Artists
Saturday was a wonderful day! It started with sunshine, birds and bluegrass and ended with stars, hippies and bluegrass. The day promised to be a great one just because of the fact it was the last day of the festival. The lineup was just as good as the other days, leaving nobody disappointed. I think the only person who was sad about Saturday was the nearly-legally-blind dude I met this morning who lost his glasses. Bummer.
Award-winning singer/songwriter Dierks Bentley will represent country music while crossing genres tomorrow on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.
Even avant-garde jazz needs structure. A boundless exploration of less touched musical realms still needs some foundation to stand on. Certain jazz purists don’t even consider fusion, free, or Avant-garde to be true jazz. I stand somewhere in between. The music of Miles Davis, Joe Zawinul, and Ornette Coleman is as canonical as Duke Ellington or Bing Crosby. Evolution is vital to keep music interesting, especially in the richly complex world of jazz.
A true pioneer takes great risks, stepping out of the social norm to create something revolutionary and different. They visualize a new way of doing things by bringing a fresh perspective that could potentially change the game forever. These types of people are becoming few and far between, and in a music industry that running dry of inspirational ideas, we need these revolutionaries now more than ever.
Ani DiFranco is a badass. Since early in her life she has chosen to be a leader against the conventional. At fifteen she legally chose to live on her own. At nineteen she began her own record label—Righteous Babe Records—in order to avoid the grasp of mainstream companies. And throughout her career, she has been at the forefront of multiple rallies fighting for women’s rights, encouraging people to vote, and just expressing what she truly believes. In short, DiFranco is not someone who can easily be ignored.
Take one little mountain valley, mix in some mandolins, mud, master brewers, musicians, and some local towns named Roseland and Lovingston and what you get is a well organized and highly enjoyable musical event known as The Festy. Greeted with road signs pointing out Walton’s Mountain, the Patrick Henry Highway and Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest while passing through classic Americana towns on curvy mountain roads; folk’s attitudes were appropriately adjusted before hearing the first song.
Yesterday’s beautiful weather didn’t last past noon. It wasn’t long before the clouds rolled in and fog began to creep around the campsites. The first beer of the morning was cracked around nine as we made breakfast and waited for more of our friends to arrive. In the meantime, we met a bunch of our neighbors – everyone we’re camped next to is really friendly! People would stop in just to say hello and ask how our night went, and we had great conversations with people who also love these gorgeous Ozark Mountains.
It rained. It didn’t pour and ruin everything, but it rained. As I was walking through the small amount of mud created by the rain I decided to just be thankful for it. So here I am on Saturday morning…thankful for all the great I get to experience this weekend. (And the morning sun.)
Yonder Mountain String Band’s Harvest Music Festival is the best that Mulberry Mountain has to offer. While Wakarusa pulses to the vibrant beat of youth culture and features many of today’s top acts across varying musical genres, Harvest offers an entirely different experience that has a way of twiddling itself into one’s heart.
