Palatka Bluegrass Festival - Palatka, FL - Preview

The sixth annual Palatka Bluegrass Festival will run from Thursday, February 18^th through Saturday, February 20^th at the Rodeheaver Boys Ranch, a few miles south of Palatka, FL. Gates open for campers on Sunday, February 14^th and numbered tickets for chair placement will be distributed on a first come first served basis beginning at 10:00 AM on Monday. Only one chair placement per ticket will be provided. Chair will be placed in numerical order beginning at 11:00 AM on Tuesday. This complex system has been developed and refined by promoters Norman Adams and Tony Anderson in order to provide as fair a system as possible while avoiding the unpleasant crush of seat seekers that has characterized previous events. Rodeheaver Boys Ranch Director of Development Jeff King tells me there are still about 50 water and electric sites remaining and lots of field space. “ We won't turn anyone away. We can get as creative as we need to get everyone water and electric. It is better if they go ahead and make a reservations, though,” Jeff writes. He also asks me to remind people that the performance tent is provided with wind curtains and heat, in case the weather gets cool, as it often does at Palatka. The Ranch also has plenty of tractors to assist rigs in moving should it be wet.

Bobby Osborne

 

The Gibson Brothers

 

In only six years, Palatka has emerged as the premier venue in Florida for high quality, big name bluegrass bands while Rodeheaver Boys Ranch has expanded to two offerings, February and October, using the bluegrass festivals as one of its major fund raisers. The Ranch, built on 790 acres donated by evangelist Homer Rodeheaver serves as home for about fifty boys living in five cottages scattered around the campus under the supervision of cottage parents. The boys are chosen because for one reason or another their parents are unable to care for them. The supportive, caring environment fostered by the Ranch is reflected in the festival through the interaction of attendees once the school week is over and the boys are in evidence around the campus, both helping and enjoying the scene. Even if it weren't for the festivals, Rodeheaver Boys Ranch would be a worthy cause to support.

The Shed Before Seats are Placed

 

Waiting in Line to Place Seats

Jamie Dailey (Dailey and Vincent)

 

Darin Vincent (Dailey and Vincent)

 

J.D. Crowe

 

Promoters Adams & Anderson currently put on nine bluegrass festivals in the southeastern U.S., from West Virginia to Florida. Their events are characterized by focusing on bluegrass acts from the top tier of available talent seasoned with lots of old time gospel music. The lineup for Palatka Bluegrass Festival is below. It is too packed with quality and variety to highlight all the talent. Suffice it to say the range of music runs from very traditional bluegrass (David Peterson & 1946, The Bluegrass Brothers, Bobby Osborne & Rocky Top Express) through high concept shows (Dailey & Vincent, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, Dry Branch Fire Squad) to more contemporary bluegrass sounds (The Gibson Brothers, The Steeledrivers, Carrie Hassler). Greats from the first and second generations of bluegrass performance like J.D. Crowe and Bobby Osborne are always present and the links to Bill Monroe and the origins of bluegrass music are always clear. An Adams and Anderson lineup is always balanced, calculated to appeal to a broad spectrum of people who love the range of bluegrass music and designed to allow people to make choices about who they hear and when they come to the tent.

The Steep Canyon Rangers

 

Doyle Lawson

  

Thursday, February 18th 

The Tennessee Gentlemen - 12:00 Noon and 5:15 pm.
The Crowe Brothers - 12:45 pm. and 6:00 pm.
The Gary Waldrep Band - 1:30 pm and 6:45 pm
David Peterson & 1946 - 2:15 pm and 7:30 pm
Dailey & Vincent - 3:00 pm and 8:15 pm
Carrie Hassler & Hard Rain - 3:45 pm and 9:00 pm

Carrie Hassler

Friday, February 19th
Goldwing Express - 12:00 Noon and 5:20 pm
The Bluegrass Brothers - 12:50 pm and 6:10 pm
The Steep Canyon Rangers - 1:40 pm and 7:05 pm
Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver - 2:30 pm and 8:00 pm
J. D. Crowe & The New South - 3:30 pm and 9:00 pm

