Though I did not attend this year, lots of other folks did, and there was plenty of great music there. So, in an effort to be fair and not just point out the festival’s bad luck weatherwise, here are some Youtube moments (thanks to those who attended and posted!) focusing on the music and the folk spirit, as well as links to decent writeups about the event itself:

See Matt Winters’ writeup here and his friend Nick’s writeup here.

Here, Joe Crookston gets out of the rain and sings the old Supertramp tune called “The Logical Song,” with Pat Wictor in the foreground playing slide:

Here’s Dar Williams performing one her signature tunes, with backing from Patty Larkin and others:

Or check out the fun in the dance tent, with Gandolph Murphy and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams, with Eric Lee:

In the car seeking shelter and telling the story….

Under the tent….

aftermath….

While I didn’t make it to the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, in Hillsdale, N.Y. this season, I had several friends who did. I’m sure the other days on the site provided plenty of good times and great music. But Sunday’s show was marred by a storm, as reported by my friend Ken Dixon, a columnist for The Connecticut Post:

“It took a one-day trip to the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival in Hillsdale, N.Y. - and hail stones as big as wine corks - yesterday to finally clean my toes that were dirtied a whole week earlier stomping the fields at the new Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival location in Oak Hill, a couple dozen miles south of Albany.

When we got to Falcon Ridge, just off Route 22, about 11 a.m. yesterday, people in the reception tent spoke of the downpours of the recent early morning, that left some thick muddy tire tracks and standing water that we skirted around as we headed to the Main Stage in search of our friends and relations who spent the weekend there.

They were enjoying the Gospel Wake Up Call and anticipating showers to figure in the afternoon’s weather plans. After listening to David Massengill in the Family Tent for a little while, I went back and caught Wild Asparagus perform a dependable set, including a square dance that sounded OK, even with the saxophone in attendance.

A shower came through and I hoofed it back to the car for rain gear and something that rhymes with gear that comes in a can. At 1, Tracy Grammer came on, singing an Emmy Lou Harris cover, then a David Carter tune before I stood up to head for the Workshop Stage for the Sweet Harmony that was scheduled to the performed by The Strangelings, Red Molly and the Farewell Drifters. It never happened.

The earlier shower had come up from the east, but this thing, coming over the hill from the north, was one nasty, ugly, bitter thunderstorm cell.

It sent shafts of lightning all around and the heavy rain that forced me back under the treeline just in time for the hailstones, which ranged in weight from cherry-size to wine corks. From my spot on the little hill, I watched concession tents cartwheel over their owners like poorly crafted kites. The shade arrangement staked out for the workshop’s mixing board - that impressed me as cool a few minutes earlier -broke it’s guide lines like they didn’t exist and the sound guys held the awning, now a hang glider, over the tarpaulin covering the sound board. It was an intense 20 minutes, followed by a brief let up, then more of the same, sans hail, though.

I walked back to the Main Stage and pulled a beer out of our cooler, quickly downing it and reaching for another. Damn, this would be a perfect spot for the tequila, I said, bemoaning the surviving bottle I had at home left over from Grey Fox.

The little dry creek beds at the bottom of the pastures had become roaring little brooks. There was footwear and blankets scattered everywhere. In the Merchandise tent, folks were told to go back to their cars until the lightning was over. It was 2:30 and the big food tent had also collapsed. We decided that it was probably better to drive home and create less mud than what was bound to be a quagmire for thousands of people camped on the hill. We hoped no one was hurt and that Eliza Gilkyson got to do her set.

Oh yeah, the toes. Well, walking in shindeep water pretty much cleaned the toenails of the Grey Fox dirt.”

The Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival moved ahead on its new grounds this past weekend, and the music was top-notch! See the YouTube playlist above. I will be adding to it as I go through the videos, so check back.

