When their instrumental prowess earned them a vast following on social media, childhood friends turned all-star act Shadowgrass found sudden success. But as a young band, the expectations that came with a large audience proved daunting. “We felt a lot of pressure to make something uniquely us because we had such a big following, and we felt they deserved more than what we had given them so far,” explains the band.

Often resembling a real-life musical snow globe in the California’s high Sierra, the eighth annual WinterWonderGrass-Tahoe, April 5 to 7, brought a hardy bunch of musicians – and resilient attendees – to Palisades Tahoe ski resort, in the midst of the Olympic Village that hosted the 1960 Winter Olympics.