also part of New Old Stock, a quartet including his sister Tashina along with Wesley Corbett on banjo and Simon Chrisman on hammered dulcimer.

Tyminski Band steps up on first tour dates

[Adam Steffey and Dan Tyminski at RCBF.]

After a kickoff gig at Nashville's Station Inn on January 2, the spanking new Dan Tyminski Band played its first road dates January 4 and 5 in San Francisco and Portland OR, where I caught their set at of the RiverCity Bluegrass Festival.

The band will be one of the marquee acts on the roots festival scene in 2008. With Alison Krauss doing other projects this year, Tyminski and other members of Union Station have stepped up in this new configuration.

AKUS members Tyminski (guitar), Barry Bales (bass) and Justin Moses (fiddle) join with former member Adam Steffey (mandolin) and super-sideman Ron Stewart (banjo) in the new configuration. Steffey and Stewart each stepped down from prominent roles in other bands to join with Tyminski.

As the band took the stage, it immediately fell into an effortless bluegrass groove. This is not a band trying to invent anything self-consciously new. It's just does what comes naturally, mixing rich vocals and tasteful instrumentals and seeming to embody the essence of contemporary bluegrass.

Some of the songs were not familiar to me and are likely to be featured on the group's forthcoming CD, due in March or April. Tyminski performed some of the material from his 2002 solo CD, including a great rendition of Hank Snow's "Sunny Side of the Mountain." Of course, he told his George Clooney story and offered his hit version of "Man of Constant Sorrow."

Steffey, Stewart and Bales also took turns on lead vocals. Stewart impressed with his breakup song "Ain't Taking You Back No More." For me, the highlight of the set was Steffey's vocal on the AKUS standard "No Place to Hide," reprising his role with the pre-1998 version of Union Station.

The band sounds as if it has been playing together for years, as smooth and mellow as honey dripping off a spoon. Audiences at MerleFest, Stagecoach, Rockygrass and many others will be in for a treat as Dan Tyminski and friends fully grow into their groove.

First-in-the-nation bluegrass at Portland's RiverCity

[Seldom Scene closes out RiverCity on Sunday afternoon.]

The year in roots acoustic music got underway on the first weekend of 2008 with the fourth running of the RiverCity Bluegrass Festival at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland OR.

Among an outstanding lineup of top bluegrass names, the top music headline was the debut of one of the sure-fire new acts on the roots festival circuit, the Dan Tyminski Band, headed by the Alison Krauss & Union Station guitarist and including bluegrass standouts Adam Steffey on mandolin and Ron Stewart on banjo.

Actually, the band's Saturday show was its third official performance, after gigs in Nashville and San Francisco earlier in the week. See the related post for details on the Tyminski Band set.

For a still-emerging festival, RCBF put on an outstanding lineup, featuring top acts Seldom Scene, Tim O'Brien, Del McCoury Band, Rhonda Vincent, Marty Stuart and many more. Styles ran the spectrum of acoustic music from bluegrass gospel (Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver) to Texas country (The Flatlanders) to improvisational string-band (Darol Anger's Republic of Strings).

Other standouts included David Grisman Quintet, Dry Branch Fire Squad, Foghorn Stringband, David Grier, John Reischman, Tony Furtado, Bryan Bowers, plus a whole contingent of Pacific Northwest regional bands.

Besides the outstanding lineup, the event impressed me as a full-featured festival experience--with two stages, full-fledged workshop program, kids program, extensive vendor exhibits, attendee jams in halls and lobbies, and a special "jam train" to bring in patrons from Seattle.

Convention center festivals usually lack for charm, and that was somewhat the case here. The main stage and vendor area was set in a dark, cavernous exhibit hall space, but the sound was excellent and the sight lines were fine.

Outside in the soaring glassed-in concourse, the second stage and workshop area had the bustle of an outdoor festival. The convention center central location on Portland's river front, adjacent to the trendy Pearl District, compensated for the otherwise uninspring site.

