Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival

Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival is an annual music festival held in mid-July in Oak Hill, Greene County, New York. The festival features a variety of acoustic music including traditional and contemporary bluegrass, jam bands, old-time, swing and Cajun.[1] The festival presents nationally and internationally touring bluegrass bands and showcases emerging artists from around the country.[2] Music runs Thursday through Sunday the third weekend of July.camping opens on Wednesday. [3] and attendance averages about 6,000 patrons per day.[4]

In addition to performances on several stages, activities include dancing, camping, children's entertainment, yoga, jamming, hands-on music workshops, traditional dance instruction, professional development seminars for musicians, and a “Bluegrass Academy for Kids” ages 8 to 17.[5]

History

Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival began in 1984 as the Winterhawk Bluegrass Festival on the Rothvoss Farm in Ancramdale, Columbia County, New York on the site of the 1976 Berkshire Mountain Bluegrass Festival.[6] Producer Mary Tyler Doub asked Ron Thamason and his band the Dry Branch Fire Squad to host the festival's main stage show.[7]

Doub moved the event to the Walsh Farm in Oak Hill, New York on the banks of Catskill Creek in 2008.[3] That year, Grey Fox was named Bluegrass Event of the Year by the International Bluegrass Music Association.[8]

The 86-minute documentary, Bluegrass Journey (2003), was filmed in part at Grey Fox,[9] In 2005, Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival was one of ten musical events around the world featured in BBC World's television series, Destination Music.[10]

Program

Each year the festival program includes about than 40 acts on five stages[11]" Notable artists have included Sam Bush, Tony Rice, Nickel Creek and Béla Fleck.[6] The 2015 event included Del McCoury, Peter Rowan, Tim O'Brien, Abigail Washburn, Punch Brothers, Bill Keith, Hot Rize, the Infamous Stringdusters, the Gibson Brothers, the Steep Canyon Rangers, Balsam Range and others[12]

In 2015, Grey Fox was the setting of a two-hour Keith Banjo Summit honoring the influential music of Bill Keith. The summit was hosted by Béla Fleck and Tony Trischka, with Noam Pikelny, Mike Munford, Eric Weissberg, Marc Horowitz, Mike Kropp, and Ryan Cavanaugh participating, and Bill Keith in attendance.[13]

Billy Strings was Artist-in-Residence at Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival in 2018 and 2019, followed by Jerry Douglas in 2022 and 2023. The 2023 lineup includes The Infamous Stringdusters, Del McCoury Band, Sam Bush, Sierra Hull, Keller Williams, and more.

References
  1. "Elmore Magazine - Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival / Walsh Farm / Oak Hill, NY / July 17–20". Elmore Magazine.
  2. James Ring Adams (20 July 2000). "Bluegrass Thrives, Even in the Mud". Wdj.com.
  3. "Tim O'Brien to wear multiple musical hats at Grey Fox festival". Dailygazette.com. 17 July 2008. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  4. Adams, Kyle (11 July 2014). "Grey Fox 2014 to be a festival of milestones". Columbia-Greene Media.
  5. "Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival marks three decades of music, community". Times Union.
  6. "At the Corner of Dawg & Monroe, a New York D.I.Y. Bluegrass Festival". The New York Times. 20 July 2007.
  7. "Ron Thomason - Told You That to Tell You This - Bluegrass Unlimited Bluegrass Unlimited". Archived from the original on 2014-11-06. Retrieved 2017-05-07.
  8. "Recipient History". International Bluegrass Music Association. Archived from the original on 2018-01-03. Retrieved 2016-01-23.
  10. "Destination Music – follow up". Bluegrass Today. 10 January 2006.
  11. "THE WEEK AHEAD - JULY 11--JULY 17". Query.nytimes.com. 11 July 2010.
  12. "Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival always attracts a crowd to northern Catskills". New Haven Register. 11 July 2015. Retrieved 6 December 2021.
  13. "Fleck, Trischka and friends honor Bill Keith at Grey Fox Banjo Summit". Bluegrass Today. 20 July 2015.
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