The Crowe Brothers

Saturday, February 20th
 Phillip Steinmetz & His Sunny Tennesseans - 12:00 Noon and 5:15 pm
Dry Branch Fire Squad - 12:45 pm and 6:00 pm
Bobby Osborne & Rocky Top X-press - 1:30 pm and 6:45 pm
The Travelin McCourys - 2:15 pm and 7:30 pm
The Gibson Brothers  - 3:00 pm and 8:15 pm
The Steel Drivers - 3:45 pm and 9:00 pm

Ron Thomason (Dry Branch Fire Squad)

 

Gary Waldrep

 

Daily Breakfast Buffet in Ranch Dining Room

Several bands at this year's Palatka festival are new to me. I've never hear Philip Steinmetz & His Sunny Tennesseans (Saturday) or The Tennessee Gentlemen (Thursday), and am looking forward to them. The Travelin McCourys represent a change in personnel, but probably will be able easily to sustain the level of quality the Del McCoury Band has established over the years while not making such extensive demands on Dad as he takes some time to rest a bit. When they performed in Oregon yesterday, Cody Kilby was on hand at guitar, adding one of the best flat pickers in bluegrass to the mix. The Gibson Brothers, with their new CD Ring the Bell and its title song having topped the Bluegrass unlimited charts for three straight months will be on hand on Saturday. Dailey and Vincent, an award machine at both IBMA and SPBGMA over the past couple of years will be headlining on Thursday. The humor and raw power of Dry Branch Fire Squad will help brighten Sunday, regardless of the weather. While tastes may differ, there are no real holes in this year's Palatka Bluegrass Festival Lineup. 

Tammy Rogers and Chris Stapleton (The SteelDrivers)

Sherry Boyd (emcee)

 

Audience Outside Shed on a Sunny Day

 

Tickets for Palatka can be bought at the gate for $85.00 for the weekend or $35.00 per day. Unlike some festivals, which get off the ground slowly on Thursday and grind down slowly on Sunday, Palatka hits the ground running at noon on Thursday and presents a value packed lineup for three straight days.

The festival can be found here:

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Palatka is always one of the highlights of our festival year. Make it one of yours, too.

Promoter Norman Adams

 

When I was an English teacher I spent huge amounts of time trying to get students to make connections between seemingly disparate ideas and occurrences. Malcolm Gladwell makes connections that help his readers to see the world through differently informed lenses. In his first two books, The Tipping Point and Blink, Gladwell examined the forces that turn a trend into an inevitability and the way in which individuals achieve sudden insights. His new book, Outliers: The Story of Success (Little, Brown & Company, 2008, 309 pages) examines how a variety of factors come together to increase the likelihood of success for certain while making it less probable that others will achieve notable success. Conventional wisdom suggests that factors like intelligence, background, and hard work will inevitably lead to success in our meritocratic society. It turns out that a variety of other factors, including birth month, population cohort, ethnic factors, and coincidence come together to give certain people a boost while others are faced with overcoming great difficulty in succeeding. In telling this story, Gladwell creates a number of “Aha” moments that may change the reader's perception about who become successful and how they do it.

         

            Malcolm Gladwell

A descendent of a Jamaican slave and a British planter who came to the Caribbean to seek his fortune, Gladwell, who was born and raised in Canada, is a much applauded author who writes for the New Yorker and speaks frequently as well as writing highly interesting and influential books. (His own story is told in the last chapter of this book.) Gladwell writes in a very accessible style, making sometimes difficult ideas clear and easily understandable. He tells stories about real people that vividly illustrate the ideas he's developing. Then, for me at least, the reaction sets in. “I've never thought of that the way he's showing it. Of course...now I see.” When these kinds of moments recur throughout a book my imagination is stimulated see other connections to those ideas in myself, my friends, and, finally, in the broader society.

A few examples from Outliers might help clarify his approach. The first chapter, called The Matthew Effect (based on Matthew 25:29 which says, “For unto everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance. But from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.”) examines the effect of birth date on performance. Using ice hockey players in Canada's Junior A league (the premier minor league for rising young hockey players) Gladwell shows how the supposedly meritocratic selection system actually rewards players born most closely to the January 1 cutoff date. The top players tend to have been born within the first three months of the year. Children born in December have practically no chance of rising to the top of the heap. If a couple wanted to breed a hockey player, they'd do well to plan his birth for the first week in January. Gladwell then extends this idea to the classroom, suggesting that if students were grouped by birth date rather than not grouped at all or grouped through other irrelevant criteria and allowed to develop their skills in an arena where their development would allow them to prosper, we could help many more youngsters reach their potential. 

