MERLEFEST reviews Wanted!

[levin4now]

Another year that I did not make it to Merlefest, and I'm dying to know about it from this mando community's perspective.

How long were you there? What days?
How was it overall?
What were the band highlights? Who did you see?
Did you run into other MandoCafe-ers?
Advice for future goers.....

We'd love to hear about it!

[cgwilsonjr]

I went to Merlefest on Saturday. The highlite for me was seeing a trio at the Hillside stage with Jorma (acoustic guitar), Sam Bush (mandolin) and Byron House (string bass). Stellar musicianship. Also, seeing Earl Scruggs and Doc Watson on the main staqe together was a magical moment that I will never forget.

[ethanopia]

I went for Thursday Friday Saturday.

I was really pretty bummed that the mando contest filled up at 3:00 pm. I got there at 3:30 thinking, well last year there were 15 slots and only 12 people showed up so whats the rush. But this year there were 20 slots and they filled up by 3:00. The gates opened at 2:30 this year and I know one guy said he got there at 3:00 and was 18th in line! Whoa! Scott Pearson won, some kid with a broken foot took second, and he was awesome, and Josh Pinkham took third.

Anyway great festival, mando mania was sweet. I was front row a little off center. I have some ok pictures from it, that I will post tonight but I was more interested in listening than taking pics, so in retro spect I could shot some better ones.

Compton's new Gilchrest F4 is super cool...complete with replica pick guard and clamp and beautiful redburst finish. She sounds really sweet too, as Mike Marshall said it's a real Doll.

Other highlights for me include, Sutton/Barenburg, Jack Laurence/Tony Williamson, Rice Unit, Tim O, Bush Band, Mark OSwing Trio, the list goes on and on...great festival. Now the waiting begins for Rockygrass.

Like I said bad picture taking but hey it's what I got, I'll post more pics of mando mania later in the pics forum.

[Christine W]

Didn't get to go but some friends did,hope to get the full scoop later and pics.

[Rich Michaud]

I am still tired from jet lag from Charlotte to Boston with a 4 hour delay by US Air making Boston arrival time afer 1 am. Still, I would recommend Merlefest after having made my first pilgrimage to a very well-run festival. As an intermediate player, I thoroughly enjoyed the picking tents set up on sight. Folks were friendly, the jams were great and the players were excellent. I spent most of my listening time at the Watson Stage and Cabin Stage area. Sam Bush, Tony Rice, Vince Gill,Earl Scruggs,Doc Watson and Patty Loveless were big names worth listening to along with Mike Marshall, Darol Anger, and many others. The Midnight Jam hosted by the Kruger Brothers was a not to miss event. Sam the maker of Pegasus cases was there from Scotland, along with many fine mando makers. Dos and Don'ts for another year are as follows:
1.Make reservations early and close by;
2. Do not stay in Blowing Rock-too far
3. Get tickets early to Midnight Jam, line up by 11:30 pm, and be prepared to stay up late at an event you won't want to leave even if it is 2 am or later;
4. Bring rain gear-small tarp, umbrella etc.
5. Jam in the tents next to the parking lot;
6. Have your finger calluses in place before going;
7. Expect warm friendly people, relax and have a great time.
8. Find the guy selling TS picks and buy one.

[ethanopia]

hey Richard did you get to see John Paul Jones sit in with John Cowan? I think that might have been at the midnight jam but I'm not sure?

anyway thats what the rumor mill is reporting that somewhere at Merlefest, JPJ sat in with Cow along with Sam on electric Mandocaster...Dazed and Confused.

[bud]

http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif Was there the whole week. I was at Pete Wernicks Jam camp Monday-Thursday. We performed on the Stage Thursday afternoon. I was able to get a break on New River Train that I enjoyed. What a tiring week. Saw most of my mando heros, Marshall, Compton, Bush, Grisman, O'brien
I really enjoyed Mando Mania. Tony Williamson had just bought a Loar the day before so he was "Waking it Up" he said. John Paul Jones joined John Cowan on Stage Sunday afternoon, very cool medly starting with Baton Rouge then Dazed and Confused. As I remember, maybe Sam was up there also with an electric mando. Tim O'brien was very entertaining. Vince Gill sang a great song, The chorus said, "It"s hard to kiss the lips at night that chew your ### out all day long" It is a classic. Many Many more memories, to many to mention. We even stayed pretty dry until the last act on Sunday,Rosanne Cash.

