It isn't convenient to spend the nights at the Cozy Cottage and attend the Graves Mountain Bluegrass Festival but Syria , VA is only about 3 hours from Blacksburg. The 2010 festival was number 18 for the Graves Family and experience shows. It shows in the quality of groups that came to perform, the general organization of the event and the large geographical pattern of attendees. One group from England planned their U. S. vacation around the GM Bluegrass Festival and the main liners included Cherryholmes, Rhonda Vincent, and Dailey & Vincent. But you didn't have to wait until Saturday night to hear outstanding bluegrass music.
A relatively new group , The Church Sisters, opened the event with harmony that comes most easily from blood relatives. Lonesomes Highway, Seldom Scene, Darren Beachley & Legends of the Potomac, and the United States Navy Band's "Country Current" Bluegrass Group gave the festival an enthusiastic start.
The crowd continued to grow to hear Cherryholmes, Dailey&Vincent, and Rhonda Vincent & Rage close the three day event.
The U. S. Navy Bluegrass Band represented the military in fine form, especially when they changed their approach of entertaining from the stage to entertaining in the pavilion when a violent spring storm struck the peaceful valley.
A memorable moment was when the Graves Mountain Memories performed by a group of entertainers including the songs writer, Carl Jackson. The song recorded in rhythm an abstract of the 5 generations of Graves that have practiced hospitality at the base of the Blue Ridge. Carl artistically profiled the beloved Mrs. Kate and Captain Jack, the first generation to see the dreams of Jimmy and Rachel start to take shape.
The Friday program was recorded with Kyle Cantrell of Sirius/XM Satelite Radio as the Master of Cermonies. Friday features were: The Crowe Brothers, Carrie Hassler & Hard Rain, Audie Blaylock & Redline, Lou Reid & Carolina, The Lonesome River Band, and Russell Moore & IIITyme Out, plus
a regrouping of the above.
Jimmy announced that the 2011 program is already shaping up with the Rye Holler Boys and the U. S. Navy Band committed to be there. It will be a long year to wait!
The Acoustic Stage at Lee Street and the Main Stage at the end of College Avenue marked the ends of the boundaries of the event and kept the crowds flowing back and forth like tidal waves. A Bluegrass band from Floyd County amused the crowd with an original, "Floyd Time" depicting the slower pace of life in the neighboring county (see earlier blog, "Meandering Near Blacksburg" February '09).
