The Sweet Sounds of Summer
May/June 2008

From the vantage point of an outdoor music festival, summer is nothing but easy. By Kelly Bastone

Music Fest Must-Haves


Sun hat
Sure, go bareheaded for one sunny hour. But 12? Even better:
plant a beach umbrella for respite from the rays (but check with festival regulations to make sure they’re permitted).

Sunscreen
Choose a spray version so you can snack without coating your food with foul-flavored chemicals.

Folding chair or blanket
You’ll want one or the other for basking between sets.

Headlamp or flashlight
Indispensable for finding your way back to the campsite or car after dark.

Toilet paper
The port-a-potties may be stocked but
maybe not.

Baby wipes
A great way to clean up and refresh yourself after a few hours - or days - outside.

Most people never see the Tetons from this angle. Visitors to Grand Teton National Park almost always admire these mountains from the Snake River Valley, where they leap skyward from the plain like frozen fountains of granite. That’s how they appear in nearly every photo capturing these supremely chiseled peaks. Yet at Grand Targhee, you stand behind the Tetons on prosaic Fred’s Mountain, which lets you ogle the icons’ backside. It feels a little like peering under the Statue of Liberty’s robe.

Fred’s Mountain is part of Grand Targhee Resort, where in the winter its lifts deliver skiers to some of the Rockies’ deepest powder stashes. Come July, though, the resort hosts Targhee Fest, a three-day music festival. Whereas some summer music festivals are massive happenings involving 60,000 people or more and feature such events as all-night drum circles, a plethora of grilled-cheese sandwiches, and opportunities to imbibe any plant that promises an altered state, smaller music festivals like Targhee Fest serve up plenty of outdoor musical exuberance without the frat-house party scene. Some come for the performers: Todd Snider, Iris Dement, Tony Furtado, and the Cowboy Junkies all regaled Targhee Fest audiences last summer. Others pack up their climbing harnesses, hiking boots, and mountain bikes for a weekend of outdoorsy sport punctuated by groovy tunes.

Beneath Fred’s Mountain, a small, intimate crowd gathers before the Targhee Fest stage to hear the Neville Brothers’ funky riffs. Parents let their kids frolic away from home base, confident that they can easily retrieve them from the modest-sized concert meadow. Hikers settle into their folding chairs, gazing out across neighboring Grand Teton National Park, to await the music. Beneath the stern gray summits, grassy tundra swells like a golf course. The sun dips behind the stage by the time the singers appear, grinning at the audience as they belt out the tunes for which they’re celebrated.

Outdoorsy mountain gals pluck off their sun hats and kick off their sandals so they can boogie on down, while dads bounce young’uns on their shoulders in a side-to-side dance. Before long every chair sits empty as the jubilant crowd shimmies to the music. “We usually need extra oxygen to handle these high altitudes,” joked Aaron Neville from the stage. The audience, meanwhile, seems content to breathe melodies.

The next morning a handful of festivalgoers strap on bike helmets and pedal across the concert meadow to the web of singletrack that stitches its way across the resort. No epic rides here: interconnecting all the resort’s trails, bikers cover maybe 10 miles, but they’re fast and flowy, and the scenery can’t be beat. Cyclists serpentine through radiant aspen groves and skim over meadows filled with wildflowers that bob beneath the Tetons.

But that was just the morning workout. The trails empty out before Iris Dement, the day’s first act, takes the stage. The night before, the Neville Brothers cranked up the revelry; in contrast Iris Dement’s plaintive songs lull the crowd into quiet contemplation. Only the piano she plays accompanies her voice, which keens like an Appalachian folk singer’s. And although her lyrics are somber, her banter between songs is chipper: the stage crew has dialed the sound just right, and Dement basks in the music just as the audience does. After her spellbinding set, when she eases back into a car parked behind the stage and slowly rolls away, the crowd waves good-bye. A pale arm appears through the open window and waves back.

“This feels more like someone’s backyard party than a music festival,” says an audience member as she watches Dement depart. Festivalgoers soon start to recognize one another, and the crowd of familiar faces makes everyone feel at home. The morning’s mountain bikers settle back into lawn chairs, sipping bloody marys throughout the afternoon, and the gleeful kid who flopped like a rag doll on his dad’s shoulders last night now scampers across the neighbors’ blankets. The temperatures climb as the hours tick by, and as the sun floats higher the crowd starts melting into their lawn chairs. A few hoist themselves over to the resort’s swimming pool, which sits close enough to the stage that they can still hear the music, but most lack the motivation to move from their recliners. A zipline stretches across the face of Fred’s Mountain, but even that seems too pulse quickening for the summertime torpor. Eventually, Tony Furtado takes the stage, and many will answer the booty-shaking summons. Until then they simply savor a perfect summer’s day.

IF YOU GO
Targhee Fest
July 18–20
Grand Targhee Resort, Wyoming
Emmylou Harris headlines the 2008 roster of acoustic-based
Americana, folk, blues, and roots music. www.grandtarghee.com

 

The Best of the Fests

These rockin’ summer festivals serve up hot outdoor adventure and cool tunes.

