Getting the Most from Merlefest - Preview

Watson Stage

What’s your roots music taste? Do you want to see old favorites, new discoveries, or some of each? Would you prefer to get your music in more or less intimate settings, or don’t you mind big crowds? Do you want it traditional or progressive, mountainy or rocky? Just about the only constant, and now-a-days not even that, at Merlefest is that it’s an acoustic music festival. Beyond that, it’s your choice. Merlefest, to be held in Wilkesboro, NC from April 24 – April 27 this year, is easily the largest festival held in the east by any standard. Daily attendance approaches 20,000. Thirteen different sound stages. Hundreds of performers. Dozens of vendors. Every camping space and motel/hotel room within fifty miles filled. The very top names in acoustic and bluegrass music performing. It’s all there at Merlefest. With all this size and diversity, the question arises, “How can I get the most out of my Merlefest experience?” This post is designed to help you do just that.

Gospel Jubilators on Cabin Stage

Planning - The best source for planning and managing your time at Merlefest remains the Merlefest web site. Once both a resource and a more-or-less open forum, the web site has changed in recent years, eliminating the lively message board it once carried. This has been, at least partially, replaced by The Unofficial Merlefest Forum, which provides for the discussion, but loses out because it hasn’t yet attracted the large group once posting at the Merlefest home site. Despite this loss, the official site of this great festival still provides most of the information you need in order to plan your four days in Wilkesboro.

Scene at Creekside Stage

Where to Stay – During our first four years at Merlefest, we stayed on campus in our trailer. Last year, when they raised the price, we migrated out to Fort Hamby on W. Kerr Scott Reservoir outside town. It worked for us. There are other campgrounds in the area, but by this time they are pretty well filled. The Merlefest web site gives a good overview of these. Unless you’re very lucky, you won’t find a motel room in the area, and if you do, it’ll be quite expensive. For next year, make your reservations early.

Doc Watson at Creekside

Seeing What You Want and Getting Around - Your first task, and do it today, is to download and print the Merlefest Schedule. Once you arrive at Merlefest, the pocket guide the festival provides will become your best friend, but until then you can use these Adobe PDF documents as a tool to guide your planning. The pocket guide will also be accompanied by a large, elaborate, and useful festival program describing all the performers as well as detailing the vendors and their locations. Until you get this booklet in your hands, the 2008 line-up will have to do. This listing has the advantage of providing links to most of the artists performing at Merlefest, allowing you to research them to your heart’s content and listen to samples of their music. Since one of the great joys of Merlefest is being introduced to new bands and sounds, this resource shouldn’t be overlooked. You can also find a festival map here. This recently updated map provides a much more accurate picture of the Wilkes Community College campus than earlier versions. The only missing element is a sense of the geography of the place, and this is important. At Merlefest you’ll do a lot of walking and climbing. The campus is quite hilly, the hills are steep, and two important stages (Walker Center and Hillside) require quite a hike. The final important resource is a list of stages. Click on stages on the Merlefest home page and you’ll be provided a list of each stage at the festival. Select each one and read about its focus. I’d prefer a more elaborate discussion, but combined with the map and the artists list, this link is helpful. Remember the reserve seating section at Watson Stage is open until 5:00 PM. Just go in and sit in an empty seat. If the owner returns, move somewhere else. Some people with strong bladders manage to stay inside into the evening, but once you leave, you won't get back. Once you have these resources in hand, you can begin to chart out a tentative schedule. But remember what Don Rigsby sang, “If you want to make God laugh, make a plan.”

Sam Bush's Annual Jam

Dressing for Merlefest is an important consideration. Remember a few things. It always rains at Merlefest. You won’t know when or how much, but count on rain. No matter how warm, sunny and pleasant the day is the evening is likely to be cool or even cold. The Watson Stage is set on a flat plain surrounded by steep hills. As the sun sets, cooling air begins to roll down from the hillsides and settle onto this main performance area. By nine or ten in the evening, everyone wishes they had more and warmer clothing. Bring several layers of clothes with you, including a fresh, dry, warm pair of socks. Remember that keeping your feet and head warm increases your chance of keeping the rest of you warm. As the evening progresses, layer up to stay warm. In the bottom of your pack, make sure you have a nylon shell to ward off dampness in either its drifting or falling form.

Reserve Seats at Watson Stage

Eating at Merlefest - A couple who have sat three rows in front of us ever since we began coming to Merlefest always carry a lot of food in with them. I suspect, in addition to hors d’oerves, they have the forbidden cocktails in a thermos. They carry fruit, salads…all they need for the day. Our seat neighbors always bring sandwiches as well as plenty of snacks with them. Both ways work well. We do some of that, too. However, we also believe in doing what we can to support the vendors at the festival. The massive food tent, to the left of the Watson Stage, offers a range of foods from hamburgers and hot dogs, through barbecue, to Thai, Italian, and Indian specialties. Meals are tasty and reasonably priced. There’s one problem: at meal times the lines are long and seats at the nearby tables are scarce. The best way to shorten your wait in line is to eat at off hours or during the performances of big headliners. You can hear from the food tent and see the huge television screen, and the lines seem to be shorter. Last year, several vendors of snack foods like hot dogs, hamburgers, and the ever popular funnel cakes were spread around the grounds. There were still long lines. I’ve been told that this year the festival has worked with vendors to increase efficiency and staffing at high traffic periods. They’ve also worked to make pick-up foods like hot dog, hamburgers, pizza, and ice-cream more available in high traffic areas. Coffee will be brewed on-campus making it more quickly available in larger quantities. Merlefest leadership is aware of the problems and has worked hard to alleviate them.