Unsurprisingly, the weather was gloomy with occasional downpours, but that didn't seem to dampen the mood. The festival promoters did not have an official attendance count, but were hoping to hit about 4000 for the three days, which seemed consistent with my rough estimate of the crowd sizes.

Unlike many festivals, RCBF is run as a for-profit enterprise, though the profit part may continue to be theoretical. It is run by Palmer/Wirfs & Associates, a Portland exhibition producer specializing in antique shows and similar events.

For Christine Palmer and her husband Chuck, it seems to be more a labor of love than a breakthrough business opportunity. The area bluegrass community has embraced the event by volunteering and participating as though it was a non-profit undertaking.

Bravo for a top-notch event whose first-in-the-nation status makes it the bluegrass equivalent of the New Hampshire primary.

2008 Tarahumara Train to feature Hillman and Pedersen

Oh man, this is the music excursion I'd like to book. An alternative to the spate of music cruises, Flying Under Radar Productions puts on exotic Roots on the Rails adventures in Canada, Mexico and the U.S. West. In past years, the Tarahumara Train, which runs out of Tucson to the Copper Canyon region of Mexico's Sierra Madre, has featured folk heroes like Tom Russell and Fred Eaglesmith.

The 2008 Tarahumara Train runs May 15-22 and features two of my musical heroes, Chris Hillman and Herb Pedersen, plus more "friends" to be announced. For boomers like me, Hillman and Pedersen have been part of the soundtrack of our lives, beginning with the Byrds and Burritos and playing key roles in the defining the country rock sound.

Throughout the years, the two of them have paired on numerous projects, including The Desert Rose Band and in a quartet with the Rice brothers. Recently, they have played as a trio with bassist Bill Bryson, and to my ears their music is sweeter than ever.

Roots on the Rails trips are not inexpensive. This one goes for $4750 per person, including all onboard and hotel accommodations, various side trips, plus concerts, workshops and jams all along the way. I don't know if this is the trip of a lifetime, but it certainly will make the 2008 highlight reel.

Industry conference set for San Antonio in June

Following the path of larger industry associations such as the Americana Music Association (AMA), Folk Alliance (FA) and International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA), the Roots Music Association (RMA) announced its first industry conference and associated music festival, Music United '08.

So far, little information is available about the program and artist lineup, but the association itself has been gaining momentum behind its mission to promote independent artists playing in diverse roots music genres.

Just as RMA has a broad definition of "roots," Festival Preview's broad definition of "festival" embraces all types of musical gatherings. We'll keep our eye on MU08 as part of our coverage of industry conferences. If only we can keep all the initials straight.

Grey Fox looking for new site

Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival's Mary Burdette today confirmed recent renewed rumors that the pending sale of Rothvoss Farm will necessitate a move this year to a new location for the long-running event.

"We want you all to know that we are monitoring the Rothvoss Farm situation very closely. While we have not yet received official word that the farm has been sold, we have every reason to believe that it will be sold very shortly. We also believe it will be necessary to move the festival to a new location this year," Burdette wrote in a posting to the Grey Fox discussion board.

Grey Fox and its predecessor event, Winterhawk, has been located at the Rothvoss Farm site near Ancramdale NY, fondly known as "The HIll," since Winterhawk's inception in 1983. The possibility of a sale of the property and the need to move the festival to a different location has been in the air for several years. At the 2006 festival, promoter Mary Doub announced an agreement that would allow Grey Fox 2007 to take place in its familiar location.

Since no such assurance was given during the 2007 festival, today's news comes as little surprise. But it does raise big questions for long-time attendees. How will it be different? How will long-held festival traditions translate to a new site? Will a new site change the character of the event? Already, Grey Fox attendees are weighing in at the discussion board with suggestions and reaction.

The 2008 festival is fully underway, with tickets already on sale and the full lineup announced for July 17-20. All that's missing is a location.

Many festivals have undergone location changes with a minimum of disruption. Grey Fox's well deserved reputation for patron friendliness, as evidenced by today's announcement, should serve it well as it follows through this challenging transition.

