IMPROVISE YOUR OWN FESTIVAL EXPERIENCE
Blueberry Bluegrass Festival offers 18 acts over weekend in Stony Plain
Whether you’re a longtime fan or simply curious, the bluegrass tribe is waiting to welcome you.
That’s just one way to characterize the passionate music enthusiasts behind that swinging event, the Blueberry Bluegrass Festival. Canada’s largest blitz of bluegrass is about to kick off its 34th year, set over three stages, jam tents and a camping site at Stony Plain’s Heritage Park.
Of the 18 acts on the bill this year 11 names are from the U.S., most tied to the Appalachian roots of the music along America’s east coast. Add bands from Germany, Switzerland, Toronto, Saskatoon and Alberta and you’ll find a broad swath of what the bluegrass banner embraces today.
John Reischman, Tim O’brien and Joe Mullins are just a few of the virtuosos visiting this year. Before it’s over you could hear all sorts of styles from Appalachian old-time music, to country swing and folk roots sounds.
But it’s not just about listening to the acts on stage, as BBF president Anna Somerville explains:
“The father of bluegrass, Bill Munroe, and just about everybody else in bluegrass has played here over 30 years, but there’s the audience, and then there’s the subculture.
“We took the collaborative aspect of bluegrass and added that template on to the festival. Now when you come to Blueberry we’ve put a whole bunch of resources and tools out there. You can listen, or jam, or go to another event like a workshop. You can build the kind of experience you want to have.”
The site features three principle venues — the Fillmore stage (capacity about 500), the Pioneer Museum stage (80), and the outdoor stage, which plays before several thousand patrons. There are usually several events happening simultaneously all day, culminating with a dance in the evening.
While some acts can only fly in for a day, you might typically see a band on a couple of different stages over the weekend and run into band members in the jamming tents. Somerville reports that the jams sometimes go on until 4 or 5 a.m.
“The jamming is a very big part of it. It’s where musicians come to cross-pollinate, to find new players and start new bands. It’s a real networking convention of acoustic players. The isolation that a lot of musicians live in is removed when you get to a bluegrass festival. It’s very inclusive, and some people are better than others but they all play together.”
Many of the acts apply to the BBF but Somerville and Blueberry’s artistic director Carolyn Hotte check out other festivals and visit other bluegrass festivals and conventions every year. They enjoy mixing up bonafide stars and a few more obscure talents on the way up.
“The way I see it is, why don’t you come and discover something? We’re bringing the best that we can find and every band is a little different than the other, but you’re going to like it.”
Of some 4,000 patrons that show up each year Somerville estimates that up to 40 per cent are visiting from outside Alberta or Canada. Camping is popular. Vans start pulling in on Tuesday and by the weekend there are usually around 150 vehicles parked. Younger fans with families are also increasingly significant to the festival.
They’re doing something right. The BBF was recently nominated for Event of the Year at the upcoming International Bluegrass Music Association Awards this fall.
For Somerville it’s all about embracing the spirit of the music itself.
“Bluegrass borrows from many areas of music, but bluegrass did something more. It took information from all those styles and then applied its own effect. When bluegrass took the male voice into singing falsetto that was a contrived device; when it took licks from the blues and put them into a straight song that was built that way. Bluegrass is different, purposeful, but almost with a jazz sensibility. It is improvisation, but it’s not about the individual. It’s about the song.”
Somerville was a folksinger when she showed up to check out BBF about 20 years ago, but she was converted overnight to the bluegrass esthetic.
“As a musician, leaving yourself at the door and just bringing your musical self to the tune is the catalyst to a meditative, altered state. Many of the players do jazz or classical gigs on the side, but the purity of that collaboration and the excitement they get is what brings a lot of them to bluegrass.”
The weekend will have many highlights but Somerville is particularly excited about two Saturday morning workshops: John Reischman and Tim O’brien on mandolins, and Joe Mullen with Jason Barie on banjo and fiddle. Other workshops focus on duet singing, ukulele, and more.
“This festival is not passive. We’re not just observers, we’re participants, and if you play an instrument you’ve got to come and be with your people.”
Whether you’re a listener or a musician the festival offers refreshment sites, food truck services, a family fun zone and pancake breakfasts that start every morning at 8 a.m.
For the full schedule breakdown and ticket details see blueberrybluegrass.com.