Nats Vs. Cincinatti and Sunset In The Clouds - Cosmic Vibes - Picasa Web Albums

Here are some photos from the Washington Nationals vs Cincinnati Reds at Nationals Park 6/6/2010. Drew Stubbs drove in Jay Bruce with a two out single in the 10th to give Cincinnati the win 5-4. There was a pretty amazing looking sky when we got home. A blazing sunset mixed in with a bunch of cool clouds left over from a front that moved through. I thought you might enjoy those as well.

Get out to a game at Nationals Park it's a lot of fun.

Nats Vs. Cincinatti and Sunset In The Clouds - Cosmic Vibes - Picasa Web Albums

Del Fest 2010: Audio Downloads

You don't have to search all over etree and archives for audio recordings. You can get them right here. I've compiled a list of all the audio download links I could find. Some are free, some are soundboard quality which are not free. Some of them will be flac, some mp3. Take your pick, and I hope you enjoy some of these great performances from Del Fest 2010.

Thanks to tapers Timothy Brown , Craig Taraszki, sdolan, Rob Clarke for all of your hard work recording, uploading and documenting setlist info. Your work is greatly appreciated.

The Travelin McCourys 5/27 Etree (flac)

Railroad Earth 5/27 & 5/28 Etree (flac)

Railroad Earth 5/27 Archives (mp3)

Railroad Earth 5/28 Archives (mp3)

The Hillbilly Gypsies 5/28 Etree (flac)

Mountain Heart 5/27 & 5/28 Etree (flac)

Trampled By Turtles 5/28 & 5/29 Etree (flac)

Greensky Bluegrass 5/28 & 5/29 Etree (flac)

Del McCoury Band 5/28 Archives (mp3)

Del McCoury Band 5/29 Archives (mp3)

Del McCoury Band 5/30 Archives (mp3)


Del McCoury Band 5/28 Etree (flac)


Del McCoury Band 5/29 Etree (flac)

Del McCoury Band 5/30 Etree (flac)

McCoury Family Jam 5/29 Etree (flac)

Steep Canyon Rangers 5/29 & 5/30 Etree (flac)

Larry Keel and Natural Bridge 5/29 Etree (flac)

Yonder Mountain String Band 5/29 Etree (flac)

Yonder Mountain String Band 5/29 Archives (mp3)

The Bridge 5/29 Potomac Stage Archives (mp3)

Cornmeal 5/29 Etree (flac)

Cornmeal 5/29 Archives (mp3)

Uncle Earl 5/30 Etree (flac)

David Grisman 5/30 Etree (flac)

Daily and Vincent 5/30 Etree (flac)

Cornmeal 5/30 Late Night Etree (flac)

Cornmeal 5/30 late night Archives (mp3)

Larry Keel 5/30 Potomac Stage Archives (mp3)

The Bridge 5/30 late night Etree (flac)

The Bridge 5/30 Late Night Archives (mp3)

Keller Williams and Friends 5/30 Etree (flac)

Keller Williams and Friends 5/30 Archives (mp3)

Ben Kaufman Adam Aijala 5/30 Etree (flac)


Ben Kaufman Adam Aijala 5/30 Archives (mp3)

Here is a link to some soundboard recordings by Digitalsoundboard.net

Del Fest 2010: Where The Grass Is Blue

Del Fest at the beautiful Alleghany County Fairgrounds is a great place where old friends can get together and new friends are made. You really leave there feeling like you've just spent the weekend with family. Whether you knew them or not before you got there. Many relationships were made right in our little camp community we had. I'm pretty sure the same can be said all over the grounds. Some folks from Lynchburg VA. arrived soon after us for the academy, we made a connection right away. Soon after that all the academy players started to show up, musical bonds were made almost instantly. It's amazing how music and such an event can bring people together. Some folks from the academy traveled all the way from Alaska to attend. More important to them, they came to see their favorite band Trampled By Turtles. Not only did they get to see the Turtles but they actually jammed with them at their campsite. So this is what I mean when I say relationships are made. It can happen at Del Fest. It does happen at Del Fest

