Friday, December 27, 2013

Looking Back at 2013 (4) - Fall


We left early this year for our Fall trip to attend our friend Bob Cook's eightieth birthday party in Wilmington, NC, a glorious affair in a city park with a bluegrass band and friends from all the elements of his life. Then we headed west to attend The Mountain Song Festival in Brevard, NC for the first time in several years.

Mountain Song Festival

Mountain Song Festival, hosted by the Steep Canyon Rangers and held on the campus of the Brevard Music Center, is a total delight. The performance shed is spacious, comfortable, and has fine acoustics. The grounds are landscaped around the modern design of the shed. Vendors offer everything from barbecue to wine and cheese. It's always been a good time for us.

Nicky Sanders - Steep Canyon Rangers

Mike Guggino - Steep Canyon Rangers

Tim & Molly O'Brien


Rhiannon Giddens - Carolina Chocolate Drops

Emcee Dennis Jones (WNCW-FM) and Marc Pruett (Balsam Range)

Tim Surrett - Balsam Range

Steve Martin & Marc Pruett

Larry Attaminuik & Mike Bub (Shawn Camp Band)

Shawn Camp

Bѐla Fleck & Abagail Washburn

 Bѐla Fleck, Steve Martin & Abigail Washburn

Dumplin Valley - Kodak, TN
Home Sweet Home

Dumplin Valley is located in a simple and comfortable commercial campground just off I-40 at the Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg exit just west of the Smokey Mountains. Hosts Joe & Mitzi Soward provide an almost ideal environment for jammers, campers, bluegrass music lovers, and friends to gather for a week in early September each year. It's one of the highlights in our year.

 Donna Ulisse

Mitzi Soward & Granddaughter

Matt Leabetter & Jimbo Whaley

Jerry Salley

The Spinney Brothers - Rick & Alan

 Little Roy Lewis & Lizzy Long

Josh Williams - Rhonda Vincent & the Rage

Rhonda Vincent & Fletcher Bright

Buddy Melton (Balsam Range)

The Great & Fun Rivalry
Rhonda Vincent & Lizzy Long 

 The Crowe Brothers - Wayne & Josh

 Brandon Rickman - Lonesome River Band

IBMA - World of Bluegrass
Raleigh, NC
Sir Walter Raleigh Welcomes IBMA

2013 Banjo Player of the Year - Mike Munford
at WAMU's Bluegrass Country Studio 
in the Convention Center 

WAMU's Bluegrass Country.org hosted four days of showcases in a series of live broadcasts (also streamed worldwide) from the Convention Center to which they brought an entire studio to spread the word about IBMA and its World of Bluegrass. Irene served as "official" photographer for this event, providing some wonderful shots.

Katty Kallick

Katy Daley hosts

Dustin Bencon & Greg Cahill - Special Consensus

The Steel Wheels at the Lincoln Theater

Claire Lynch

Doyle Lawson,  Lee Michael Demsey, & Katy Daley
at NC Public Radio having a Whale of a Good Time

Lily Pavlak & Al Hawkes with Sir Walter Raleigh

Kitsy Kuykendall - the Queen of Bluegrass

Eric Gibson - Songwriter of the Year

Eric Gibson & Katy Daley

Jacob, Shelley & Jason Burleson

Jerry Douglas at the Awards Show

 The Gibson Brothers - 2013 Entertainers of the Year

Tony Rice Speaks
Tony Rice Inducted Into Hall of Fame 

Marty Raybon - 2013 Male Vocalist of the Year

Joe Dean watching Jens Kruger

Mark Newton & Steve Thomas
at the Street Stage 

The Crowds Came 
to
Free Outdoor Performances 

Patrick McAvinue - Audie Blaylock & Redline

 The IBMA Fan Fest has been reconfigured as Wide Open Bluegrass, held for the last two days of the World of Bluegrass and including massive concerts in the Red Hat Amphitheater, shows in the Convention Center Ballroom, open access to the Exhibit Hall, a huge street fair (including a statewide whole hog cookoff), workshops, and showcases at six remote local music hot spots within walking distance of the headquarters hotels. It was a remarkable event, providing a capstone for a hugely successful week in Raleigh.

 Tony Rice at the Red Hat Amphitheater

Pete & Joan Wernick Workshop on Jammings

Phil Leadbetter - Welcome Back

Eric Gibson in Front of the JumboTron

Jenni Lynn Gardner - Della Mae
2013 Emerging Artist

 Peter Rowan

Kids on Bluegrass - The Future

Bѐla Fleck


Danny Paisley

Ronnie Simpkins - Seldom Scene

Chris Pandolfi - The Infamous Stringdusters

Travis Book - The Infamous Stringdusters


Charles Humphrey IV - Steep Canyon Rangers

Steve Martin
 

 With Judith Burnett in WMRF Studio

At Wayne Henderson's Workshop

Rockahock Bluegrass Festival - Lenaxa, VA
Promoters Brenda Lawson & Him (Calvin)

Lorraine Jordan

Dave Adkins

Larry Stephenson

The Malpass Brothers

Mickey Harris - Rhonda Vincent & the Rag

Russell Johnson - Grass Cats

Randy Barnes - Joe Mullins & the Radio Ramblers

Aaron McDaris - Rhonda Vincent & the Rage

On the Martha White Express
w/Rhonda Vincent & the Rage 
 
Newell Lodge - Folkston, GA
Katie Elizabeth Wilson - Wilson Family

The Bankesters - Doreen & Phil 

The Bankesters - Alysha, Emily & Melissa Triplett

Cody Farrar - Breaking Grass
 

 Ryan Paisley - the Third Generation

Jr Davis - The Bridge

We finished our bluegrass year with a three day banquet of Gibson Brothers' concerts in three different locations near their homes in northern New York. Rochester, NH, Plattsburgh, NY and Saratoga Springs, NY represented three different kinds of venues, but the same enthusiastic responses to this finest bluegrass band ever to come out of the northeast.

The Gibson Brothers Onstage at SUNY Plattsburgh

Clayton Campbell

Jesse Brock

Mike Barber


Eric Gibson

Leigh Gibson

Eric & Leigh Gibson
The Gibson Brothers
 

 2013 may have been the busiest and most fulfilling year we've had on our Bluegrass Adventure. We leave for the South two weeks from today. Bluegrass is growing, and even the down time between Thanksgiving and Christmas seems to be filled with bluegrass opportunities. We look forward to the coming year, and invite you to join us and introduce others to us online. We also look forward to meeting you face-to-face on the Bluegrass Trail.

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