See What’s Waiting For You At The Festy Experience Including The eTown Stage & Chickapig Farm

The 8th Annual Festy Experience Is Kicking Off At Infinity Downs Farm
Thursday-Sunday, October 5 – October 8, 2017
Featuring:

The Infamous Stringdusters, Ani DiFranco, Drive-By Truckers, Elephant Revival, Sam Bush Band, Beats Antique, The Jerry Douglas Band, Joan Osborne, The Travelin’ McCourys, and more!

The Festy Experience Presents The eTown Stage and “Almost eTown”
Featuring Host Nick Forster and Guest Host Danny Barnes

Visit the Chiackapig Farm

Full weekend and Single Day Tickets On Sale Now → www.thefesty.com

Charlottesville, VA — The Festy Experience is excited about “The eTown Stage,” a new partnership with eTown, a nationally syndicated non­profit radio broadcast/podcast focused on educating and entertaining diverse audiences through music and conversation in order to create a socially responsible and environmentally sustainable world.

For over 25 years, eTown’s Nick & Helen Forster have produced musical, social, and environmental programming to uplift and inspire listeners around the world. eTown listeners come for the music… and stay for the message.

Their social and environmental focus makes eTown a perfect fit to host The eTown Stage, a third stage premiering at The 8th Annual Festy Experience. Throughout the weekend, eTown co-­host Nick Forster and acclaimed banjo bellwether Danny Barnes will present “Almost eTown,” a series of 30 ­minute conversational performances. Danny Barnes & Nick Forster will also be featured with their full band on The Skyline Tent Stage on Thursday night.

Almost eTown will consist of shorts sets and interviews with artists already performing at The 8th Annual Festy Experience which takes place October 5-8, 2017 in the Blue Ridge Bowl at Infinity Downs Farm, a 387-acre property in Arrington, Virginia at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. This year’s full festival lineup includes The Infamous Stringdusters, Ani DiFranco, Drive-By Truckers, Elephant Revival, Sam Bush Band, Beats Antique, The Jerry Douglas Band, Joan Osborne performing the songs of Bob Dylan, and lots more.

In addition to Almost eTown, The eTown Stage will be home to family yoga, local artist performances, and workshops. The Festy aims to give the ultimate laid back festival experience which is fun for the entire family: camping, outdoor activities, craft food and beer, the 22nd Annual Blue Ridge Burn (5k/10k), and stellar music on three stages!

See the full schedule for each stage →  www.thefesty.com/lineup-by-day.

The Festy is also excited to host the Chickapig Farm! Chickapig is a new strategic and fun board game created in Charlottesville. Chickapig breeder and game creator (and luthier) Brian Calhoun joined forces with his farming buddy and musician, Dave Matthews, to bring this game from farm to table where players dodge opponents, hay bales, and an unruly pooping cow. There will be games to play on site as well as a life sized version!

Environmental sustainability is important to the organizers and they are eliminating all waste from single-use plastic cups. Instead every All Weekend ticket comes with a free commemorative steel pint cup from The Festy’s Partner, Klean Kanteen, which they can use for free water from filling stations placed throughout site as well as beer purchases.

The Festy Experience ~ Full 2017 Lineup:
The Infamous Stringdusters
Ani DiFranco
Drive-By Truckers
Elephant Revival
Sam Bush Band
Beats Antique
The Jerry Douglas Band
Joan Osborne
The Travelin’ McCourys
Sierra Hull
Danny Barnes & Nick Forster
EmiSunshine
Garrettgrass Gospel Hour
Della Mae
Cabinet
Shook Twins
Billy Strings
Sarah Siskind & Sunliner
Carl Anderson
Phoebe Hunt & The Gatherers
Love Canon
Maggie Koerner
Dori Freeman
Erin Lunsford
Gallatin Canyon
Tara Mills

Location: Blue Ridge Bowl at Infinity Downs Farm
1510 Diggs Mountain Road
Arrington, VA 22922

Infinity Downs Farm is conveniently located just 35 miles south of Charlottesville and 30 miles north of Lynchburg, (it is also the site of LOCKN’ Festival). The property features outdoor amphitheaters, open fields, campgrounds, hiking, and over 7 miles of biking trails. Stay tuned for more information about outdoor activities and workshops.