Lake Eden Arts Festival
May 9–11 and October 17–19
Black Mountain, North Carolina
These world music festivals take place at a 600-acre summer camp (formerly Black Mountain College) located in the Blue Ridge Mountains below 6,684-foot Mount Mitchell, the Appalachians’ highest peak and a worthy hike. Each LEAF day begins with a trail run, yoga, or tai chi; festivalgoers also paddle canoes across the camp’s lakes or hit the zipline. Artists from around the globe take the stage. The 2008 lineup includes Nanci Griffith, Habib Koité, Nathan and the Zydeco Cha Chas, and David Wilcox. www.theleaf.com

Strawberry Music Festival
May 22–25 and August 28–31
Yosemite, California
Just outside the north entrance to Yosemite National Park, the wooded 350-acre Camp Mather hosts two annual festivals, staging the likes of Tim O’Brien, the South Austin Jug Band, Sam Bush, and Chic Gamine. Paddle or swim in Birch Lake; hike Yosemite-area meadows, mountains, and forests; and relax to music performed in a pine-rimmed meadow. www.strawberrymusic.com

Sasquatch Music Festival
May 24–26
George, Washington
Björk, Michael Franti and Spearhead, Manu Chao, and Bad Brains were among last year’s Sasquatch performers at the Gorge Amphitheatre along the Columbia River. Hike the riverside bluffs, pedal a road bike through Quincy Valley vineyards, or climb 90-foot walls of basalt at the Feathers, which offers a variety of trad and bolted routes. www.sasquatchfestival.com

Graves Mountain Festival of Music
May 29–31
Syria, Virginia
This quiet corner of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains hosts such bluegrass acts as Rhonda Vincent and the Rage, the Mark Newton Band, and the Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band. Punctuate the pickin’ with horseback riding and fishing on-site, or venture farther afield to hike White Oak Canyon’s seven waterfalls and go rock climbing on Old Rag Mountain. www.gravesmountain.com/bluegrass.htm

Telluride Bluegrass Festival
June 19–22
Telluride, Colorado
The first fiddle of bluegrass festivals, Telluride attracts the best acts in the biz. This year’s preliminary lineup includes Ani DiFranco and Béla Fleck. The jagged San Juan Mountains surround the stage and inspire top-notch performances. Opportunities abound for mountain biking, hiking, and hot-springs soaking; try trekking to Bridal Veil Falls, Colorado’s highest cascade. As if stunning mountains and music weren’t magical enough, the festival coincides with the summer solstice and a full moon. www.bluegrass.com/telluride

Falcon Ridge Folk Festival
July 24–27
Hillsdale, New York
Dodds Farm, in the southern Berkshires, hosts folk’s best-known festival. The Strangelings, John Gorka, and the Clayfoot Strutters are slated to serenade crowds at this bucolic spot. A dance tent lets festivalgoers kick up their heels till the wee hours. Next morning, lace up your hiking boots to hit area trails. Taconic State Park hugs the Massachusetts border and offers outstanding hiking to Bish Bash Falls and along skyline ridges. www.falconridgefolk.com

Sleeping Bear Dunegrass and Blues Festival
July 31–August 3
Empire, Michigan
Dark Star Orchestra, Todd Snider, and the David Grisman Quintet have all performed at Dunegrass, staged alongside Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Shuttles ferry festivalgoers to Lake Michigan’s shoreline for swimming (though many prefer to walk the short distance). Paddlers take to the Platte River, and hikers hit the trails winding through the park’s wooded hills. Everyone enjoys tumbling down the dunes. www.dunegrassfestival.com

Folks Festival
August 15–17
Lyons, Colorado
Rocky Mountain National Park sits 40 minutes away from Lyons, home to the Folks Festival, but you don’t have to hop in the car to find outdoor fun. The St. Vrain River runs right alongside the festival grounds and contains swimming holes galore, and Hall Ranch, a nearby foothills park, holds miles of stimulating singletrack. Eventually, though, the lineup of top artists will lure you back to the stage: Greg Brown, the Waifs, Amos Lee, and Sarah Sample, among others. www.bluegrass.com/folks

Four Corners Folk Festival
August 29–31
Pagosa Springs, Colorado
Camp beneath massive ponderosa pines and listen to the likes of Nickel Creek and Earl Scruggs, who perform on a stage backed by sheer cliffs. Bring your instrument: performers give free workshops throughout the weekend. Toss a fly at San Juan River trout, splash in Piedra and Treasure Falls, and hike to late-night concerts on the Summit Stage, the festival’s mountaintop venue. www.folkwest.com

Telluride Blues and Brews Festival
September 12–14
Telluride, Colorado
This party boasts the same stunning mountain backdrop and outdoor sporting opportunities as the famous Telluride Bluegrass Festival, but its smaller crowds make for a more intimate vibe. Plenty of suds add to the fun, with more than 50 microbreweries participating in Saturday’s Grand Tasting. Blues, gospel, rock, and soul acts take the stage. Recent performers include Susan Tedeschi, Lou Reed, Tab Benoit, Al Green, and Joan Osborne. www.tellurideblues.com

 

 
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