The Great Tut Tayler - Honoring the Pioneers

Chances to connect with band members are smaller, briefer, and less intimate than at typical festival settings. Merlefest is too large and complex for much meeting and greeting or shake and howdying. If you want to get to know members of a band, this isn’t the place, but you can say hi and get autographs either at scheduled signings at the entrance to the Watson Stage or get a chance for somewhat closer contact at the smaller stages spread about the campus. The map, the schedule, and the stage descriptions, taken together, will help you make these choices. It’s not as frequent at Merlefest as at other festivals to see band members around the grounds, but that happens sometimes, too. Often, however, they seem to be with friends and give off a vibe of preferring not to be interrupted.

The Little Pickers Tent

Instrument contests and the Chris Austin song writing contest are central elements of Merlefest. The recognition coming to a musician who wins an instrument contest or the visibility a songwriter gains from having a song sung from the cabin stage can serve as important boosts to a career. Contest winners get to sing their songs from the Cabin Stage on Saturday night, and it’s a pretty big deal. Sometimes you hear new songs that end up in major albums a year or so later. Lorraine Jordan had a song take second place a couple of years ago. Grasstowne selected “Devil’s Road” which Brink Brinkman won with for recording and performance. It’s a great showcase. Another feature of Merlefest is the organized jams happening almost every day. These jams bring musicians from different bands, but often with a musical affinity, together for an extended extemporaneous performance. Last year, at one point, the members of New Grass Revival were on stage at once for the first time in years. Such jams take place at a variety of stages. Another opportunity to see musicians jamming occurs at the area sponsored by the Wilkes Acoustic Society both during the festival and during the three evenings preceding it.

Earl Scruggs and Doc Watson on Stage

I thought maybe I’d put up a list of bands I particularly wanted to see and hear during Merlefest. I went through the 2008 Merlefest lineup, looked at my choices, and decided they were mine. Merlefest is actually 20,000 different festivals each day. As such, it’s up to each person who attends to decide who they want to see, and how much effort they want to make to see them. I showed the list to my wife and her concern was our ability to stay in touch when not at the same performance. Lots of people carry walkie talkies. I recommend not bringing them and relying on cell phones instead. There are just too many people clogging up too few channels to make the family radios very good communications tools. Be sure, however, to keep your cell phone on vibrate so your ring tone doesn’t bother others.

Evening Jam on Watson Stage

In the end Doc Watson and his friends established and maintain the spirit of Merlefest. The festival is a celebration of his son Eddie Merle, but it’s a recognition of Doc’s accomplishments, his taste, and his friends. As long as that remains, the festival will continue to be one of the great musical events in America. Doc’s spirit pervades the entire event.

Annual Sand Sculpture

For a different perspective focused on specific musicians and coming from a somewhat differently nuanced place, read Derek Halsey’s Merlefest Preview here.

Merlefest's Heart - Doc Watcon

Interview with Dobro legend Tut Taylor

By Ted Lehmann

I walked into Minton’s Music and Pawn in N. Wilkesboro, NC on Wednesday morning to chat for a moment or two with Mike Palmer, one of the owners, about a couple of questions I had. There sat Tut Taylor chatting with another customer. After a while I introduced myself to the legendary Dobro player and pulled up a stool beside him. Tut had chatted with me in a relaxed and pleasant way until Mike came over and mentioned he had read the blog and it was OK. I took out my notebook and Tut started spinning tales from his long life in Music. He asked me what I thought of Merle Haggard’s new bluegrass CD, saying he had really liked the video of “Holding Things Together” with Marty Stuart, Rob Ickes, and Carl Jackson. He was particularly complimentary of Carl Jackson as a player and song writer.

I asked Tut about playing with John Hartford, with particular reference to two pretty straight guys like him and Vassar Clements playing with two hippies like John Hartford and Norman Blake. He noted that Hartford was a very accomplished banjo picker and played...

[Visit Ted Lehmann's Bluegrass, Books, and Brainstorms for the full article.]

Doc Watson with Richard Watson & David Holt as Hills of Home

After premiering it at MerleFest 2006, Doc Watson and company is touring with his "Hills of Home" concept concert--a mixture of story and song with photographs projected on a big screen. Partly a homage to Doc's musical forebears and partly a celebration of his life, it's a rare chance to catch a music legend reflecting on his place in history.

