At the Feet of the Masters151

BELLEVUE - Waits­burg's Barnstormers - Chris and Emma Philbrook, Rob­ert Walsh and Sam Mc­Gowen -- joined over 30 bands and 200 musicians at Wintergrass - the "biggest and best" bluegrass festival in the country earlier this month. The Hyatt Regency Bellevue was home base for the four-day festival that draws Grammy and award winning artists as well as emerging artists and fans. Headliners included Tim O'Brien & Darrel Scott, the Cleverlys, Matuto and many more.

"It's an amazing learn­ing experience. It's the largest bluegrass festival in the U.S. - possibly in the world, "said Barnstorm­ers Director Kate Hocker­smith. Hockersmith said that there are four or five stages, all performing at the same time. The concerts end at midnight, but jam­ming often continues all night long. "You choose a jamming or non-jamming floor when you reserve your room. I often heard kickin' bluegrass outside my door at 4:30 a.m. It was crazy."

"I think the kids walked away with a better under­standing of the bluegrass genre," said Hockersmith. It's really blossomed in the past 10 to 15 years and encompasses a lot of mod­ern music and other ways of expressing yourself." Hockersmith said they en­joyed listening to French Canadian, Czechoslova­kian and Brazilian bands as well as more traditional entertainers.

"I think the neatest mo­ment in the entire weekend for me was when the kids were sitting at the foot of the stage, directly in front of the performers. It was so fun to watch the kids with their eyes so big. It's very powerful to be that close to the performers; to get a bird's eye view of what's going on and see how they're doing what they're doing," said Hockersmith.

The performers also of­fered workshops through­out the festival and the Barnstormers took advan­tage of many. Chris Phil­brook focused on guitar and banjo workshops and was impressed with the high caliber of musicians that were there. "Everybody said how big of an honor it was to play there. It was pretty cool that we got to sit and listen to them, right at their feet. I hope to go again next year," he said.

"It was a good experi­ence and everyone was really nice," said Robert Walsh. "Most of the people were willing to help me and teach me new things. The performers were great. I especially liked watching the bands - my favorite was The Cleverlys."

The Barnstormers raised $1275 to attend the fes­tival, which paid for the tickets and helped offset the cost of rooms. The funds were raised mostly from a performance at the Plaza Theater as well as a large donation from the Waitsburg Lion's Club and donations from community members. The Barnstorm­ers wish to express thanks to all who helped make the trip possible.