Yarmony Grass 2008 Review

From its beginnings, bluegrass and jamgrass have always been about improvisation and evolution.  The music always pays tribute to its roots and celebrates its ever progressing sound.  In much the same way, each individual bluegrass festival has changed greatly over the years, Yarmony Grass being a perfect example.

When Andrew McConathy, the event's organizer and fellow jamgrass kid himself, undertook efforts to launch the event in 2006 at the historic State Bridge Lodge in Bond, CO, the musicians nearly outnumbered the fans in attendance. When the stages were empty, the yurts became a capacity crowd, standing- room only venue where musicians and fans shared the same spotlight.

What was essentially an oversized pickin' party with some of the best modern bluegrassers in the country, this year transformed into a full-blown celebration blazing a trail towards where the genre is heading.

While it's now grown some and even shifted venues this year to Copper Mountain Resort in Summit County (largely due to the tragic loss by fire of the original, much loved venue in 2007,) Yarmony Grass still preserves the music- and musician-centric focus that gave it its birth.

Now, in place of yurts, fans traded up for mountain-side condos and all the amenities that go along with being stationed in the village of a world-class ski resort. And I didn't hear a soul complain about sleeping in a clean bed each night, taking a shower each morning and running back to their condos during set breaks to chill for a few minutes. Considering the weather, the convenience of Copper Mountain proved to be a very welcomed change.

At its foundation, Yarmony Grass intends to explore "the lineage of
jamgrass and fosters its development for future generations of music lovers," and that statement continues to hold true as this generation of Yarmony Grass was its most successful to date.

Realistically, a little chill in the air didn't stand a chance of
slowing down a crowd that is this passionate about its music, and the smiling faces and exceptional human warmth that lasted from Friday afternoon until the waning hours of Sunday night was a testament to their love of the music and respect for the scene.

Making the trip up to Copper, we had read weather reports warning us of unseasonably cold temps and high chances of rain, and pulling off of I-70 into the heart of the valley confirmed it. Hazy clouds and off-and-on showers dusted the valley and the surrounding mountains, with a temperature hovering around 50 degrees. A far cry, no doubt, from the recent record string of 90 degree+ days we'd recently experienced on the Front Range.

These opening acts did their best to fight through the sometimes driving mix of rain and sleet, and did it with enthusiasm, turning in great warm-up performances for the early attendees. The show truly got moving though when Head for the Hills, a four-piece band from Ft. Collins, Colo., began its driving, improvisational set.

Next up was a solid hour-long set by Boris Garcia featuring their unique mix of jamgrass, blues and jazz. Next up was a smokin' headlining set on the main stage by Strings for Industry, featuring Scott Law (guitar), Darol Anger (violin), Tye North (bass) and Carlton Jackson (drums).  SFI's set included a fast picking version of the Drew Emmitt tune, These Troubled Times, and appearances by Nershi, fiddler Tim Carbone of Railroad Earth, and another SCI alumn, Michael Kang, who stepped on stage with the electric mando for a trio of tunes with all-star lineup.

With the main stage of the festival closing down for the night, folks dried out by bee-lining it into the late-night Revival Tent for what SFI dubbed, “The Barn Burner.”   This massive white tent across the venue grounds provided a much-needed respite from the still frequent downpours and stunning lightning cracks that punctuated the sky throughout the day.
Greensky Bluegrass, a great 5-piece from Michigan, winners of the 2006 Telluride Bluegrass Festival Band Competition, opened up the not-so-late-night show around 10 p.m., and worked their musical magic combining straight forward bluegrass tunes and a high level of improvisation for about an hour and a half.

A great Friday, featuring the jamgrass genres biggest names playing in creative and exciting arrangements, came to a close with white-hot hour and a half set by the Chicago-based Cornmeal. The set created a high standard for the weekend to follow, running through a number of crowd favorites and featuring what was arguably the highlight of the day: a ripping fiddle dual between Railroad Earth's Carbone and Cornmeal fiddler, Allie Kral. The two traded burn-your-face-off riffs on the tune Shelter, to the delight of the now volatile and excitable crowd.

Day Two, Saturday

Despite the heavy morning showers and the possible threat of snow (in August?), the weather began to clear up as the music began and the crowd had ample enthusiasm to start off the day. If you happened to be a fan of String Cheese Incident, this was definitely your day.

Kicking off the music was a set by former Cheese bassist Keith Moseley, including a cover by Keith Moseley and Friends of Grateful Dead's Brown Eyed Woman, which thrilled the crowd. Continuing the SCI
nostalgia was the band's former keyboardist, Kyle Hollingsworth. Kyle, a longtime Elton John enthusiast launched the crowd into orbit with his version of Rocket Man. Bruce Hayes, an SCI collaborator from as far back as the 90's, then played a mandolin solo set while Tyler Grant, who was onstage getting ready for the next performance, provided some impromptu bass accompaniment.

