Hilary Hawke, a writer for the Daily Mail and other regional papers, writes:

DURHAM — Everyone says the same thing about the world famous Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival, winner of the International Bluegrass Festival of the Year award.

It’s about so much more than the world-class music.

There’s an air of civility, respect, friendliness and camaraderie springing from a shared passion for the bluegrass style, the outdoors and camping.

It envelopes the tent city and falls on people who enter the festival grounds like a spell.

http://www.thedailymail.net/articles/2010/07/16/news/doc4c3fe78abc14c941964073.txt

Berklee Roots Music Road Show Rolls Into the Northeast’s Largest Bluegrass Fest Grey Fox for Two Shows, July 16 – 17

BOSTON – The Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival annually transforms the small, quiet Catskill Mountain hamlet of Oak Hill into a bluegrass boomtown, this year from July 15 - 18.  The lineup includes Sam Bush, the David Grisman Bluegrass Experience, the Del McCoury Band, Crooked Still, and the Greencards, among others, performing old time and traditional bluegrass to contemporary and new grass.

Also rolling into town will be the Berklee Roots Music Road Show, with Sierra Hull, Courtney Hartman, Frankie’s Little .44, The Up Jumpers, and Chasing Blue.  Hard-driving or introspective, the student soloists and bands play bluegrass that embodies its earliest roots, yet stretches by the collected experiences of the guys and gals who have studied in the contemporary, international woodshed that is Berklee.  While these artists perform on their own around Boston and across the U.S., together in the Road Show they represent the current generation of bluegrass players whose vitality is attracting more new students, musicians, and fans than seen in years.

The Berklee Roots Music Road Show performs on both July 16 and 17 from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. on the Master Stage.  Berklee professor Dave Hollender will give an American Roots Music clinic on July 17 at noon, also on the Master Stage.  For festival and ticket information visit greyfoxbluegrass.com.

It’s a good bet that the Road Show will find even more pathways in the future.  Berklee introduces its American Roots Music Program this year to satisfy the surge of students who are plucking away at acoustic string instruments and exploring the roots of contemporary music.  Directed by Matt Glaser, the American Roots Music Program will lead students to blues, gospel, folk, country, bluegrass, Cajun, Western swing, polka, Tex-Mex, and other styles through courses, visiting artists, concerts, and symposiums.

About the performers:
Full Berklee Presidential Scholarship recipient Sierra Hull of Byrdstown, Tennessee, is no stranger to the spotlight.  The New York Sun praised Hull as a “wonderfully adapt” mandolin player, and even bluegrass star Alison Krauss referred to her as “remarkably talented.” Hull began playing the mandolin at 8 and was quickly noted for her inventive picking and musical maturity.  Her first album, Angel Mountain, was released in 2002 and was purely instrumental.  In 2008, she released the vocal-heavy Secrets, which displayed her vocal evolution in the six years that separated the two projects.  Hull has appeared at the Great High Mountain Tour, on the Grand Ole Opry radio and TV shows, and has shared the stage with bluegrass legends such as Mountain Heart, Ricky Skaggs, and Krauss.

Courtney Hartman grew up in northern Colorado.  Her musical journey started at 3, when she got her first fiddle.  A few years later, she picked up the mandolin and joined Mandomonium, a mandolin orchestra.  At 11, she found her love for bluegrass guitar when her daddy asked her learn “Blackberry Blossom” on one so that she could teach it to him.  That exercise inspired her, and within the next year she won two flatpick contests.  She began writing her own music and performing throughout the U.S. with her siblings in their band, the Hartmans.  Throughout high school, she continued to perform with the band and taught music lessons to more than 30 students.  In 2008, she went to Slovakia with a bluegrass band to represent the U.S. at an international folk festival.