When Thursday arrived, all of the tents started filling in the areas that were once barren and peaceful. People were flooding in like soldiers marching. Radios were buzzing, tent stakes were clinking, drinks were flowing, instruments pickin. As the masses flowed in, I remember thinking two thoughts. "There goes the peace and quiet" and "the party starts now". When 6pm arrived the camps were set up, and the focus shifted into music mode. The Travelin McCourys would start off the festival at 6:35 with special guest Del McCoury and Ronnie Bowman. The place was alive. Food vendors were crankin out food, hula hoops were whirlin, banjos rolling and fiddles fiddling. The occasional freight train blowing it's horn as it rolled through (sometimes at 4 am). The McCourys started it off with a blazing set, welcoming the fans to the 3rd annual Del Fest. Half way through the set, Del called over the microphone for 12 year old fiddler Hanna Livingston of Frostburg MD. to come on up to the stage. They wanted to wish her a happy birthday. Oh yeah and they wanted her to play Orange Blossom Special with them again as she had previously at Del Fest Academy. She did so with command and control only to have Del looking at her with smiles and in disbelief again. At the end the crowd burst into cheers and chants of one more song. The band agreed and she would stay up for a mean version of "Back Up and Push". Ending with the crowd singing her happy birthday. Truly a great moment and probably my favorite moment of the weekend. Mountain Heart and Railroad Earth finished off the first night jamming with special guests Rob and Ronnie McCoury. Setting the tone right for the magic that was about to take place at the fairgrounds for the next three days.

Del Fest is an eclectic mix of musical acts. You have of course bluegrass, you have new grass, you have gospel, soul, funk. Keller Williams and friends played a nearly all Grateful Dead set on Sunday night. You had bands jamming out in the late night hall until almost 4am. Each band getting a special guest from the other bands from throughout the day and of course cameos by Del, Ronnie, and Rob McCoury. You get a little bit of everything with a few surprises thrown in at Del Fest.

Some of my favorites of the weekend were of course all three nights of Del McCoury Band. Mountain Heart was awesome with their Allman Brothers jams and southern rock feel. Greensky Bluegrass, Hillbilly Gypsies were new for me and definitely now on my playlist. Railroad Earth was amazing on the main stage and their late night set was stellar as well. Yonder Mountain String Band definitely put on the best show I've ever seen out of them. The Travelin McCourys with The Lee Boys show was a late night dance party of southern gospel/soul/blues and banjo/mandolin bluegrass all mixed together somehow, it was pretty wild. Cornmeal (one of my favorite bands) and The Bridge (Baltimore's finest funk band) did some serious late night jamming with more cameos from Rob and Ronnie McCoury. I was also blown away by Larry Keel and Natural Bridge, and Steep Canyon Rangers. I was able to see some legendary jams, some legendary musicians and some great moments. Please enjoy the footage I was able to capture. Here are the links to the Del Fest Photo albums.

Del Fest Photos Day One

Del Fest Photos Day Two

Del Fest Photos Day Three

Del Fest Photos Day Four

Also check out Kristin Mclane's You Tube Channel for tons of great footage from the festival.

Josh Ungar's Del Fest Photo Album
Josh Ungar's Keller Williams and Friends
Josh Ungar's Cornmeal Photo Album

Stay tuned for my list of Audio downloads I will be putting together soon.

I hope to see you next year at Del Fest.

Railroad Earth

Larry Keel and Natural Bridge

Cornmeal

The Bridge

Del Fest Academy 2010-Knee Deep In Bluegrass

If you love bluegrass and want to learn an instrument, do it at Del Fest Academy. Not only do you get to learn your favorite bluegrass instrument. You get to do it with professional legendary musicians. Choose from guitar, fiddle, banjo, bass, or mandolin. You will get four days of almost personal training with Rob McCoury (Banjo), Ronnie McCoury (Mandolin), Alan Bartram (stand up bass) and Jason Carter (Fiddle) from the Del McCoury Band and The Travelin McCourys. The guitar teacher was Ronnie Bowman of Nashville TN. Plus a weekend pass to the festival. Beginner to novice are welcome with no worries of  being as good or up to speed with other musicians. They really allow you to feel that you are as good as the others and everything is going to be alright even if you mess up. After all every one has to start somewhere, even they did.