 

Gladwell has other examples that make a reader stop to think. For instance, people born at a time where their coming of age coincides with the emergence of a new technology combined with having access to the beginnings of that technology have a much greater opportunity of thriving in the new environment. Note that Bill Gates, Stephen Jobs, Bill Joy, and a number of other people who have emerged as the dominant people in the computer industry all were born within a couple of years of each other and came through high school and university systems giving them unusual access to early computers.

He also examines cultural patterns that have created opportunities as well as barriers for various ethnic groups. What made it so that so many Jewish lawyers became important players as the financial markets became increasingly competitive in the past couple of generations? Are Jews actually smarter than other people, or does their history and background create a unique set of circumstances for them to thrive? I found the example of Asian mathematicians to be particularly interesting. Gladwell says that the constant and persistent hard work of managing and maintaining rice paddies in south China develops quite a different attitude towards hard work and detail orientation than do the agricultural patterns of Europe and early America. Combine this with the now widely known idea of the importance of 10,000 hours of practice necessary to achieve excellence at almost anything, and a new idea of how Asians seem to dominate mathematics emerges. Similarly, what cultural patterns in human interaction apparently led to a spate of crashes at Korean Air Lines and what did the company have to do to retrain pilots to make their safety record what is now one of the best in the world? Why is is that there is seemingly so much more violence in the American South than in other parts of the country? Examining these patterns and approaches has vast implications for child rearing, education, and corporate management that often are not considered because the don't seem logical. Gladwell examines these ideas and makes clear the waste in human potential we create and the loss our society suffers because we don't pay attention to these concerns.

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell has not yet been released in paperback but is available as a digital download and all major and independent bookstores. Support your local independent book seller.

YeeHaw Junction 2010 - Sunday and Assessment

Sundays at Bluegrass Festivals present problems for all bluegrass promoters.  The question is: How do we offer a worthwhile Sunday program while much of the audience is heading home to resume real life?  Many festivals have discovered that their festivals work out better as three day events and have given up even trying to have Sunday performances.  Keith Bass and Victor Hall, the new promoters at YeeHaw Junction, took a chance on booking two strong bands from outside the region and two excellent family bands who have garnered strong support through the afternoon and came up aces.  While the audiences dwindled as the afternoon wore on, those remaining were vastly entertained and sad to see the weekend come to a close.

Bluegrass Gospel Sing and Jam

 

Mike and Mary Robinson take their missionary evangelical ministry to the bluegrass community to dozens of bluegass festivals each year.  On Sunday they hold their Bluegrass Sing and Jam, featuring a brief prayer and message from Preacher Mike and lots of singing of the good old familiar songs. In addition, Mike is one of the best emcees on the circuit, keeping the show on time, highlighting the vendors, and providing brief, accurate, and interesting introductions.  No one but the Robinsons themselves knows the breadth and depth of their spiritual and personal counseling work among the bluegrass community.  

Mike Robinson

Mary Robinson

 

  

  

Mike and Mary

James Rogers and Blue Cypress

   

The Wilson Family

Melissa and Robert 

Clint

 

Bruce Sheridan

Katie

 

Hard Ryde

 

Once again Hard Ryde proved itself to be an interesting and high quality band which deserves much more attention on the southern side of the border...that's the U.S. border, not the Mason-Dixon Line.  Instrumentally and vocally they are just plain excellent.

