Photo by Jeffrey Dupuis
Hidden deep within the Blue Ridge Mountains, Virginia’s FloydFest is one of the best kept secrets of the summer festival season. Amidst a stunning backdrop of white pine trees and rolling hills, the 11th annual event drew such artist as Allison Krauss and Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas, Bruce Hornsby and the Noisemakers, Jackson Brown, Anders Osborne, and a charming mix of other rock, Americana, funk, reggae, and bluegrass acts.
FloydFest hosted around 15,000 attendees this year. The venue itself is situated on a plateau off Blue Ridge Parkway, a picturesque stretch of National Park near the small, artsy town of Floyd, Virginia. Most festival goers camp onsite for 3-4 days in a beautiful area shaded by tall trees and cooled by a sweet-smelling breeze. There are two main stages, four smaller stages, various tents for workshops and performance art, a fantastic children’s area (FloydFest has been called one of the most family friendly festivals in the country), even an area for trapeze artists to entertain the crowd. The venue has compost and recycling areas throughout the site, and organizers take great pains to run an environmentally conscious event.
The festival has grown in popularity over the past decade, but, perhaps because of its remote location, its numbers are still kept small enough so that the experience is an intimate one for both fans and artists. Though many associate the festival with bluegrass and Americana, the lineup becomes more musically diverse each year. Some of the standout performances this year included Latin, funk, big brass bands, and gritty blues.
Though he’s already had an incredibly busy year supporting his latest release, “Black Eye Galaxy” (Alligator Records), singer/songwriter/blues guitarist and New Orleans hero Anders Osborne made the trek out to the mountains of Virginia with his band and gained hundreds of new followers with two powerhouse sets. He spoke to Relix about playing at smaller festivals such as FloydFest, noting that at this particular event, “You get really professional listeners, which can sometimes be nicer than just a horde of people.”
However, Osborne admits that his connection to the audience doesn’t change with the size of the venue – “I feel just as connected to 50,000 as I do to 50.”
FloydFest fans may come out to see certain artists, but they are also treated to a number of spontaneous sit-ins as artists invite friends onstage to jam out with them, creating some of the most memorable moments of the weekend. When asked about the significance of this type of live collaboration for himself and also for less experienced artists, Osborne feels that, “For me personally, it’s crucial. I don’t mind playing solo from time to time, but when you play with somebody else, now you’re having a conversation, so now what I play reflects through the other player and it means I start to reflect over what they just played. Then it changes, and evolves, so I think there’s more progress and faster progress when you play with a lot of people.” In his first set of the fest, this “conversation” resonated through the hills as Osborne played with Drew Emmitt and Marco Benevento. And it seemed fitting that the rain began to pour down in torrents on the crowd as he sang about “Louisiana Rain”.
The themes of community and collaboration continued throughout the weekend. Thursday offered up a fun and impressive set from Garage-A-Trois as Benevento, Skerik, Mike Dillon, and Stanton Moore got the party started with their rambunctious blend of jazz, rock, and punk. Drew Emmitt whet the appetites of those who couldn’t wait for Leftover Salmon.
On Friday, blues dominated the afternoon with Anders Osborne’s soulful sound and Gary Clark Jr. wailing on the guitar in a short but sweet set. Rising stars Toubab Krewe brought out a huge crowd who couldn’t seem to get enough of their unique blend of world beats, bouncy funk, and infectious percussion. For those wanting a taste of something new, Oregon’s MarchFourth Marching Band was a theatrical show not to be missed, which included dancers on stilts, outrageous costumes, and a mixture of electric bass and guitar, blazing horns, drums, drums, and more drums. Marco Benevento played an impeccable, melodic set and The Dead Kenny G’s, another Mike Dillon project, whipped the crowd into a frenzy later that night.
Photo by Jeffery Dupuis
Saturday’s crowd experienced a truly diverse day – Yarn played infectious bluegrass in the early afternoon, Toubab Krewe played another set and invited Pedrito Martinez onstage for another memorable collaboration, bringing a Cuban flavor to the set that the crowd loved. Martinez and his own band played salsa music to a big crowd that was not ashamed to bust out the most sensual moves on the dance floor. ALO also had their fans dancing barefoot in the grass as they played happy, fun, hippie-pop. As day turned into night, things got even funkier with Ozomatli giving one of the most talked-about sets of the festival, driving their fans crazy with their driving percussion, Latin funk, and sweetening the deal by jamming with members of ALO and Toubab Krewe. Their set ended with band members marching in a line through the crowd. Anders Osborne played a smaller stage to a whole new audience and the sound was so incredible that lots of “Who is this guy?”, “Have you ever seen him before?”, and other more colorfully worded exclamations rippled through the crowd. A late night show was played by Orgone, continuing the nighttime theme of funky into the wee hours.
On the last day of the festival, Sam Bush and his band got things started off right with a hard-rocking, blues-y show. A huge crowd gathered for Bruce Hornsby and the Noisemakers and couldn’t stop smiling as Bruce played arguably one of the best sets of his summer tour thus far – a gorgeous tribute to Levon Helm with “The Night they Drove Ol’ Dixie Down”, “The Way it Is”, “Jacob’s Ladder” and smiles turned to ecstatic shouts as he invited Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder to play with him. Bruce was a multi-tasker for this one, playing piano, dulcimer, and accordion as his adoring fans shouted, “Bruuuuuce!!”
Such a glorious weekend could only be concluded with the queen of bluegrass herself. Alison Krauss and Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas were the final headliners for Sunday, and had even non-bluegrass lovers under their spell. The largest crowd of the festival fell eerily and completely silent as Krauss sang her first angelic notes. Young and old were enthralled by stories spun by the tight musicianship of the band and the achingly beautiful harmonies – stories of struggling sharecroppers in “Dustbowl’s Children”, love and loss in the heartbreaking “Paper Airplane”, traditional tales from the Appalachian country and pieces of America’s past that the youngest in the crowd may have never been exposed to.
Though Krauss’ vocals are well known to bring grown men to tears, it was fellow Union Station member Dan Tyminski that surprised many who were previously unfamiliar with his unique voice with its deep, powerful intonation that was made for this type of lyrical storytelling. The inspiring and poignant set sent festival goers away in a wistful, dreamy daze.
The jaw-dropping natural beauty of FloydFest’s idyllic location is only one of its draws. With a myriad of musically diverse talent to choose from, attendees can enjoy not only their beloved favorites, but are exposed to styles they might not have even thought of before. Bluegrass fans dance to salsa music, kids who come out for Conspirator or Michael Franti are awed by blues guitarists, and late night crowds dance to 80’s tunes covered by Love Canon String Band’s mandolin and banjo. Smaller acts like The Lizzy Ross Band and The Boatmen get some well deserved exposure. FloydFest even sponsors an annual competition in which fans vote for their favorite new act, ensuring that band will play several slots on each long day of next year’s event (this year’s winner was Grass Monkey).
It is the camaraderie of music lovers, the spirit of community, and the rich celebration of the arts that makes FloydFest a unique treasure in the hills.