Still Infamous

In the better late than never department, here's our just-released video of the Crooked Still-Infamous Stringdusters collaboration from Strawberry Spring 2007. With both bands having since lost founding members (Rushad Eggleston and Chris Eldridge), this particular configuration of Still Infamous may never occur again.

Note that this jam took place a month after the same two bands plus The Duhks and Uncle Earl had conducted a "New Generation Jam" at MerleFest. Check this video by riglpo for that group's earlier version of "Cold Joe Lark," also performed here.

Tune Up for MerleFest

MerleFest returns for its 21st year in April 24-27 in Wilkesboro NC—Levon Helm's Midnight Ramble and the collaboration of Ricky Scaggs and Bruce Hornsby top the bill. Tune up for the festival with this annotated playlist featuring two tracks by each scheduled major festival performer.

New Dylan at Newport DVD is an instant classic

I wasn't old enough to be at Newport in the early sixties, but what happened there shaped my development and a music fan and person. Now we see for the first time a faithful filmed recording of Bob Dylan at Newport 1963, '64, and '65, courtesy of the new Murray Lerner film The Other Side of the Mirror, released this month on public television, in theaters and on DVD.

Of the many Newport retrospectives available, this is the film for your DVD collection, a rare sharp focus on a great artist's early years as he finds his unique voice. What I am most struck by is, first, the youth and innocence of the 1963 Dylan, and then how imperceptibly sophistication displaced it. By the time he plugs in for "Like a Rolling Stone" in 1965, he is a confident artist leading his fans down a new path.

For full reviews, see the New York Times and Pop Matters. We have it selected as the featured DVD in our comprehensive selection of festival films available in our DVD store, where you browse more than 60 DVDs by genre or select from our all-time best list of festival films.

2008 TELLURIDE BLUEGRASS, ROCKYGRASS, FOLKS FEST LINEUPS ANNOUNCED

2008 TELLURIDE BLUEGRASS, ROCKYGRASS, FOLKS FEST LINEUPS ANNOUNCED

LYONS, COLORADO — December 3, 2007 — Planet Bluegrass proudly announces the preliminary lineups for the 2008 summer festivals, including the historic 35th Anniversary of the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. All 2008 festival tickets go on sale on Wednesday, December 5 at 8am MST, including a limited number of holiday-priced passes for each festival, discounted $30 from the regular price. Tickets will be available online at bluegrass.com or at 800-624-2422.

35th Telluride Bluegrass Festival - June 19-22, 2008 – Telluride, CO
http://www.bluegrass.com/telluride
* Ricky Skaggs & Bruce Hornsby with Kentucky Thunder * Sam Bush Band * Ani DiFranco * Yonder Mountain String Band * John Cowan & Darrell Scott Band * Tim O'Brien * Bela Fleck * Peter Rowan * Jerry Douglas * Edgar Meyer * Brett Dennen * Spring Creek Bluegrass Band * And many more...


36th RockyGrass - July 25-27, 2008 - Lyons, CO
http://www.bluegrass.com/rockygrass
* Dan Tyminski Band * Natalie MacMaster * Sam Bush Bluegrass Band * Abigail Washburn & The Sparrow Quartet featuring Bela Fleck with Casey Driessen & Ben Sollee * Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas & Edgar Meyer * JD Crowe & The New South * Psychograss * John Cowan Band * Russ Barenberg & Bryan Sutton * Peter Rowan * Infamous Stringdusters * Chatham County Line * Bearfoot * The Steeldrivers * Spring Creek Bluegrass Band * And many more...


18th Rocky Mountain Folks Festival - August 15-17, 2008 – Lyons, CO
http://www.bluegrass.com/folks
Greg Brown * The Waifs * Tim O’Brien * Todd Snider * Sarah Sample * And many more...