[Pneugrass]

My son and I drove up to Merlefest from Orlando. I made reservations back in January and had to book a room in Boone! It's so beautiful up there though that we didn't mind the ride back and forth. We got there Thursday night. Went to the fest on Friday all day and Saturday all day. Very well run festival. They moved the crowds back and forth from the parking lots pretty quick. Hats off to the local Boy Scout troops that furnished the busses. My biggest thrill was getting to see all of those great players close up. All of the shows were great but our favorite was the Mando-Mania. WOW!! I got some serious musical motivation.
1. Book reservations early
2. Take some rain gear and a jacket just in case.
3. Bring a backpack to keep your stuff in.
4. Take your travel mando ( the jams were great!}
5. Save some time for sight seeing in the area.
6. Be ready to have a great time!
http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[fangsdaddy]

john paul jones jaming w/sam & cowan was more of a train wreck #than a transendent experiemce imho. however it was funny to see bush playing a fender electric mando while wearing a big ### gibson logo t shirt. it was nice to see jpj. the last time i saw him play was in cleveland in '77.
the stories at the mamdo mania show of marshall removing something from the inside of his loar with a screwdriver & hammer were great. compton's one doublestop solo on "walking stick" #ruled. i really enjoyed mike marshall & darol anger, bruce molsky, gillian welch & david rawlings, #donna the buffalo's set in the dance tent, tera nevins & friends (donna doing old time) & spider john kroner. also natilie mcmasters set on the cabin stage following dazed the confused made me a fan.
sam

[Jeff A]

One of my favorite moments was Mike Marshall's solo workshop in the Pit.The Pit is a very small stage where the worst seat is probably 100 feet from the stage. He did some teaching and a lot af wonderful playing. Chris Thile, and Brian Sutton did a set with Mark O'Conner's Hot Swing Trio that was nothing less than amazing. Grisman invited 14 year old Josh Pinkham on to the Watson stage on Sunday afternoon and the kid held his own trading licks with the Dawg, Bush,and Tony Williamson.
I have been to Merlefest the last 7 years and it seems they are close to capacity for the venue. I think they had 100,000 this year. Some of the stage were packed,but the players rotated from big stages like the Watson stage to smaller venues like the creekside tent.You just had to do a little planning to get up close. Kudos to the Merlefest staff for making a huge event run smoothly.

[A9cp]

Drove up from Orlando for the 8th time. Enjoyed Mando Mania at the Creekside on Sat morning. Bush, Marshall, Compton, Tony Williamson and Tom Rozum, a lot of picking going on. The 14 year kid Josh Pinkham from Bushnell Florida is unreal, clear and quick. Yep bring a lot of gear. In the last 8 years I have seen it really cold, hot, frost, rain ,mud, but nothing a good rain suit won't fix. The mando player for Tony Rice unit whom is the brother of the Tony's long time bass player ain't bad. Just too much to see, it takes year to take it all in.

[jamman]

Only got to enjoy Merlefest Saturday, but it was a blast as always. #

Mando Mania was going to be my first destination, but got there late as usual. Bummer.
Mark O' Connor, Bryan Sutton, and Thile to start the day. O' Connor played the role of ringleader. #Mind boggling talent on a small stage.

Natalie Macmaster was next, up on the main stage. I was pretty steamed when she brought up that she has a husband. She was supposed to be the mother of my children. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

Edgar Meyer did a short solo concert at the cabin stage after Natalie that I'd been looking forward to. #Wow.... Wow. #As Sam Bush said, "Edgar brings a good level of .. What the heck! to a tune." # #Got to see Nickle Creek, Peter Rowan, & Donna the Buffalo. #Fun stuff all.

