Indulge me for a moment

[SteamboatHead]

This forum seemed to receive my long-winded story of Night 3 at Boulder pretty well, and now my cosmic luck has continued as I have been road tripping from Colorado to Tennessee to see friends and family back in my home state. It's spun a tale that I think many of you might appreciate. So indulge me for a moment, if you will. The music that we love is tangled all throughout the story. As a young Deadhead, it still blows my mind each time I get to witness the music and experience "it".

 

This summer I had planned to make the drive from Steamboat Springs, CO to Chattanooga, TN in October stopping to catch a few of my favorite bluegrass bands along the way. First stop lands me in St. Louis to see Kitchen Dwellers and Horseshoes & Hand Grenades. A few weeks before the show, Fruition was added to the bill, which just made me look forward to the show all the more. After a great show from all bands involved (including a nice "Deal" by Kitchen Dwellers to close their set), they raffled off a 4-day pass to the Hillberry Music Festival to anyone who had bought a ticket online. Sure enough, they called my name. Shouting "THATS ME!" I walk to the stage and grab my prize. 

 

I begin contemplating how I can rearrange my road trip, and make this work. Before my thoughts get too far on all the music I will see in the coming few days, Fruition decides to play a few songs around the fire for those of us that decided to stick around after the show. The campfire singalong turns into an inside drunken singalong with a smorgasbord of musicians who had gigs in St. Louis and showed up to celebrate one of Fruitions birthday. Fruition has been a major part of my musical journey. I saw them in Avon, CO two years ago not knowing their name prior to the show and really launched me into the live music scene.  I got a chance to have a beer ($1 PBRs, to boot) with a few of them and vocalize a little bit of what they meant to me. It was an awesome moment.

 

Little did I know, my good times were only beginning. Shaking off the hangover from the night before, I arouse around 8am in St. Louis. Remembering now that I had won a ticket to a festival in NW Arkansas. I had almost planned my road trip to this very festival. The production company's name? Deadhead Productions. Reminiscing on the nights events, and getting geared up for more music to come, I made my way to "The Farm" outside Eureka Springs, AR. Cresting the hill into the campground, I see the main intersection of Shakedown Street and Jerry's Way. This place just keeps getting better.

 

Luckily, I threw my hammock in the car as I walked out the door in Colorado, because "you never know" -- turns out I knew. Pulled up to the edge of the tree camping and the general car camping, set up my hammock from my car to a tree, and boom! My campsite was set up. Swinging in the hammock, enjoying a beer, a guy walks up and introduces himself. "This place becomes pretty magical here in a little bit," he tells me with a smile. Truer words never spoken. 

 

With the ice already broken between the neighbors and me, I decide to go join them for a beer or two before the first sets of music. Ha! A beer or two. As soon as I sat down in their chairs, I felt like I had known these people for years! They welcomed me into their group without question! By 4:30, we were loading beer into my backpack and making a group trek down to the tent for the opening music. 

 

I know A LOT of the bands that are in the bluegrass scene. I know the normal festival lineups and few names ever get by me as "never heard of them". First up were two local Arkansas bands that blew the top of the tent. I had never heard of either of them. And here I am getting my mind blown! There's always more music to be discovered out there, and that fact slapped me in the face last Thursday night in the best way possible. 

 

Next up was a band I knew well, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades. If you haven't checked them out. Give them a listen. I will spread their word far and wide for all of the days! Just as I'm convinced there is no way any of this can get better, they decide to throw us a "Touch of Grey" and "Ripple" somewhere near the end of their set. Be still my heart! Tears were only held back by my immense smile during that Ripple. I mean...that band...playing that song...in that setting...with these new friends. I was already planning my return to Hillberry for next year by the end of the night!

 

A glass artist drops Hillberry marbles all around the festival ground, and while I was searching the ground for something I thought I lost in the tent, I was lucky enough to find one the first night. I didn't know it was a thing until the next day. This earned me the nickname "Lucky Ben." Turns out my "lost" wax pen was just in a camp chair back at the campsite. Win-win!

 

Friday was one long, laughing fest. Music didn't kick off until 4:30 with Keller & the Stringdusters playing a set of the best music you can imagine - Grateful Grass. That gave us plenty of time to sit around the campsite, and just spend time in each other's company. The time spent at that campsite are the memories I'll cherish forever from this festival.

