Artist:Greensky Bluegrass Hometown: Kalamazoo, MI Song: “Wish I Didn’t Know” Album:All for Money Release Date: January 18th, 2019 Label: Big Blue Zoo Records
In Their Words: “I think the panoramic views inspired our playing and put us in a good mood for a relatively cold video shoot. It was gorgeous up there! We spent about three days hiking up to this spot with all of our gear for this video shoot… it was hard, but really worth it. No, I’m just kidding. We took all of our gear up in the gondola and it was pretty easy. All the folks who work at Squaw Valley were super helpful and awesome. The only hard parts were trying to keep instruments in tune in the cold and changing weather, keeping our hands warm, hearing each other while playing on top of a mountain, and looking cool in puffy coats. That’s all!” — Anders Beck, resonator guitarist
Today, the WinterWonderGrass Music & Brew Festival shares the 2020 lineup across all three of their flagship events. Taking place in Colorado from February 21-23, California from March 27-29, and Vermont from April 10-11, the traveling music festival will welcome performances from some of the hottest names currently thriving in today’s bluegrass and Americana scenes.
“It’s with a mountain of intention, huge hearts, humility, and a commitment to delivering the hottest and sweetest artists that we present to you the 2020 WinterWonderGrass landscape,” says festival founder Scotty Stoughton in a press release. “Each year, the hardest thing to do is not heed our desire to return to each and every band — and by virtue of that, friends to WWG — year in and year out. It is our sincere desire you’ll find new lifetime favorites on this lineup, have the chance to be reunited with old loves and step out of your comfort zone with open arms to new experiences.”
“WinterWonderGrass has become a home for artists, fans, staff, locals, businesses, skiers, riders, their families and all of the like,” adds festival Director of Marketing & Ticketing, Ariel Rosemberg. “We pride ourselves on creating a sustainable, safe and receptive environment, bound by the marriage of the best in bluegrass, folk and Americana, and the undefeated nature of American ski culture.”
BGS has partnered with WWG for the past two years and we are excited to once again join forces with WinterWonderGrass to create and share unforgettable experiences and world-class music across our communities and across the country.
Returning to Colorado for its eighth consecutive year, and its fourth year located in the pristine ski town of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, WinterWonderGrass presents headlining performances from Greensky Bluegrass, Billy Strings, and Margo Price over its three days this coming February.
Additional artists on the bill include: Keller & the Keels, Della Mae, Travelin’ McCourys, Nikki Lane, Molly Tuttle, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades, Bluegrass Generals (Chris Pandolfi & Andy Hall of The Infamous Stringdusters), ALO, Lindsay Lou, a collaborative set from the WinterWonderWomen, Pickin’ on the Dead, Che Apalache, Cris Jacobs, Twisted Pine, Jon Stickley Trio, Meadow Mountain, Jay Roemer Band, Buffalo Commons, and Bowregard, as well as special guests Andy Thorn, Jennifer Hartswick, Bridget Law, Pappy Biondo, and Will Mosheim.
Over March 27-29, WinterWonderGrass makes its way to the Tahoe region of California for its sixth consecutive year presenting three days of music at the base of Squaw Valley Ski Resort. Headliners for this festival stop include The Devil Makes Three, The Infamous Stringdusters, and two sets by Billy Strings.
Also joining the bill: Peter Rowan, Fruition, Keller and the Keels, The War and Treaty, The Lil Smokies, Brothers Comatose, Della Mae, Larry Keel Experience, Kitchen Dwellers, Andy Falco & Travis Book Perform Jerry Garcia, Cris Jacobs, Trout Steak Revival, Midnight North, Town Mountain, Pickin’ on the Dead, Pixie and the Partygrass Boys, Old Salt Union, TK & the Holy Know-Nothings, Rapidgrass, and Twisted Pine. As well as special guests Lindsay Lou, Bridget Law, Will Mosheim and a collaborative WinterWonderWomen set.
A Mountaintop Dinner with Keller Williams, co-presented by BGS, will kick off the festivities in both locations on Thursday, February 20, and Thursday, March 26, respectively. These events will include a ride up the gondola in Steamboat and the Tram at Squaw, a multi-course meal complete with locally-sourced ingredients from each respective region, wine and beer samplings, plus two sets by Williams during each event.
The Vermont stop of the festival takes place over April 10 and 11 at Stratton Mountain Resort in Stratton, Vermont. Previously held in December, this year’s festival stop in Vermont was scheduled to coincide with the ski resort’s closing weekend. Headliners for this iteration of the festival, billed as WonderGrass Presents: Sugar & Strings, include The Infamous Stringdusters, Cabinet, Della Mae, and Molly Tuttle.