Upcoming: Lake Eden Arts Festival, concert performances

Doc Watson - Deep River Blues

Video by simplyYS

MerleFest lineup looks right on target

MerleFest attendees who are scrutinizing the newly announced 2008 lineup will find little to suggest any kind of shift in the festival's programming. Some people, including this blog, expressed concern that management changes earlier in 2007 could result in a change in artistic direction. See our earlier coverage here and here.

A first perusal of the lineup suggests a 2008 program that will be right in the mainstream of the festival's Americana focus of recent years. Artists like Sam Bush, Tim O'Brien and Peter Rowan anchor the proceedings in the progressive bluegrass mainstream. All the regulars from Doc Watson on down are in place.

Two of the acts that struck me as especially notable are Levon Helm's Midnight Ramble with special guests, and Roger Hornsby sitting in with Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder. I am also looking forward to Old Crow Medicine Show, Tift Merritt, The Waifs and many, many others.

Bravo to MerleFest executive director B Townes for putting together a very fine artist lineup for the 2008 festival.

Stages should fit the personality of the festival

By Dancin' Dave

I've been thinking about festival stages lately. This has been prompted by my last festival trip that included the Greyfox and Floydfest festivals, and whose stages differ greatly but both fit the respective festival's scene perfectly.

I was told that the main stage at Greyfox is the original stage, which means it was built 31 years ago on the Rothvoss farm in the Berkshire Mountain area of New York. "Quaint" is the perfect word to describe this stage! And that term of course works for most of the surrounding New York area.....'tis a beautiful part of the state. This stage has soooo many memories for the attendees, whether it be the customers or the staff or the volunteers or the musicians themselves. I myself was immediately taken by the stage and found myself helping to give it a new coat of paint that very first year I saw it. (1998) Just this year I sat watching a set with a longtime volunteer who reverently told me of his love and affection for the stage and all of the super musicians who graced it....Bill Monroe, John Hartford, Earl Scruggs, Del McCoury and Vassar Clements were the musicians he mentioned.

On the other side of the spectrum, the Floydfest is only six years old and is in the process of attendees building their own musical memories. This process hopefully will include memories of the stages....and the two new stages are nothing short of spectacular. The first (and Main) stage was built by Dreamworks, a timber framing business in Floyd, and is massive and beautiful. The second stage is smaller and to my mind is even prettier....this stage is brand new, being "unveiled" this past festival, and is called the Streamline Hill Hollar Stage. The first set that I saw on this stage was by the Waybacks, and included three encores! A fitting premiere, in my view....and it proved to me that the stage was fire-proof as well. >g<

Both stages were designed by Steve Arthur, who formed the Streamline Timberworks in Floyd and who donated the new stage to the festival. Both stages are built with an ancient construction utilizing large timbers and fastened together with wood joinery such as mortise and tennon held together wth wooden pegs. They are strikingly beautiful.....and the Hill Hollar Stage was raised by a collaboration between 3 different timber frame companies, simliar to the Amish barn raisings. There will be musical memories built around these stages!

Other festival stages that stick out in my mind include the Watson Stage, at Merlefest; and a wonderful fitting tribute to Doc and Merle. Another festival stage tribute is the Fred Shellman stage at Telluride....Fred was one of the founding members of the group that started the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. Also, another stage in the Planet Bluegrass organization is the stage at Rockygrass and the Folks Festival in Lyons, Colorado. I don't remember if this stage has a formal name, but I considered this stage to be the most beautiful that I had ever seen. I love the fact that the background is trees!

The Ampitheater Stage for the Suwannee Springfest and Magnoliafest is also very beautiful and perhaps the most attendee-favorable stage that I've seen. It's located in a natural bowl that is tiered for easy seating and the area is located amongst big live oak trees that have spanish moss hanging.....and this moss and the crookedness of the tree branches themselves can lead to some eerie sights at night! >g< Because it is located in these trees there is always shade if you'd prefer, or during the day there are plenty of areas where one can sit in the sun if that's the choice. The choice of shade in a hot sun situation is a real plus!

MerleFest executive director B Townes addresses community concerns

By Dan Ruby

MerleFest maintains its commitment to presenting music that fits Doc Watson's definition of "traditional-plus," said MerleFest executive director B Townes in an exclusive interview with Festival Preview.

Townes would not give away any names of artists who have been booked for 2008. The lineup is scheduled to be announced toward the end of September. "Rest assured it will be the best ever," Townes said.

Following the departures of three key staff members, long-time MerleFest attendees are expected to closely scrutinize the lineup when it is released, looking for signs of changes in artistic direction.

Townes declined to comment on specific personnel issues. Regarding the staff departures as a whole, he said, "Just as the talent at MerleFest changes and the music evolves, so will the people who are involved. The people we loved, artists and employees, who have passed on, or who have moved on, we will miss them."

However, he maintained that the staff changes will not result in significant changes to the festival's musical mix. Townes said the tradtional-plus format allows the festival to program bluegrass, Americana, Irish, cowboy, jambands, zydeco and dozens more musical styles.

On the subject of genres, Townes expressed some doubts about the Americana label used to describe the festival's music. "I think Americana is one genre among many that we present," he said.

