Fresh Grass Set for September 19-21
Lineup for Mass Moca Event.
By: MoCA - Mar 18, 2014
FreshGrass, MASS MoCA's annual festival of bluegrass and roots music, features a host of well-known, much-loved artists, along with FreshGrass discoveries, in its return to the museum campus in North Adams, Massachusetts, on September 19-21, 2014. This year's lineup is the deepest yet, including The Carolina Chocolate Drops, Railroad Earth, Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn,Sam Bush, The Infamous Stringdusters, David Grisman Sextet, The Gibson Brothers, Alison Brown, Valerie June, Aoife O'Donovan, Rodney Crowell, Sam Amidon, Liam Ó Manolaí, Michael Cleveland,Claire Lynch,Darol Anger, Martha Redbone Roots Project, and more to be announced later in the spring. Last year's FreshGrass Award recipient, Cricket Tell the Weather, will take the stage for a full set. Find the full lineup at freshgrass.com.
Already a major presence on the festival scene, FreshGrass sharpens its focus this year on the best in traditional and progressive bluegrass, also surveying innovative music at the edges of the genre. "A bluegrass weekend that spans The Gibson Brothers to Sam Amidon, The Carolina Chocolate Drops to Rodney Crowell... That's our kind of festival, positioned just on the cusp of New England's fall foliage season," says MASS MoCA Director, Joseph Thompson.
Three days of concerts and pop-up performances in the museum's indoor galleries, stages, and outdoor concert courtyards; music clinics organized by instrument; and insider presentations by players in the bluegrass music trade, as well as a bounty of Berkshire fresh food and spirits, are planned for the weekend festival. The contest, workshops, and camping will all be expanding this year, as will luthier demonstrations and children's programming. Admission to MASS MoCA's galleries - where festival-goers will find concerts set amidst dramatically scaled exhibitions of contemporary art such as Darren Waterston's Uncertain Beauty - is included in the price of festival admission.
The FreshGrass Award, a music contest judged by industry professionals and featuring $15,000 in cash prizes and recording time at Compass Records' studio in Nashville for the winner, expands this year to include separate contests for bands, duos, and solo banjo. FreshGrass Award winners will also earn a main-stage slot at the 2015 festival.
"The FreshGrass community has really taken root over the past two years. And this festival is the heart and soul of it," says FreshGrass Producer Chris Wadsworth. "Great music, a strong community, preservation and advancement - those are the guiding lights of this festival. The audience has responded."
Festival passes are available for $87 for adults, $77 for students, $43 for kids 7-16, and are free for children 6 and under, making FreshGrass one of the best values on the festival circuit. Festival passes increase to full price with the final lineup announcement in the late spring. Museum members receive a 10% discount on full-price tickets. Single-day tickets may be offered closer to the event. FreshGrass details will be updated on the festival website, FreshGrass.com, and on Facebook at FreshGrass Festival. FreshGrass tickets are general admission, and the festival will be held rain or shine.