2011 LineUp

     Hi.  Well, it’s no surprise…it’s snowing outside again.   It sure has been a woolly winter up here in Vermont’s beautiful Green Mountains.   Randy is out with our town road crew trying his best to plow heavy wet snow off of our thawed out dirt roads.   Our little house is toasty warm here by the woodstove.   I almost feel guilty that Avery and I are tucked in safe and sound at home today.  Looking out at the winter wonderland, it’s hard to believe that bluegrass season will be here before we know it. 

     I’ve spent many months searching for new talent for our festival.   The good news is, I’ve found a great lineup for our 4th festival.   While there’s a boatload of wonderful musicians available, many are beyond our reach financially.   It’s quite a challenging and daunting task to hire so many people for such a big show and still stay within our budget.  Having now completed that part,  I can’t wait to see it all come to fruition.   I’m sure that anyone looking at our 2011 lineup will recognize a few familiar faces….most notably our brothers from other mothers  Neil, Freeman, Bill, Pete, and Mike from the Big Spike Bluegrass band.    Cardigan Mountain Tradition, our neighbors to the east, will also be returning to play on Sunday.   Delivering to all of you the rest of our lineup sort of makes me feel like the kid who got his Christmas shopping all done early….I can’t wait to see the “joyous expression” on everyone’s face when you see what we’ve gotten for you this year.   If you’re a true bluegrass fan, you will simply love our 2011 Lineup. 

     I once was fortunate to spend a summer around the great Rudloph Serkin, one of the world’s finest pianists.   Watching him play would just give a person tingles every time.  Anyone that has watched Steve Lutke from the Appalachian Uprising Band play the banjo or watched the renowned Jim Hurst play his guitar knows that feeling.   What an honor to have them both come to our little festival.  (Maybe they heard about our fabulous field picking and free cake?) 

     Remington Ryde from PA will be up onstage at our next festival on Friday and Saturday.  In just a few short years, these workaholic fellows have practically stormed the nation with their fantastic traditional bluegrass sound.  New bands with veteran musicians like Hot Mustard with veterans Bruce Stockwell (Stockwell Brothers Band) and April Hobart (Birch Benders) and Fairview Avenue’s Scott Hopkins (Breakaway) are once again revving up our local bluegrass scene.   We are fortunate to have both bands join us in 2011 as a valuable part of the North Branch lineup.  Dropping into relative obscurity in 2011, four members of the popular Massachusetts band, Crossfire, have reformed as the new “Four Bridges” band and will be performing up on our stage next Labor Day Weekend.  Also coming up from Massachusetts and on their way to the big league is a great young band out of Berklee School of Music called Chasing Blue.  These youngsters are really looking forward to all the field picking sessions our festival offers.

    Randy and I like to throw a musical wildcard or two into every festival.   While not 100% bluegrass, Wissahickon Chicken Shack is our wildcard for 2011.  They’ve promised us a majority of traditional-sounding numbers but will be adding some spice to our program with a few non-traditional numbers as well.  This big band is coming all the way from Pennsylvania at a discount just to be a part of our festival.   Although they’re not bringing their piano and have downsized their drumset to just a snare drum with brushes, they will be our first band featuring an accordian.  Sound like fun folks, don’t they?

     So, that’s the lineup for our next festival.   We’re having 15 music workshops again and of course the field picking out in the campground will be fantastic.  I haven’t even told you all yet that Travis Wetzel, world famous fiddler will be leaving his spot at the Grand Old Opry for the weekend to come play our festival with Appalachian Uprising.  There’s sure to be even more pleasant surprises when you get here.  I know that times are tough these days and the price of gas will curl your hair if you still have some but….please start saving your pennies and put a spot on your social calendar for the 4th Annual North Branch Bluegrass Festival next Labor Day Weekend (September 1-4, 2011).  It’s sure to be money well spent. -HK

