BGS is proud to once again partner with our friends at WinterWonderGrass to bring you exquisite, intimate live sessions captured at WinterWonderGrass Steamboat earlier this year. Filmed by Far From Near Productions at the Steamboat Art Museum in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, we’re calling the series of videos WinterWonderGrass In The Round. Artists and bands from the WWG lineup perform in casual and cozy jam circles – unplugged, acoustic, and unadorned – inside the museum, surrounded on all sides by adoring fans, festival-goers decked out in their toques, scarves, and snow clothes. It’s the way music is supposed to be enjoyed, as WWG puts it best announcing the series on social media:
“…No phones, no distractions – shoulder to shoulder, eye to eye. This year, we got the chance to say thank you to the fans who keep showing up. While the festival carried on up the mountain, we gathered downtown inside an art museum for intimate, unplugged performances: WinterWonderGrass In The Round.
“In a world of uncertain economies, rising costs, and AI – live music will never go away. People will always show up. Because nothing will ever replace sitting in a circle, phones away, listening to your favorite artists in a room full of captivated people, surrounded by art.”
In our very first WWG In The Round videos featuring Clay Street Unit, it’s clear to see the truth in these simple and profound words. These sessions capture so much of the ineffable that runs through bluegrass, jamgrass, old-time, and string band music. No sound system, no pedal boards, no laser light shows – and the music is just as compelling as ever. As Clay Street Unit – or “half of it,” as the trio put it, eliciting chuckles from the audience – circle up to pick a song, they begin with “Let’s Get Stoned,” from their February 2026 album debut Sin & Squalor. (Watch above.) At the time of this taping, the LP was brand new. For a jamgrass band singing about smoking weed, it’s a remarkably tender and emotional song. A “love song about getting stoned,” it shows the group’s penchant for thoughtful songwriting and the track is perfectly-suited to the In The Round context.
CSU continue with “Freightline Blues,” another selection from Sin & Squalor. With the fiddle and mandolin playing a lonesome train whistle sound, they kick it off with a forward-leaning tempo perfect for a railroad song. “That railway, lord, it keeps on callin’/ Calls me right back to that freightline,” they sing. (Billy Strings ain’t the only current jamgrass act keeping train songs alive and well!) On the studio version of the number, drums and pedal steel combine with the group’s bluegrass instruments for a fully realized bluegrass-and-alt-country sound, but here in the Steamboat Art Museum “Freightline Blues” works just as well stripped down to its essential elements. And the audience certainly seems to agree.
Bluegrass is art, after all, isn’t it? It fits in perfectly in so many settings, whether at the foot of renowned ski slopes or warm and cozy inside an art museum. WinterWonderGrass is such a unique event in this way, prioritizing one-of-a-kind experiences with a one-of-a-kind community. We hope you’ll enjoy our WinterWonderGrass In The Round series! Stay tuned right here on BGS and on the BGS and WWG social media channels for more content coming soon from artists like Bronwyn, Billy Failing, AJ Lee, TopHouse, and Johnny Mullenax in the coming weeks.
Live music is certainly never going away if BGS, WinterWondergrass, Far From Near, and all these artists and bands have anything to do with it. And as long as we have y’all to enjoy it, too!
Video Credits:
Production: Far From Near
Producers: Carly Speno, Sawyer Gieseke
Camera Ops: Sawyer Harris, Sawyer Gieseke, Tobin Voggesser
Audio: Dylan Langille
Mix: Cade Kitzmiller
Shot at the Steamboat Art Museum in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
This content brought to you in partnership with WinterWonderGrass.