Townes said as festival founder and director, he was the one primarily responsible for setting MerleFest's musical direction, and that others who have been involved in booking have followed his formula. "It is very broad, but I know the boundaries that Doc won't cross and that MerleFest won't cross. We will push the envelope, but still keep it in the formula."

Townes said that Doc Watson is consulted regularly as a sounding board. "From the beginning, Doc said he didn't want to manage the festival but he wants to play at it each year. He is always available to give us his thoughts on this act or that act, but after 20 years, I kind of know what he is thinking," Townes said.

In response to specific concerns that the management changes might result in more bookings of mainstream country-music entertainers, Townes said, "Let me put that to rest. It is not the intent of MerleFest to go beyond the boundaries to bring in more commercial acts. Having said that, we reserve the right to invite any artist that our committee decides people want to see."

He cited Dolly Parton and Marty Stuart as examples of Nashville artists who have been successful at MerleFest because they have embraced more traditional styles. "When someone like that says, 'I want to play bluegrass,' we take note of that," he said.

Responding to criticism

In the interview, Townes also responded to a wide range of concerns that have been raised following the staff changes.

He explained that the festival is owned by the Wilkes Community College Endowment Corp., of which he is executive director. He also wears hats as the vice president of development for the college and executive director of MerleFest. Currently he is also acting artistic director for the festival.

Ted Hagaman, a former marketing executive with Lowe's Companies, is the managing director of the festival, responsible for coordinating the six project teams working on specific aspects of the festival. According to Townes, Hagaman's success as the college director of hospitality and of the Walker Center made him the best choice for the position.

"Ted worked a lot on the site changes that were unveiled this year, including the Shops at MerleFest and eliminating cars on lower campus, a dreeam I have had for 10 years. Ted implemented that and did a great job," Townes said.

On the subject of festival sponsorship, Townes said he started the sponsorship program in 1992 to support a public television film about the festival, and that since then the sponsorship program has grown substantially.

"For about five years, we have had the goal to secure a presenting sponsor for the festival and we were proud to announce Lowe's as the presenting sponsor last year," Townes said. He added that it was his own work and not Hagaman's connections that brought in the sponsor deal. "Lowe's exercises no influence artistically on the festival," he contended.

Townes denied that the festival prioritizes commercial success over artistic quality. "Our commitment is to put on a quality event first, and the dollars follow from that. However, the reality of business is that there is a certain level of revenue that must be realized to pay for talent, infrastructure, production and amenities," he said.

Townes said the festival is not seeking to increase attendance. Instead the goal has been to improve audience quality by increasing the ratio of weekend passes to single-day walk-ins.

Regarding logistical problems that developed during the 2007 festival, such as a slow exit flow on Saturday night, Townes said that they resulted from a combination of site improvements that were implemented this year and programming. "We will tweak our procedures to address the problem, but it really was better than it would have been if we still had car traffic," he said.

In response to charges that the festival's management style is autocratic. "Actually, our management style is open and team-oriented," Townes said, explaining that each of the festival's major functions are directed by a project team. "That structure can make decision-making somewhat cumbersome, such as with the number of people involved on the programming team. But we want that kind of team organization," Townes said.

Townes acknowledged some sensitivity about political speech. "The college is apolitical and we work with both sides. However, in an election year, we wouldn't choose to put on people making political statements," Townes said. If an artist has a reputation for being outspoken, "we would want to have a conversation about that before we booked the talent," he said.

Dancin' Dave's Merlefest (part 4)

By Dancin' Dave

Not all was exciting from my point of view about Merlefest 2007... When I learned that Elvis Costello was booked I was curious...mostly because I knew so little of him. As Iearned of his musical journeys I became even more curious and when I saw that his band would include Sam Bush and Jerry Douglas and Byron House I started to become excited. Funny thing---I talked with a bunch of folks about Elvis before the festival and half of them really were big fans and the others were either big non-fans (one young woman won't let her husband play any of Elvis' music while she's in the house...>g<) or ambivilant.

ottom line for me: I watched his first 4 or 5 tunes, played solo, and was counting on Sam and Jerry's appearance to "make it better". During the last song I watched and listened to without the boys I decided to head over to the Dance Tent for the Red Stick Ramblers and a cajun dance...where I had a blast!

I was having way too much fun at the dance but I did want to see the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band so I headed back to the Watson Stage, where I was again disappointed. I've been a big Dirt Band fan for lots of years, saw them more times than I can count and have loved the fact that they have presented us with sooo much great music through the years. But, without Jimmy Ibbotson it wasn't the same right off the bat, and as the show went on and I realized that they were going to play the same dozen or so songs that they've been playing on stage all of these years I lost interest. I was thinking: "come on guys, you have a huge catalogue of music; please mix it up a little!"

All in all, Merlefest 2007 was another super festival and I can't wait for next year. I love working with the part of the Merlefest staff that I do and I love working with the different campground folks who all go out of their way to help not only me and my operation, but are there for all of their customers. It's a great feeling.

