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Fox Bluegrass Festival: The past and Future of Acoustic Music
By Ross Rice
Perhaps
best known for his madly diverse 90’s group Bad Livers, Danny
Barnes appears to have pulled back to a more old-timey approach
on Friday, where the line-up keeps the bar high with groups like
multiple award-winning Mountain Heart, whose passion and chops are
undeniable, and Uncle Earl, whose more traditional style is abetted
by 3-part all-woman choruses. From pickin with Bill Monroe’s
Blue Grass Boys, to rock-fusion Seatrain, and points in between
including Old And In The Way, Flaco Jimenez, and of course, the
Rowan Brothers, Peter Rowan’s work has always stood out over
time, thanks to great songwriting and guitarwork, as well as the
finest yodel in the biz. Tony Rice is probably the most celebrated
flat-picker of the whole festival. His solo work, which has occasionally
pushed the envelope into jazz and “Space Grass,” and
collaborations with folks like David Grisman, Norman Blake, and
J.D. Crowe & the New South, is still informed by the rhythm
and interplay of the classic Monroe style. The line-up is rounded
out by the innovative Nickel Creek, who are going on indefinite
hiatus after this summer’s tours (please see our accompanying
story).
The
international reach of bluegrass gets represented on Saturday with
Switzerland’s Kruger Brothers, and UK/Australia (and Nashville’s)
The Greencards. The The Gray Fox is a great concert experience,
with Waybacks take the sound out even further, sometime plenty of
good camping, a special dance pavillion, sounding more like Los
Lobos, bringing drums and the Masters tent for workshopping and
one-on-one organ to the party. Claire Lynch Band keeps it more contact
with performers, and a Family stage for the homespun stylistically,
with Lynch’s clear and warm kids.
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