 

After someone mentions that girl Lucy, some friends of the campsite who had gotten just got in on Friday chimed in, "Oh, someone gave us some strips before we left." Thats when the night changed, and the laughing really kicked off. I won't dive into the shenanigans that followed, but it was indeed a long, beautiful, and yes, strange at times, trip. I'm sure you all can relate. 

 

The Grateful Grass set was all I could've hoped. I haven't tracked down a setlist, and the trickiness of Keller plus my mindset didn't make it easier to remember, but I know that they played a "Tennessee Jed" that I have been chasing for quite sometime. Hearing "Baby, wont you carry me.....back to Tennessee" played live in the middle of my road trip to Tennessee was just too beautiful for me to handle. I closed my eyes and savored the entirety of the moment. 

 

Towards the end of the set, Keller and the Dusters start playing They Love Each Other. I'm grooving and ready for them to dropped into the first verse....but wait...they start singing the words to Cumberland Blues. Alright, I'm digging some Cumberland...take me down to the Cumberland Mine!...I'm belting it. The crowd is in a frenzy....and then they're back into TLEO. Whew a slow down and we're back to a nice groove. Second verse...back to Cumberland blues. The whole song was one giant clusterpuck mashup of the two songs, and it left me picking up the pieces to my mind. I so badly want to hear a recording of it (*fingers crossed the tapers come through*).

 

This post went on way longer than I anticipated, but I cannot stop gushing about it to everyone I encounter. I decided to get the WHOLE story out somewhere. And I knew this might be a place that would enjoy hearing about the universe shining some serious light on me. I took off on my road trip a week and a half ago really excited to see all my old friends and family. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to find lifelong friends around the journey. The music was amazing. It was EVERYTHING I could've hoped and more. It made me dance, cry, and feel all of the feelings!

 

But the people, the friends, the atmosphere made it something special. It makes my hair stand on end thinking about it. How I came this close to not being at that festival. How I could've camped somewhere different. I entered a group of friends that have been to music together for YEARS, and they just made me part of it without hesitation. It's still hard for me to wrap my head around everything and all the thoughts/feelings I have about what happened, but I have a suspicion that quite a few of you on this forum know these exact feelings. 

 

You know, the whole getting shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right is becoming more and more true to me everyday.

[PoetryGirl]

Beautiful to be held by the Universe in such a loving way! “Gone are the days we stop to decide. Where we should go, we just ride”  thanks for sharing the beauty the world holds for us if we are open and receiving. 

 

or as Aunty Mahealani would say I Ka Mea Pono. (All things are perfect. Right place. Right time. Right being. )

[Tea]

Sweet Blog Man! 

 

It's nice when you can be just drivin on the wind - good things sure can happen!  Thanks for sharing - sounds like a great time. 

[gr8fulpair]

Great story bro. Yes, I've had a number of similar experiences and those are the ones that keep me coming back. Makes me wonder why there was only one summer of love. Why can't they all be summers of love? Share that light steamboathead! 

[BillK522]

Stuffing the stat sheet there Steamboat.

Outdoor festivals lend themselves to

wild, winding adventures.

Enjoy the ride.

 

Praise DSO

[How Do You Do?]

Caught Horseshoes and Hand Grenades a few years back at Jubilee. Would strongly suggest to SteamboatHead that he put this festival on his list for next (and every) year!

[SteamboatHead]

Thanks for the encouragement folks. The universe is pouring light into my life right now. My hillberry and road trip magic continues...

 

Ive accepted the zen of being  a single 28 year old guy knowing I'd find a girl by not looking for one. I've said to keep going to music that I like and I'll eventually find a girl that likes that same music with a like-minded outlook on life. 

 

In Birmingham Alabama on Friday, during a night with a few too many beers, I over hear a girl at the bar talking about a festival...and sure enough she's talking about Hillberry. The very festival I have been glowing from for the past week. We instantly hit it off. 

 

Not only did we go to the same festival in Arkansas and end up at the same show in Alabama a week later, she lives in Colorado less than 2 hours from me. The connections uncanny and the chemistry off the charts. 

 

Ive delayed my return to Colorado by a day just to hang out with her one more time. She's in Alabama for a month hanging with her newborn niece. 

 

Thank you everyone for shining light back on me even as a stranger on the internet. This community and the like minded people you get to interact with is something else. 

 

Love is real NFA