On the other hand, I understand that there were some major breakdowns as far as the infrastructure of the festival venue itself....not enough porta-johns, way too long of lines at the food vendors (for there are obviously times when the amount of food vendors can't keep up with demand), and I heard that there was a big snafu Saturday evening as the big crowd tried to exit the campus.

There is lots of discussion of these problems on the Merlefest website, and there are some pretty angry and or disgusted folks who are reacting to the problems that I've stated. I do have the confidence in the Merlefest organization that they will take a hard look at all of the situations that come up when dealing with such a big crowd (especially on Saturday...) And that from this hard look solutions will present themselves.

As I said, I can't wait fo next year! (I'm especially anxious to see if those three fellows who book me come back from England for the fourth year in a row...! >g<)

Dancin' Dave's Merlefest: The jams

By Dancin' Dave

Merlefest '07 featured some outrageous Watson Stage jam sessions! The first closed the Thursday show, and featured John Cowan as the host. Artists included Tut Taylor, all the gals from Uncle Earl, Pete Wernick, Sierra Hull, Tara Nevins and probably other artists that I don't recall. It was my first glimpse of Sierra...I had seen a YouTube clip of her jammin' with Sam Bush when she was 10 years old! She's now all of 15 or maybe 16 and looks as if she has a bright future in the acoustic music field.

On Friday Bela used his time slot to host a "strength in numbers" kind of get together....he was joined by Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Byron House, Luke Bulla, Tony Rice and Bryan Sutton. How do YOU spell "outrageous"!!!? I don't know how the threesome of Bela, Jerry and Sam can possibly get any better but somehow they seem to always be able to raise the bar from year to year. And Bryan Sutton always astounds.... This set was probably my favorite of the festival....and it's not easy to pick one out!

Oh wait...maybe the "new generation superjam" could be my favorite...! >g< This happened on Saturday morning and was hosted by Leonard Podolak, of the Duhks, who took his sweet time weeks before the show by not letting anyone else that would be involved know that it was comin' down! In fact, on Friday night I had the pleasure of teaching Aoife O'Donovan, of Crooked Still, how to two-step in the Dance Tent, and she told me that nothing had been worked up at that point in time....and the next morning those youngins' nailed it!!! (despite the early hour...>g<)

Besides the Duhks and Crooked Still, the other groups involved were Uncle Earl and the Infamous Stringdusters. The jam started with all of them on stage....one group's song would be played by everyone, with the members of the group in the foreground. As the song changed into a different group's song the members of that group would emerge to the foreground.....and on and on. It was a spectacular opening number, to say the least!

The jam continued with four or five artists doin' a song that they had just worked up together backstage and while this was goin' on the other musicians were forming their own impromtu groups backstage and doin' the same. The result was a super eclectic collection of tunes and songs played by these young musicians who are quickly becoming "stars" in the acoustic world. It truly was a "superjam"!

And of course there was the 20th Anniversary Jam that I had wrote about earlier....seeing as how it did include that mini-NGR-reunion! (still get goosebumps thinking about that; and to dream about a full reunion is an ongoing thought for me). Of course Sam Bush was the host of this jam....Doc Watson is of course the Main Man at this festival, but Sammy, in my mind anyway, is the focus musician in that so much of the music centers around his visions of the directions of the acoustic music scene for the last 35 to almost 40 years now!

I had the two of them in my binoculars while the jam was getting set up and Sam was cracking Doc up with his comments and questions; at one point Doc laughed and exclaimed: "I only heard one recording of that in all my years..."....and I believe that whatever the song was was the first or second tune played by them. (at that point the jam consisted of Doc, Sam, T. Michael Coleman, and Jerry Douglas) Anyway...was that my favorite jam? >g<

Dancin' Dave's Merlefest: The bands

By Dancin' Dave

Merlefest 2007 was simply (if that's a simple concept) a mind-blowing musical experience. The opportunities to see the very best in musicianship almost no matter the genre were there for the taking. If you talked with 10 folks it would be very easy to find 10 different opinions on which of the many sets were the best. It's funny when someone looks at you and you can tell they are wondering, how on earth you could have even considered missing "that" show?

So---my personal favorites included:

* Sam Bush....of course. The king is still the king and it's great fun to watch and listen to all of the music he has in his musical bag of tricks and to see and hear all of the other the musicians that he's inspired. My favorite set had to be his Saturday night Watson Stage set, where I was afraid that the stage just mght burst into a spontaneous combustion.

* Bela Fleck....a never-ending well of music. His slot on the Watson Stage was outrageous! Of course his "band" consisted of Sammy, Jerry Douglas, Bryan Sutton, Tony Rice, Luke Bulla, and Byron House. Jerry did the introduction, stating that the set will be entirely dedicated to Bela's music....and that "they hadn't told Sam about this yet..." Those dudes were smokin'.....!

* Waybacks.....one of my favorites; caught them on the Watson stage Thursday night and on the Hillside on Saturday, where they were joined by Rushad Eggleston and John Cowan. Hot shows...

* Pam Tillis....she was a hoot! Didn't know anything about her other than her name since I don't listen to much country music, and so it sure was fun to find what a hot band she plays with. Great country music...

