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by Seth Rogovoy
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., July 18, 1996 -- Summertime is festival time, and like summer, festival time is upon us. And over the next few weekends, music fans will get the chance to immerse themselves in the sounds of dozens of folk, country and bluegrass performers at festivals in the immediate area and beyond.
The festival experience is a whole different way of enjoying music. Unlike the traditional concert, casual is the operative word: casual attire, casual behavior, and an overall casual approach to the music are all encouraged -- indeed, are de rigueur -- at festivals.
Not that you won't hear good music at festivals. Some of the greatest performances this frequent concertgoer has ever enjoyed have been at festivals, where often the setting, the crowd and the weather can conspire to transform an otherwise ordinary performance into a revelation.
Festivals are also made up of chance encounters between friends, new acquaintances and even musicians and fans. Hang out long enough and you just might bump into your favorite performer at a craft booth, a food vendor or a port-o-potty.
Whether you go as a day-tripper or an overnight camper, festivals primarily do two things: they allow performers to reach a much wider audience than they would were they to play a solo concert at a club or theater, and they expose audience members to a range of performers they ordinarily wouldn't see in the course of a year and at one-tenth the price.
Besides that, they're fun.
The annual Falcon Ridge Folk Festival is held at the Long Hill Farm on Route 23 in Hillsdale, N.Y., just a few miles down the road from Great Barrington and a hop across the border from South Egremont. Now in its eighth year, Falcon Ridge has cemented its reputation as one of the premiere festivals highlighting contemporary or "new- folk" singer-songwriters.
This means you won't hear a lot of traditional folk music at Falcon Ridge: not a lot of Celtic ballads or sea chanteys or campfire tunes (although over the course of three days you will hear some). Rather, what you will hear are dozens of the best new songs and performing songwriters. Sometimes called "singing poets," these are the people maintaining and updating the tradition of personal and political songwriting popularized by the likes of Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell in the 1960s.
Like Dylan and Mitchell before them, many are acoustic-based performers who draw on a wide variety of influences, far beyond what is commonly thought of as "folk." And like the King and Queen, who each has at times rocked as hard as anyone, you'll find more than a few acts at Falcon Ridge that will plug in and rock your socks off. As Ani DiFranco said from the mainstage at Falcon Ridge last summer while surveying the rowdy crowd ready to groove to her state-of-the-art sound, "this ain't no namby-pamby folk festival."
In addition to top new-folk stars like John Gorka, Patty Larkin, Jonathan Edwards, Christine Lavin and Greg Brown, you will hear exciting up-and-comers including The Nields, The Kennedys, Martin Sexton, Vance Gilbert and Susan Werner this summer. And on Friday starting at noon there is a new artist showcase, from which each year graduates some of next year's mainstage stars.
Falcon Ridge has actually become two festivals in one. Each year its 6,000 sq. ft. dance stage grows in popularity, to the point that its Cajuns, contras and squares now attract nearly as many festivalgoers as the mainstage performers.
Last year's Falcon Ridge was the biggest ever, and advance ticket sales this year indicate that this year's festival will set a new record. Of special interest to Berkshire audiences is that this year the festival which advertises itself "at the foot of the Berkshires" will actually feature no fewer than three Berkshire- based acts, with our own Roger the Jester, Vikki True and the Sweet Sisters of Mercy and Bernice Lewis on the bill. True was selected by last year's audience members as the most wanted performer from the new artist showcase, along with Martin Sexton, and the two were so clearly favored over all others that the producers are giving them twice as much time on the mainstage as these annually-picked acts usually receive.
Falcon Ridge also includes camping, children's activities, workshops and nighttime song swaps. For more information call (860) 350-7472 or E-mail FalcRidge@aol.com.
It's hard to say exactly what Noppet Hill will be like, since this summer marks the Lanesboro festival's debut. But the folks at Steele's Family Dairy Farm are plunging right into the big time, having snared the Grammy Award-winning Nashville Bluegrass Band, which recently toured with Garth Brooks, to headline their premiere.
