Wintergrass & Telluride & Targhee

Had an awesome weekend in Tacoma at the Wintergrass bluegrass festival. I got to see some old favorites perform & discovered some great new music as well. I caught two sets of my personal favorites The Packway Handle Band. Fresh off their first European tour with new material to play the boys were dialed in & their stage presence is as strong as ever. Crooked Still was on hand & put on three solid sets; however, after seeing them at Telluride with former cellist Rushad Eggleston I couldn’t help but miss his infectious energy & the edge he added to the band. I was impressed by The Grascals, at times they were a bit too country for my tastes, but their musicianship & a recently written song titled “Indiana” won me over (can’t wait to get my hands on the new album). Seldom Scene put on a stellar performance as usual. Saturday night was the real kicker though. We made our way to the Collings Dance Stage where stomped, boogied & square danced to a Seattle old time string band, The Tallboys, (who organized a hundred person square dance in the middle of their set), the high speed Minnesota metal grass of Trampled by Turtles, & the always entertaining music of Kansas city band The Wilders. My calves are still sore from all that dancin!

Wintergrass is the third bluegrass festival I’ve been to in the past year - always with Becca my musical sidekick & bluegrass buddy. We agreed that each festival has its own personality & strengths & that Wintergrass was a nice counterpoint to Telluride & Targhee, the two summer festivals we attended.

Telluride is set in a magical mountain valley in southwestern Colorado - peaks & waterfalls frame the stage. Over its 35 year history it has become a bluegrass institution & consistently boasts a line-up filled with the biggest & best names in bluegrass. Due to the long standing nature of this festival there is a very tangible & vibrant sense of community that develops during the short few days of the festival. Telluride is also doing some pretty innovative work towards greening the festival experience. The downside to all this it that it is also a fairly expensive & incredibly crowded festival. Targhee on the other hand is much more laid back, still draws some very respectable names, & is hosted in the Grand Targhee National Forest - the beautiful Grand Teton range provides the backdrop. Its a younger, smaller more manageable festival, & though there was not the same quantity of music I enjoyed it as much if not more than Telluride.

Wintergrass provides an interesting comparison to these two summer festivals; it is set up quite differently being hosted in dowtown Tacoma rather than a nestled away stage surrounded by wild land. Wintergrass has five venues (3 hotels, a church and a bar) spread across 2 city blocks.  Oddly enough the church & the bar tie for best venue in my book; the church was absolutely beautiful & had great sound while the bar had an amazing wooden dance floor & decent drinks. The festival seems geared towards musicians; the main hotel host instrument vendor booths, & informal jam sessions happen round the clock. Furthermore, four of the venues are seating room only which lends itself to contemplation of musicianship (as opposed to the distraction of dancing, which I still had my fill of at the fifth stage). Wintegrass was also the most family friendly festival I’ve been to which created a warm & happy atmosphere.

The audiences at bluegrass festivals always seem to be filled with enthusiastic, appreciative, & respectful people which tends to make the experience more enjoyable than other shows I’ve been to.  Good people with good hearts enjoying good music, it doesn’t get much better. After a broad sampling of several festivals I’ve developed a taste for what I like & I’m looking forward to returning to a few in future.