On a recent Friday/Saturday in March, the delayed Charleston Bluegrass Festival made its reappearance at the Woodlands (woodlandsnaturereserve.com), near Charleston, SC. The Woodlands is a 6000-acre wilderness wonderland that’s great for camping, kayaking and concert going. The Bluegrass Fest was making its eighth appearance since the first effort in 2013. In fact, this weekend marked the second time the festival was held here, the other being 2019. Previous bluegrass festivals were held at the Seewee Outpost and at Awendaw Green, north of Charleston. One major difference between then and now is the size and available facilities of those venues and the Woodlands. The Woodlands provide festivals with many advantages from the rustic surroundings to the two-stage setting which allowed them to keep the show moving on time. There was an adequate number of purveyors offering everything from food and beverage, clothing and jewelry and the essentials one needs when camping. The infrastructure had to be built from scratch to assist the bands and organizers in putting on these onetime events.
CAROLINA DRIVE with the family Blevins! Boonie, Lauren and Dad
This year’s festival began on Friday afternoon at 4PM with a shortened slate of artists. The crowd was small but eager to hear some live music in a very pastoral setting. The festivities began with local talents Southern Flavor band followed by New Ghost Town. Ghost Town’s set was cut short by a powerful cell of weather which brought vertical rain and winds for about twenty minutes. A big thanks to the people who were manning the beer tent. They accommodated the small crowd who sought shelter, including yours truly. Once the rain stopped, the show resumed with Richmond, Virginia’s Wilson Springs Hotel and culminated with Asheville’s Town Mountain. Each band was fun to hear and offered a nice variety of styles. Town Mountain, formed in 2005, earned the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Band of the Year in 2013 and have been reaching for the stars ever since.
Before I go any further, let’s picture the setting at the festival. The long strip of land where you find the stages is flanked on one side by a lake where kayakers float by. The opposite side is bordered by tall trees and a dirt road. In the confines, it appears large enough to accommodate around 2000 people. It’s a pleasant spot, a grassy field that is sun soaked most of the day. On the side of the dirt road is a line of vendor tents and trucks. On Friday, the action at the tents was sparce. Come Saturday, the crowds swelled and the weather cooperated. The vendors were busy and it looks like a profitable day, which should encourage them to return next year.
GREENSKY BLUEGRASS AND YONDER MOUNTAIN STRING BAND FESTIVAL HEADLINERS
On Saturday, ten acts would grace both stages from Noon till 11pm. The organizers spent time shuffling between stages, checking in with the staff putting on the show and the artists performing on the stages. At one point when the main stage was quiet, I stopped Eddie White, festival organizer and proprietor of Awendaw Green. I expressed my thanks for what he is doing to bring live music to life here in Charleston, and the Bluegrass Festival in particular. In a separate conversation, Eddie spoke about the birth and growth of the festival. He and Perry Darby breathed life into the early festivals in Awendaw. SC. Over the years they involved many Charleston based bands in the festival. This year represents a major shift in talent along with the different styles of Bluegrass. Eddie partnered up with Ean Wolf and George Clausen, partners in Friends with Benefits, to produce the show. In addition to the bands that played on Friday, Saturday brought Randy Steele and his High Cold Wind band from Chattanooga, TN and Larry Keel from Appalachia. Then Colorado’s Yonder Mountain String band followed and led to headliner Greensky Bluegrass, a band originally from Michigan. They represent the largest field of regional and national touring artists to perform at this festival since its inception.
Saturday began with the downhome bluegrass sound of Dallas Baker and friends. Fellow Lowcountry artist Carolina Drive with Boonie Bevins, featuring her sister, Lauren Bevins Cahill followed on the big stage. Fiddles, mandolin, banjos, bass and wooden guitars blended together as the music wafted over the crowd and across the nearby lake. Traditional style bluegrass continued with the aforementioned Randy Steele along with Wolfpen Branch and Pierce Edens. Yonder Mountain and Greensky Bluegrass sandwiched Larry Keel’s flat picking mountain music with their Jam Grass style.
In the end, the weather held off until the last 45 minutes of the show but the light rain was bearable and the bands were sheltered. Many who were camping just had to retreat to their weekend homes. On their way back, they were offered some late-night unplugged bluegrass as the loadout began.
In a conversation with Eddie White after the weekend, he admitted there are logistic hurdles to overcome as well as behind the scenes matters that would make the job of putting on such a festival an easier task. He understands that the property’s owners have big plans for this place, hopefully including some infrastructure so that at each festival the organizers aren’t recreating the wheel. He envisions the possibility of having a spring and fall festival and believes that some alterations can be made, whether it is a Friday/Saturday, Saturday and Sunday or even a three-day festival.
If I were putting on such a festival, I believe that there are incentives which could drive the traffic. If Friday is to be a shorter day, perhaps a BOGO or a reduced price compared to the main day would draw more people out on a work day. Perhaps a headliner the likes of Yonder Mountain or Greensky Bluegrass on a Friday night would bring out a bigger crowd. Better yet, slide out to a Saturday/Sunday festival with both days starting at Noon but with a shorter slate of artists on Sunday ending by 8 or 9 pm the last day. Just my two cents!
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Do You Believe in Magic 