Getting a campsite at the last minute was no easy task. #I asked the people working the campground at the free parking lot how much a site was. # They told me "$58 a site, but #I don't think we have any". My buddy & I refused on principle to pay that much. #We sent the girls to ask without us later, and they got taken on a 4-wheeler to pick a site, and were only charged $30. #When they came back to get us we had to get checked in and wristbands at the gate. We were told #if we tried to cross without wristbands we would've been tackled by the football star working the gate, and if he didn't get us, well, the sheriff doesn't really want to clean his rifle tonight. #http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif

The campsite had a couple of great jams going on at 1 in the morning. #Lots of banjos and guitars, but a couple smooth mando and fiddle players too.

The Merle is my favorite event every year; it's what got me into bluegrass and mandolin music. #Gotta work my way to Telluride this year....

[f5loar]

I can't say how big the John Paul Jones thing went over out front stage but at side stage where I was a mere 15 feet from the event it was truly an awesome bringing together of the New Grass/Led Zepp sound. I heard the short rehearsal backstage and Cowan was really pumped for this. Poor Wayne Benson and Rex Magee had no idea what they were a part of as they hadn't been born yet when Led Zepplin quit touring. I got to speak with John Paul and he's the real deal. It's the first time in MerleFest history they had 3 rock & roll hall of famers on stages. The others being Hot Tuna from Jefferson Airplane. Is Hot Tuna in the Hall of Fame? Vince did a fine job cutting some mandolin with Earl and his full tilt country band with JeeDee Manass on steel guitar was as good as it might get at MerleFest. In fact Vince was so sure the sound guys at Merlefest couldn't handle it(He had been there before with Emmylou and others but not solo)that he brought in not only his own sound guys but they brought their own monitor and main sound boards plugging into MerleFest speakers. Patty Loveless brought here on boards too but she was bucking Nickel Creek and Hot Tuna on two other stages at the same time and she only had half a crowd.
And I thought Ricky Skaggs was picky! And poor little Roseanne Cash who was hanging with Vince on Sat. got the word you best bring your own mic if you want to sound like yourself. When she finished I was tearing down the mics and noticed hers wouldn't unplug. Her roadies had it locked on so we wouldn't put it with ours. One of the Merle guys looked at it and said "damn what a mic". I saw it but didn't recognize the brand name. That means it cost more than $5000 if I didn't recogonize it. I still say Merlefest is a great place to be every year but they seem to have less bluegrass and more buffalo music then in years past. No Legends of bluegrass this year. They could have had an extra 20,000 people had they sceduled a New Grass Revival reunion on the Watson stage for one hour.
I'm really surprised Doc didn't ask them to do it for Merle. Money may not get them back together but the memory of Merle should be priceless to the New Grass boys since Merle was a firm believer and supportor of their outlaw grass. I was most impressed with the two Gibson Lawson models and the Rigel G5 I played. I missed picking on the Collins but little Josh had a handmade Skip Kelley F5 that was really nice. I saw Sam with one of his new F5 cases and looks like he's getting better at his trade if that is possible.

[ethanopia]

more pics of mando mania at merlefest...

[ethanopia]

Sam gettin it done...

[ethanopia]

Tom and Mike...

[ethanopia]

Tony Williamson waking up a Loar from a long slumber...

Which according to him is for sale at http://www.mandolincentral.com

[Scotti Adams]

..whats Sammy sportin on his headstock....is he a member of the tape crew now?

[ethanopia]

Scotti that is a little bow tie and someone actually asked about that, and Said said he played a gig with Edgar Meyer in NY and wanted Hoss to look more like a classical instrument, more formal and such...

yeah they talked about the important stuff you now; rattlesnake tails and bowties.

[Scotti Adams]

..thanks for the info Ethan..I wish I could have been there....one of these days...

[sunburst]

I haven't seen Tony Williamson lately! He's lost some serious weight! Good for him!

[Russ Jordan]

I really enjoyed Barry Mitterhoff with Hot Tuna--really tasteful player. Have to say the Hot Tuna performance on the Watson stage was one of my favorite sets of the entire weekend. There's a bunch of mando I missed as I worked in one location. In addition to Barry M, I enjoyed the mando playing of Tim O'Brien, Ricky Simpson, Mike Compton.

No mando, but also really liked Natalie McMaster and Mark O'connor's Swing Trio. The cat on guitar with O'Connor really knows the Django stuff.

