Bands (And More) Announced for FreshGrass @ MASS MoCA

FreshGrass, the three-day festival of bluegrass and progressive roots music, has announced the first round of bands for its upcoming September fest, with Old Crow Medicine Show, Glen Hansard, Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, the Devil Makes Three, Rosanne Cash, a late-night hoedown by the Infamous Stringdusters, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, Aoife O’Donovan, festival favorite Alison Brown, Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen, Stephane Wrembel, John Reischman & the Jaybirds, Mr. Sun and 2015 FreshGrass Award winners Old Salt Union, Zoe & Cloyd and Mile Twelve.

Held at MASS MoCA in North Adams on Friday-Sunday, September 16-18, Freshgrass features bluegrass traditionalists and innovators on four stages and in virtually every nook and cranny of the 28-building, 16-acre campus. It’s three days of concerts, pop-up performances, instrument and industry workshops and a bounty of Berkshire harvest-season food and spirits.

Berklee College of Music’s American Roots Music Program returns to lead workshops in which festival-pickers fine-tune picking skills and learn from bluegrass veterans about the inner workings of songwriting, producing and marketing music — events that often erupt in rollicking jam sessions with festival-goers strumming alongside mainstage talent.

The festival also nurtures fresh takes on the tradition of bluegrass music with the growth of its FreshGrass Award, a music contest judged by industry professionals, featuring up to $25,000 in cash prizes and recording time at Compass Records’ studio in Nashville for the winners. The categories include band, duo, banjo, and fiddle, adding over twenty performances to the festival line-up throughout the weekend. This year’s FreshGrass Award winners will earn a mainstage slot at the 2017 FreshGrass festival.

FreshScores is a film-and-live music event commissioned by the FreshGrass Foundation to pair original live music, composed to enliven silent films, with a screening and performance during the festival. In 2016, fresh soundtracks will be created by Alison Brown, Aoife O’Donovan and Gypsy guitar picker Stephane Wrembel.

Advance three-day adult tickets for FreshGrass are now available for $96, with student tickets priced at $86, $46 for kids age 6-16, and free admission for kids five and under. Single-day tickets may be offered closer to the event, as space allows. FreshGrass is held rain or shine.

ADDITIONAL UPCOMING FESTIVALS FOR 2016:
BANDS ‘N BEANS @ Roaring Brook Ranch, Lake George, March 19
MOVE MUSIC FESTIVAL @ various locations, Albany, April 22-24
ROCK ‘N DERBY FESTIVAL @ Schaghticoke Fairgrounds, Schaghticoke, May 20-22
MOUNTAIN JAM @ Hunter Mountain, Hunter, June 2-5
A TASTE OF COUNTRY MUSIC FESTIVAL @ Hunter Mountain, Hunter, June 10-12
CLEARWATER’S GREAT HUDSON RIVER REVIVAL @ Croton Point Park, Croton-On-Hudson, June 18-19 UPDATE: This festival has been cancelled.
OLD SONGS FESTIVAL @ Altamont Fairgrounds, Altamont, June 24-26
FREIHOFER’S SARATOGA JAZZ FESTIVAL @ Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Springs, June 25 & 26
GREEN RIVER FESTIVAL @ Greenfield Community College, Greenfield, July 8-10
JAZZ AT THE LAKE @ Shepard Park, Lake George, September 17 & 18