Short descriptions of more than 20 bluegrass festivals taking place across the
Long Island
August 18, 2007
Tanner Park in
Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder headline this family-friendly festival, which runs from 12-8 p.m. and also features Buddy Merriam & Back Roads and other local bluegrass bands. Tickets are $10 at the gate; $5 for children under 10. Bring a lawn chair.
Blistered Fingers Family
August 23-26, 2007
Silver Spur Riding Club in
Now in its 29th year, the festival features music by The Adrians, Blistered Fingers, Bluegrass Diamonds, Carolina Rebels, Cross Over, Doerfel Family, Larry Gillis Band, Goldwing Express, The Muellers, Kati Penn Band, and Josh Williams & North Country.
High and Dry Bluegrass Festival
August 24-26, 2007
Runway Ranch in Bend, Oregon
www.highanddrybluegrassfestival.com
"10 bands for 10 bucks." That’s how this inaugural festival on the east side of Bend, a natually beatiful small city in central Oregon is being billed. For just $10 for the entire weekend (and children under 12 will be admitted free), you can hear music from Anvil Blasters, Back from the Dead, Bitterbrush, Blackstrap, Great Northern Planes, the Hakanson Family , Hashioka Family Band, Leroy & the Sidekicks, Mean Willy and Quincy Street; as well as many local musicians on a second stage. Also slated are are a number of instrumental and vocal harmony workshops. Informal jamming also is encouraged. Bring your own lawn chair.
33rd Annual Santa Fe Traditional & Bluegrass Music Festival
August 24-26, 2007
Santa Fe County Fairgrounds in Santa Fe, New Mexico
Presented by the Southwest Tradition & Bluegrass Music Association ( also known as The Southwest Pickers), this festival will feature plenty of jamming, instrumental and vocal workshops, contests for adults and children, a band scramble and competition, and performances by such acts as Adobe Brothers, Badly Bent, Bayou Secou, Fast Pesos, Higher Ground, David Peterson and 1946, and Uncle Henry’s Favorites Indoor performance spaces ensure that all events will take place rain or shine. A three-day pass is $40 at the gate; daily tickets also are available. Children under 12 will be admitted free. Camping and parking are free.
Summergrass San Diego
August 24-26, 2007
Antique Gas & Steam Engine Museum in Vista, California
Now in its fifth year, this family-friendly festival in San Diego’s North County will feature an array of international, regional and local bands, instrument workshops (including a special one for children), and plenty of impromptu jamming. Bands slated to perform include Chris Stuart & Backcountry, The Bladerunners, Bluegrass, Etc., The Brombies, Lighthouse, John Reischman & The Jaybirds, Soledad Mountain, Uglum & Sons, U.S. Navy Bluegrass Band and Virtual Strangers. Three-day and daily tickets are available. Children ages 10 and under will be admited free. Camping is available for an additional fee.
4th Annual Bannock County Bluegrass Festival
August 24-27, 2007
Bannock County Fairgrounds in Pocatello, Idaho
www.bannockcountybluegrassfestival.com
This festival features concerts by nine bluegrass bands from Idaho and surrounding states (Buckhorn Mountain Boys, Cold Creek, Hammer Down, The Jessie Jones Band, New South Fork, Public Radio, Red Desert Ramblers, The Stormy Mountain Boys, Tradition and The Wild Coyotes), along with a late Saturday evening barn dance, music workshops and jam sessions. wWeekend passes are $35, while daily tickets also are available. Camping on the fairgrounds is $5/night.
Bower’s Mansion Bluegrass Festival
August 25, 2007
Bower’s Mansion on SR-429, north of Carson City, Nevada
www.bowersbluegrassfestival.org
Running from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., this one-day festival features bluegrass, gospel and old-time music. Artists include Biggest Little Bluegrass Band, Cabin Fever, Keith Little, Mountain Laurel, Jody Stecher & Paul Knight, Stairwell Sisters and Thrown Together.
32nd National Old Time Country & Bluegrass Music Festival
August 27-September 2, 2007
Now in its 32nd year, this week-long festival is presented by the National Traditional Country Music Association and held in conjunction with an agricultural exposition. The festival features old-time and traditional acoustic music performed on 10 stages. This year’s ‘special guest’ artists include Bobby Atkins of the Country Gentlemen, Johnny Bellar, Jim Ed Brown, Stonewall Jackson, Rio Grande Valley singer Red Johnson, harmonica player Charlie McCoy, Mel McDaniels (whose baby wears blue jeans), Georgia’s Morris Brothers, Jim Murphy, Jim Owen, Jimmy Payne, Shawn Pittman (Moe Bandy’s fiddler), Bobby G. Rice, Terry Smith and Red Steagall (one of America’s favorite cowboys).
