Winterhawk / Greyfox Bluegrass Festival

We first found out about Winterhawk reading paper flyers that were displayed at the Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival. Thank you Charlie Chase. Each year we would see the incredible lineups made up of progressive bands like John Hartford, David Grisman Quintet and the New Grass Revival.  This festival seemed to be the logical next step.  I had to go.

Winterhawk Bluegrass Festival was in upstate NY near Ancramdale.  Located on top of a mountaintop with views across the Hudson Valley (you can’t see the river) into the eastern end of the Catskills, this festival we considered one of the ‘biggest’ bluegrass festivals of the summer season.  This event was located about three hours drive from both Boston and NYC.

Because of its location, the mix of people and accents was wonderfully diverse.  There are always many Quebec and Ontario license plates in the campground.   The ages of the attendees at this festival trend younger than most of the other big festivals we’ve attended.  It is more likely that at this festival people seem to consume more alcohol that at most venues.  Beer was sold on tap and alcohol was everywhere. Some groups bring in amazing amounts of alcohol.  This usually did not seem to cause problems for families that attended Winterhawk.  However, one year my daughter, Laura, and I had a very scary experience when a man accused my daughter of relocating his chair back to make room for our chairs.  He was very threatening.  He even stalked Laura and me as we returned to our campsite.  When we noticed that this man was following us, we changed direction and walked away from our campsite in the opposite direction.  We then quickened out pace and eventually shook off the trailing stalker.  I suspect we were able to get away because the stalker clearly had been drinking that morning.  Ironically we never saw the stalker man again the whole weekend.  His chair went unused the entire time.  Less ominous, and enjoyable to a point, was all night jamming and drumming that happened after dark each night.    

Because of the mountaintop location, most camping was on the side hill.  You had to be careful not to park cars up and down the hill for fear of running over someone if the brake slipped.  The festival provided split wood blocks to be used to chock your wheels too.  People in the campgrounds always told stories when one or two cars rolled down the hill into the woods below with nobody hurt.  It didn’t happen during the 13 years we went up on the mountain.

Many years there were two large teepees set up on the upper side rim of the music bowl.  There was a nice midway with a great Greek pizza shop. Geoff Stelling sold his banjos, and Charlie Chase and his wife sold vinyl and CDs from the back of their van.  They seemed to have a copy of everything in Americana and Country music.

The main stage was located at the bottom of a nicely formed amphitheater which filled up each night with fans just waiting for Tim O’Brien to tell then what to spell out with flashlights.  The light show was always really fine.

The view from your seat at the main stage offered wonderful views west across upstate New York and gorgeous views of sunsets.  Each year at the festival, from where the crowd sat in the bowl of the amphitheater, the crowd would watch as the sun would sink behind the Catskill Mountains in the distance.  While the sun set, everyone in the crowd would howl until the sun was gone.  People would howl throughout the campground too.  Whoever was performing as the sun went down would be completely confused by the crowd’s howling, wondering what they did wrong.  The artists play with their backs to the setting sun.

There were three other minor venues.  There was a master’s stage for informal up close shows by the artists on the main show.  There was a workshop stage (where the great Bill Keith teaches banjo players tips on playing minor chord progressions) and a kid’s tent.  Rain often was a problem.  The grass roads of a hay pasture, particularly the roads that had to go straight up and down the hill became very slippery, sometimes making for an amazing human mud slide for those crazy enough to try it.  I didn’t. Rain also washed out the access road up the ridge to the large campground leaving limited entrance and exit to the campgrounds.

One rather enjoyable thing that happened every year up on the hill at Winterhawk was the balloon string that was launched above the grounds.  There was a woman who filled balloons with helium and tied them to a long (hundreds of yards) string causing a long colorful streak of color blowing in the sky.

If you wanted to have someone else set up your campsite, you could contract with Dancin’ Dave.  He would come in early and set up your sight with his gear (for a fee) freeing you up to just bring your food and drink to the show.  Dancin’ Dave is a colorful fellow who always wears a straw cowboy hat and is almost always found near the stage dancing with any woman willing enjoy the moment.  Another entertainer at Winterhawk was the ‘Tie Dyed Man.’  This skinny man in a tie dyed shirt and cowboy hat and shorts always was to the left of the stage doing the most unusual gyrations contorting to the music.  The people nearby always enjoyed his dancing often pointing and laughing at him enjoying the festival. Actually kind of hard to describe adequately.

This festival was about the music.  The music at Winterhawk was like few other festivals.  Everyone has played up on that mountain.  From Hazel Dickens to Austin Lounge Lizzards, to New Grass Revival, to Doc Watson, to Del McCoury and Hot Rize, all played up on the hill.  One of my favorite memories is the night Sam Bush convinced Ronnie McCoury to come out and plug in his mandolin so he could rock out with Sam’s band.  It was the first time I had heard Ronnie do anything this adventurous.  The show was phenomenal and ended some time after 1AM that night.

My wife and I agree that perhaps the most magical moment occurred in 2000, the year of the mud.  My wife bought her Stelling Banjo.  Geoff Stelling guaranteed her that she would become a much better banjo player than she was then.  It turns out he was right.  That year John Harford String Band performed.  Late Saturday afternoon, Hartford performed Steam Powered Aereo Plane during his set.  He performed the song always, but he digressed between verses to talk about his steam powered plane.  He talked about it being built of wood, multi-colored and flying slowly along about 150 feet above the ground slowly moving across the festival mountain.  He would hum to represent the plane grinding along.   It was so vivid, moving.  I’ve never heard Steam Powered Aereo Plane played any better than that day.  And I saw the original Aereo-Plain band perform it in 1974 (for fifty cents admission).

After the 1999 festival, the partnership which promoted and operated the Winterhawk Festival split up with two of the current promoters staying on but changing the name of the festival to Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival.  (http://www.berkshireweb.com/features/festivals/grayfox.html) The festival did not lose any momentum from the name change and continued to get better and better.  However, in 2007 the festival finally lost the Rothvoss Farm site forcing it to move across the Hudson River to north of the Catskills in Greene County near Oak Hill.  After a long search, the festival now occupies the Walsh Farm, which has a flat campground and large mall area as well as a shallow amphitheater.

The new site does not have the views and sunsets to die for like the former site.   But the new grounds are level and safe.  Camping is simplified.  The new bluegrass mall area is huge with many vendors including locals providing any kind of food imaginable.  Jewelry, bluegrass lessons, air furniture and other fare are also usually on offer at the festival.  This year they added a small Wi-Fi hot spot.  There now are five stages, including the Masters Stage which is in a fairly large tent.  The dance tent is a large circus big top tent with a wooden floor.  There also is a kid’s tent, a workshop stage, and jamming area.

Like the old site, the new Grey Fox is about the music.  The tradition continues with great acts continuing to come across their stage.  New memories have been made with my favorites being a Hot Rize show with Red Knuckles and the night my wife and I first saw the Steeldrivers (and Chris Stapleton).  This site has also already had rain and lightning interfere with main stage shows.  One time, Sam Bush had to finish his Saturday night main stage set early Sunday morning under the Dance Stage.

Grey Fox is the greatest if you want some of the best progressive and traditional acoustic music in the world in a huge party atmosphere.  The jamming in the campgrounds goes on almost 24 hours each day.  Earplugs help if you plan on sleeping.