Frankie’s Little .44 was born of a stomp and a sway in the great state of West Virginia, and as a nod to a tale of murderous ex-lovers.  Founding member Lucy Cochran played traditional fiddle tunes, until she found herself band-less and in need of an excuse to travel while playing her beloved fiddle and banjo.  After enjoying many rollicking shows on their southeastern turf, she moved operations to Berklee and found Etienne Cremieux, Ben Walters, and Alex Muri. Frankie’s Little .44 is getting a rep for great singing, luscious female harmonies, hypnotic driving fiddling, spectacular originals, phenomenal bass, rock solid guitar and mando, and raucous, yet tender, old time music.

Progressive string band The Up Jumpers infuse the traditional Appalachian and Ozark Mountain music of their upbringing with elements of jazz, blues, and rock ‘n roll. The band features Lukas Pool (clawhammer banjo, guitar, vocals), Jen Starsinic (fiddle, guitar, vocals), Jack Devereux (fiddle, mandolin, vocals), and special guest Charles Muench of River Wheel, on bass. With influences ranging from Roscoe Holcombe to Merle Travis to The Band, The Up Jumpers play groovin’, drivin’, and all around fun and rowdy music.

Chasing Blue is Trent Freeman, Maggie MacKay, Suzanne Oleson, Mike Reese, and Chad Grey.  The band plays hard-driving bluegrass with elements of blues, funk, rock, jazz, Texas swing, and traditional Canadian fiddle music.  Influences include the Nashville Bluegrass Band, The Lonesome River Band, and The Infamous Stringdusters.  Members of Chasing Blue met in a Berklee College of Music bluegrass ensemble in 2008. After a successful end-of-semester-performance, appearing as Slim Wallet and the No Dough Boys, the group decided to change names and stay together. Chasing Blue plays a mix of original and traditional material with unique arrangements. Chasing Blue has played the Joe Val Bluegrass Festival, and showcased at the 2009 International Bluegrass Music Association in Nashville.

#            #          #

~
Allen Bush
Director of Media Relations,
Berklee College of Music
617-747-2658
Cell: 617-529-7303
Twitter.com/BerkleeNews

The New York Times has selected Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival as its top “Pop” happening during the coming week, describing our award-winning lineup as the cream of the “Twang-erati.”  Good enough! Nice to be recognized by one of the world’s leading newspapers!

And The Times selected one of Amanda Kowalski’s FINE photos to print! Amanda’s photographic eye is every bit as gorgeous as her dead-on bass playing! You’ll find out all about Amanda when she performs with the debuting band, Della Mae at the festival. She’ll be in a bass workshop with Mike Bub and Mike Barber, as well. Don’t miss that one! Della Mae’s fiddler, Kimber Ludiker, is the current (for the second year in a row) National Fiddle Champion. She’ll be in a couple of not-to-be-missed workshops, too. But I digress……

Following is what Dana Jennings of the NY Times wrote about us…

“There are times when New York thrums and throbs as if it truly is the white-hot center of the known universe. But given that many of us aren’t from the big city, there are days when we pine for our long-lost agrarian pasts — usually after almost getting mowed down in a crosswalk by a Hummer swaggering down the street. And there’s nothing quite like a bluegrass festival to satisfy that down-home ache.

The 2010 GREY FOX BLUEGRASS FESTIVAL opens its four-day run on Thursday in Oak Hill, N.Y., which is some two and a half hours northwest of Manhattan. Walsh Farm there will be flush with the cream of the twang-erati. The festival’s featured acts include the Del McCoury Band, the Dry Branch Fire Squad, the David Grisman Bluegrass Experience, the Kathy Mattea Band, Crooked Still and dozens more. There will be crying fiddles, barking banjos and a clutch of voices higher and more lonesome than Mount Everest.

If you’re thinking that you might be a bit too uptown for a bluegrass festival, just shut your eyes, drink in the timeless tales of grief and woe that the music tells so well, and then imagine Grey Fox as Shakespeare in the Park — with a twang. Thursday through next Sunday, music pretty much all morning, noon and night, Walsh Farm, 1 Poultney Road, Oak Hill, N.Y., (888) 946-8495, greyfoxbluegrass.com/ws/pages/home.php; $175 full festival, $45 Thursday, $55 Friday and Saturday, $25 Sunday.”

