Wintergrass is a three day celebration of bluegrass music and music that has evolved out of bluegrass. Wayne Taylor of Blue Highway said the theme is "too much fun." Rayna Gellert, the wonderful fiddler with Uncle Earl, said that once again the Bluegrass UFO had landed in Tacoma and we all know how we the aliens sound. The welcome in the festival program ends "Our hope is that you will be inundated with joy this weekend. Listen. Sing. Dance. Play. And go back into your world with a full measure of bliss and a heart willing to make your corner of the world a sweeter place. " This is what actually happens each year. Everyone leaves with great smiles in their hearts and it changes how we are away from the bluegrass heaven.
For the last 2 festivals we have driven the 3 hours to Seattle to pick up daughter Leah and granddaughter Sophie. An hour later we make it to the La Quinta in Tacoma. It is a wonderful community event with the hotels helping to make a weekend special. Tacoma Firefighters generously provide shuttle service from outer areas to the sight at the Convention Center, The Sheraton and the Gibson Church. The riders donate to the firefighters annual charity boot, this year it was for their chaplaincy.
We go to the Sheraton to pick up our wrist bands and are hit with a wall of energy, joy and good times. There is nothing in this world like walking into the Sheraton lobby at the start of Wintergrass. The concerts start for us at about 5 and go on into the late night.
Friday night's highlight for me was hearing the latest version of the Tim O'Brien Band. Tim is always at his best and hearing him is like meeting an old friend you have not seen in a year. Casey Driessen is great on the fiddle. He was Grammy nominated this year but lost out to Bryan Sutton who played with Chris Thile later in the night. The newest member of the band was Danny Barnes replacing John Doyle. Danny was introduced as the king of Puget Sound. He plays banjo and guitar. The crowd and his mother love his song "Rat's Ass" which expresses what he thinks about people who talk too much.
If Tim was my favorite, the crowd favorite was Chris Thile and his "How to Build a Bluegrass Band". It was the biggest crowd that I have seen at the Pavilion and the biggest gathering of teenage pickers and players at the front of the stage. With Noam Pikelny, Bryan Sutton and Gabe Witcher it is an allstar band. His music is unique, almost classical at times. Then they encored with a RadioHead cover.
Blue Highway were also a crowd favorite with their contrasting hard driving traditional bluegrass. Rob Ickes soloed on the dobro with the Old Rugged Cross in which the band had left the stage and then returned to join him in a rousing instrumental conclusion. Tim Stafford is priceless in his irreverent yet respectful imitation of Ralph Stanley. This time it was with a short Led Zeppelin piece as covered by Dr. Ralph.
My final concert for the first night was hearing Jerry Douglas for the first time live. He took the stage alone for the first 10 minutes and that was a highlight. But by then my energy had waned so it was back to the hotel courtesy of the firefighters shuttle.
Saturday morning features workshops and as usual I took in the songwriters session featuring Tim O'Brien, Danny Barnes, Kim Fox of Three Fox Drive, and Eric and Leigh Gibson of the Gibson Brothers. In this type of session they each share a song and then enter into conversation with each other and the audience. It is a winner every year. I usually spend Saturday in the church, and the performers love to play there.
The Saturday special bands were The Gibson Brothers, Doyle Lawson, Darrell Scott Band and Uncle Earl. The whole world needs to know the g'Earls of Uncle Earl. They are sounding better than ever and Mary Lucey is a great addition on the bass. Granddaughter Sophie got her photo taken with Kristin Andreassen after their show. Their new CD Waterloo, Tennessee ought to be great.
Sunday morning features the Gospel Shows and True North and Lee Highway were excellent. We finished off the festival listening to Captain Gravel from Seattle and Blue Highway. Then we were off to the lobby to hear our last jam.
Good Bye Wintergrass,. We left with smiles , and memories enough until next February.
