What I love the most about bluegrass is that it is a genre that spans across generations. Old men and women sit hand-in-hand in their festival chairs and young fathers dance with their babies on the grassy lawn. Good music knows no age limits and bluegrass music will never die.
This weekend was the 22nd Anual Bluegrass Festival at Grand Targhee Resort. I was excited about the line up when I first heard Railroad Earth and Yonder Mountain String Band were coming. Sometime later I learned of the David Grisman Quintet and was totally sold on the weekend. Tickets weren't exactly cheap, but worth every penny to spend three full days eating, drinking and being overall pretty Merry!! It was a trip I didn't mess around in the planning for. I spent three days organizing all of our gear, buying a shade tent, grocery shopping, beer shopping and packing the Subaru. We set out early Friday morning to secure the best
campsite. Real estate is important!
We set up shop: shade tent, real tent, camp chairs, crash-pad couch, thermarest loungers, and coolers galore. Sarah came a little later and added a table, another cooler and her tent to the mix- we were ready!
Josh sold Bloody Mary's all weekend and made a killing. I attempted to sell my jewelry, but no one bit. I did make one custom piece for fifteen dollars...
But the camp grounds in a festival is only half the fun... the rest lies in the music!
Friday night: John Cowan Band, Darrel Scott band- both very good- also can't really remember much about their sets. After a quick run back to camp we were re-beered enough for Railroad Earth! We danced and danced and had such a great time. Met up with some other friends: Taylor and Jeff and "other" Josh.
Saturday was quite possibly my favorite day... ever... I lounged around camp while Josh made the rounds with his Bloody Mary's and Sarah and Taylor went for a hike. We had some cloud cover so it was nice to be in the shade for a while. We went back and forth between camp and music all afternoon, lounging in the hammock to some afternoon bluegrass. Josh went on a walkabout and I swung in the hammock- just watching people go by. Everyone was so happy, babies danced barefoot in the grass, couples snuck kisses when they though no one was looking, people lounged, people smiled, people danced. It was hot, but not too hot to keep people from enjoying themselves. As the sun started to go down Saturday night, the part really started to get-a-swinin'! The Steep Canyon Rangers played their entire set in grey suits with short ties. They were an amazing band with high energy! Sarah and I weaved our way up front and danced and laughed and had a blast! After they were finished, we met up with Josh for Yonder Mountain String Band! Now Yonder has been one of my favorite bands for some time now and I will tell you, Saturday they outdid themselves!
Sunday was cloudy and rainy, so we packed everything but the tent and essentials in the car and headed to the music in the cold rainy muck. And HAD A BLAST!!! The Wilders were my favorite of the bands I didn't really know. Then of course, David Grisman Quintet played their little hearts out. I teared up a bit when we had a moment for Jerry.
As soon as Grisman finished his set, the bottom dropped out and it proceeded to pour for hours. People were running around in the rain like crazy folks and I went straight to my tent to catch some relief. Josh, Jeff and Josh came to get me and we went to the bar, from there it's less than exciting to discuss, there was packing, some sleeping, some driving home in the morning, a little napper before work and voila! the weekend is over.
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