It’s time to Strum Along
Pack your knapsack, pitch your tent, bring the kids and guitar picks
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By STEPHEN A. IDE
The Patriot Ledger
So, you’ve fallen in love with bluegrass or folk and want to go to a music festival? From now through Labor Day and beyond, you can find a folk or bluegrass music festival to fill your weekend, or even most of your week, all within three hours of the South Shore.
Everyone has a favorite. Here are some of mine:
On a hillside in tiny Ancramdale, N.Y., 4,000 campers gather for the Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival every year during the third weekend of July.
For some, it’s more than just the music. It’s a gathering of old friends. People have been married there. Babies have been born there.
They come with tents and RVs, old and new trailers, rickety pickups or fancy Volvos. On the camping hill - really a mowed hayfield on the Rothvoss Farm - everyone gets used to the distinctive "lean." While the music is held for only four days - a blend of traditional and progressive acts - some campers leave their gear at the bottom a month early and commute to work. Others gather days before the festival starts, beginning a weeklong party in a grass parking lot, calling the pre-festival event "The Rodeo."
The workshops let you get close to the artists, and fill up fast. Last year, Hazel Dickens, the aging, hard-scrabble songwriter from West Virginia, held court to hundreds.
Bring your rain gear along to any of these outdoor festivals. You never know. At Grey Fox, for instance, there has been more than one year in the past 10 when campers weren’t allowed onto the hill because of the mud.
There are many annual festivals that have become institutions, like the renowned free Lowell Folk Festival, held the fourth weekend
of July, or the legendary - and not free - Newport Folk Festival, held Aug. 15-17 this year. And some newer, growing festivals are worthy of note.
Close to the South Shore is the Greater New Bedford Summerfest, scheduled this year for July 5-6. The first time I attended, I was amazed that so much music (this year has more than 30 acts, from singer-songwriters like Michael Troy and Jonathan Edwards to English rockers Little Johnny England) could be provided for a $7 button.
Along the New Bedford waterfront and spidering a short way into the historic city central, music tents are scattered and packed. Bring good walking shoes, unless you plan to forgo the vendors’ booths and sit in one tent all afternoon. If you want to see someone close up, get to that tent early. Fans of almost any kind of music can find something to suit their taste here. Though it’s in the heart of the city, the festival is well-patrolled and secure.
Another worthy destination is the Green River Festival, held July 18-19 on the grounds of Greenfield Community College.
Begun as a balloon festival 17 years ago, it has become a key music event in western Massachusetts, with folk, Texas swing, cajun, zydeco music and more. And yes, they still launch balloons.
Up the road from Grey Fox, a week later in Hillsdale, N.Y., is the four-day Falcon Ridge Folk Festival. Like Grey Fox, attendees are usually return customers, camping atop an enormous hill and taking buses to the music. The lineups include traditional folkies and cutting edge artists like Dar Williams and Lucy Kaplansky.
Workshop stages often feature "in-the-round" performances, where many artists sit side by side and share songs and sometimes join in with others.
While the music is top-notch and professional, amateur musicians can be found jamming almost all day and night at campsites (I’ve seen people jamming on the roofs of converted buses), and there’s always the all-night campfire song swap, where participants often pass around a guitar.
Most of the festivals have a full schedule of events for children. Many also have a dance floor - often filled to capacity - where you can bring a partner or find a willing person willing to shake it in the summer heat.
Cajun dancing is popular at Grey Fox and Falcon Ridge, though it’s likely you also can find lessons for kids and adults in traditional clogging or step dancing.
Stephen Ide may be reached at side@ledger.com.