CMT Blog: Archive

It doesn’t get much better than hearing live bluegrass, sitting under the sun, camping out, and maybe hitting up a nearby river for a dip. If work commitments and travel expenses didn’t exist, here’s how I’d spend July.

Grey Fox Bluegrass — (July 17-20 in Oak Hill, N.Y.) How I wish I could go this year! Hot Rize will be performing, celebrating a 30-year anniversary. I could really go for some “Coleen Malone” right about now. And for you hardcore Hot Rize fans, there will even be a set by Red Knuckles & The Trailblazers. Seeing Bryan Sutton dressed in true Trailblazer attire while playing some intense bluegrass is an incredible sighting, let me tell ya. All-girl old-time string band Uncle Earl will also make one of their few appearances of 2008 here, and so will the Infamous Stringdusters.

Northwest String Summit — (July 18-20 in North Plains, Ore.) This will definitely be more of a jam band scene, but with some incredible talent. I’ve always had a place in my heart for Yonder Mountain String Band. I just can’t help but have fun at their shows. They’ll be there, along with one of their biggest songwriters, Benny “Burle” Galloway from the Wayword Sons. He wrote some of Yonder’s fan favorite tunes. The lovely Bryn Davies will also be there. She was on the road with Patty Griffin all last summer and spent years performing upright bass with Peter Rowan and Tony Rice.

RockyGrass — (July 20-24 in Lyons, Colo.) From what I hear of Telluride, RockyGrass is a scaled down version of that. The capacity is more like 5,000, and if you go earlier in the week you can attend the RockyGrass Academy. It’s like summer camp for all ages learning and competing with bluegrass instruments. I went two years ago and was blessed to see the Tony Rice “Manzanita” set. Being such an innovative album in the modern bluegrass world, I still feel lucky to have seen that set. It’s also nice to ride the tubes down the river to your campsite. It’s held the last weekend in July in the coolest town of Lyons, just outside of Boulder. This is a very family-friendly festival.

FloydFest — (July 24-27 in Floyd, Va.) Set in southern Virginia, I intend to hit it up this year. The performers are a variety of jam band, bluegrass, and folk singer-songwriters, like The Avett Brothers and the David Grisman Quintet. How can you go wrong there? It’s a full weekend of music that involves camping out. And, unlike most festivals, the festival provides you a list of kennels in case your four-legged best friend needs to come along.