Tickets, more information, and updates at www.TheFesty.com,
www.twitter.com/thefesty, www.facebook.com/thefesty, and www.instagram.com/thefestyexperience.
If you have any questions please contact us at info@theartistfarm.com or 434-220-4000.

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Balsam Range’s ‘Mountain Voodoo’ Wins IBMA’s Album Of The Year Honor!

Flying High After Months On The Bluegrass Charts, Balsam Range’s Mountain Voodoo Wins Album Of The Year Honor at 2017 IBMA!

Asheville, NC — Balsam Range is overjoyed with the news that their most recent release, Mountain Voodoo, is named Album Of The Year at the 2017 International Bluegrass Music Association’s honors and awards show!

Mountain Voodoo is the band’s sixth studio album and was released on Mountain Home Music Company [11/11/17]. Mountain Voodoo offers something that is continuing to mesmerize fans of bluegrass and beyond with elements of jazz, country, gospel, swing, and old-time music that are all infused into the fresh sound of this unique Southern band. It’s five distinct personalities creating one remarkable musical experience.

Balsam Range is Buddy Melton (Fiddle, Lead and Tenor Vocals), Darren Nicholson (Mandolin, Octave Mandolin, Lead Vocals, Baritone and Low Tenor Vocals), Dr. Marc Pruett (Banjo), Tim Surrett (Bass, Dobro, Baritone and Lead Vocals), and Caleb Smith (Guitar, Lead & Baritone Vocals). The five original members, who celebrated their 10th year together this past March, are all acoustic musicians and singers from North Carolina. They thoughtfully and respectfully adopted the name of a majestic range of mountains that surrounds part of their home county of Haywood, NC where the Smokies meet the Blue Ridge, the Balsam Range.

 

Watch the Studio Performance of “Blue Collar Dreams”
“These guys just keep getting better. How good is this one?… Aaron Bibelhauser’s ‘Blue Collar Dreams’, an anthem for working stiffs everywhere that’s been dominating the charts. The song has quite a pedigree.” —Bluegrass Today, David Morris’ Top Albums of the 2016

“No matter what your taste in bluegrass might be, every listener can find something here to like. Take a listen to ‘Blue Collar Dreams’ or ‘Eldorado Blue’ with Buddy Melton and see if you agree.”  —IBMA “They kick the album off with a bang. Pure (what they at one time called) Newgrass, the kind of stuff on which Tony Rice and Ricky Skaggs based their reputations. Acoustic guitar (mostly picked), bass, mandolin, fiddle and banjo, and voices. The voices are crucial. You can jig and reel and you can breakdown without vocals but you cannot have the best of what bluegrass offers without voices. Think Seldom Scene and Doyle Lawson. Think harmonies sung by angels. Think harmonies stacked to the ceiling. There isn’t anything like it, or as some of my friends would say, ‘There ain’t nothin’ lak it.’”  —No Depression “Mountain Voodoo parts the curtains between heaven and earth as it speaks to those that have passed in ‘Wish You Were Here’, and sees leaving making an exit with ‘Something ‘Bout That Suitcase’ as Balsam Range walk a ‘straight and narrow line’ with empty pockets in ‘Blue Collar Dreams.’” —The Alternate Root Some of the best vocal harmonies I can recall in quite some time… Bluegrass aficionado or not, you absolutely need to hear Balsam Range.” —Elmore Magazine “They’re groovy. Balsam Range reminds us that bluegrass can be dancing music, hip-swinging music, backbeat music, as rhythmically hypnotic as all the plugged-in genres that formed in its wake. ‘It’s hillbilly soul!’ says mandolin player Darren Nicholson.’” —The Bluegrass Situation “Stepping over boundaries seems to be a part of Balsam Range’s DNA.” —News & Record Get Mountain Voodoo at iTunes, Amazon, and more → https://clg.lnk.to/3OSAZ For more information, tour dates, and more, please visit www.balsamrange.com. Stay up to date with current news on www.facebook.com/balsamrange, www.twitter.com/BalsamRange, and www.instagram.com/balsamrange.

 

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