Grand Targhee Bluegrass

It had been 6 years since we were in Grand Targhee, WY for the annual bluegrass festival.  The last time we were there... what a lineup - Del McCoury, Blue Highway, Cherryholmes  - and those are just the ones I  remember!

This festival is a 3-day event, Friday thru Sunday, and the lineup this year, while trending more toward "newgrass" than to my liking, still had its fair share of traditional bluegrass bands, along with some new acts (new to me, at least) whom I will follow for years to come.

One of the newbies appeared on Sunday, a misty, rainy day, unlike the two other glorious blue sky days preceeding.  I sat under an umbrella for their entire set and bought TWO CDs.  Anne and Pete Sibley have been together 10 years and their music is some of the most soulful and touching I have heard in a long time.  Two of the ballads, "Calling My Children Home"  (an Emmylou Harris song) sung a cappella, and "Just the Right Moment" sung in 3/4 time and written by Anne, brought me to tears.  Add to that traditional gospel tunes like "Angel Band" and "Wayfaring Stranger" and I'm in total bluegrass heaven!  Take a listen to their music clips and let me know what you think.  This couple is so connected - Anna's lead and Pete's harmony is spot on and they're not bad pickers either.  Oh... and did I mention that they write their own music and lyrics and just won "The Great American Duet Championship" on NPRs Prairie Home Companion.  They live in Jackson Hole, just over the Teton Pass, so their whole family was there including their adorable 2-year old daughter who was decked out in her red lady bug rain gear and ushered around by Anna's mom.

The other group I will be following is Bearfoot.  The 3 young women in this group are knockout vocalists and all 5 band members are talented musicians.  One of the guys grew up in Alaska and went to school at ETSU in Johnson City - so some Tennessee connection there.  They have some TN and NC dates in September.  They were also recently nominated for IBMA's Emerging Artist of the Year Award.



Steep Canyon Rangers, a band I had already heard at the WDVX Blue Plate Special about 3 years ago, was also there and brought the house down.  They won the IBMA Emerging Artist of the Year Award in 2006 and have earned an international reputation in traditional bluegrass.  Based in Asheville, NC, the hallmark of this group is their gorgeous vocal harmonies. The lead vocalist and guitar picker, Woody Platt, is not only very pleasant to gaze at, but a pleasure to listen to.  I also understand that he's a heck of a fly fisherman.  Maybe my son-in-law can make a connection there!

There's always such a diversity of people at Targhee.  The one constant is the hula hoops.  At the entrance to the festival are a stack of hula hoops.  The hula hoopers generally line up behind the sound system stage and merrily hula hoop in rhythm to the music.  Some of these people are really quite good and I suspect they have been at this every summer for years.  They carry on conversations, eat full meals and drink beer without ever losing the hoop.  Amazing.

Equally entertaining is the variety of clothing.  This year, we had hippy Santa Claus, birdman with some 3-foot bird feathers in his hat and a woman wearing a fur vest and boots - and this was a very warm day!

Sunday was to be a blue ribbon day with The Wilders and David Grisman.  Alas, the drizzle turned into outright downpours so we finally called it quits.  I'll have to catch them another time, 

The drive back through beautiful eastern Idaho, in the shadow of the Tetons, was filled with bluegrass music from the autographed CDs purchased at the festival.  Driving through this beautiful country always reminds me of the lyrics to America the Beautiful...  "spacious skies, amber waves of grain, purple mountains"...   It's great to live in the country that everyone sings about!!

Until next year....