Despite scorching heat, the weather held up fairly well. Only a few brief bouts of rain, which tended to cool things down. But the music was tremendous and I managed to see bands like a reunion of Hot Rize and their alter-egos Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers. What a treat watching Hot Rize don their country-swing outfits for a few tunes and antics at the main stage, then a lengthy set at the dance stage!

The Wilders lived up to their names, and while fans moaned loudly about the fact that they were denied an encore on Saturday afternoon, they cheered when a huge rainbow soon soared above the festival grounds.

Fans loved the Del McCoury Band, Dan Paisley, Sam Bush and David Grisman, but it was relative newcomers like The Grascals, Dailey & Vincent, The Greencards, The Infamous Stringdusters and the Swedish band Gravity who created fresh memories. I caught many, but not all, of the acts during the course of the festival, opting to hear some groups on the radio in the shade when the heat beat me down.

I did manage to get video of many of the groups mentioned above, especially Hot Rize and Red Knuckles.

Of course, being the first year on the Walsh Farm in Oak Hill, N.Y., there were some glitches — inevitable with an event of this size. People attended a “town meeting” on Sunday to voice their gripes about things like the height of chairs in the stage area, the general layout and the massive land grab that took place by campers on the day before the festival. To their credit, festival volunteers worked with patrons to wedge in everyone. And while the new site is larger than the old one at the former Rothvoss Farm, in the end, it seemed smaller. There were a host of other issues, but in the bigger scheme of things, they will likely get worked out.

Besides seeing Red Knuckles and other groups, highlights for me included spending time with friends, visiting Catskill Stream, which circles the festival grounds, and camping prior to the festival with The Liners at the Allen Farm in Durham, N.Y.  The Allen Farm is too small, they say, to host Grey Fox, but its spectacular views of Greene County made me wish otherwise.

Meanwhile, check out the jam band in Catskill Stream:

Grey Fox was a hopping place on Thursday. What started as haze and clouds in the morning eventually turned to sun. Though it got a bit toasty in the sun (and the Ice Man was busy), it was very hot on the main stage, the workshops and in the midway, as well.

From a lesson in dining under the tarps to the kick-off by the Dry Branch Fire Squad, the day was a marvel of activity. I must have seen at least a half-dozen bands. Topping the main stagers were the primary acts, from the Dailey & Vincent Band, The Steeldrivers and The Greencards.

My buddy, Lee adds: It’s not often that a band that follows the opening act gets an ovation, but such was the case with Swedish band Gravity. You could tell they were genuinely excited, taking pictures of the appreciative audience and pointing out that in Sweden there are only 5 bluegrass festivals, none of them nearly as large as Grey Fox. Annsofie Lindström, their lead singer, knocked over the Grey Fox crowd with a wonderful version of Me and Bobby McGee in their encore.

Meanwhile, enjoy the Greencards!

Good friends, camp is all set up, with plenty of shade. Thousands of others are joining us, spreading across the field with tons of tents, tarps, canopies, you name it. It’s a sea of campers.

It’s a bit toasty here, but good shade makes it bearable, and our 20-foot canopy makes all the difference.

The music starts tomorrow — can’t wait!

Here is a video overview of the festival:

Many of the videos clipped in that one above, plus others, along with a link to photos, can be found here.

Saturday
Noon to 1 p.m., Crossfire Bluegrass Band; 1-1:30 p.m., Rachel Parsons; 1:30-2:15 p.m., Andy Cohen; 2:30-3:30 p.m., Tall Heights; 3:30-5 p.m., Greg Greenway; 5-7 p.m., Melanie.

Sunday
Noon-1 p.m., Back Eddy Bluegrass Band ; 1-1:45 p.m., Thea Hopkins; 1:45-2:30 p.m., Tex, Mad Dog & The Cat; 2:30-3:30 p.m., Les Sampou & Tin Angels; 3:30-5 p.m., Digney Fignus; 5-7 p.m., Jon Pousette-Dart.

