Joe Val Bluegrass Festival returns for 31st yearDate: 1/29/2016 In 1985, New England’s top bluegrass musicians gathered to help pay hospital expenses of much-loved mandolin player and high-pitched vocalist Joe Val. Although Val succumbed to cancer a few days before the benefit concert, the Joe Val Bluegrass Festival has continued to honor his legacy and unabashed enthusiasm for hill country music.
The 31st edition of the annual festival will be at the Sheridan Hotel, in Framingham, from Feb. 12 to 14, with a variety of pre-festival master classes on Feb. 11.
“It’s a great event for folks with cabin fever,” Gerry Katz, president of the Boston Bluegrass Union, who produces the festival, said. “It’s a way for the community to gather around and share love of a common theme.”
Performers this year spotlight the diversity of bluegrass, the tradition-rooted country music offshoot originated by Kentucky-born Bill Monroe in the 1940s, and includes some of the genre’s leading artists. Nine-time International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) fiddler of the year Michael Cleveland fires thing up with his band, Flamekeepers, on Feb. 12. Originating in Plattsburg, NY, the Gibson Brothers (Eric and Leigh), who conclude Saturday’s concert, have taken the bluegrass world by force for more than three decades. In addition to being the IBMA’s Entertainer of the Year for the second consecutive year, and vocal group of the year, in 2013, Eric was Songwriter of the year and their song, “They Call It Music,” was Song of the Year.
This year’s lineup includes artists such as Steve Gulley (Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver), David Parmeley (Bluegrass Cardinals), and John Jorgeson (Desert Rose Band) returning as leaders of their own bands. Five-time IBMA female vocalist of the year, Dale Ann Bradley will be performing with Sister Sadie. The sons of bluegrass great Del McCoury, Ronnie (mandolin) and Rob (banjo) will be returning with their group, the Traveling McCourys.
The next generation is represented by the IBMA’s emerging artists of 2013 (the Spinney Brothers from Nova Scotia) and 2014 (Flatt Lonesome, an exciting sextet based around the offspring of Sandy Creek Revival pastor Dalton Robertson and his wife, Kelsi Robertson Hargill on mandolin and vocals, Charli on fiddle and vocals, and Buddy on guitar.
The focus on youth continues with a weekend-long kids’ academy (culminating with a mainstage performance on Sunday), the Berklee All-Stars under the direction of Prof. David Hollender, and Chasing Blue, a new band comprised of Berklee College of Music graduates, but the links to tradition remain strong.
The IBMA’s male vocalist of 2013, Junior Sisk and his group, Ramblers Choice, the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America’s bluegrass band of 2014, revive memories of the Stanley Brothers. Everett Allen Lilly, the son of the Lilly Brothers’ Everett Lilly and a member of the Charles River Valley Boys, will be joining his daughter, Ashley, and her band, the Songcatchers, and 1960s’ Harvard Square folk legend Jim Rooney.
“The Lilly Brothers set the bar high when they came to Boston in 1952,” Katz explained, “and they remained fixtures on the bluegrass scene for more than a century. [Bluegrass fiddler] ‘Tex’ Logan [who was attending M.I.T.] invited them to town. He knew about a gig at a local radio station [WCOP’s Hayloft Jamboree].”
The Lilly Brothers soon became the house band at a Boston nightclub, Hillbilly Ranch. “Folks like Jim Rooney, Bill Keith, Peter Rowan, and Joe Val got through the door if they were old enough,” said Katz, “or they perched by the door listening to the Lilly Brothers. They got an education that was first rate.”
There is much more to the festival than the mainstage show. Informal jam sessions fill every available space in the hotel. Conference rooms provide a site for a variety of workshops and informal artist showcases.
“When you walk in the doors of the hotel,” Katz said, “you realize that the festival is a family gathering. We work hard to make sure that we honor the music with a great main stage show but we want people to come away with a greater appreciation for the music. As an educational organization, that’s what the BBU is all about.”
Despite three decades of growth, the Joe Val Bluegrass Festival continues to honor the man from whom it derives its name.
“[Val] was such a great guy, a nice, unassuming person,” Katz said, “and we try to convey that to the audience. We try to honor what he loved about the music.”
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