The 50th anniversary of the Rockygrass festival in Lyons, CO is now in the history books. Originally called the Rocky Mountain Bluegrass Festival, this joint is now run by the same folks who bring us the more-gargantuan Telluride Bluegrass Festival, whose 50th anniversary will be in 2023.
There were plenty of memorable moments this year, including the return of Nederland, CO's Yonder Mountain String Band to the stage which helped bring them notoriety two decades ago. Soldiering on without the late Jeff Austin, Yonder is definitely reclaiming their groove, finding new life in the oldest tunes in their catalog. Fiddle player Allie Kral steered the boys through a show-stopping rendition of "Son of a Preacher Man." <Kral has since announced her departure from the band> Bassist Ben Kaufmann expressed the band's reluctance to follow Chris Thile's Punch Brothers supergroup burning it down, but I'd say they needn't have worried -- Colorado loves them some hometown heroes.
Newgrass titan Sam Bush, as we might have expected, closed out day two's main stage antics with what Rockygrass regulars call the "thunder jam," involving just about everyone available. By one camper's account, there were several rows of performers stacked as deep as the stage would allow, rotating in almost-military precision through microphone proximity. Earlier that day, Steep Canyon Rangers took to the familiar stage (having won the Battle of the Bands at Rockygrass in 2001) for an excellent set which was no doubt bittersweet since it was co-founder Woody Platt's penultimate show with SCR.
Though it had threatened to rain all weekend, all we actually got hit with were sprinkles. That is, until day three during Béla Fleck's early-afternoon revival of "Uncommon Ritual" with Mike Marshall and Edgar Meyer (from 1997). The deluge was short-lived and welcome, and the Uncommon Ritual played right on through.
The legendary Del McCoury led his band through the usual foot-stompin' round of numbers. Though he is possibly the most aged of the performers, he still does it with precision and panache; how he's consistently able to do it without flattening his pompadour and soaking through his three-piece suit, I'll never know.
Closing the weekend was a Colorado legend: Hot Rize, with all living members present and accounted for, and the late Charles Sawtelle being more-than-ably replaced by Bryan Sutton. Their set was preceded by a surprise induction into the Colorado Music Hall of Fame. Well, it was a surprise to us, not necessarily the band. It would take a better bluegrass/newgrass scholar than me to unravel which songs were traditionals and which were originals, but the tunes (even the slow ones) came fast and furious with nary a misstep, especially considering Hot Rize's scarcity on stage over the last three decades or so. They slowly added guest players until it became an all-star jam by the end, and then it was over. The festival, and Hot Rize. Nick Forster told me afterward that it was always going to be Hot Rize's last performance, just not announced as such. It was nevertheless impressive icing on the festival's 50th birthday cake.
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