Contact us
Back to All Posts

There’s again something to be learned and heard, from both old school and newer musical courses, at several-band RF bluegrass festival

The 2017 version of the bluegrass and roots music festival in River Falls is continuing its tradition of pushing ‘grass tunes to their limit, while keeping in tune with their origins.
This weekend, there will be several such bands who are prominent, and some that are more known regionally to enable the listener to explore the musical substance in and around customary bluegrass, while not straying too far from that course. The action begins early Friday evening, with a tasting event that remains true to what’s made bluegrass what it is today.
Getting even moreso into the verve this year, is the West Wind, on the north end of town and by a matter of miles the first festival venue you’ll encounter if coming from the interstate. The supper club and bar is on the right side of the main drag and features a comfortable, relaxed and friendly setting. This weekend, in two shows, it will feature traditional and not-so-traditional bluegrass.
West Wind has the Fishheads from 3-6 p.m. on Saturday and Blue Groove from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sunday. Blue Groove is relatively new to the scene and is the only band in the festival that you can choose to take in on Sunday.
With a mix of island music, vintage rock, funk, folk, blues, Texas swing and reggae — in addition to bluegrass — all wrapped up in a crazy spontaneous atmosphere and 22 years of experience, the Fishheads have played all around the region and shared the stage with top acts like .38 Special, The Legendary Wailers and even traveled halfway around the world to play for troops in the Persian Gulf.
You will find old rock standards from the Bee Gees, Aerosmith, Steve Miller, AC/DC and Johnny Cash, as well as pop unusuals like Elle King and Jessie J. The Fishheads hail from Duluth and are fronted by a married couple, bringing to the stage instruments as varied as their sound — dombro, pedal steel guitar, banjo and mandolin.
Add upright bass and fiddle and you have Blue Groove, a multiple award-winning bluegrass band that leans more toward a contemporary vibe (Alison Krauss and Rhonda Vincent), while maintaining ties to traditional bluegrass (Bill Monroe and Flatt & Scruggs), with improvisation and harmony singing, and even some originals.
Is it already four years? That’s how long Juniors Bar and Restaurant has hosted the Friday evening, signature beer and wine tasting event at the bluegrass festival. It runs 5-8 p.m. and tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door. You also can again enjoy bluegrass music by the Good Intentions, led by the local-and-longtime veritable musician Chris Silver. The premier sponsor is Fulton Brewing, and also having host brews are Barley Johns, Rush River, Summit, Surly, Swinging Bridge, Pitchfork, Oliphant, State Fair and Madison Avenue. Offering beverages as well, are 65 Vines, Crispin Hard Cider, Belle Vinez, Maiden Rock and Chateau St. Croix.
Juniors also will host the Kind Country band, which using its own lingo is jamgrass playing cosmic American music, with a little Allman Brothers and Bob Marley thrown in, and featuring a lineup of between six and eight players. They perform from 8-11 p.m. Saturday. Next-day at Juniors, in addition, is the annual singer and songwriter competition from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Saturday, and the festival-themed band contest from 2:30-4:30 p.m. Saturday.
Pushing Chain, a folky-tonk duo, features Boyd Blomberg on guitar and Adam Moe on fiddle, and both on vocals, and they will be at Riverwalk Square from noon-3 p.m. Saturday. Their act has an impressive list of bands with which the stage has been shared, including John Hiatt, other prime fests for which they have been even more prominently featured, and also additional ones where their play has won them awards, such as at the Minnesota State Fair and exactly three years ago at the band contest right here in River Falls. Its Americana-roots sound has been brought forward by Boyd, the former frontman and songwriter for the national touring band, the Gooneybirds. Pushing Chain is signed with Kingswood Records. The people at Riverwalk Square were very happy with Pushing Chain last year, and were buoyed by the fact they could be so popular away from the bar setting. Available at their show is a deli counter with sandwiches, salads and the like, and wine from Belle Vinez.
Family Fresh has an open jam with Ari, a Minneapolis-based musician who has been popular on the college scene in large part because of his instrumental, so he should fit well if you’re a student at UW-RF — or are a bit beyond that age. Ari is on, with guest singers and players, on Saturday from 1-3 p.m.
Other notable gigs at this year’s fest include: Olive Sings from 6-9 p.m. at Johnnie’s Bar, Sawdust Symphony from 10 p.m.-1 a.m. at Maverick’s Corner Saloon, La Terza Classe from 10 p.m.-2 a.m. at Shooter’s Pub, all on Friday night; Lou Shields from 1-3 p.m. and sponsored by Swinging Bridge Brewing Company, the Gentlemen’s Anti-Temperence League from 2-5 p.m. at Bo’s ‘N Mine, Scrapegoat Skin and Bones from 4-7 p.m. at Lazy River, Bernie King and the Guilty Pleasures from 5-8 p.m. at Johnnies, Roe Family Singers from 6-9 p.m. at Bo’s ‘N Mine, New Riverside Ramblers from 10 p.m.-1 a.m. at Maverick’s, and Black River Revue from 10 p.m.-2 a.m., all Saturday.

