Hey all,
Just checking to see how many of you either went to Rockygrass or viewed it via the Mandolin.com stream. I ended up shelling out the rather cheap $50 for the option to stream all 3 days from the main stage and it was sooooooooo worth it.
Friday I missed the first 2 acts but caught the rest of them except for the Stringdusters closing out the night (have seen them in person quite few times here in Humboldt County). The highlight by far was the Tony Rice Tribute. It was so cool to see Dawg come out and play Swing 51 and hear how the rest of the members interpreted that tune...especially Bela! Loved Dawg's tune he wrote as a tribute to Tony, too ("20/20"). Dawg actually seemed a little nervous on stage when he first started playing, which was cool to see since he always has such a huge stage presence. He actually is a human just like the rest of us, I guess.
Saturday I watched pretty much most of it except for the whole sets of Fireside Collective and the Lil Smokies. The highlight for me was Sierra Hull and Justin Moses. I love the duo setting so much and seeing the two of them rip their instruments to shreds while also being extremely tasteful and singing as well as the both of them do was just magic. Straight fire.
Sunday Watched pretty much all of it except for some of Peter Rowan and Tony Rice.
By far the highlight for me was watching Bela close it out with all his new original compositions ("My Bluegrass Heart", coming out in September) and backed up by Sierra, Bryan Sutton, Michael Cleveland, Mark Schatz, and Justin Moses (who played FOUR instruments: banjo, mandolin, dobro, and fiddle!). Pretty sure Justin is the most talented multi-instrumentalist in the genre today. He plays everything at such a high level that most struggle to get to with just one instrument.
Other mandolin highlights: anything with Sam, of course. Nathan Livers is a spectacular player with Michael Cleveland's Flamekeeper. His Kimble sounds amazing. Dan Bui is a really tasteful player (Twisted Pine). Great tone and Twisted Pine is just such a cool and unique band. Mattie Witler with Della Mae is amazing and her Gilchrist sounds killer! Ronnie. Nothing needs to be said; always is Ronnie and just as good as ever! It seems like Sierra just gets better and better and her own style is just really shining these days. There's nothing she can't play and she plays all kinds of amazing licks I don't hear anybody else doing. One of my favorite modern mandolins by leaps and bounds.
Anyways, I so enjoyed being able to watch this festival that I'll probably never attend in person and just thought I'd share some thoughts from it. What were your favorites if you watched it?
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