Keller Williams with Keith Moseley, Gibb Droll, and Jeff Sipe dropped a bomb, but without the group's initial acronym-inspired name, The WMD'S. (Keller  recently announced on his web site that the world already
has enough WMD's.)  Acronyms included or not, they busted up the crowd with their song Boob Job, and guitarist Gibb Droll sank his chops into the set by playing a tune with his teeth!  All in all, it was an extremely entertaining and energetic performance from a young band, one that's only been playing together for less than a year, but which has already become the main project for each of its members. As their set wrapped, the crowd began its daily migration into the Revival Tent, this time in sell-out numbers, and those who hadn't planned ahead scrambled for any remaining extra tickets on the festival lawn. The excitement, understandably, was for the the first major change of musical styles as former SCI drummer Michael Travis' and Jason Hahn's EOTO traded strings for heavy electronics and percussion.

The set featured Kang as a special guest, and once again pushed the boundaries of the festival with a high-energy, danceable and very trancy set. Kang's electric mandolin was the major remaining link to the fest's bluegrass heritage, and the dramatic departure towards full-on electronica was reminiscent of the sharp shifts of classic SCI shows, and demonstrated the differences in musical tastes that many fans felt was under the ultimate parting of ways of the band's members.

Closing Saturday nights performance, Rebel Alliance Jam played a five-song,  super cover set of galactic proportions that put a new spin on renditions of many old favorites, including Eric Clapton's Lay Down Sally and Grateful Dead's Franklin's Tower. There was an absolutely electric vibe in the air this night. Traditional blue grass fan or not, no ones feet were still for this one!  With the full moon now visible in the night sky, music-lovers ended the night looking forward to yet another day of fun.

Day Three, Sunday

Northern California's Hot Buttered Rum followed Rowan's set with an action-packed one of their own. The band played crowd favorites Guns Or Butter, Hugs, Not Handshakes and a rare Amanda Lynn, as well as a cover of Dylan's I'll Be Your Baby Tonight. Honkeytonk Homeslice's Nershi and Law joined them on stage for versions of Beneath The Blossoms and Be Kind Boys, which also included a sit-in from Cornmeal fiddler Allie Kral. Butter fans had decided on a desert rat theme for Sunday (a number of fans dressed for the day in appropriate costumes) based on the fan favorite Butter tune by the same name, and the band delivered with the tune halfway through the set. Never an act to close
with anything other than a high-note, Butter finished with a crowd-igniting version of Greatful Dead's Cumberland Blue

A tweener set by Big Water, a one-man-band consisting of San Francisco resident longtime family friend Robert Selvaggio, featured more rootsy, home-styled tunes and carried the crowd into the next high-profile appearance from SCI alumn Nershi , this time with Honkeytonk Homeslice. Honkeytonk—featuring Nershi, his wife Jilian and guitarist Scott Law, all in western snap-button shirts—took the stage and ripped through a set with special guest Keith Mosely on Bass.  Honkeytonk is currently in the studio recording original tunes for a new album with Keith and drummer Christian Teele, and a new Law-penned tune were among the highlights of this set.

Next up was the second headlining set of Railroad Earth, who packed the stage with their own five members as well as Dan Sears on trumpet and Dominic Lalli on alto sax, and the Black Swan Voices on backup vocals again for a second night. Acoustic guitarist/lead vocalist Todd Sheaffer led the crowd through an opening sing-along of A Long Way To Go, before powering through a set that included the ladies on a soulfull version of the traditional Wade in the Water, a version of
Goat with Scott Law sitting in, and finally another powerful fiddle breakdown between Carbone and Allie Kral.

A fan can usually tell if a musician is enjoying themselves, smiling and playing bigger than usual; or if they're off, tired or for whatever reason just phoning it in. And what truly makes an event like Yarmony Grass special is that, with a lineup like this, the performers seem to be loving it just as much as the fans.

As if the festival itself wasn't proof enough of these musicians' love for their craft, it was cemented in stone as, after the festival had officially ended, many of the musicians played for themselves and the event organizers in the festival's make- shift production office until the wee hours of the morning.

This very special and improvised line-up included Billy and Jilian Nershi, Allie Kral (playing both fiddle and hula-hoop simultaneously!), Jessica Killroy, Andy Thorn, Tim Carbone, Bryan Horne, Andrew McConathy and Zack Mathews, just to name a few. Even as the last notes of the festival were picked, it was clear that the music would continue to resonate, as musicians and fans alike look forward to what next year's Yarmony Grass will bring.