Share the Post:

Related Posts

  • I’ll be brief and punchy with this headline notation, as we transition to giving you more and sometimes shorter choices. And you may notice some of that as you beckon forward. It’s circular. Like a flush. Be careful what you mix, heads vs. text, drinks vs. food, and all kinds of potions — that may go bump in the night. —– Punchy, potentially, but I digress or progress with a new patriotic addition.
My mom has told me not to be a potty mouth when I write, as she certainly would not appreciate hardly any of the standup humor on say, Comedy Central Radio. SNL maybe. But after 11:30 p.m. … But there comes a time where a man must make a stand. And for this jokester, it was now when he had to choose whether to pass on the opportunity that would otherwise bite him in the butt, for in front of and behind him is the Mother Lode. Or should I say load. Or “Mothers” of Invention. Heh heh, heh heh, Butthead, look...
Read More
  • This coulda been Vanna White’s next Big gig In The Sky, if the scaffolding was not so high. So this is how the project went, by the letters and numbers, of get Trump’s name erased from the Kennedy Center. The $250 bill might be tougher. Sad but true. So, What are there more of going on right now, wars or Trump pet construction projects?
So the wall is down. Of letters, that is. Not down by Mexico. Cemented into the concrete. Of the Kennedy Center. Where music has sat. (Near where a now defunct wrestling arena rusts in peace. Or a bloodied White House lawn. With leftover paper cups and plates, more likely bowls and small utensils, anyone?) Or more ornate than inside? A tarp the size of Pennsylvania, the predominant battle state, covers workers as they chip. So geez, how big are the letters? Four times 50 living workers high? But now none remain, or so we are told by flunkies. Or is...
Read More
  • Stressed out as a caregiver? She’s back at yah. This is a rare case of a husband and wife being joint caregivers — for each other — aided and abbetted by the fact that they have a lot of the same disabling conditions. So she shovels snow using a walker/scooter, while he cooks gingerly using a microwave and offers her a plate when she sits down, in an easy chair, in a reversal and new take on traditional roles. Whatever it takes. Necessity is the mother of invention. —– In a new add, Towns and the champion Knicks got kicked around but still got their kicks in the long run … As do Norwegian dancers.
A few years back, I wrote an article about Hudson Deacon Tom Kroll and how he did so many extra dutiful tasks, his living out the Gospels tirelessly, when his wife was ill, in addition to his regular job. I was inspired at the time to pen this, about my own lovely, disabled wife — we were separated briefly but now back together with our 40th anniversary this month, as wholehearted caregiving has many strains — and how an atypical view of standard roles, out of necessity, made things work, as far as our approach to work and home that’s...
Read More
  • He says, and goes fishing with the boys. She says, then goes to the middle of Texas, inviting her mates to a ranch/villa built for the ages. The bachelor and bachelorette parties were on the same night, but though very different, they had some things in common … like the snakes, at least three kinds, to avoid. (None with exotic dancer.) But while away, they did not avoid each other, completely. He made a phone call. —– Just added, last call included a Carolina cowpoke.
What do fishing, maybe in the dark, thus a Texas ranch, snakes of various types and do they come or stay out after dusk, eating either and only fine food or snacks, and a game of cards — likely just one each — have in common. And no strippers or Chippendales. And an only half or quarter, not full Monty. (Who is Monty anyway?) Or cowboy or cowgirl hats. Although there was some dress-up. More Barbie than boots on, I think. It’s an easy answer, connected and conflicting, but not in all or dirty ways, bachelor and bachelorette parties. One of each...
Read More
  • Full metal jacket? Hey, I wasn’t exactly to the point of going Rob Halford. But tastes aside, there must be some reason why after 26 years I was shunned, like going Bob Daisley by Ozzy at his reunion? OK, I know, my style may not have fit with the packed crowd. And the last couple of times for this, I tried to do too much with ad-libbing. So yeah, I get that this time around, I was the somewhat unusual choice to be the one left off the set list, with singers clamoring to get up there. But seriously, just being analytical of strengths and weaknesses as a singer here, no hard feelings. I’m not Dio. (Or Traveling Wilburys, a when jumping inside, inside joke.)
It was clear to me at the most recent Jeff Loven music show in Hudson, for Memorial Day weekend, that there has been a changing of the guard. The sword has been passed. New blood, like Yungblud, has been brought in. And, I must say, loyalty — amongst the devotees who travel frequently and all across the two-state area to virtually all of Jeff’s shows — has been rewarded. They are the royalty, in what just makes good business sense that I can appreciate. In a significant but not unprecedented altering of course, I was not one of those asked...
Read More
  • Songs by Napalm Death? A fire swept down my very street today, where the babies were burned. (But alas, a new A/C unit is on its way up the freeway.) The Stones did not leave these themes unturned, either, or should I say unrolled. Oh wait, this all was my cooker of an apartment, and we are not talking the kitchen. But all these matters will become more pressing, a pressure point, as the new normal especially in southern climes is temp well into the triple digits. It is these people, the third world, and their heat stroke not mine, that most concern me. (Another example of hellfire temps just added. Sin after Sin.)
Trial by fire. My broiling heart in my efficiency flat still beats a bit, in concern over those boiling over in worse apartments in a Chicago tenancy, or on an ocean island instantly-burn-your-feet beach or dessert, or forced to endure ice baths just to keep cool — or simply be offered no way to maintain an ice-dripping body other than also read a non-cookbook at the library, or select not a big steak you can’t afford but a 73/27 burger from a freezer and slap it on your forehead. Just not too hard. All these things are ones where you especially today either burn or...
Read More
Scroll to Top