One Month To Go 2010

Hi. Well it is precisely one month to go before Early Bird Camping begins at our festival.  Lots to do these days.  In an hour, I’ll be out splitting up more firewood for campfires.  Putting on a festival is exciting but is also exhausting. We’re in good shape this year and it should be a wonderful time.  I’ve been building a new mobile kitchen from scratch which should make things pretty civillized for food.  We’ve even bought a fryolator and will have french fries to add to our menu this year.  We also will have beef soft tacos, chili, and corn chowder, as well as a bigger variety of ice cream and snacks. Look for fresh homemade blueberry muffins right out of our oven in the mornings this year. We’ll also be peddling blueberry jam that I’ve been making. I wish I knew more about computers as I would love to start a new paragraph here. Let’s pretend I did, okay? We have also rigged up a small pump that will allow some easier access campground water…it should run allright providing no one overloads it by running a really long time.  Firewood will also be available for folks to use as we would really like to lower the amount of imported wood from far away…too many hitchiking pests these days and too much timberland around these parts that might get infected. Plus, it’s a back and spacesaver for all of you kind folks. So, give yourself a break and plan on making a kind donation to our firewood fund when you get here. Randy’s out right now rounding up some 55 gallon barrells from a friend to cut into small firepits. All festival campfires must be contained in a frepit up off the ground so we don’t burn the field.  (another new paragraph here)  Our show looks to be bigger and better than ever.  We’re got some really great bands lined up…for your listening and viewing pleasure! This year marks our 3rd festival and anyone who’s ever started a business knows this is our pivotal year. We sure could use the support of all bluegrass fans who can make it.  Oh, did I mention that we give away free cake?  Yes, it’s true.  We surprised our friends who volunteered last year on their 30th wedding anniversary with a cake, had one on Saturday for our festival anniversary, and gave Randy a surprise 50th birthday party a month early at the end of the festival.  It was so much fun, we’re keeping it as a tradition. Anyway, things are looking good for Labor Day Weekend.  Give us a try this year and maybe you’ll discover a new annual tradition…we sure hope so.    Finest Regards,  Heather Kennedy  North Branch Bluegrass Festival  Bridgewater, Vermont        “Life in the ‘Breakdown Lane’ (bluegrass pun intended)

Greetings From North Branch Bluegrass Festival

 

Greetings from North Branch Bluegrass Festival!  My name is Heather Kennedy.  I’m a middle-aged techno-idiot trying to get the word out about our wonderful small central-vermont bluegrass festival.

Inventing this festival has been my fulltime job since October 2007.  Times were much different then.  Producing a festival from scratch to fulfill my husband Randy’s dream of bringing a festival here to his hometown of Bridgewater, Vermont looked a whole lot easier.  Happily we have survived two annual shows and are well on our way to producing our very best festival ever.  We’ve been busy implementing new plans for our 2010 labor day weekend, North Branch Bluegrass Festival.  We’ve expanded into a full week of camping and field picking this year, beginning Sunday August 29th.

The North Branch Festival grounds are the perfect place to do both.  Friday September 3rd begins the first day of our 3 day festival’s Main Stage show.  We’re looking forward to sharing 30 hours of professional show and 15 music workshops with everyone.  We invite you to check out our festival’s website http://NBBluegrass.com if you haven’t already.  Be sure to check this blog every few weeks or so as things are really coming together these days. 

A partial list of our 2010 lineup is now available on our website. I’ve also just begun a Facebook site for photos and a Twitter thingamajig for fast ‘Hot News’ flashes.  Updates will come whenever we pass a festival milestone and I’m not outside shovelling snow or lugging in firewood.  So, I’m limping along here in cyberspace with technical help from my younger brother, Darrell Atwater.  Darrell left our New England moutains when we were young to go down south to college.  He owns and operates the wicked cool professionally guided international adventures travel company, No Limits Adventures.  If you’ve always wanted to go someplace exotic, he can make your dreams come true.  I begged him to help me with our website when I saw his (It’s http://nolimitsadventures.com and yes, he took all those incredible pictures).

So, please mark your calendars for 8/29/10-9/5/10 and plan on joining us here in the heart of Vermont’s Green Mountains.  We’re not greedy.  The festival and 8 nights of camping only costs $60.  If you can only come for the show weekend, we charge only $50 for 4 nights of camping, the 3 shows, and all 15 workshops.  Day tickets (No camping) are $20 for adults and $5 for children ages 5-15.  Bluegrass Babies ride along for free.  We’d appreciate it if you’d tell all your friends about us, too.

If you like music that makes your toes tap, food that makes your mouth water, campfires that warm your heart, and friends that make you smile….well…you belong at North Branch Bluegrass Festival.  Thanks for reading this whole blog.  Finest Regards, Heather Kennedy

Hello Everyone!!

Hello everyone!  Happy 2010!
Thank you for stopping by our blog. Please check back often as we are just getting started and will be blogging with you soon about our favorite topic…Bluegrass Music!