August 30-September 2, 2007
Like Blistered Fingers, this festival is now marking its 29th year. Held on the southern coast of Maine, “where the music meets the sea,” over the Labor Day Weekend, it will feature more than 50 hours of bluegrass by such acts as Marty Raybon & Full Circle. Peter Rowan & Tony Rice, Rhonda Vincent & The Rage, Dan Paisley & Southern Grass, Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper, The Lewis Family, Tennessee Mafia Jug Band, Sierra Hull, Randy Waller & The Country Gentlemen, The Abrams Brothers, Loretta & Mo, No Speed Limit, Carolina Sonshine, Evergreen, The Doerfel Family, Pine Hill Ramblers, White Mountain Bluegrass Band, and more. There’ll also be off-stage field pickin’ throughout the weekend, workshops under a beachfront tent and children’s activities. Daily, two, three and four-day tickets are available, and in the rough camping is free for multi-day ticket holders.
August 31-September 2, 2007
www.brandywinefriends.org/dvbgf/
Now in its 36th year, this Labor Day Weekend festival is presented by The Brandywine Friends of Old Time Music. This year’s impressive lineup includes Rhonda Vincent & The Rage, The Grascals, Cherryholmes, Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper, Nashville Bluegrass Band, Dan Paisley & the Southern Grass, Seneca Rocks,
August 31-September 2, 2007
Although not strictly a bluegrass festival, this Labor Day Weekend event, now in its 12th year, will feature performances by the Jerry Douglas Band, The Infamous Stringdusters, Nickel Creek, Sweet Sunny South and The Wilders, as well as an array of instrumental workshops. Advance ticket prices range from $30 for Friday only to $100 for a three-day pass with on-site camping. Ticket prices are $5-$10 more at the gate.
MooGrass Bluegrass/Acoustic Festival
August 31-September 2, 2007
Tillamook, on the
Earl Park Fall Festival
August 31-September 3, 2007
Although Earl Park is a small town with some 700 residents, more than 40,000 attend this free festival each year to enjoy bluegrass and old-time country music performances, as well as pickin’ at the campsites. Featured artists this year include1000 Pounds of
Horseshoe
September 7-8, 2007
On the banks of the James River in
www.horseshoebendbluegrass.com
WFLO’s Henry Fulcher emcees this festival in the small town of
8th Annual Arbuckle Mountain Park Bluegrass Festival
September 12-15, 2007
Arbuckle Mountain Bluegrass Park between Wynnewood & Davis, Oklahoma
www.arbucklemountainbluegrasspark.com
September 13-15, 2007
Kodak,
www.dumplinvalleybluegrass.com
There’ll be plenty of pickin’ in the Smokies over the weekend as bands like The Grascals, Rhonda Vincent & The Rage, The Bluegrass Brothers, Cherryholmes, David Davis & The Warrior River Boys, Grasstowne, Greenbriar, The James King Band, Dan Paisley & The Southern Grass, Don Rigsby & Midnight Call, and The Stringdusters take the stage.
Starvy Creek
September 13-15, 2007
Starvy Creek RV Park in
J.D. Crowe & The New South, Tim Graves & Cherokee,
10th
September 14-15, 2007
Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture, Park
Featuring a day and a half of old-time bluegrass concerts, jamming and workshops, the jamboree takes place both inside a century-old Ethical Culture Meeting House that is home to the Good Coffeehouse Music Parlor concert series, as well as outside on its park-like grounds. “We try to keep things on a small scale,” says popular local bluegrass band leader James Reams, who hosts the annual event. “We want people to feel at home and have a good time. The only thing big is the big time we hope everyone has.”
MassBluegrass Jamboree
September 14-16, 2007
Yogi Bear’s Jellystone Park on Cape Cod is the site of this outdoor bluegrass festival featuring music by Back Eddy Bluegrass Band, Crabgrass, David Davis & Warrior River Boys, The Harvest Band, Dan Helman & Marking Time, Hunger Mountain Boys, Jaded Mandolin, Mahogany Ridge, Buddy Merriam & Back Roads, No Spare Parts, Old Time Bluegrass Singers, Pine Hill Ramblers, Southern Rail and Three Tall Pines. Early-bird weekend tickets, including camping, are $77 and rise to $102 after August 28. Children under 12 admitted free, while those under 16 are $25. Tickets prices for the second adult at the campsite are sharply reduced. Festival tickets without camping and single-day tickets also are available.
Millpond Music Festival
September 14-16, 2007
The picturesque
Pickin’ In The Pines
September 14-16, 2007
Presented by the Flagstaff Friends of Traditional Music, this bluegrass and acoustic music festival, now in its sophomore year, will feature artists performing traditional bluegrass, old timey and more progressive fare, along with a Saturday morning band contest, a Saturday night contra dance with music by Sweet Sunny South, and a number of workshops. David Grisman & the Bluegrass Experience and the Kruger Brothers headline while some new, up-and-coming bands and local Arizona talent also will be showcased. Three-day weekend passes are $60 in advance and $70 at the gate. Daily tickets also are available. Camping is an additional $5/person. Free admission and camping for children up to age 16.
Julian Bluegrass Festival
September 15-16, 2007
Frank Lane Park in Julian, Calfornia
www.julianbluegrassfestival.com
Now in its 37th year, this is the oldest bluegrass festival in
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