Harvest Music Festival 2010

The morning after we got home from the Fourmile Benefit, we packed up the car and headed to Arkansas for Yonder's Harvest Fest.  Dale flew into Ft. Smith, AR and the three of us stayed there Tuesday night in order to be up and in line nice and early Wednesday.  By the way, I LOVE that this festival started with early arrival on Wednesday and the last of the music was Saturday night.  It was so nice to be at the festival a day earlier than the majority, when it could be nice and relaxed, and it was nice to be home Sunday evening.
Anyway, Dale was in charge of the liquor for her camp, and we drove all over Ft. Smith without finding an open liquor store.  Well, there's a really cute little store right on the final highway to the festival.  So, this is where you should go if you need to get booze on your way to Mulberry Mountain.

We got there nice and early, where we ran into my friend Mike from banjo camp, and were joined by our friend Garrett.  We were only there for about an hour or so before they started letting us in.

We had plotted out on the map approximately where we wanted to camp, but since we'd never been there before, we weren't quite sure.  Most of our group bought VIP tickets - just five of us did not.  So, we found the fence that divided VIP from primitive camping and set up on both sides.  This also put us right at the road, which created ridiculous amounts of dust in the air, but it was pretty dusty and dirty everywhere.

A couple hours after we got set up Anitra and Josh arrived and set up their big-ass tent by our pretty big tent.

We took a walk toward the main stage while all of the vendors were setting up.  It was nice to see this main area before it was filled with so many people.

We started getting texts that more friends were getting close, so Anitra and I went to road to wait for Steve, Theresa, Michael, and Annie.

They brought a lot of stuff.

It's not a good idea to hang the mallet from the canopy.

And we thought we camp in style.  Theresa's got the tent palace.

Thursday morning we all woke up ready for more friends and for the music to start!  Our camps made some killer breakfasts, which we were able to share with the VIP guard and some new friends.  And Annie got started on proving Junkyard wrong.

One of my best friends, Sarah, came up from Austin for the festival and got to meet a lot of our Kinfolk - and they got to meet her.  What an amazing collision of worlds.  Steve and Michael ran to Ft. Smith that afternoon to pick up Jen from the airport, and Stephenie and Lori made it in a couple hours later.  And with Heather arriving late the previous night, finally our group was complete!  The great thing about this festival was that we had so much down time at the beginning.  No music scheduled for Wednesday, and nothing we were dying to see until later in the day on Thursday.  We all got to hang out, catch up, and have a lot of laughs.

Dale's arms are so long, she could tickle Colin from her seat.  But not really.  But almost.  ...Long arms.

Dale was also enjoying her delicious milk.

And of course, Dale had to make Sarah feel at home by doing The Scoop - the state dance of Iowa.

During our last big Yonder adventure for the Red Rocks show, Dale showed me how to poi.  Now I'm totally obsessed and have bought multiple sets.  It was fun to be able to bust them out at a festival.  And at least I didn't crack myself in the eye like Dale did with her LED poi the night before.  Lucky she didn't get a black eye.

Our first show of the day was Cornmeal at the main stage.  A bunch of our friends hadn't seen Cornmeal before, so it was pretty cool to witness their first experience.  I missed a bunch of their set because I was chatting it up with our friend Scotty when Yonder's bus arrived and unloaded.

I don't know what this face was about, but it makes me laugh every time.

Next we headed to the Backwoods Stage to see Oakhurst.  They were ok, but again - bluegrass with drums...

We all missed Emily during this trip, and we wanted her to feel that she wasn't missing anything, so we took pictures of how not fun this festival was.

But, it was actually really fun.  Sorry, Emily.  We saw a little of Martin Sexton at the main stage before heading back to the Backwoods Stage for Pert Near Sandstone.  I LOVE THESE GUYS!!!  Their shows are always great and they always bring high energy to their performances.  And they have a clogger!  I mean, how could it get better?!

We talked with Ben Hines a little after the Pert Near set, and he gave us the heads up that Yonder would be doing their sound check at 10:30 a.m.  So, the next morning we headed to the main stage, where it was just us and Yonder... until the campers heard those familiar Yonder sounds and bombarded the stage.  It was pretty sweet.  But Jeff and Ben Hines definitely looked like they needed more sleep.

Another one for Emily:

Anitra got her Ragdoll nice and early.

After the soundcheck we all went back to camp and hung out and had lunch.  One of the last times we all had to relax, since the real festival was about to begin.

See Junkyard, Annie can drink lots of beers.

And Jen is the best on the road over-the-counter pharmacy around.  2 Excedrines?  Yes, please.