Here’s the link to the entire article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/11/arts/11weekaheadweb.html

GREY FOX is constantly evolving: changing for the better, striving for excellence. This year, we’ve done it again with lots of improvements around the grounds and on our stages.

• A giant SHADE TENT in the Main Stage area;

• There’s lots of buzz about all the NEW BANDS at Grey Fox this year! Get ready for Rockin’ Acoustic Circus, The Hillbenders, Della Mae, Greensky Bluegrass, Tony Watt & Southeast Expressway, The Professors of Bluegrass, Special Consensus, Andrew & Noah VanNorstrand Band, Planet Zydeco, Jim Gaudet and the Railroad Boys, The Sweetback Sisters, Joe Singleton and Blue Sky Mission Club;

• The BERKLEE ROOTS MUSIC PROGRAM featuring Frankie’s Little .44, Chasing Blue, The Upjumpers, with special guests Courtney Hartman and Sierra Hull. Catch their workshop and showcases!

• Our first ever “ALL CELLO” WORKSHOP with Emma Hardin and Tristan Clarridge!

• More QUIET CAMPING areas spread around the grounds (you asked, we listened).

• ATM MACHINE will be located next to the “Funny Money” Booth in the lower field.

• A different micro-brew daily from CAVE MOUNTAIN BREWERY in Windham, NY at the Beer Cave. ID required.

Get ready, OAK HILL, NY ….. Here comes Grey Fox and one terrific community of bluegrass fans!
Visit the website: www.greyfoxbluegrass.com
Camping and day tickets still available, but going fast! Buy TICKETS:

We have a bunch of ways to KEEP COOL next week during Grey Fox!

Firstly, there is the creek that runs along the farm. It’s state law that you can’t go INTO the creek, but sitting on the side with your feet in — and splashing all you want — is perfectly fine! So enjoy the creek… just don’t go all the way in.

ALSO: NEW THIS YEAR: We’re adding a new big-big SHADE TENT in the Main Stage area! And, as always, a very cooling MIST TENT at the Dance Tent.

Keep cool by taking the FREE SHUTTLE BUSES that loop from the ticket booth to the Main Stage area all day and night. So hop aboard. Handicapped transportation also available.

Once again, the fine folks at ZOOM FLUME Water Park (very nearby) are offering great discounts to Grey Fox visitors. Just show them your wristband! How cool is that?

Last but certainly not least, several PERFORMANCE STAGES are under tents. All WORKSHOPS, KIDS & DANCE stages are covered.

GREY FOX! It’s the COOL place to be. We hope to see you there!
July 15-18, 2010 on the Walsh Farm, Oak Hill, NY 12460.

Featuring Sam Bush, Kathy Mattea, Tim O’Brien, Del McCoury, David Grisman, Doyle Lawson, RR Earth, The Greencards, Crooked Still —- and dozens more who you won’t want to miss. We’re famous for bringing new talent to our audience. Be sure to catch Rockin’ Acoustic Circus, The Hillbenders, Della Mae, The Sweetback Sisters, Andrew & Noah VanNorstrand, Blue Sky Mission Club and others at GF 2010.

Come see why Grey Fox is the IBMA Bluegrass Event of the Year!
It’s like putting your finger in the Bluegrass Socket! Come get energized Grey Fox style!
GET DAY OR CAMPING TICKETS NOW

Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival was just previewed on Music Marauder Blog. Nicely done.