*Cherryholmes...talk about a hoot! Holy cow, I wasn't prepared for those dudes... Super musicians and what has to be a super family. I do wonder who picks out their stage outfits? Great bluegrass....

*Crooked Still....they are one of those bands that would be hard to pass up these days for me. And it sure was fun to teach Aoife how to two-step to the Red Stick Ramblers at the cajun dance in the Dance Tent Friday night.

* Infamous Stringdusters.....same as Crooked Still; these young musicians are kickin' some musical butt! Great progressive bluegrass with outstanding musicianship, vocalizing and song-writing. They are going to be fun to watch in the coming years.

* Uncle Earl....how cute and hot can one band get? They are just a riot and fun listen to and watch and dance to and this is a great combination in my book! Can't wait to see them again...

The highs and lows of Merlefest

By Ted Lehmann

Merlefest is roughly 20,000 different festivals. There’s such of variety of offerings on the 13 sound stages that attendees can build their own festival to suit their needs and preferences. It is truly a great festival. That being said, Merlefest is undergoing a series of changes in how it presents itself and trying to define what it wants to be. During two of the four days of the festival the Wilkes Community College campus, site of the festival, burst at the seams.

I'll get back to the kinks in the logistics later. First some comments on the wonderful musical experience. This year was the twentieth anniversary of the first small event held in 1988 in remembrance of Merle Watson, who was tragically killed in a tractor accident in 1985. Friends of Merle’s, who had played with him in his band Frosty Morn and with Doc Watson held the stage, playing and reminiscing about Merle.

Impromptu reunion
Sam Bush hosted a jam on Saturday evening featuring Doc Watson, Earl Scruggs, Peter Rowan, John Cowan, Bela Fleck, Pat Flynn, and more. Suddenly, the crowd began to realize that all the former members of the New Grass Revival were on stage at the same time just as the jam on stage broke into one of their songs. It’s been twenty years since this band has performed together.

Another high point was seeing Doc Watson and Earl Scruggs sitting on stage together. Other musical highlights included Alison Krause and Union Station with Tony Rice signing songs associated with Rice’s long career. Blue Highway, Steep Canyon Rangers, Del McCoury, the Cherryholmes Family, Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, Earl Scruggs and Family, the Infamous Stringdusters, Sierra Hull, the Lovell Sisters, and, of course, Pete and Joan Wernick played the Watson Stage as well as the Cabin Stage and many others. People wanting a bluegrass festival had plenty to choose from.

Those wishing to hear a wider variety of music could luxuriate in Elvis Costello, Pam Tillis, The Duhks, Darrell Scott, Crooked Still, Tuobab Krewe, Uncle Earl, Robinella, Roy Bookbinder, the Gospel Jubilators and more. This festival offers more in Americana, mostly acoustic, than anyone could absorb in four days.

Each year we get to hear music that we haven’t heard before and find we love it and want to hear more of it. This year, for me, the breakout band was Crooked Still. I had heard Crooked Still before, but found their cellist, Rashad Eggleston, to be affected and his instrument out of keeping with how I thought I wanted to hear their music. This time we listened to a full set at the Creekside Stage and found their music to be lively, engaging, and strong. While Eggleston still appears affected to me, his mastery of the cello is undeniable and its place in their music clear and concise.

Growing pains
As for the logistics, in order to try to make the festival fit and in seeking to provide greater green space and maintain a sense of openness, festival organizers this year spread the various amenities and facilities around the grounds. The effects of this, as one might suppose, turned out to be both positive and negative. There was a great deal more walking than in the past. The vendors’ area, now dubbed The Shoppes at Merlefest was spread out further and we had to make a special effort to walk through it.

One of the tents we usually visit is the Heritage Crafts tent. This tent features regional crafts people, many actually working on their craft at the festival. Because it was moved so far away from the main stage (Watson), we couldn’t find time to get over to it. In recent years we have nearly always found something in this tent to purchase for ourselves or as a gift. There seemed to be fewer vendors this year, but this might be a perception due to the dispersion of the vendors.

The Merlefest Mall, where artists CDs and other memorabilia are sold still stood squarely in the midst of the traffic pattern, encouraging people to enter and buy CDs. Operated by the Chamber of Commerce, a $3.00 premium is added to the price of each item.

Food this year was also somewhat more dispersed. The main food tent, where local civic organizations and schools offer a broad variety of meals and snacks, was, if anything, somewhat improved this year. It was not, however, enlarged. On Friday and Saturday from shortly after noon until well after dinner time, lines were long and slow. It became difficult to get a meal without a significant wait in line.

If you were lucky enough to get food and enjoy it, the area across the road where the portable toilets are located has been reduced in size. Two air-conditioned trailers were put in place, making it possible for the squeamish to use flush toilets, but causing impossibly long waits, especially at the women’s door. The number of conventional porta-potties was reduced by, at a guess, two thirds, leading to long lines there, too. Now it may be that there was actually no reduction in the number of facilities provided throughout the grounds, but many were in out of the way places and in small numbers, meaning that the lines there increased also. One of the joys of Merlefest has been that throughout the festival you could count on plenty of porta-potties and know that they would be frequently cleaned. The staff has continued the cleaning policy, but placement was an issue commented on by many people I shared lines with.