Rich Koop and Marc Roy

 

Tyler Becket 

D'Arcy Campbell and Will Meadows

 

Doug DeBoer 

Valerie Smith and Liberty Pike

 

Valerie Smith

Becky Buller

 

Ernie Evans

Rebeckah Long

Becky Buller

 

Valerie Smith 

 

Emcee Evan Carl

 

...And So It Ends

 

  

 

The Bass and Hall families have combined to take on promoting a major Florida festival.  They kept much of what Steve Dittman had developed over the years while bringing some of their own ideas and values to the effort.  After many years of producing YeeHaw Junction, Steve stepped down while gracefully supporting the efforts of the new promoters.  He was in evidence, but always supportive and helpful.  Keith and Victor increased the number and power of electric hookups, and the electricity was completely reliable during the weekend.  They also brought in a rather elaborate flush toilet facility that had some plumbing problems, but seemed to be a welcome addition.  Next year they will be able to program the entire festival to suit their understanding of the tastes of the customers.  The combination of family bands and a few very good national bands provided a good balance.  It was a particular treat to experience a new band, Hard Ryde from Candada, at YeeHaw Junction.  With careful planning, they should be able to take advantage of the cruise schedules to help them in continuing to book good bands.  On the whole, while they still have something to learn about the festival promotion business, YeeHaw Junction was tremendous success, and should continue to draw bluegrass bands to its lovely and isolated site during late January.

YeeHaw Junction 2010 - Saturday

Saturday at YeeHaw Junction provided another day of warm weather and fine music.  I'm going to focus on the two new bands that appeared here on Saturday as well as taking some time to look around the grounds a bit.  The forecast called for thunderstorms and high winds, and we did get the wind early on, but the rain never came, and late into the evening it remained warm enough to permit jammers to pick and others to listen dressed in t-shirts or light fleeces.  Two new bands arrived to inject added energy into the mix.  Valerie Smith and Liberty Pike, familiar to this audience, returned from their Caribbean cruise with a new configuration and renewed energy to lay down two extremely entertaining and enjoyable sets.  Hard Ryde, a Canadian band which had been on Smith's cruise, was new to the audience and to me.  This is a very strong band which was well received and deserves to be heard more frequently here in the States.

Promoters Victor Hall and Keith Bass

 

Festival Office

Emcee Evan Carl

 

Vendors

Hard Ryde

 

As readers of this blog know, I like to highlight a group we've never heard that surprises me for its quality and sound at a festival.  Here at YeeHaw Junction, the Canadian band Hard Ryde takes that distinction hands down.  Billing themselves as Canada's premiere bluegrass band, their music encompasses a variety of styles and genres, including bluegrass, old-time, country, and jazz.  From their first few chords, I knew their performance would be interesting and enjoyable.  Combining traditional covers with plenty of new and band originated songs, Hard Ryde offers a diverse and easily accessible program of first rate music.  I look forward to seeing them more frequently south of the border.

Doug DeBoer

 

Will Meadows

 

Chris Ricker

Rich Koop

 

D'Arcy Campbell

Marc Roy

 

Promoters Bass and Hall 

with

Nothin' Fancy

 

 

Valerie Smith and Liberty Pike

Valerie Smith brings and unusual background and style to her band and her work at bluegrass festivals.  With a degree in Musical Theater, she sings, dances, moves, and sell her songs like a Broadway show stopper. Along with that, she brings a winsome and pleasant stage personality and a range of musical choices to the performance.  All this comes together to make Valerie Smith and Liberty Pike a very enjoyable package providing a change of pace and elevating the energy level whereever they perform.  Singer/Songwriter and talented mult-instrumentalist Becky Buller melds perfectly with smith.  Her striking red hair and lithe movement on stage complement Smith's look and sound while blending personalities and sound.  Ernie Evans has brought strong instrumental work on three instruments, at least, as well as good vocals to the band.  The recent addition of Rebekah Long on bass is a welcome addition.  She's a first rate bass player and fits into the animated and lively performance this group offers.  Liberty Pike delivers a huge sound for a four piece band and presents a show that goes far beyond a simple performance of songs.  They use a range of material that maintains high interest and generates genuine enthusiasm from the audience.