Here’s the link:

http://www.musicmarauders.com/2010/07/festival-preview-grey-fox-bluegrass.html

The 2nd Annual Grey Fox Showcase Café is especially hot this year!! Here’s who’ll be performing:

Thursday 7pm: Tony Watt & Southeast Expressway; Thurday 8pm: Jim Gaudet & the RR Boys. Friday 7pm Berklee Roots Music Show (featuring Frankie’s Little .44, Chasing Blue, The Upjumpers and special guests Sierra Hull and Courtney Hartman); Friday 8pm: Andrew & Noah Van Norstrand Band. Saturday 7pm: Berklee Roots Music Show (same musicians as Fri); Saturday 8pm: Joe Singleton Sings.

While I’m at it let me also mention that a special Berklee Roots Music Program workshop will be happening Saturday at 11am. All of the above bands will be joined by Joe Walsh of the Gibson Brothers (also a Berklee alum). David Hollender will moderate. It will be a mix of music, question & answers about the relatively new program at Berklee College of Music and whatever else spontaneously erupts! We’re really looking forward to this workshop and are very happy that such a great school is so close that we can collaborate like this.

MORE about Berklee Roots Music Program (VIDEO)

See/download the fabulous Grey Fox Schedule.

Buy tickets.

Sign up to win tickets to hear fiddler extraordinaire, Byron Berline in concert on July 31st in Poughkeepsie, NY — hosted by the good folks at the Hudson Valley Bluegrass Association.

HVBA & Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival have teamed up yet again to help get the word out about Byron’s rare appearance on the East Coast. And some very lucky winner will get to see and hear this phenomenal musician from a front row seat.

Berline will be teaching a workshop for intermediate and advanced fiddlers from 2-4:30pm and performing a concert for the general public at 7:30pm. Both events will be at Christ Church in Poughkeepsie on July 31. For details, visit http://hvbluegrass.org

To enter to win tickets, go to the Grey Fox website and sign up for our mailing list. Fill in the form and at the bottom, in the box where it asks who you’d like to see, type in Byron Berline.

The winner’s name will be selected a week before the concert. So, sign up and good luck. Maybe YOU and a friend will be in the front row.

We want to thank HVBA for doing good things for bluegrass in the Hudson Valley and for spreading the word about Grey Fox. We hope you’ll support their efforts.

Check out “Cover Laydown” — a hip blog about who’s covering what songs….
Cover Laydown focuses on “folk covers of familiar songs and re-imagined versions of folk songs
because in the folk tradition, music belongs to the community.”

In this edition, blogger BoyHowdy previews Grey Fox 2010 artists’ recent recordings.
FYI, BoyHowdy is a long-time fan of bluegrass and attendee of Grey Fox.

Here’s the link. Enjoy!

http://coverlaydown.com/2010/06/festival-coverfolk-2010-grey-fox/

SATURDAY’s ARTISTS at the upcoming Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival will be featured tonight on the two-hour show, Anything Goes, hosted by Shaun Deane on WVEW.org. Tonight’s show? I’m guessing Sam Bush, Kathy Mattea, Tim O’Brien, Gibson Brothers, Greencards, The Wilders, Lustre Kings, Special Consensus, Sarah Jarosz, Rockin Acoustic Circus and many more.

Tonight’s show is the last of a 3-part series on Grey Fox artists. The first show featured Thursday’s artists Dry Branch Fire Squad, Doyle Lawson, Greensky Bluegrass, Donna the Buffalo and others. Shaun’s second show spotlighted Friday’s artists including Del McCoury, David Grisman, Crooked Still, The Wilders, The Sweetback Sisters and many more.

To listen live, log onto http://www.wvew.org/ from 8:00-10:00pm tonight. Or to listen all three archived shows, click on this link:  http://web.me.com/shaundeane/AnythingGoes/Welcome.html

Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival is the current IBMA Bluegrass Event of the Year. The upcoming festival will be held July 15-18 on the Walsh Farm, Oak Hill, NY—30 miles SW of Albany, NY.

Turn your radio on! And listen to the music in the air! Then come to Grey Fox and hear these great bands in person!

Camping and day tickets are still available, but going fast.
Advance ticket prices end June 30th. Buy Tickets