Coming into Delfest this past weekend, I really wasn’t sure what to expect. This was my first festival after all, and as much as I’d listened to what seems like endless amounts of festival stories (in addition to reading a few “festival guides” and “festival checklists” to preprare myself) I still had no idea what was about to unfold over the next few days. What I discovered was an incredible musical venture and an enjoyable, yet memorable festival experience.

Delfest 2009 in Cumberland, MD

I was extremely impressed with how much the festival seemed to be geared towards the fan experience. The longest line I waited in was about 10 minutes for coffee each morning. Prices were completely reasonable, only two bucks for a bag of ice, or a cup of coffee! My feeling is that the prices were kept low to keep people from leaving the fairgrounds and keeping traffic in and out of the festival to a minimum. Of course, I was told that most festivals make it impossible to leave and come back, so being able to come and go as I pleased was a convenience.

The Main Stage Delfest 2009

Most importantly, the staff was not a comprised of robots, but rather understanding people who were allowed the flexibility to make the weekend run smoothly. There were multiple instances in which an employee following a strict set of rules may have put a sour taste on the weekend, but I instead was pleasantly surprised at the manner in which I was treated.

My fears of waiting in line for hours to get in, and my will call ticket not being found were relieved when we made it into the Allegany County Fairgrounds with relative ease on Friday afternoon. We went and set up camp in some tall grass (rookie mistake) in the 90 degree midday heat just in time to drink a few brews and head over to the main stage.

Original Campsite

The first band we saw was the The Infamous Stringdusters. The Nashville-based sixtet seemed odd to me, it looked they were putting absolutely no effort into their playing, yet the music coming out was energetic. They had some well written songs, with good vocals and some nice tradeoffs with their leads.

The Infamous Stringdusters

Next up was the Del McCoury Band. It was hard not to be impressed by Del McCoury, a bluegrass legend who even played rhythm guitar for Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys back in 1963. McCoury is a true performer with palpable charisma. I was fortunate enough to walk by Del as he was riding his cart out of the main stage area and see him joking and talking with all his fans walking by. His smile and stories are charming, and his Friday night set became a sing-along for his longtime fans.

Railroad Earth closed out Friday night with a fun and energetic set. Railroad Earth is one of my favorite bands out there today, writing great songs and combining that with great live jamming and interplay. Their songs are truly classics, they ooze with passion and very American themes of freedom, hard work the simple life. I’ll save my thoughts on their improvisational abilities for their late-night set on Saturday.

After Railroad Earth we decided to move the campsite to some well-groomed grass near the baseball fields. We must have looked a little strange carrying fully set up tents across the campgrounds at midnight or so, but it proved worth it later in the festival when we have some shelter from the storm to come. Too tired and worn out to make the late-night set, we hit the sack and called it a day.

Camping at Delfest

We woke up Saturday morning to more heat and sun, and decided to go play some frisbee on the baseball fields. After this a friend and I headed down to the Potomac, which runs right along the campgrounds. We decided that we’d try our hand in some crayfish hunting, something neither of us had done since childhood. With some limited success we ended up swimming around for a while before going back to the campsite.

Around 11 a.m. we made our way back to the mainstage for The Lee Boys. Save for Roosevelt Collier, their brilliant 12 string pedal steel guitarist, I find their rock / soul to be fairly generic. The set was enjoyable, like some Sunday morning gospel rock.

Sam Bush

After The Lee Boys we headed back to the campsite for a few hours. Our friend Jeremy of Pigeons Playing Ping Pong fame (yeah, he opened for Ludacris) started playing some acoustic guitar for us, and upon hearing the guitar, a friendly stranger came by and joined with his steel guitar. Jeremy and our new friend got down to some serious pickin’.  Here’s a short video I got of a traditional bluegrass song.

Saturday afternoon we went to see Sam Bush at the main stage. While Sam Bush has some great songs, and that polished sound of a well-practiced band, what I really dig is the jamming. Bush has the rare and special ability to hit those notes that transcend standard improvisation and elevate jams to new heights. We were all thoroughly enjoying the music and sunshine when the rain came. It started slowly, though even from the very beginning each raindrop was noticeably large and freezing cold. About 10 minutes later the skies opened up into one of those storms where you wonder if it would actually be possible to rain any harder.

Thunderstorms

Looking back, the storm seems like a blur. We went through about half an hour of hail, flash-flooding and tornado-like winds. In an area near our campsite that was completely dry before the storm there resided a 15-foot wide river. Tent and canopy pieces were scattered across fields, and the parking lots had turned to mud and water.  Two of our tents were destroyed, while Alan (a former boy scout) proudly boasted about the miraculous survival of his tent. Our cookies had been transformed to cookie soup (delicious…) and campsites and vendors everywhere at the festival had been completely ravaged.

Hail at Delfest

As we learned later, winds hit 80 mph, two people got struck by lightning but refused medical attention (I for one had no idea that it is possible to survive lightning, let alone be conscious enough to refuse medical attention) and the main stage had been so torn apart by the storm they had to move shows to the late night stage temporarily on Saturday night. Originally I was a little peeved that there was no warning, but I recently came across this excerpt from the Del McCoury Band forums answering why there was no warning for the storm:

“None of us knew of the storm until it was right on top of us. The forecast was clear with widely scattered showers. The storm that hit just couldn’t make it over that mountain and it kept feeding off of the Potomac and circling back around to the Fairgrounds. It took everyone by surprise!! I was in the merchandise tent along with Del’s wife Jean and his daughter Rhonda and their manager Stan and many others. Everyone was working together just to hold the tent down and ride out the storm. Like I said..it took EVERYONE by surprise. I have heard that there hasn’t been a storm like that in the area for over 55 years! It was just an ‘Act of God’…and we’re glad that no one was seriously hurt.”

Mud on Sunday Morning

After Del McCoury played his Saturday night set at the indoor late-night stage while the main stage was being rebuilt. They finished their repairs just in time for Leftover Salmon to play their set. While they played with a remarkable energy, Leftover Salmon played a short set without too much jamming. A highlight was “Rise Up,” a fan favorite. From that point on, anyone could shout “rise up” to be greeted with a resounding chorus of “wake and bake!”

After Leftover Salmon we went to see Railroad Earth’s late night set. They played so much differently than their Friday night set it was hard to believe it was the same band. Hardly using any song structure at all, they took the audience with them into a bluegrass trance world. It was as spacey as I’ve ever seen bluegrass. Here’s a video from one of their late night jams.

On Sunday afternoon I saw my last show of Delfest, Cornmeal. One of my favorite bands heading into the festival, I was extremely impressed with their set. Allie Kral plays one of the best leads out there, on fiddle no less. Honestly, I don’t remember anyone else at the festival being able to top the energy of Cornmeal’s peaks when Allie took the lead. It’s not as if Cornmeal is one dimensional though, both “Wavy” Dave Burlingame on banjo and Kris Nowak on guitar are more than capable taking the lead themselves. Cornmeal was the perfect way to send me on my way, a long 10-hour drive to Rochester, NY.

Cornmeal

An event like Delfest 2009 brings people together. I don’t know if it’s human instinct to unite in the face of danger or it’s just the nature of having a uniquely shared experience. Personally I believe that we know no matter how much we write or talk about an experience, only those there will truly understand, and in this way we are bonded. For those of us who stayed Saturday night into Sunday you could sense the closeness. Delfest 2009 was truly a remarkable experience for all those involved, and I for one am looking forward to the third annual Delfest next summer.

"Artwork"