I see that Collings is a sponsor of the Grey Fox Bluegras Festival in NY. My Wife and I are thining about going. Has anyone attended this festival? What are your thoughts.

Alan,

Grey Fox is one of the most storied BG festivals around, largely because of the adventures created by it's being held on a relatively steep hillside, and by a rural setting that allows people to come and camp and party weeks and even months before the festival begins. When I arrived for my third year of volunteering in the middle of last July, the people first in line in the fields down below to go "up the hill" to the actual festival grounds claimed to have arrived May 18.

However, that's all changing this year, because the hilly farm that was its longtime home has been sold, and the new site is another farm, reported to be on a valley floor. What you can be sure of is that the lineup will be terrific ( check this out), the crowds will be raucous, alcohol and other mind altering substances will be in evidence but not completely pervasive, there will be thundershowers and perhaps some heavy rain, and there will be some logistical unevenness as the promoters and the attendees adjust to a brand new site.

Interestingly, although Collings is a sponsor, the music shop that sets up in the concessions area usually just has a couple of guitars and a couple of mandolins; in addition, they usually raffle off a D2H. I'll be working 3-4 hours a day in the VIP check-in area, so if you decide to come, please come over to see if I am there and say hello. Cheers!

B

This message has been edited. Last edited by: B Woods,

Thanks for the info. I will be ordering my tickets this weekend. If we arrive on Wednesday before the event. Do you think we will have any problems finding a spot to set up our camper.

Alan,

Given that it's at a new site that few have seen, I can't say yes from experience. But given that the promoters are a fairly sophisticated and well-organized group of folks, I would guess pretty confidently they have picked a location that allows for plenty of camping available on Wednesday, and probably through the weekend.

I'm 98% sure of it, but part of the uncertainty has to do with not knowing how many previous attendees who had gotten tired of dealing with the logistics of the old site will be coming back now that it's in what looks like a place much more amenable to camping. As I say, there's going to be some learning on everyone's part at this new site. But if I were coming in a camper on Wednesday, I wouldn't be worried at all.

I'm glad you decided to give it a shot. There is some amazing music at this festival. I'm not a dancer myself, but aside from the main stage there's a dance stage with great groups all weekend long, and the artist workshops are world class: imagine a mandolin workshop (2-3 years ago) with Tim Obrien, Chris Thile, Ronny McCoury, and I forget. Anyway, it's quite a scene. Be prepared to be a little tolerant of your neighbors and you should have a great time. Feel free to email me (acorvid@yahoo.com) if you have more questions, or we could exchange phone #'s and chat.

B

Alan, the site has changed as noted, but check out the DVD "Bluegrass Journey" anyway.

Good suggestion!

BTW, you can get the DVD through Netflix (which is how I got it) so you don't have to buy it unless that's your preference. Just be sure to have an umbrella handy when you watch it

First edition of the Grey Fox newsletter here.

Grey Fox is a slice of heaven on earth. Some of the highest quality of parking lot picking talent I've ever experienced in 30 years of festival going. This will be my 4th trip to Grey Fox. One of my buddies has a killer D2H and has studied flatpicking with both John McGann and Russ Barrenberg, the dude can pick for sure, and his buddies are killer musicians as well, the fiddle players son in this campsite won the fiddle contest at Mark O'Connors fiddle camp a few years back...these guys are some of the hottest musicians you'd ever wanna play with, every bit as good as anything you'll see on stage (which of course is stellar too).

There is an early camping site about 2 miles from the festival grounds. That site is open on July 9th and is a mere $25/person for the week, pro rated even less if you show up later than the 9th. Great picking, people, gumbo party teh night before the festival. I guarantee that sight will be loaded with pickers and great people.

If you can swing it the address for mapquest is 1234 Allan Teator Rd., Durham, Ny.

I'm coming in from Ohio, pale green Volvo SUV. It will be partly covered on the outside by silver poly tarps on the windows. I realized years ago that putting those suckers on teh outside keeps the car way cooler than putting them on the inside as most people do. stop by and we'll pick a few. Stuart Abrams

Thanks for the info and invite. We have already confirmed our travel plans. Perhaps we can catch up at Grey Fox.

Good deal. Don't look for a collings, I just traded my D1a for a 001a. That one wont have enough oomph to compete with banjos so I'll either have my Gallagher Doc or '48 Sunburst J-45. There wont be too many of those around. If you find an old gibson from the '40's that isnt mine then you probably ran into Brian who is a hell of a picker. He has an old National/Gibson Hybrid from that era.

Don't Know if you got yor 001A yer but mine had a lot more punch than I was expecting.