Day one (Monday) of the academy was set up camp, chill out for a few hours, meet and greet dinner and beers with the band and students. Hootin and hollerin with them until around midnight or so. The grounds were beautiful, peaceful and quiet with an almost full moon coming over the mountain side. A late night jam took place just to get the engines revved. Everyone was excited for the next day. Here are the photos  from Del Fest Academy Day 1

Day Two: Started out with a really neat question and answer session, where students got to ask questions to any of the band members. The questions and answers were quite interesting on a range of different things. The guys explained their instruments where they got them, how long they've had them, how long it took to break them in and so on. Definitely a little something more than who do you like to play with? Or whose your favorite guitar player? It was quite the learning experience already. That was followed by an impromptu jam by the band. After this, the groups split off into their respective instrument categories. After lunch break the groups would split again for the afternoon. Around 4pm is the time everyone was waiting for. This is when the karaoke jams took place. Each of the students if they wanted to, could sign up to play whatever song they want and the teachers would be their backing band. It was really quite something, basically a dream come true for a lot of people. Each of the players did an amazing job. The band was awesome in keeping it going if someone had made a rare mistake. It was just all around fun for everyone. The one performance that stood out the most was 11 year old Hanna Livingston. She came out and blazed on fiddle. Everybody had smiles on their faces and once in a while that look like I don't believe what I'm seeing look. When she was finished the crowd burst into cheers (the loudest of all). The look on Hanna's face was priceless to say the least. If you would like to see video of these great performances they are located in the Del Fest Academy Day 2 album

Day 3: Started out much the same as day 2. They also taught how to do three part harmonies. Ronnie asked his wife Garnet to come up and help. They really just taught all aspects of the band. It was another lesson I was able to take home with me. After this they split off into their groups again and I disappeared for the afternoon until Karaoke time. Check out photos from performances in the Del Fest Academy Day 3 album.

Day 4: The big day. Thursday was the day everyone was waiting for. The gates opened at 12pm, and the festival would start at 7pm. Starting off with a set from the Travelin McCourys. More importantly the academy players would get to do their karaoke with Travelin McCourys but also with Del McCoury himself.  All the players were so excited but yet so nervous. This is when I really began to see the pride of this whole thing. When Del got up there, the smile on his face just says it all. It's what it's all about. Del is the man, he's a humble man, he interacts with everyone, he's a leader, he's got his family up there with him, and you can see it in his eyes that he is simply happy and proud to be there. Honestly that's the feeling I got for the rest of the weekend whenever I saw the band up on stage. I saw it in all of them. All of the karaoke performances were again amazing. Everyone got their moment to shine. There were too many to comment on. However I want to mention again 11 year old Hanna. She got up there again and ripped an Orange Blossom Special with serious authority. The look on Del's face during this was definitely one of disbelief. Check out the photos and videos in the Del Fest Academy Day 4 album.

I can't say enough about Del Fest Academy. I was only a guest at the academy this year. I didn't get to participate in any of the real classes, so I tried to take with whatever I could from the parts that I did get to see. It was an extraordinary experience I'll never forget. I learned a tremendous amount just being there. Get to Del fest Academy next year you will not regret it. If the McCourys aren't your musical heroes when you get there they will be when you leave. Thanks to Lisa McCoury, Chris, and the Travelin McCourys for allowing me to cover my first festival from behind the scenes and get some really memorable footage. I am truly grateful for your kindness. I can't wait until next year.

Here is a link to Josh Ungar's Del Fest Academy photo album

More photos, setlists, and audio links from Del Fest 2010 coming soon, so stay tuned to the vibes.