Additional artists on the two-day lineup include: Kitchen Dwellers, Andy Falco & Travis Book Perform Jerry Garcia, Twisted Pine, Che Apalache, a special WinterWonderWomen collaboration, Saints and Liars, Dead Winter Carpenters and Damn Tall Buildings, as well as special guests Jennifer Hartswick, Bridget Law, Pappy Biondo, Will Mosheim and more.
Additionally, the Grass After Dark Series will return for post-festival programming with more details coming soon.
WinterWonderGrass believes that festival season should be experienced year-round. With an impressive lineup of talent, the outdoor music series comes to Stratton, Vermont, on December 14-16, with bands like Railroad Earth, The Infamous Stringdusters, and Keller and the Keels, to name a few. (Early 2019 events are scheduled for Colorado and California as well.) Festival marketing director Ariel Rosemberg fielded a few questions by email.
Putting a festival like this together is definitely a team effort. How would you describe the group of individuals who work behind the scenes at WinterWonderGrass?
Our team is second to none where everyone truly makes contributions at the highest level. We have experts dedicated to sustainability who ensure we’re properly and most effectively managing waste, experts dedicated to curating an ultimate winter fan experience, experts at each of our resort partners and so on. For me being relatively new to the core team, it’s truly a breath of fresh air to be a part of the wheel that is WinterWonderGrass.
WinterWonderGrass will take place in three destinations in the months ahead. As you plan and execute these events, how would you describe your commitment to the community?
The manifestation of community is one of the principles that keeps the WWG ship at sea. Our potential energy immediately transitions into kinetic at the mere rumble of discussion and stoke within our host resort communities. Additionally, since inception, the festival has contributed upwards of $100k to our local/regional non-profit partners and it’s our intent to continue on that path.
Environmentalism is an important aspect of this festival. What steps are taken to ensure this festival is environmentally responsible?
We work very closely on a national level with an organization out of Burlington, Vermont, called Waste-Free Earth. With their help we’re able to confidently promote that we’ve held a diversion rate of 80-90 percent for each festival in California and Colorado. Our intent is to bring that same model to Vermont, by the way. Every bag of trash, recycling, compost, etc., is sorted through on site with the help of volunteers. And the festival has committed to using only reusable or compostable product wherever possible (since ’15) and has eliminated all single-use plastic (since ’16).
A couple quick stats from 2018 alone: WWG diverted +23K lbs of waste from landfills due to composting, recycling or donation programs. It’s estimated that WWG saved +68K single-use compostable cups from being produced thanks to a partnership with Klean Kanteen (all three-day ticket holders receive a Klean Kanteen reusable cup). It’s estimated that WWG saved +76K single-use plastic water bottles from being used thanks to our single-use plastic ban and our free filtered water stations.
Summer festivals are plentiful, of course. Why did the concept of a winter festival appeal to you?
I love this question and we get it a lot. For me in short, there’s nothing better than huddling up with your closest friends (old AND new), listening to your favorite band, sipping a delicious craft beer or whiskey in the dumping snow at the base of the most iconic ski resorts in the country. The idea of being “cold” to a certain degree (no pun intended) can be easily masked by experience. Cold is a state of mind, it’s an opportunity to just let go of all the BS that surrounds us on the daily and just be absorbed by the moment. Plus, there’s no way to ski fresh powder after a humid, rainy, muddy summer festival night!
Passes are still available for all three WWG weekends. Buy your tickets and discover more at winterwondergrass.com
Jackson Hole, Wyoming, is quite literally a hole in the the Teton Mountain Range, created be a 50-mile long, flat valley. This small town, with about 9,500 permanent residents, is the type of place where you pull on your fanciest cowboy boots for a night out drinking whiskey. Found in the northwest corner of Wyoming, Jackson Hole is 6,237 feet high and 2.9 square miles in size. The Western nostalgia and Native American influences are pervasive throughout, making themselves known from statues to studded saddles. Jackson Hole is a city where the most recognizable neon sign in the “skyline” reads “Cowboy Bar,” but the culinary, art, and resort influences give the town a more debonair feel.
Getting There
Yonder Is Jackson Hole. Photo credit: Dhtrible via Wikimedia
United, Delta, and American service Jackson Hole Airport (JAC), the only commercial airport in the U.S. within a national park. The town is 36 miles from the airport, 15 miles from the Idaho border, and 12 miles south of Teton Village. Within Jackson Hole, the public bus system, called START, is so efficient and easy to use you won’t need a car.