[MartinD_GibsonA]

I had a somewhat different experience from my fellow Cafe types in that I spent far more of the weekend working a booth in the Expo Tent than I did listening to music. #I was there with my buddy Alan Phelps (A C Phelps Mandolin & Guitar Co) trying to push some Blueridge guitars, Kentucky mandolins, various accessories and Alan's custom instruments. #Over the course of the weekend, we had visits from Happy Traum, Russ Barenberg, Jack Lawrence, Tony Williamson, Brad Davis, Pat Flynn, Vince Gill and John Paul Jones. #Russ, Tony, Brad, Pat and John Paul picked a while for us right there in the booth, and Vince showed up while Russ was playing. #Vince's time was just too tight, but we *almost* got him to sit down and jam with Russ a while -- imagine what a treat *that* would have been! #Brad and John Paul even stopped in a second time (on Sun) to say how much they had enjoyed getting to know us. #So while I missed some of the magical moments such as Doc and Earl on stage together, I had other magical moments, e.g. my own John Paul Jones mando concert in the booth. #And when I wasn't doing that, I met Bryan Sutton, Mark O'Connor, Mark Schatz and the sisters (Vicki and Donna) from The Waifs. #All in all, it was a GREAT weekend!

Don Smith

[LilCreekster]

How long were you there?What days? Wednesday night till Monday, the whole dern thing and then some LOL

How was it overall? BIG!!! Hahaha. It was really cool, soooo much going on! The area is beautiful and the weather was tempermental, but it was all good!

What were the band highlights? Who did you see? I saw Edgar Meyer (wow!!), Wisechild, Nickel Creek, Sam Bush, the mando mania crew, Mark Oconner with Thile & Sutton, Mike Marshall & Darol Anger, Sam Bush's band, The DGQ & friends, and a few others that I wasn't even sure who I was watching LOL. Watched Tim Obrien from waaay at the back, but could still hear great! Edgar was probably my favorite. I was SO blown away with his solo show... serious goosebumps!! I also really enjoyed Wisechild... they are awesome live, the show with Just Casey & Luke was definately a hilight. And of course Josh's appearance with dawg was awesome http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

I also got to meet Sam Gifford (maker of pegasus cases) in person which was super cool!! And ran into a few professional photographers I feature on my sites who I've only exchanged emails with.

The midnight jam was about as cool as you'd imagine it to be!! The mando attack during one of the last songs was flippin awesome, I got a bunch of pics of it... they didn't turn out that great, but are fun to look at remembering what happened LOL.

I put up my pics here (http://homepage.mac.com/lilcreekster/PhotoAlbum4.html)

Did you run into other MandoCafe-ers? Yup! I think just one though, and I met a few who are going to the symposium as well.

Advice for future goers.....
1. Bring rain gear!
2. Be prepaerd to get NO sleep
3. Go the whole time if you can, there's so much going on!

[SternART]

Thanks Heather, your photos made me envious....wish I could have been there......... Mike Marshall looks like he was really having fun, at that Midnight jam.....I'll make the pilgrimage one of these years! What a great festival!

[FishwaterInc]

After hearing SO much about this years Merlefest, I just have to say I NEED to go next year... http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Rondo]

Attended all 4 days. Saw great bands like The Waifs, The Green Cards, and one hellraising experience from the Gourds. Thought the Brian Sutton set with Tim and Bella, and Doc and his Dad, was the highlight for me. Thought Vince was boring and Sam's band on autopilot. I think Sam has become the Jimmy Buffett of bluegrass/newgrass. AND HURRAY FOR BARRY MITTERHOF! And CELTIC CONNECTION. For guitars did anybody catch Wayne Henderson and flatpicking with fingerpicks! Mind blowing

[mmukav]

We were ther thurs.-sat., and it was awesome! Beautiful setting, well run, no hassles, (except for lots of people, more each year). The mando contest was great, and my highlight was the hillside jam with Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Bela Fleck, etc.! Doc was great, Sam too. mandolins galore, something for everyone. I do agree that year after year you hear less and less 'bluegrass', but the players that attend are wonderful. We stayed in Boone, 30 min. drive, and enjoyed that town also!