Becky Buller

 

Ernie Evans

Rebekah Long

 

Valerie Smith

Triple Fiddles

 

Becky and Rebekah

Valerie, Becky and Ernie

 

Valerie

Around the Festival

Bill Huckaby

 

Marty - The 50/50 Lady

Mike and Mary Robinson - Bluegrass Evangelists

 

Clint Wilson and Kalyn Hall

Me

 

Jammin' in the Evening - A Bluegrass Tradition

 

  

 

YeeHaw Junction 2010 - Friday

Friday at YeeHaw Junction was warm and very pleasant.  What appeared to be a good day crowd appeared and camping rigs continued to arrive. The festive environment and good music continued throughout the day.  The slight overcast held the warmth a little later into the evening.  It's always a good thing at YeeHaw Junction when the evening temps keep from falling into the downright chilly zone.  New, and in one case, unfamiliar bands arrived and others performed for a second day.  Today's post will focus more on photos than commentary with bands covered yesterday, while I'll have some thoughts on the three new bands appearing.

Highway 41 Rehearsing in the Field

 

On Vendor's Row

The Larry Gillis Band

Larry

 

Rafe Waters

Alex Leach

David Doss

 

Rehearsal in the Wilson's Bus 

 

The Wilson Family

Katie

Clint

 

Robert and Melissa

 

Nothin' Fancy

 

Nothin' Fancy been in existance for nearly sixteen years with personnel changes only at bass.  Such longevity signals not only a level of quality achieved by few bands, but a group of musicians who enjoy working together and growing as a band.  Under the leadership of Mike Andes, who writes much of their original material, the band is one of the most entertaining and amusing groups on the circuit, reprising favorite bits while continuing to seek to tweak older ones to keep them fresh and enjoyable.  Their Country Gentlemen covers, relying on Andes' mellow baritone voice, are excellent.  Their extended comic bits, with Mitch Davis on banjo always playing the injured victim and Chris Sexton using his classically trained fiddle to provide musical jokes throughout the performance, are favorites of the audience.  Bassist Tony Shorter and tenor Gary Faris add to the fun and the high quality.

Mike Andes

 Gary Faris

 

Chris Sexton

Mitch Davis

 

Mike Andes and Tony Shorter

Gary Faris, Mike Andes, and Mitch Davis

 

Steve Dittman Bids Farewell and Thanks His Audience

The Bluegrass Brothers

The Bluegrass Brothers originated as a jam band at festivals in Virginia and have worked hard to become a hard working, blue collar, rough-edged, and enjoyable band playing covers of bluegrass standards and more recent material.  They are always high energy, and their picking and singing have consistently improved over the past couple of years.  They are a crowd pleasing favorite at many festivals. Their version of  "Grandfather's Clock" in which three members of the band take turns on the bass always works well.

Victor and Steve Dowdy

 

Donnie Dowdy

Victor, Donnie, and Steve

 

Robert Dowdy and Billy Hurt, Jr. 

 Men of the Week

 

C.J. Lewandowski and Men of the Week is a SPBGMA midwest regional award winning traditional band from Missouri looking remarkably like Carl Shifflet's Texas-based group. Emcee and lead singer C.J. Lewandowski plays guitar and balances on one foot like Shifflet, but without the moon-faced charm.  Gerald Jones was a standout on fiddle.  At least some of the audience responded by coming to the front to dance.  

Gerald Jones

C.J. Lewandowski

Tomorrow's News

 

Kalyn Hall 

Bryce Hall

Keith Bass

Victor Hall

YeeHaw Junction - Tuesday to Thursday

 

The sign says it all for those looking for a long weekend of good music.  A field has been cleared, and for the rest of the week a moving community will be in YeeHaw Junction to listen to and make music, visit, eat, and enjoy each other's company.  The truck provides a subtle, but more powerful symbol. It's a 1946 Chevvy truck loaned to the promoters for the duration.  In 1946 Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs joined Bill Monroe on the stage of the Grand Old Opry and what we now know as bluegrass music emerged.  In that moment, a new music emerged fresh and exciting.  Everyone who was there knew they were witnessing an important moment.  Today, we hope the vibrancy and excitement can be retained and honored while we, as fans and sometime pickers ourselves, can be open to the contined evolution of the music while we continue to honor, revere, and perform the great work of its founders.