Here’s more of Les Sampou at a recent house concert:

I enjoyed attending the New Bedford Summerfest this past weekend. I managed to get there on Saturday and Sunday, catching several, though not all, of the acts. I hope to post some video soon, so check back.

Next up will be the Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival, which is held July 17-20. The festival moves to new grounds this year. From the old Rothvoss Farm, the festival’s home for many years, to the Walsh Farm. From Boston it’s a little less than 3.5 hours (directions from everywhere).

The Walsh Farm, located in Oak Hill, N.Y., will be a completely new experience for Grey Fox campers. Most notably, it’s flat, except where the stage amphitheater will be set. While we’ll miss the Rothvoss Farm sunsets over the Berkshires and Catskills, Walsh Farm offers its own charms, including a lovely view of the Catskills from the northern edge of the site, the surrounding Catskill Creek and a chance to even bring bicycles to traverse the half-mile property.

In recent years, I have attended what is known as the Liner Picking Party, or as some other have called it, The Rodeo. This is a campout of festival-goers who want to party and pick instruments before the gates to the festival even open. Some people were known to have camped out weeks and even months before Grey Fox let campers onto its site.

Things are a bit different this year. “Liners” will be gathering at a new site, as well, the Allen Farm in Durham, N.Y., starting tomorrow (Wednesday, July 9). It’s about four miles from the Grey Fox site. Though I have not yet seen Allen Farm, I’ve read that it offers spectacular views and mountain sunsets. I expect to be headed there on Sunday, so I will let you know. Check the Liners web site for details.

Meanwhile, in its inaugural show, Grey Fox has a spectacular lineup of more than 30 acts. There will be a reunion of Hot Rize (and Red Knuckles & The Trailblazers) to the Del McCoury Band and Sam Bush on the main stage. Plus plenty of music on the dance stage.

No guarantees, but if there is Internet access, I will try to blog from the farm …

Here’s a look at Grey Fox’s new home:

Steve

The Grascals have a great name, a new sponsor (see my earlier post) and one of their members even appears in a Viagra commercial on TV. OK, despite that last fact, this 4-year-old group with powerful, harmony rich vocals and a finely honed sound, is poised to sit among the best of bluegrass.

“Keep On Walking” (Rounder Records), their third CD, due out July 15, has a nice blend of fast-paced bluegrass tunes, softer country melodies and a well-rounded mix of melody and instrumental work. New to this recording is bassist Terry Smith on vocals and banjo player Aaron McDaris.

The Grascals have a way of ramping up a song in a way that is contemporary, uplifting and in keeping with the spirit of the first-generation of bluegrass. I guess that should come as no surprise since at least three of the band’s members had performed with The Osborne Brothers. They have fun on stage and it translates to the audience. They laugh and joke among themselves, and the audience often relates to them as just average guys with superb talent having fun with the music they love to play.

Dueling guitarists (right- and left-handed, respectively) Terry Eldredge and Jamie Johnson have a fine mournful vocal blend on “Sad Wind Sights,” with added vocals from Vince Gill. Songs like “Choices” and “Indiana” have such instantly memorable melodies, I feel like I’ve known them forever. And I’ve certainly caught myself humming them well after the CD wound down.

Here are a bunch of The Grascals songs from various festivals:

They also visit classic songs, like the speedy “Rolling in My Sweet Baby’s Arms,” which the Grascals say brought a smile to the face of banjo master Earl Scruggs. But then they add in the softer songs like Merle Haggard’s “Today I Started Loving You Again” and you know they’ve found some magic.

Other songs, like “Happy Go Lucky” and “Can’t You Hear That Whistle Blow” are ones that they have been performing on stage for quite a while, finally on CD.

Since the CD goes on sale July 15, expect The Grascals to have plenty on hand to sell when they perform at the Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival, being held July 17-20, in Oak Hill, N.Y. (The Grascals’ main stage show is slated for 4 p.m. Friday, July 18.)