The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Four-day Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival starts Thursday
OAK HILL, N.Y. » The Northeast’s biggest annual bluegrass party is about to begin less than three hours away.
Every mid-July (Thursday through Sunday this year), the very best bluegrass artists in the world leave Nashville and the Carolinas, Kentucky and the Virginias, Boston, Colorado and California and head to the northern Catskills.
There, on the hills of the Walsh Farm, thousands of fans from all over Connecticut and the Northeast — and often well beyond — set up camp for four days at the Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival.
They come to Grey Fox to listen to great music all day, see old friends, get away from their daily lives and often play great music all night.
People decorate their campsites — and sometimes their vehicles and/or bodies for the annual Grey Fox campground parade. They cook campground goodies that they may not have made since the last Grey Fox. They dance. They swim. They laugh. They do their best to stay hydrated.
But most importantly, they renew friendships with longtime friends who they may only see once a year.
Grey Fox is so much fun that it almost doesn’t matter who is playing. With music going simultaneously on six stages as well as in the campground, it’s impossible to see everything. But the schedule is unparalleled.
This year’s eclectic lineup includes The Del McCoury Band, The Jerry Douglas Band, Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, host band Dry Branch Fire Squad, The Infamous Stringdusters, Steep Canyon Rangers, The Steel-Drivers, The Travelin’ McCourys, Della Mae, The Gibson Brothers, the Bryan Sutton Band, Sarah Jarosz, Jeff Austin Band, Grateful Ball, Michael Daves & Friends featuring Tony Trischka, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades, The Lil Smokies, Trout Steak Revival and Lindsay Lou & the Flat Bellies, to name but a few.
(Not all of the bands are bluegrass — Grey Fox tends to mix things up. But it all seems to fit.)
All together, there are more than 175 performances at six stages and/ or tents, plus extensive campground jam sessions, an emerging artist showcase, music and dance workshops, plenty of ethnic and festival foods for sale, boutique and musical instrument vendors and a Grey Fox Bluegrass Academy for Kids — plus a stage devoted solely to children’s entertainment.
The really good news if you’re just learning about all of this now is that as of Friday morning — unlike some years in the recent past — full-festival camping tickets had yet to sell out. So you may be able to still get one (or a few) online at greyfoxbluegrass.com or by calling 888-9468495 or 315-404-5738.
Grey Fox runs from Thursday to Sunday on the Walsh Farm at 1 Poultney Road in Oak Hill.
Full-festival camping tickets — now at their highest “gate prices” after being discounted throughout the winter and spring — are $225. Daily tickets without camping also are available for Thursday through Saturday for $85 each. Sunday, which has great artists but an abbreviated “Taste of Grey Fox” schedule that ends by 3 p.m., is free with a donation of non-perishable food items.