The rest of the Noppet Hill lineup tends more towards the traditional side of bluegrass -- those who remain loyal to the music's roots in old-timey, string-band music and the pioneering sounds of Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs -- than the sort of innovators you'll hear at Winterhawk. Other bands coming to Noppet Hill include Bob Paisley and the Southern Grass, the Warrior River Boys, the Case Brothers, Burnt Hills Bluegrass, Thunder Mountain Bluegrass, Northern Blend and Grassroots. The Berkshire's own bluegrass community will be represented by the Lanesboro-based Bear Bridge Band, which will be performing on Saturday and Sunday, and Albany's Medicine Hat String Band, featuring Williamstown native Deirdre Oakley, opening the festival on Friday.
Noppet Hill features camping, free firewood, food vendors and a large spectator tent in case of foul weather. The festival entrance is at Steele Farm on Bailey Road -- watch for signs on Route 7 in Lanesboro and Route 43 in Hancock for directions. Music begins at 4:30 on Friday and runs through until about 5:30 on Sunday. Tickets are available at the gate. For more information call (413) 499- 2805.
The Winterhawk Bluegrass Festival celebrates its 14th anniversary this summer at the Rothvoss Farm in Ancramdale, N.Y., just south of Hillsdale on Route 22.One of the top bluegrass festivals in the world, the four-day event attracts thousands of fans each year who come for the contests, workshops, parking-lot picking sessions and one of the finest gatherings of top bluegrass talent anywhere to be found.
While Winterhawk typically pays lip-service to traditional bluegrass -- this year's festival features Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys -- its reputation for showcasing the more progressive or cutting-edge aspects of the genre is well-deserved. Any bill that includes Riders In the Sky, Sam Bush, John Hartford, Peter Rowan, Jerry Douglas, The Seldom Scene, the Austin Lounge Lizards, Northern Lights, Bill Keith and, gasp!, the David Grisman Quintet, is sure to raise the hackles of some bluegrass purists.
But for the average concertgoer, it's probably all the better to be exposed to the wide variety of string-band-based sounds you'll hear at Winterhawk.Saturday nights are known for their impromptu, all- star jams. And on Sunday afternoon, it's traditional for all the amateur pickers -- they typically number about 500 -- to gather in front of the main stage to be part of "the world's largest bluegrass band," following bandmaster Pete Wernick of Hot Rize fame as he leads them in song.
Winterhawk includes workshops, camping, children's activities and a Sunday morning gospel show. For more information call (513) 390- 6211, or check out the Winterhawk web page.
The annual, one-day Hartland Folk Festival, held at Berg Field on Route 20 in East Hartland, Conn., is celebrating its 10th anniversary this Saturday, July 20. Hartland is a pretty straightforward festival: it's about music, period. It also boasts top names in the contemporary singer-songwriter field, including Bill Morrissey and Chris Smither, along with Dave Mallett, Lui Collins, Bruce Pratt and Lucy Kaplansky. Up-and-coming, Northampton-based Salamander Crossing will be making its first appearance at Hartland, which will also present Harvey Reid, Geoff Bartley, Anni Clark, Laura Stevens and the irrepressible Jaime Brockett. Hartland also offers one of the best deals. Tickets are only $15 in advance and $22 the day of the show, with special deals for kids and seniors. For more info call (860) 653-5577.
The Berkshires' own Bill Matthiesen has programmed the 16th annual Fiddle Weekend, on Friday, July 19, and Saturday, July 20, at Hubbard Hall, the restored, 19th-century rural opera house in Cambridge, N.Y. The two-day, traditional-folk festival features over a dozen performers, including Freeman Corey, Peter Craig, the Salmon Run Cloggers, Peter and Lori Siegal, Daughters of Sweden, the Harmonious Hogchokers, Peter Davis, George Wilson and Spare Parts, which features Matthiesen and his wife, Liz Stell. The event includes a children's concert, a fiddle workshop, a dance and a pot-luck supper. For more info call (518) 677-2495.
[This article originally appeared in the Berkshire Eagle on July 18, 1996. Copyright Seth Rogovoy 1996. All rights reserved.]
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