Festival Report: Grand Targhee Bluegrass Festival
By: Jeremy Hess
There’s something about living dirty at a music festival for three days that is just plain fun. I think it helps me release my inner hippy. It doesn’t hurt that the music is bluegrass and that the venue was beautiful Grand Targhee Resort. Yes, I attended this year’s 22nd Annual Grand Targhee Bluegrass Festival, and if you enjoy camping, drinking, and live music, or any combination of the three; then you were probably there as well. If you weren’t, well, there’s always next year.
I don’t know about anyone else, but one of my favorite things about camping is that I don’t have to take showers. It is a rare treat for me to get to live dirty. Get my feet all caked in dirt, my hair all greased up, my hands all sticky. The grubby dirt bag look is fun for a few days. I’m sure there are some who get to do that everyday, and I salute them. But for me, and anyone else who likes to keep a somewhat steady job, personal hygiene is a daily reality.
Okay, enough about dirt, this year’s festival was as good as ever with a load of great bluegrass bands. Some of the headliners included Railroad Earth, Yonder Mountain String Band, and of course the David Grisman Quintet. Now I’ll be the first to admit, I am normally not the biggest fan of bluegrass, but this is my second Targhee Bluegrass Festival and every time I go, I realize how fun live bluegrass is. All the bands that I saw put on a great show as far as I’m concerned. It’s hard not to have a good time when someone on stage is jamming hard on the fiddle or banjo. It’s the kind of music that makes you clap your hands and stomp in the mud. Once it got dark on Friday and Saturday nights, the shows definitely got turned up a notch due to more lighting effects and people’s excitement over seeing the last show of the day. Those were the shows that transformed the festival from a fun family event into an all out bluegrass hoedown.
Sunday was more low key, due to a steady light drizzle throughout the day. Most people were not about to let a little rain ruin their already great weekend and if they had rain gear, they made full use of it, if not; they just got wet and enjoyed the music anyways. The bands that played on Sunday did a great job of keeping people happy despite the weather. Local artists, Anne & Pete Sibley put on a great set with lots of guest instrumentalists from other bands making appearances. The Wilders also put on a great show getting the crowd pretty amped before the headliner of the day, the David Grisman Quintet. Grisman and company played about halfway through their set when the rain went from a drizzle to a fierce downpour. The band fled the stage and everyone in the crowd scrambled for shelter under the nearest tent. Lightning cracked directly overhead and since we were up at such a high elevation the thunder exploded all around. People were advised to seek shelter in some of the buildings away from the lightning. Thus, was the end of the 22nd Annual Grand Targhee Bluegrass Festival. At least the end of the music, many people were still camping out for Sunday night as well.
The music was excellent, but what about the intangibles of a music festival? The merchandise, the food, and of course the beer! Well there was plenty of beer and you could buy a festival mug to drink inside the festival grounds. The mugs were pretty cool and if you go back to another Targhee Music Festival you can bring it and use it again. One of Targhee’s on-going “green” efforts to reduce waste. The food was also good with a wide variety of dishes available ranging from pizza, to burritos, to Asian food. As for merchandise, you could buy a festival hat, t-shirt, and lots of CDs. They also had henna tattoos, festival dresses for the ladies, and plenty of hemp clothing. If you made the mistake of bringing a wad of cash, like I did, you found it pretty much gone by the end of the weekend. But for me it didn’t matter, it was like a mini-vacation.
One of the best things about this festival is that it really isn’t that big at all. Even though camping space was almost nearly, if not completely full, there really didn’t seem too crowded. It gives the performances a lot more of an intimate feeling to them. You’re not lost out in a sea of people 100 rows back, if you want you can get right up next to the stage and stare your favorite banjo player right in the eye while he’s blazing through a blistering banjo solo. Also, a lot of the bands signed CDs that they had for sale and just met with fans after their set was finished.
All in all, it was a great festival. Despite some bad weather on the last day, I’m sure most people had a great time. Lots of amazing bluegrass music, lots of friends, and a beautiful setting to enjoy it all in! So if you didn’t make it out this year, be sure to take time to check out Grand Targhee’s Bluegrass Festival next summer.
Posted under Music Blog
This post was written by wwhite on August 27, 2009
As this album begins to climb the KHOL New Music Charts, I thought it time to post this little widget so y’all can blast Vadim’s new stuff from home. Check out the Funky, Soultastic, Reggae infused Hip Hop sound. Click on “Songs” on the top bar to listen to the new album. Soundtrack to your next BBQ or the next TGR Flick? Let me know, comments below
I have not seen any surviving member of the Grateful Dead save one Ratdog show since the Furthur tour of 1996. I spent 14 years and most of my vacation time and money seeing the Dead from my first show on March 3rd, 1981 in College Park, MD to the last show in ’95 at Soldier Field , some 110+ shows, not counting JGB and solo Jerry gigs along the way. Needless to say when I heard the “Core Four” of Bob, Phil, Micky and Bill had agreed to tour again after doing an Obama rally in PA, I was both intrigued and excited. With road warrior Warren Haynes having the unenviable task of taking Jerry’s place on Guitar and Ratdog keyboard wizard Jeff Cimenti in tow, this was shaping up to be a tour I could get into. 
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