Tag: Cabinet

ANNOUNCING: WinterWonderGrass Unveils Vermont’s Sugar & Strings Schedule

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

WinterWonderGrass 2020 is mere weeks away (Steamboat Springs fast approaches!) and BGS is excited to announce the schedule for WWG’s Vermont edition, the final iteration of the event in 2020, taking place April 10 & 11 at Stratton Resort in Manchester, VT. The placement of this year’s festival coincides with the end of the ski and snowboard season at the resort, and WWG plans to bring one heck of party to the mountain’s base to close out the year. Psychedelic folk-grass band Cabinet is also set to make their first post-hiatus performance over the weekend.

Additionally, starting on Tuesday, February 11th, WWG plans to release a limited quantity of single-day tickets and weekend general admission passes will move to tier 2 pricing the same day. Tickets and more info available here.

“WinterWonderGrass continues to honor the pillars of bluegrass while creating space for the evolution of the genre to flourish. I feel this lineup speaks to that ethos,” remarks festival founder, Scotty Stoughton, via press release. “I’m super excited to see first-time bands like Twisted Pine take our stage and welcome back local favorites, Saints & Liars. I’m humbled Cabinet is coming out of hiatus to perform at WinterWonderGrass and it’s always a pleasure to watch The Infamous Stringdusters and Della Mae take the stage.”

Gates open at 1:45 PM each day during the two-day music festival, with music beginning at 2:00 PM. Pickin’ Perch and the Main Stage will see alternating sets for two days of nonstop music.

Tickets for California and Vermont are on sale now, but moving fast! Very limited single-day tickets remain for Friday and Sunday at the Colorado stop, which is otherwise completely sold out. VIP tickets to the California are also sold out, but fans are encouraged to check out the official fan-to-fan ticketing exchange powered by Lyte if they’re in search of tickets as more of the dates and tiers sell out.

See the daily schedules below:

Photo of Jon Stickley Trio ski in/ski out show, WWG Tahoe 2017: Tobin Voggesser

Pappy, “Susquehanna Breakdown”

Posted on by Justin Hiltner

If it ain’t broke, well, you ought not fix it. Pappy (AKA Patrick Biondo), being a bluegrass-centered musician and songwriter, understands this timeless adage. On his most recent release, Back to Basics, he reinforces the wisdom intrinsic to this clichéd phrase through five tracks that each remind that it’s difficult to go wrong if your focus is on the primal, bare bones elements that make up an art form — in this case, jammy, high-flying, swift-going bluegrass.

“Susquehanna Breakdown,” one of two instrumentals on the project, may not return to the elemental origin point of breakdowns — it hardly conjures “Foggy Mountain” or “Earl’s” or “Shenandoah” — but instead focuses on the nuance and detail of this breakneck format by letting the instruments and their handlers shine. The entire EP was cut straight to tape, without the requisite over-analyzing or rehashing that comes hand-in-hand with modern multi-tracking and overdubbing. As a result, the tune crackles with live energy, rushing ahead with its listeners on the edges of their seats, as if careening down roiling, adventurous rapids on the Susquehanna River itself.

Pappy’s jam-grass background, informed by his time with popular Scranton-based string band, Cabinet, informs his banjo playing in so many unexpected and exciting ways, bringing the free, unencumbered, exploratory tendencies of more jammy acts into what already feels familiar: The breakdown’s foundational bluegrass sensibilities, its solid picking, and Pappy’s hard-driving (though deliciously oddball) banjo.