Thursday, June 7, 2012

Jenny Brook Family Bluegrass Festival 2012 - Preview



The gates open Wednesday, June 20 at 8:00 AM  at the Tunbridge World's Fair Grounds in Tunbridge, VT for the 2012 editiion of the Jenny Brook Family Bluegrass Festival. Featuring the only appearance in New England this year of J.D. Crowe and the New South on J.D.'s retirement tour, the festival will also headline The Gibson Brothers, Rhonda Vincent & the Rage, Nothin' Fancy making its first appearance at Jenny Brook, Junior Sisk for the first time with his own band, David Parmley, Audie Blaylock, and the by now perrennial Leroy Troy & the Tennessee Mafia Jug Band. A strong selection of regional bands will also appear. For a complete list of the artist lineup check here and for a schedule go here. Since its move to the wonderful Tunbridge Fairgrounds a few years ago, Jenny Brook has grown to become one of the premier traditional bluegrass festivals of the too short New England bluegrass season.

New Jenny Brook Faces
J.D. Crowe

Junior Sisk

 Nothin' Fancy

This year Rhonda Vincent will return to Jenny Brook on Thursday for two shows and will also be featured as part of a new Patron Package which will feature a private meal with Rhonda. Other features of the Patron Package include preferred seating and other perks.

Rhonda Vincent & Promoter Candi Sawyer

Other Returning Artists
The Gibson Brothers
Eric Gibson
 

Leigh Gibson
 

 Audie Blaylock

 LeRoy Troy

David Parmley

Also featured will be a rare appearance of Erin Gibson LaClair accompanied by her brothers and their band for one show on Saturday afternoon.  Regional bands including Plattsburgh's ever popular Beartracks and New England favorite Acoustic Blue will also be featured in the fine traditional lineup.

Other Jenny Brook Features
The Grass Seeds Stage

Michelle Canning, who has virtually grown up at Jenny Brook, and who will open the festival with her own band Michelle Canning & Rough Edges on Thursday afternoon will, once again, host her own program on the Grass Seeds Stage where bands, either bands formed on the grounds in jams or those which come to Jenny Brook in order to showcase, perform. The winning band will perform on the main stage on Sunday. Some winning bands have won an invitation to perform the next year.

 Aaron Foster at Sunday Gospel Sing


The Jenny Brook Kids Academy will attract younger musicians to work together learning to play bluegrass music and to perform on Sunday. Aaron Foster, now a student majoring in bluegrass music at East Tennessee State University, is familiar to many Jenny Brook regulars, having grown up in the Kids Academy and jamming around the grounds. He will work with certified music teacher Mike Turk to teach the Kids Academy, which has languished in recent years but represents an excellent opportunity for beginning musicians as well as those who are more experienced to get together each day to make music and new friends.

Adults wishing to improve their skills can take advantage of the Jenny Brook Bluegrass University staffed by professional musicians who will teach master classes designed to provide instruction in specific instruments. More information about the Bluegrass University will be available at the gate.  The University staff will also appear as a band on  Sunday, which will also feature a performance by the Jenny Brook Kids Academy.

A list of other highlights as well as of rules and ettiquette can be found on the Jenny Brook web site.

Other Features
Jamming at the Sugar House

Tunbridge VT is a small village located a few miles up route 110 from Royalton where you can find the nearest local shopping, although it is quite limited.  To counteract this, Jenny Brook offers a wide variety of quality food vendors as well as some craft vendors, too. The festival also features a Pot Luck Supper with entertainment on Wednesday evening at the Dodge-Gilman building  for early arrivals. The Tennessee Mafia Jug Band will entertain. The Sugar House features morning breakfasts and all day ice-cream and maple snacks from local producers as well as George & Etta's Kitchen in the evening. There's a nightly jam outside the Sugar Shack as well as all-night jamming around the grounds.

Extensive Vendors

How to Get to Jenny Brook


The Jenny Brook Family Bluegrass Festival provides those who attend with a flavor of a by-gone day of rural America and first rate bluegrass music. It's easily reachable via Interstate Highway (I-89). People coming from the west should avoid exit 3 (because of low underpass) and go to exit 2.  Newcomers should come prepared for chilly or wet weather, but with luck they won't have to take advantage of such preparation..  Tunbridge is located in one of the loveliest valleys in all Vermont.  See you there!

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