This past weekend was the 2nd
Annual Red Wing Roots Music Festival at Natural Chimneys Park in Mount
Solon, VA (just over 2 hrs. from Richmond).
It was our first time attending this festival presented by The Steel Wheels, but I’m sure we’ll be back.
Getting into the festival was easy. No real long lines and the parking
arrangement made sense. For those
camping on-site, it was a fairly short walk from where you parked to where the
campsites were. Checking in was pretty
much no hassle. After getting your
wristband you were free to make additional trips out to your car to haul in any additional items you might need. Red
Wing Roots is a kid-friendly festival. Many granola-minded moms and dads had brought
their children along, which is a pretty cool culture for the kids to be exposed
to in my opinion.
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| The Chimneys (photo by Vickey Higgins Goff) |
The setting for the festival is
picturesque and park-like, with the two main stages (Shenandoah Mountain Stage
and the South Stage) positioned between the awesome natural chimneys from which
the park gets its name. Sets on these
two primary stages were staggered so that as soon as one act was ending a
performer on the other one would begin.
The Blue Mountain Brewery beer garden was catty-cornered a
hundred yards or so back, so you could watch and hear both the Shenandoah
Mountain Stage and the South Stage from the beer garden if you wanted to.
The proliferation of urban food trucks
these days means that the munchie options at festivals of this kind are better than
ever. There were several great food
vendors, but I especially liked the Goatocado booth. Very healthy and yummy. There was a general store set up with ice and
other provisions. The porta-potties,
bathrooms and showers were kept clean and there were never any long waits to
use them.
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| Pokey LaFarge and the South City Three (Six?) (Photo by Vickey Goff) |
For our group of friends, a festival
such as this is as much an opportunity to hang out and reconnect (and get into
all sorts of mischief) as it is a chance to see great music. I only saw some of the bands that played
on Friday and Saturday (and none on Sunday), so I’m not able to give a good
overview of the performances other than saying the cool vibe and natural
setting certainly helped spark some inspired performances from the assembled bands.
Highlights on Friday for me were the
Steel Wheels kids set as we were setting up our camp, and Pokey LaFarge and
Trampled By Turtles later that evening on the main stage. On Saturday my faves were Mandolin Orange,
Tim O’Brien’s songwriter showcase as well as his set with Darrell Scott, plus The
Steel Wheels 8pm set and The Devil Makes Three at 9:30pm. Friends who witnessed The Stray Birds, Brothers
Comatose and Yarn on Sat. commented on them as being strong also, but our gang unanimously agreed that the Devil
Makes Three gave the best set of the weekend.
None of us stuck around for any music on Sunday, having shot our wad after
the first two nights.
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| The Devil Makes Three! (Photo by Vickey Higgins Goff) |
Festival hosts The Steel Wheels do a
fantastic job putting on Red Wing Roots.
The only thing I can think of that might improve upon it in the future
would be to branch out slightly beyond the roots/Americana focus to
include a few other acts like a Dawes or Dr. Dog (rock), or maybe an unabashedly jammy jamband/improv-oriented ensemble, or an uptempo
reggae/world music performer. Richmond, VA’s The Hot Seats would be perfect for an 11pm slot, like the one they did at Watermelon
Park fest a couple years back.
Despite that small suggestion for a slightly broader lineup, I
actually loved Red Wing Roots just the way it was. However it comes together next year I’m sure
it will be worth checking out again!
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