Bluegrass Festival
by Frank Davis The Broadside Vol 10. No. 2 October 2006
The 2nd Annual Mount Pearl Bluegrass & Oldtime Country Music Festival took place August 18-20, 2006 at Team Gushue Sports Complex in Mount Pearl, Newfoundland. Sponsored by the city, the festival's musical content is controlled by the Bluegrass and Oldtime Country Music Society of Newfoundland and Labrador. Beginning Friday evening and ending Sunday afternoon, the festival consisted of 26 sets of 30 to 45 minutes duration spread over four sessions. In response to Mount Pearl's request, the groups performing on Sunday focused on gospel music in their sets.
Headliners this year were Chris Stuart and Backcountry from California, Banjo Dan and the Midnight Plowboys from Vermont, and The Hunger Mountain Boys from Massachusetts. Nine local groups, including ECMA winners Crooked Stovepipe, also appeared.
All three of the US bands provided dynamic, high-energy performances. The Hunger Mountain Boys have an amazing sound for a duo and created quite a buzz at the festival and with local media. Banjo Dan's group performed with high energy and drew from a vast repertoire of material gathered from their 30 years of performing. Chris Stuart and Backcountry delivered captivating performances, demonstrating their virtuosity on banjo, fiddle, guitar and acoustic bass while performing Stuart's original compositions.
In keeping with the theme of the festival, the Society worked to provide a mix of straight-ahead bluegrass sounds combined with old-time country music. The resulting musical diversity was a factor in the high level of satisfaction and interest expressed by audience members in the survey. One of the Vermont musicians noted that this was one of the few festivals that he has attended where he had actually taken time to listen to the music being played. He was particularly complimentary regarding the caliber of the local groups. He noted that it was somewhat unique (and important) to see such a large number of local groups being given the opportunity to perform on the same stage as professional bands. This was a great learning experience for all and serves as well to demonstrate the depth of local talent in this musical genre.
On Saturday morning the Society coordinated four free workshops on mandolin, guitar, banjo and fiddle. In addition, Chris Stuart and Backcountry hosted a bluegrass band workshop. Demonstrating how a bluegrass band works, they covered instrumentation, harmonies, timing and so forth. All the workshops were very well attended with the only complaint being that they needed to be longer!
A musical highlight of the weekend came Sunday morning when inclement weather forced the festival to move indoors at the Glacier Arena. While the crew was setting up the stage and sound gear, Chris Stuart and Backcountry performed a totally acoustic gospel set at to a large crowd, who sang along with them on several numbers. This effort was very much appreciated, prompting one audience member to rise spontaneously and thank them on behalf of the crowd for their class and musicianship.
Overall the festival was quite successful in terms of attendance and music presented. Audience numbers this year were up over 2005, with a high percentage of people who had not previously attended. Pictures are available for viewing at the Society's web site.
We thank the City of Mount Pearl for hosting the event and for co-ordinating the logistics surrounding the venue preparation, promotion, and the other support. We also want to thank the Society's many volunteers who helped with the merchandise table and backstage security. We have already begun lining up talent for next year's festival, to be held on August 17-19 2007. We look forward to seeing readers of The Broadside there!
Country music afficiando and a fine player in his own right, Frank Davis is on the festival committee that initiated Newfoundland and Labradors' first Bluegrass and Old Time Country Music Festival. We are all looking forward to the third annual festival next summer!