Tickets for the most coveted camping spots at Telluride Bluegrass (Town Park Campground) and RockyGrass (On-site campground) both sold-out in November through an online lottery. Planet Bluegrass received a record number of entries for each of these lotteries. Entries for Telluride Town Park increased over 50% from last year, with entries coming from 47 different US states as well as New Zealand, Norway, Germany, and other countries.

Both Telluride Bluegrass and RockyGrass sold-out in advance last year. All of the 3,500 tickets for RockyGrass were sold by early May last year, over two months in advance of the festival. All camping for the 2007 Telluride Bluegrass were sold-out weeks before the festival, with single-day tickets selling out the week prior to the festival.

Often cited as the “granddaddy of the modern festival circuit” (Relix Magazine), Telluride Bluegrass is unique for its rich traditions and a unique spirit of collaboration that has birthed numerous bands (Leftover Salmon, Strength in Numbers) and created a loyal group of artists and festivarians who return every June for the annual “festivarian family reunion.” At least five of this year’s headliners have performed at the festival for over 25 years. The 35th Annual Telluride Bluegrass will be held during both the summer solstice (June 21) and the full moon. Historic footage of the festival is available online:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMgaCseqZmU

Long a leader in “sustainable festivation,” Colorado Governor Bill Ritter, jr. declared June 23, 2007 Colorado Bluegrass Day - honoring Planet Bluegrass for "using renewable energy to help protect our environment while producing a world-class festival."

The 36th RockyGrass lineup sees the more traditional acoustic bluegrass festival broadening its roots to encompass newgrass (Psychograss), Celtic (Natalie MacMaster), and old-time (Sparrow Quartet), as well as more traditional bluegrass (JD Crowe, Dan Tyminski Band). In addition to the festival and its legendary campground jams, the week prior to the festival several hundred budding musicians take part in the RockyGrass Academy, featuring instruction from many of the festival’s headliners.

Now in its 18th year, the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival welcomes back several of its most cherished singer-songwriters, including Greg Brown who will be making his 11th appearance at the festival. The “summit of the song” welcomes a stylistically and geographically diverse set of songwriters to perform along the banks of the St. Vrain River each August. The week prior, songwriters focus on the art, craft, and business of songwriting at The Song School.

Planet Bluegrass will be making several additional lineup announcements in the coming months. This preliminary lineup announcement reflects about half of the performers who will perform at the four-day Telluride Bluegrass Festival. RockyGrass and Folks Fest both present approximately 22 performances over the course of three days.

Hot Rize reunion heads Grey Fox lineup announcement

The influential progressive bluegrass quartet Hot Rize will reunite in July at the Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival for a 30th anniversary celebration. Formed in 1978 by Tim O'Brien, Pete Wernick, Charles Sawtelle, and Nick Forrester, the band performed regularly at all the major roots music festivals throughout the 1980s, and have come back together on many occasions since.

After Sawtelle's passing in 1999, several other guitarists have had stints with the band. Most recently, Bryan Sutton played with the band with it played a series of dates in 2002 and 2003. Since then, Hot Rize has made few appearances, but last July the three regulars and guitarist David Grier played at the wedding of actor Steve Martin, with the groom sitting in for several songs on banjo.

It is unknown if the Grey Fox booking is a one-time occasion, or if Hot Rize is undertaking a reunion tour with stops at other festivals this summer. The band's alter-ego, Red Knuckles & The Trailblazers, will also appear at Grey Fox in a separate set.

The partially announced Grey Fox lineup also includes David Grisman Bluegrass Experience, Del McCoury Band, Jerry Douglas Band, Sparrow Quartet, The Grascals, Uncle Earl, The Infamous Stingdusters, The Greencards, Adrienne Young & Little Sadie, Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper and more. As always, Dry Branch Fire Squad serves as the host band. The full details are here.

As earlier noted on this blog, Grey Fox might also see the beginnings of a new collaboration, when David Grisman and The Infamous Stringdusters are both set to appear on Friday at the festival. Two weeks ago, Dawg and the 'Dusters played together for the first time at Freight & Salvage in Berkeley CA.