On the sound board
It’s worth saying a word about the sound. At the subsidiary stages, sound was up to the usual high standard expected at Merlefest. We attended events at the Creekside Stage and the Americana Stage as well as the main Watson Stage. At Creekside and Americana the sound was wonderful, clean and crisp without ever getting too loud.

On the main stage, however, the sound left a good deal to be desired. On opening night, for instance, the Cherryholmes Family was well into their first song before someone in the sound booth realized their microphone was off. The family regrouped and started over, but such fluffs should never happen. On Friday night The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band closed the evening. Country singer/songwriter Sean Camp was sitting in for Jimmy Fallon. Both his instrument mic and his vocal mic were off for much of the set.

Such oversights suggest the people in the sound booth weren’t really paying attention to what was happening on stage and a good performance was lost. The Dirt Band is justly famed and their performances are polished and full bodied. Being deprived of part of their sound does them no good.

Finally, the sound people this year seemed to substitute volume for quality, almost as if they were used to working concerts with electric music where booming sound is the order of the day. Merlefest, however, is largely an acoustic festival. Sound technicians need to be sharply attuned to the desired sound of each instrument and to mix it carefully to achieve for a crowd the effect that would be created for people standing around a circle listening to un-amplified instruments. This they failed to do. Musicians on stage also seemed to be having a difficult time getting the monitors to reflect the kind of balance they needed to optimize their performances.

Merlefest is huge –- too big to encapsulate in a single review. Give it a try and see if it fits your idea of how you want to experience music. For us, despite the crowds and its expense, it is a festival we look forward to every year and leave tired, but satisfied that we’ve heard lots of the best American music has to offer.

Thanks to the folks at Savannah Lakes Resort & Marina in McCormick, SC for the use of their broadband facilities. This is a beautiful site if you're ever in the area. We're here for the Lewis Family Fesitval this weekend.

How to Survive Merlefest

Merlefest!! For music lovers of a certain type, the name raises hopes and challenges the imagination. Ask someone along the festival trail if they’ve ever been to Merlefest and more often than not you get a response that suggests wonder, a little fear, concern about the crowds, concern about the expense, eagerness to attend. More people have heard about Merlefest than have attended it. Merlefest 2007 will be our fifth consecutive Merlefest. It represents the single most expensive and engaging week in our entertainment calendar. Each year we are introduced to musicians we have never heard of or never seen and reunited with some of our favorites. Unlike smaller, more intimate and informal festivals we attend, there is much less opportunity to interact with the performers. You don’t get a chance to hang out with people artists you’d like to know better. All that being the case, we still purchase our tickets the day they go on sale and plan our travel year around Merlefest.

First established in 1988 as a memorial to the legendary Doc Watson’s son Merle, who had been killed in a tractor accident the year before, Merlefest started as a modest event on a flatbed trailer with some bales of hay thrown around for people to sit on. Merle’s friends, friends like Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Tim O’Brian, T. Michael Coleman, John Cowan, and many others came together to sing and pick in memory of Merle. Now, twenty years later 80,000 admissions (average of a little over 20,000 per day) show up to hear the icons of Americana music, enjoy the scene, and depending on where they stay, to jam ‘til all hours. If 20,000 people are on campus at Wilkes Community College at any one time, there are probably 20,000 different Merlefests. Let’s see if we can bring some sense into how to get the most out of this mammoth festival.

Merlefest is held on the campus of Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, NC in the foothills of the Appalachian range of mountains. It is held the last weekend in April. Weather conditions in the hills are unreliable. It can be quite hot in the sunshine or cold and raw. One thing is almost certain, evenings at the main stage, the Watson stage, can be really cold. Come prepared each day for a full range of temperature and wetness. The college campus is hilly and the twelve sound stages are located all over campus. Hillside is at the top of the campus, but at the bottom of a steep hill providing excellent seating for viewers. Creekside stage is behind the main stage along a creek. It, too, accommodates large crowds and important concerts are scheduled there. The main stage, Watson, dominates the campus. It dominates the flat lower part of the main campus with its sixty rows of reserved seats and a seemingly endless grass field behind them where those without reserved seats set up what become almost camp sites.

Merlefest and Wilkes Community College are serious about alcohol and drugs on campus and security is tight. People at every gate you come through inspect carry-in backpacks, purses, camera bags, and such. They’re looking for alcohol and drugs and very little gets through. In our years of attending this festival, we’ve seen almost no drunks and have seldom smelled the aroma of weed. This leads some people to complain about too many rules and intrusive security. Some people complain the Merlefest is a “police state.” The best way to keep from feeling injured is to obey the rules. The net effect for those attending the festival is that people are well-behaved and young parents don’t have to explain other people’s behavior to their kids. Every day this campus becomes a large community of music lovers who can enjoy themselves without having their enjoyment intruded on by drunks and stoners.

