The 35th Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival had many highlights, most notably the omnipresence of the hottest talent on the Bluegrass circuit, Billy Strings.

However, one of the main "subplots" that many wondered about was the status of "The Grateful Ball" given the recent, sudden and tragic passing of mandolin genius and original Grateful Ball participant, Jeff Austin.

Music-fan tribes of all stripes gathered for the Independence Day weekend to luxuriate in the 29th annual High Sierra Music Festival in tiny Quincy, California, basking in the music, vibes, joy, and friendships old and new. Over the four-day celebration, among the beautiful clear-aired mountainous sky and mountains, fun oozed everywhere, from the scheduled and numerous unscheduled live performances and collaborations to the often luxurious and nicely appointed home bases set up in the campgrounds.

Superstar phenom Billy Strings returns as Artist-in-Residence, joining 40+ award-winning bluegrass acts including the Del McCoury Band, Leftover Salmon, Tommy Emmanuel and many more at the 2019 Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival from July 18-21.

This year’s rendition of Bourbon and Beyond is set to outdo the festival of last year that unfortunately was rained out due to dangerous conditions of the grounds. The new location will be outside the Kentucky Expo center at Highland Festival Grounds, more inland than the previous location on the banks of the Ohio River in Louisville, Kentucky. 

DelFest announces the 2019 Late Night lineup which starts Thursday with An Evening with Billy Strings (2 sets) and concludes on Sunday with The DelFest Chaser, a set hosted by recent “Best Bluegrass Album” Grammy winners, The Travelin’ McCourys, joined by longtime comrade, Sam Bush + surprise guests. New this year by popular demand, headliners Yonder Mountain String Band (Friday night) and Railroad Earth (Saturday night) will perform first followed by supporting acts, Larry Keel Experience (Friday) and Joe Craven and The Sometimers (Saturday).

Congratulations to The Travelin’ McCourys on their GRAMMY win for “Best Bluegrass Album,” announced today in Los Angeles, CA. The band’s eponymous debut album was released on May 25th of last year after decades of playing-- the GRAMMY award pointing to both the band’s work ethic and their innovative style of bluegrass which honors the genre’s tradition and drives it forward. In the acceptance speech Rob McCoury thanked Del and Jean McCoury, saying “without them, none of this would have happened.”