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Honestly, how many times do you get to spend a weekend in the presence of musicians who are considered to be the best in the whole wide world at their instruments? Wintergrass was one of those weekends. We were completely prepared to be blown away by young prodigies like Chris Thile and the Infamous Stringdusters. We were expecting the brilliant presence of artists like Darrell Scott and Doyle Lawson. What shocked the hell out of us was Mike Marshall and Hamilton de Holanda.
Yes, we'll admit we've been totally in the dark about these two guys and how absolutely incredible they are. They stand facing each other, playing at one another, staring each other in the eyes and dancing to their faster-than-a-speeding-bullet mandolin harmonies. They blow each other away, and they really rocked the house at Wintergrass this year.
Chris Thile joined them on Friday night, but we missed it. Dammit. We did see legends like Jerry Douglas and Tim O'Brien, though, not to mention newcomers like the Infamous Stringdusters and local Seattle heroes Captain Gravel, which is always a pleasure.
There's little that can really be said about this weekend at Wintergrass that doesn't speak for itself when you consider all the incredible artists who participated this year. Last year's Wintergrass was great, but this year's line-up was just in a separate universe. Every single group that took the stage were masterful, and the energy shared among the performers and audience was infectious.
If you didn't go, you really, really missed out.
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Kickass indeed! Marshall and de Holanda were probably my highlight of last year, and while it was great this year, they definitely over-saturated the festival with their chorro tunes. My highlights this year were:
-Tim O'Brien's Saturday church set (Friday night mainstage was lame, and I missed Saturday night's main stage performance)
-Hot Buttered Rum
-Gibson Brothers
-The Mammals > Crooked Still > Infamous Stringdusters > Uncle Earl at the Marriott on Saturday night. I could go on and on about this grouping, but the succinct description is "WOW!"
-Lee Highway and Captain Gravel were great for being local yokels.
-And of course the best highlight of EVERY WinterGrass...late night jamming until dawn.
Sigh. Maybe someday I'll hit it big on the lotto and be able to afford their insane $50 a day tickets.
i know the tickets are kind of pricey, and the drive to tacoma can be a pain in the ass, but if you plan ahead, you can get a ticket for half as much. besides, in one day at wintergrass, you can see 5-10 groundbreaking, fantastic bands, which is worth more than $50 if you figure you'd be willing to spend $10/band at a local bar. i'm just saying.
Yep, if you order in advance, your ticket price will be roughly half the late-comer price. I know, it's a leap of faith, but Wintergrass just gets better and better. Tim O's Saturday set really took off, after being a bit underwhelming on Friday. And I agree, the "kids" in the Marriot, especially Crooked Still and the Stringdusters, were phenomenal. I really enjoyed Darrol Scott, Pat Flynn and John Cowan's informal song kickaround on Friday, too. A massive display of raw talent collaboration. Can't wait for next year, it is ALWAYS a great time.
$50 is a bargain. What a pleasure to be there Friday with some flat-out world class playing and ensemble singing. Definitely a younger and more progressive variant of grass compared to any other Wintergrass day I've been to.
Highlights were Chris Thile and band including Bryan Sutton flatpicking and Jerry Douglas and his band with drums and electric guitar but no vocals. Those three are perhaps the best there is at their instruments. Another highlight, the Thile, Mike Marshall and Hamilton de Holanda on bandolim Midnight Mandolin jam was even hotter than the Thile Marshall Mando Madness from a few years ago. Breaking away from Nickel Creek, Thile has aligned himself with some of the best and taken his music to another level. I liked O'Brien's Friday performance with Seattle's Danny Barnes, musically and with their dry humor.
We started the evening with The Infamous Stringdusters with Chris Eldridge on guitar. Very good. Caught Hot Buttered Rum in the dance oriented Ballroom after Uncle Earl finally finished with their square dance. In Copper Hollow, Victoria's Outlaw Social had some good harmonies and included Kendel Carson from The Paperboys.