A couple examples of Michael's awesome camp food.  Grilled cheese and low country boil.

Poor Annie, someone ate all of her potato salad!

While hanging out and eating lunch, Cathy and Garrett dropped by with their home made turkey chili!

Full and ready for the day, we headed to the Backwoods Stage for the Infamous Stringdusters.  I saw these guys for the first time at this year's String Summit, and I just love 'em!  I love how they all move around the stage, they really look like they're having a great time.

For the end of their set, they came out and stood on the speakers.  Fantastic.

Jen the pharmacist comes to the rescue again!

We stuck around at the Backwoods Stage for Adam Aijala and Larry Keel.  This is one of the sets I was most looking forward to.  It didn't disappoint.

After Adam and Larry we headed to the Harvest Tent where there was a Kinfolk party, but on the way we witnessed this terrific booty-bump.  Good one, Heather!

The Kinfolk party was a little bit of a mess.  No one really knew what was going on.  But, the keg came, which satisfied a lot of folks.  And we got really cool Kinfolk cups.  We met a few new friends and had a good time chatting and hanging out.  I think these Kinfolk gatherings are a good idea, but we need to work to organize it a bit better and to let people know what to expect, such as will the band be doing a meet and greet, or not.  

There goes Dale with her milk, again!

It's a good thing we were camped so close to all the stages, because we were running back and forth constantly.  We left the Harvest Tent and went back to the Backwoods Stage for the Travelin' McCourys.  Yee-haw!  Love these guys.  Of course, it'd be great to see Del, but this is the next best thing.  I had fun during this set, but the audience was chain smoking cigarettes the whole time.  There were times when I had to leave my spot to get fresh air... that shouldn't happen when you're outside!

Max couldn't find anything wrong with these guys!  Not one thing!

A few of us stayed for the whole set, while some of us left for Leftover Salmon at the main stage.  I was one that left.  There was no way I was going to miss Salmon after the great shows I saw at Red Rocks and the Fourmile Benefit.  

Salmon was terrific, again.  And so was Yonder.  I didn't take a single photo of Yonder this night because the crowd was so unbelievably ridiculous.  It seemed as though all of the cool people were in VIP and all of the assholes were right on the regular rail (or right behind us).  There was one guy with no shirt and a creepy mustache that kept humping on every woman he could find.  Apparently, before we got there he had jumped into VIP, tried to hump on a girl, got tackled to the ground, punched in the nuts, and put in a sleeper hold.  But then, there he was again, behind us during Yonder.  This was just one of the horribly annoying people.  Seriously, they were so bad that Colin left the front and I almost joined him.  There was no way I was going to get my camera out only to have it smashed by a drunk idiot.

My highlights from this show were Help From my Friends, My Gal, Jail Song, Ten>Years with Rose> Ten, Man of Constant Sorrow, Spanish Harlem Incident, Part One> Angel, Looking Back, and Oklahoma.  I could go the rest of my life without seeing them play New Speedway Boogie again.  

Yonder Mountain String Band

Harvest Music Festival

10/15/2010

Set I:  No Expectations, Blue Collar Blues, Pockets, Loved You Enough, Half Moon Rising, Help From My Friends> Ramblin in the Rambler> My Gal> Rambler Reprise, Jail Song, Kentucky Mandolin*, East Nashville Easter

Set II:  Ten> Years With Rose> Ten, Come & Go Blues&, Man of Constant Sorrow&, Irondale, Finally Saw the Light, Spanish Harlem Incident, Lord Only Knows (Part One)> Angel, 2 Hits and the Joint Turned Brown, Looking Back Over My Shoulder, New Speedway Boogie^, If You're Ever in Oklahoma^

Encore:  Boatman^

*w/Ronnie McCoury

&w/Dan Tyminski (recorded Man of Constant Sorrow for O Brother Where Art Thou)

^w/Drew Emmitt and Vince Herman

You can buy the show here!

Already, it was Saturday - the final day.  There was so much music on Friday and Saturday that we all kind of split up and hung out in smaller groups.  Saturday morning I asked Dale what she had planned for the day, "I'm gonna hang out with you all day!".  Oh, and I gave Sarah a bag of potato chips with a penguin inside.

This kiddy pool was at the Backwoods stage and was filled with mud all weekend.  I asked Sarah to pretend to jump in it for a photo... I think the guy in the white shirt really thought she was going to do it.

I saw this guy multiple times over the weekend.  Always in this suit.  He was the Patrick Bateman of Harvest Fest.  

We were so extremely exhausted that we hung at our site for a while, trying to eat as much of our food as possible.  Then we took chairs and umbrellas to the main stage to watch the Infamous Stringdusters and the Emmitt-Nershi Band.