Don’t let the reserved seats intimidate you. Until five in the afternoon, all seats in the reserved section of Watson stage are open to anyone who wishes to sit in them, unless the owners of the seat claim them, whereupon, users just move to another seat. Some people, with strong bladders, have been known to enter the reserved area around 4:00 in the afternoon and, by nimbly changing seats, stay until the evening ends. Of course, if they leave to eat or relieve themselves, they can’t get back in. Reserve seats for new subscribers go on sale around November 1^st. We got our by going on-line the minute the box office opened, asking for best available seats, and scored in the twentieth row. We intend to keep our seats and leave them to our children in our wills.

If you’re going to Merlefest to get your fill, assuming that’s possible, of a specific band like Donna the Buffalo, Blue Highway, or Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, John Cowan, or you name it, you’ll need to be prepared to move about the campus. Performers move from Hillside to Creekside, to Walker Center (a lovely indoor theater), to the Ameriana stage, to Watson Stage and you’ll need to move with them. The other alternative is to restrict your movement, enlarge your interests, and wait for your favorite bands to come to you. There are other stages for people with specific interests. The Traditional Stage features a variety of traditional bluegrass, old-time music, hymn singing with shaped notes, and clogging. The Austin Stage, a small stage shoehorned in between two classroom buildings under cool trees is an intimate place where you can hear lots of blues. Choose your poison and you’re likely to find it at Merlefest.

Merlefest is the major fund raising event for every community group in Wilkes County. Under one long tent a range of foods from Pad Thai to barbecued chicken is available. You can order a full meal or a hot dog. You can have a funnel cake if you haven’t had enough of them elsewhere, or you can avoid them and eat healthy. Eating well and happily is, as usual, a matter of timing. To avoid horrendous lines at the food booths, eat away from meal times. Eat lunch at ten or two, dinner at four or seven and you’ll find seats and not wait in line too long. But remember, these food booths are important to the community and you’ll know you’ve supported worthy causes rather than small time traveling entrepreneurs.

Vendors, vendors everywhere, but they’re only where you want them to be and you have to go to them to take advantage of what they have to offer. This year the vendors’ village has been moved to create more green space. I have no idea what that means, but it suggests that you’ll have to do more walking to get to the dozens of independent vendors hawking everything from tie-dies to instruments, stained glass to wooden bowls, juggling kits to jump ropes. There’s lots of choice, and while you will find the usual pre-packaged Chinese imports you see at other festivals and flea markets, careful shopping can net you some interesting and unusual purchases.

Three other shopping venues add to the opportunities. The craft tent has juried crafts people selling a variety of high quality crafts including hand made boots, brooms and brushes, several kinds of wonderful bowls, hand made instruments, and other choices. It’s worth a walk through this tent just to appreciate the art. We’ve bought several turned burl bowls through the years and treasure them at home. The music tent sells CDs and other merchandise from all artists appearing at the festival. This tent is sponsored by the Wilkes County Chamber of Commerce and they add a hefty $3.00 charge to the usual $15.00 you pay to support musicians at other festivals. Furthermore, your opportunities to get the CDs signed are limited as there are long lines and short appearances by the artists. Sometimes you get lucky. Finally, there’s a sales tent on the path between the Watson Stage and the Creekside stage which you shouldn’t miss. This tent is where the major instrument manufacturers show their wares and allow you to demo them to your heart’s content. Deering, Ome, Nechville, First Quality Music and other manufacturers have booths. Just outside, Gibson has a large trailer. It’s like being let loose in a chocolate factory.

Accommodations in Wilkesboro offer several choices. Almost all motel rooms are spoken four years in advance and at exorbitant prices. There are several campgrounds available. Closest to the campus is River’s Edge where there is tent camping and round the clock jamming. Another place well-know for jamming and having places for larger RVs is a camp ground near the city’s water purification plant and dubbed “Sewer Fest.” People who stay there love it. The Kerr Reservoir west of town is a Corp of Engineers impoundment with a number of campgrounds around it. The Merlefest web site describes the various venues and you can get more information from the bulletin board on the Merlefest site. At one time there was a large parking lot and hillside on campus that was used for camping at a cost of $150 per site. This space has been reduced and the price increased to $400 dollars without any hookups. The best way is to either show up at River’s Edge or make your reservations early. I gather the scene at River’s Edge is loose and friendly. The younger crowd which inhabits this area seems to enjoy it a lot. Us older folks prefer something more tame.

There’s lots more – a place to take a much needed nap in the shade; a massage tent; Alberti’s flea circus; the Little Pickers tent for kids; jammers tents; a display of raptors; sand sculpture; and a garden of meditation in memory of Merle Watson, which brings us back to where we started. At any venue you’re likely to see and hear Doc Watson, the legendary blind mountain folk song singer who came to prominence at folk festivals in the sixties and continues to sing and pick like a wizard at age 83. The spirit of Doc Watson pervades this wonderful festival. You’ll leave on Sunday afternoon exhausted and exhilarated and waiting for next April to come around.