MANCHESTER — Organizers of Green Mountain Bluegrass & Roots set out to offer a variety of music from icons of the industry and up-and-coming artists.
“It’s a bluegrass festival but it’s definitely more Americana,” said Jill Turpin, festival co-founder and promoter. “We do have great bluegrass but we really try to get everything in here.”
The festival at Hunter Park in Manchester spans four days from Aug. 14 to 17 with music happening on four stages. Thursday night performances include Jacob Jolliff Band and Brett Hughes & the Honky Tonk Crowd. Friday’s schedule includes Jordan Tice, Peter Rowan, Willie Watson, The SteelDrivers and Twisted Pine. On Saturday, the lineup has Fruit Bats, Molly Tuttle and Watchhouse. Sunday will conclude with Muleskinner featuring musicians such as Tony Trischka and Rowan, following performances by Big Richard, Tommy Emmanuel and Michael Cleveland, and Bonny Light Horseman.
Late night acoustic sets will be hosted by musicians on the Lamplighter Stage in a small section of the field.
“All of these artists have played at the festival before,” Turpin said. “They kind of requested the Lamplighter Stage.”
Turpin said the festival is entering its sixth year or eighth calendar year since it was shuttered for two years due to COVID-19.
“It has grown substantially every year,” she said.
Turpin said she and her husband John were “very deliberate” when they set out to create the festival. They oversee all aspects from booking to sponsorships to setup and merchandise.
“We have an amazing staff who has a lot of experience and they’ve been crucial in the running of the festival as well and we rely on a lot of locals to pitch in and help,” Turpin said. “Our sponsorship has been wonderful from Day One, with a lot of local businesses and people, and that’s been a huge help as well.”
Turpin said she and John are “huge music lovers” and they both play music. Their approach to the festival is about catering to the artists and paying attention to what the audience wants.
They own a house in nearby Landgrove.
“We looked and looked and looked for a space to do this,” Turpin said. “We came to Hunter Park from Pig Pen Road, which was the back entrance and didn’t even know it was connected to the rink until a little while later.”
Turpin called the site “a no-brainer.”
“The infrastructure that the rink provides is huge,” she said. “They’ve been great partners.”
Turpin said she wanted Vermont-based Bonnylight Horseman since “Year one.” One of its members also plays in Fruit Bats, so both acts were booked.
Tuttle played the festival in its inaugural year.
“She’s excited, we’re excited,” Turpin said. “It’s going to be great to get her back again.”
Watchhouse has played the festival each year.
“They’re an incredibly special band to us,” she said. “Their music, they re-create themselves and their music so often and in such an amazing way. They never rest. They’re like music making machines.”
Tice, a Nashville-based guitarist and vocalist, has performed at the festival each year it’s been put on as well.
“I just love it,” he said in a phone interview from L.A., where he’s recording a new album. “It just feels like such a community. It’s just my favorite people and musicians are always there.”
Tice said the founders have become “really great friends” and their festival has “a great vibe.”
“I almost feel like no notes,” Tice said, adding that the location is “beautiful.”
With all the unexpected jams and stage collaborations, Tice said, “you don’t really know what’s going to happen.” He’ll be joined by bassist Jeff Picker and violinist Patrick M’Gonigle for his set, where he plans to debut a bunch of material from the new record.
Tice said the new songs are “kind of catchy and melodic.”
“The new record will have drums and a lot of guitar riffs,” he said. “I’m definitely drawing on my older music but it’s a little more high energy, a little more active than the last record.”
Tice is tentatively planning to join Aoife O’Donovan for a late-night set on the Lamplighter Stage and will be in the house band for an all-star tribute to Neil Young and Emmylou Harris.
“I’m just excited,” Tice said, “more excited than ever this year.”
Violinist Christian Sedelmyer of Nashville has a spot on the Lamplighter Stage on Saturday night. Over the past five or more years, he’s been collaborating closely with Andrew Marlin on mandolin, Josh Oliver on guitar and Clint Mullican on upright bass. He said he’s “very excited to play a set of my original instrumental music with this quartet” at the festival. They recorded a new album of his compositions last year, which has yet to be released.
“We just may have some special guests join us as well,” Sedelmyer said. “My hope is to create a cinematic journey and invite the audience to join us along the ride.”
Being with the event since the beginning, Sedelmyer said he cherishes the ability to work with the Turpins to “continue pushing the boundaries of what is possible when a festival prioritizes both the artist and fan perspective and endeavors to create a unified experience, full of life, collaboration and community.”
Sedelmyer said he started playing violin at the age of 5, after being inspired by an Itzhak Perlman performance on “Sesame Street.”
“Growing up, I learned classical violin techniques, all the while taking in the music my dad loved: 60’s/70’s folk/rock music like Neil Young; Crosby, Stills & Nash; Paul Simon and The Beatles,” he said. “It was on songs from these artists that I first began to improvise on the violin, and those early days of developing my taste as a player within music that didn’t necessarily incorporate fiddle as a featured instrument, if at all, still informs my playing today.”
Sedelmyer moved to Nashville and began playing professionally in the summer of 2008. He said he “deeply immersed myself in the local music culture, learning how to play bluegrass, country and old time music at jams and pickin’ parties throughout town.”
“I love all of the things I do musically, and think that one of the most beautiful aspects of life as a musician is that you get to learn, grow and improve with yourself every single day,” he said.
Sedelmyer recounted a Steve Kuhn concert he attended at Birdland in New York City.
“I’m in my 70s, and I feel like I’m still getting better every day, and I’m playing some of the best music of my life right now,” Sedelmyer remembered Kuhn saying.
That’s “the magic” of music and the festival, Sedelmyer said, as “the community continues to blossom — together — year after year.”
Last year, the festival hits its attendance cap on Saturday. Turpin expects to do the same this year.
“Our camping sold out last year and we’re on par for that as well,” she said.
She expressed gratitude to the municipality and community for their support.
“We love bringing people to Manchester because we love the town so much,” she said. “Our audience comes back year after year after year.”
Tickets and information can be found at greenmountainbluegrass.com.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.reformer.com ’
