Merlefest 2005: General Overview

The weather was about as good as you could expect. They kept calling for serious rain on Friday and Saturday, but thankfully we never got it. It was overcast and cool Thursday and downright cold Thursday night. Friday morning we woke up to rain, but thankfully it stopped on the way down the mountain. It had rained through the night at the festival site but only lightly showered a couple of times during the day. It was just enough to get your rain gear out, but never enough to get you really wet. The ground never got significantly muddy either, thankfully (with the exception of the Creekside Stage, of course!). Saturday was a lot like Friday, but a little warmer. Sunday dawned bright and sunny, and stayed nice and hot all through the day. It seemed to drop about ten degrees during the Alison Krauss show when the sun finally dipped behind the trees. It was a beautiful day, though, needing lots of sunscreen.

They changed the scheduling a bit this year. There were far more big-name acts on Sunday than usual, keeping a significantly larger than usual crowd right up till the end. All the vendor tents stayed up till the end with the exception of the expo (instrument vendor) and food tents. The expo tent was half empty at lunchtime at Sunday, and the food vendors seemed to leave during Alison's show. (Not really sure about that... I mean, hell... I was watching ALISON!)

The funny t-shirts were out in force again, of course. I saw lots of "Vote For Pedro" and "Legalize Bluegrass" t-shirts. My other favorites were "My butt is on fire, " "Fear of a Cajun Planet," a "Bluegrassic Park" complete with a Stetson-wearing, banjo-picking T-rex, "Livers are evil and must be punished," and my absolute personal favorite -- "Bad Yuppie. No Bagel."

Personally, this year was more about people than about music and individual acts. There were the great jam sessions, but I think I'm finally getting used to that, and most didn't stand out as my favorite jams of all time. The only exception to that might be the fiddle and guitar workshop of which I'll write more later. For me it was the getting together with my family and friends, the reunion of a few "cliques" (as one new friend put them), and the making of lots of new friends, especially at the Pete Wernick Jam Camp. I can't wait to see y'all again next year!

Bunch of to-dos:
* Check out Bluegrass Journey DVD, hopefully it's on Netflix.
* Check out the Jigtime e-zine.
* Subscribe to Paste magazine, Bluegrass Now, and Bluegrass Unlimited.
* Get Glen Campbell's greatest hits CD (after the BR-549 show!).

Now a little geek news: This was the first year that I saw a significant number of white Apple stickers on instrument cases and even a few cameras and camera cases. I saw lots of white iPod earbuds, especially among the teens in the Merle Garden behind the train car.

I'll be posting day-by-day synopses after this, and I think I'll post a few artist-by-artist notes too (other than the Avett Brothers one). There's a lot to cover. I'll also have a post summarizing the Jam Camp of which I can't speak highly enough for wannabe Americanna/Bluegrass musicians like me. Stay tuned!