Stay
Antler Arch. Photo credit: Ken Lund via Wikimedia
Whether you’re looking for an opulent mountainside villa or a campsite with compost toilets, Jackson Hole has a manifold of accommodations. Alpine House’s European-style, certified eco-friendly lodge serves breakfast prepared by in-house chefs each morning. The Wort — pronounced “The Wirt” in local lingo — is a boutique hotel nearly 80 years in the making, offering quintessentially Western suites and the town’s most hoppin’ music venue, the Silver Dollar Showroom. If you’re rolling in it, Amangani’s rooms have expansive views of the Tetons, plus a ski-in lodge. On the opposite side of the ammenity spectrum, campgrounds abound. Try the Jackson Hole/Snake River Koa, Curtis Canyon Campground or the Hoback Campground.
Eat & Drink
Lotus. Photo credit: @organiclotusjh on Instagram
From classic spots with speakeasy Western vibes like the White Buffalo Room’s house-aged steaks to Lotus’s raw pad Thai made with turnip noodles, this tiny town’s food scene runs the gamut.
Persephone is a popular French-style bakery offering breakfast and lunch options. Pro tip: Order the squash and ricotta toast, featuring creamy butternut squash and ricotta spread with crunchy pumpkin seeds and espresso salt. Their sister restaurant, Picnic, offers the same core baked goods, plus not-so-average breakfast items like biscuits & gravy with Dijon maple creme and goat cheese bacon crumbles. Pinky G’s is the late-night spot of choice, going on five years voted as Jackson Hole’s “Best Pizza.”
For a night out, start with drinks at the Handle Bar, where you can roast s’mores at your table while you sip whiskey neat. Then, head to “the Coach” for a night of dancing to the renowned Stagecoach Band, who also plays a weekly “Sunday Church” show on Sunday nights.
Adventure
Grand Tetons National Park. Photo credit: Hawthorne Ave via Wikimedia
With two national parks, a national refuge, and myriad public parks situated in Jackson Hole, less than three percent of the land is privately owned. The other 97 percent is state or federal government-owned. All year, outdoorsy tourists roam Jackson Hole. Summer months are full of hiking, fly-fishing, and mountain biking, while winter is for skiing and snowboarding, and spring is the most active time for wildlife viewing.
The sheer grandeur of Grand Teton National Park is right in the name. You can’t go wrong meandering within the park, but don’t miss Cascade Canyon, Granite Canyon, and Amphitheater Lake. The park is a magnet for photographers and technical mountain climbers because of the size and breadth of the mountain range. The entrance fee is $30 per vehicle.
Grand Tetons. Photo credit: Jackson Hole Mountain Resort
Yellowstone National Park’s south entrance is 90 miles north of Jackson Hole, covering 3,500 square miles of land in Wyoming. It is the oldest national park, gaining status after photographers, painters, and sketchers captured and showed the wonders of the Tetons to Congress in 1872. The park sits on top of an ancient super-volcano and has more than 1,000 of miles of backcountry hiking. Also noteworthy is the National Elk Refuge with thousands of elk making the spot their home for the winter and spring. For the best chance of catching a glimpse of elk, head out with binoculars in the spring.
Of course Jackson Hole is predominantly a ski town, with several resorts close by like the challenging Snow King and the cornerstone of ski resorts in town, Jackson Hole Mountain Resort.
Art
National Museum of Wildlife Art. Photo credit: Daniel Mayer via Wikimedia
The art scene in Jackson Hole is distinctively Western and home to world-class organizations. From ornately decorated handmade leather saddles to scenes of buffalo upon canvas to jewelry adorned with large hunks of turquoise, strolling the galleries in Jackson Town Square won’t let you forget you’re in equestrian country. We recommend the Congressionally designated National Museum of Wildlife Art, RARE Gallery of Fine Arts, Astoria Fine Art, and Trailside Galleries.
As for the musical arts, the Pink Garter Theatre hosts a variety of roots artists we love like Elephant Revival and the Lil Smokies. The Silver Dollar Show Room has a bluegrass show every Tuesday night featuring their house band, One Ton Pig, and the Mangy Moose is a solid choice for drinks and live music apres skiing. Our roots music brethren gather in Grand Targhee Resort for the Targhee Bluegrass Festival. Catch classics like Sam Bush, Tim O’Brien, Railroad Earth, and Greensky Bluegrass at this fest recurring yearly since 1988.
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