We had taken our stuff back to our site and headed up towards the front for Sam Bush.  That's when we saw Dale, who we hadn't seen since that morning when she proclaimed her plan to hang with me all day.  It's ok, Dale, I still love you.

After Sam Bush, we got our front and center "rail" spots again.  Thank god for the rail.  It's a must for anyone who gets a sore back and knees.  Like all of us.  

Keller and the Keels were up next, which I was really excited about.  Sarah is such a trooper, seeing so many bands that she'd never heard of, but Colin took both of us to our first Keller show in 2002, so there was finally some music she would know.  I think Keller should play with the Keels more often, because this is probably my favorite side of Keller, other than solo without looping.  

Their first guest was Dave.  They did the most wonderful version of Winds on Fire I had ever heard.  Definitely one of my highlights of the whole festival.  Sarah commented on how awkward Dave seemed, "Maybe I should be a banjo player" she said.  Sarah, I love you.

Adam came out and did Pancho and Lefty - and remembered all the words!  Go, Adam!

Later in the set, Ben and Jeff came out.  It was just a whirlwind of Yonder guests!  They did Call Tyrone and Big Ass Crater in the Backyard.  Call Tyrone was freakin' sweet!

Then, Sam Bush for Portapotty!  I mean jeez!  Lots of guests in this set.  

This Keller set was so much fun, but my highlights were Winds on Fire, Sex and Candy, and Call Tyrone.  One of our best friends loved Marcy Playground when their debut CD came out, and Sex and Candy is such a huge song for us from that time.  It was great to be able to share that moment with Sarah.

Keller and the Keels

Harvest Music Festival

10/16/10

Freeker by the Speaker> Year 2003 Minus 25, Breathe> Cold Roses> Breathe, Winds on Fire*, Girl at the Crossroad Bar*, The Switch and the Spur, Rehab, Sex and Candy, Pancho and Lefty&, Don't Cuss the Fiddle, Uncle Disney, Call Tyrone^, Big Ass Crater^, Mountain Song, Portapotty %, Whirly Pig, Goofballs

*w/Dave Johnston

&w/Adam Aijala

^w/Ben Kaufmann and Jeff Austin

%w/Sam Bush

First at the free Yonder show in Iowa City, then at this festival, Max kept saying, "I can't find one thing wrong with this band!  Not one thing!"  It was so hilarious and wonderful.  Max, you rule!  Reptar!!!

Right away, this night felt completely different from the night before.  Maybe all the jerks partied so hard the night before that they weren't able to be dicks for two nights in a row.  It felt more like a regular Yonder show.  Plenty of room and friendly rail-riding neighbors.

We barely ever get to see the full scope of Ted's lights, but damn!  Ted, you are the man.  

What a fantastic show!  There were a lot of fun treats in this show, and I think that between the two nights, Sarah got a good taste of Yonder and can start to understand why we travel all over the damn place to see them when we still haven't gone to Texas to see her (hopefully spring tour next year will include some Texas dates).  My highlights from this show were Free to Run, Ain't Been Myself in Years, A Father's Arms (I used to really dislike this song, but I'm just lovin it right now), Town, Honestly, Peace of Mind, Isolate, Rag Doll (that's twice for Anitra!), Sometimes I've Won, On the Run> Polly> On the Run, Damned if the Right One, and Snow on the Pines.  Sam Bush left right after Keller's set, so he didn't sit in like Yonder had planned.

Yonder Mountain String Band

Harvest Music Festival

10/16/2010

Set I:  Free to Run> Sidewalk Stars> Ain't Been Myself in Years, A Father's Arms, Don't You Lean on Me, River, Cuckoo's Nest, Holdin', Town, Honestly, New Horizons*> Come Together*> New Horizons*

Set II:  Peace of Mind> King Ebenezer> Peace of Mind, Isolate, Rag Doll, Another Day, Sometimes I've Won, On the Run&> Polly Put the Kettle On&> On the Run&, Fingerprint, Damned if the Right One Didn't Go Wrong^, Snow on the Pines^, Raleigh and Spencer^

Encore:  Rain Still Falls, Casualty

*w/Keller Williams

&w/Andy Hall and Jesse Cobb

^w/Billy Nershi and Bobby Britt

You can buy the show here!

This was such a great festival.  So many friends, so many great bands, such fantastic weather.  Before Yonder came on stage Saturday night, Todd came up and told us all how excited he and the band were about the festival and that they decided to do it again for the next few years.  I can't wait to see you all down there again, but hopefully it won't get too big.  It was the perfect size this time around.