1946 Chevy Truck

Some Moments from Getting Ready

Steve Dittman hands off to Vic Hall

Pooper Scooper Duty

Waylon and Bryce Hall

 

Extremely Important Delivery

Moved to the Pasture Next Door

 

The Rigs Arrive and Get Ready 

Line for Hog Barbecue Provided by Bass and Hall

 

...And the Food Was Much Appreciated 

Bryce and Kayln Hall at Evening Jam

 

  

Thursday dawned bright and warm and only got better as the day went on.  Camper rigs of various sizes continued to arrive and the camping area became more crowded as the community recreated itself.  For the next two months it will  be much like an amoeba, squeezing itself into new shapes and configurations as it moves from event to event throughout Florida before beginning to move north for bluegrass seasons around the country.  

Thursday at many bluegrass festivals is often devoted to performances by local and regional bands, often ones who are favorites of people regularly attending the particular event.  Since almost all the bands appearing last night at YeeHaw Junction will be performing several more times during the weekend, I haven't chosen to show all members of each band.  Everyone will be covered by Sunday. 

The Bluegrass Parlor Band

  

The Bluegrass Parlor Band has a storied history beginning with Tom Henderson's music shop, The Bluegrass Parlor, in Tampa.  He began assembling young people for lessons in playing acoustic instruments and then created The Bluegrass Parlor Band to give those kids a chance to perform.  Over the years, the Parlor Band has spawned a few noted professionals and lots of devoted pickers. With the closing of the Bluegrass Parlor, the spigot has been pretty much turned off and one has to wonder whether the band can continue much longer as Jarrod Walker follows his brother Cory off to college.  Thursday's performance, with Parlor Band alumnus Scott Anderson on banjo and Jim White filling in on bass was more than satisfactory, but it also suggested the last seasons of the Parlor Band are sooner rather than later. Austin Wilder continues to develop as an excellent flat-picker and strong tenor singer, and Jarrod Walker is an emerging virtuoso on mandolin.

Scott Anderson

Austin Wilder

Jim White

 

Jarrod Walker

Jarrod and Austin

The Larry Gillis Band

 

The Georgia based Larry Gillis Band has continued to improve.  The addition of eighteen year old David Doss on fiddle makes a significant contribution.  The band, with Alex Leach as emcee, has become increasingly professional sounding without ever departing from its hard-edged Geogia sound.

David Doss

Larry Playing Claw Hammer

 

The Wilson Family

The Wilson Family Band hails from Folkston, GA and is making its first appearance at YeeHaw Junction.  A regional favorite in North Florida and Georgia, the band has also appeared in South Carolina and Alabama.  Robert Wilson, who toured up and down the east coast during the eighties, and his wife Melissa, on mandolin, have nurtured two talented kids and drawn the whole together into a tightly knit and engaging band.  Katie, 14, on fiddle continues to improve as her fiddling has gained tone and consistency while her voice has matured with more to come.  Clint, a college student now, has largely taken over the band's emcee role as well as writing increasing numbers of songs for the band and playing first rate banjo. Melissa's work on the mandolin has improved mightily; her breaks are now interesting full-bodied.  Robert Wilson's distinctive voice and personable style provide maturity and leadership. This band is always a pleasure to see and hear.

Robert Wilson

Melissa Wilson

Bruce Sheridan

 

Clint Wilson

Katie Wilson

 

Highway 41

   

Highway 41 is the road running down the west side of Florida, also called the Tamiami Trail.  Most of the members of this quite good cover band playing traditional bluegrass comes from along that highway.  The band is entertaining, and Robert Feathers is an outstanding flat picker.  More about them as the weekend moves along.

Mark Horn

J.R. Davis

Robert Feather

Tomorrow's News 

Host bands are sometimes figureheads, recruited by the real promoter to headline an event.  At other times, performing as the host band at a festival serves the ego of the band.  In the case of Tomorrow's News, neither of these motives holds.  Promoters Keith Bass and Victor Hall are long time bluegrass pickers who have decided to take a shot at promoting.  This band, featuring members of the Hall family with Bass on banjo is not only working hard to put on an excellent festival, they're providing real entertainment at their own event.

Victor Hall

  

Keith Bass

 

Bryce Hall

Kalyn Hall

The Thursday crowd was large for a Thursday and enthusiastic for any night.  From check-in to the kick-off by Preacher Mike Robinson doing the emcee work for the first couple of days, to the new festival banner and Madison Gibson's excellent sound, the signs are there to suggest that YeeHaw Junction is in good hands and the festival will be a rousing success.