Grey Fox mud

[Joe Bartl]

I had to leave Grey Fox on Saturday night because the prediction for heavy rain made leaving on Sunday morning a doubtful affair. I got away okay without using the offered tractor support through the mud that was already preventing others from an easy escape.



So, I'm curious about whether I made the right decision. Was leaving on Sunday morning as problematic as I expected it to be?

Thanks for your help.

Joe

[Baboon]

We did that also. We bugged out during the Sam Bush performance. We set our Subaru 4WD to "mud", and were just barely able to get to the gate around 10 pm. We had heard that it was going to rain hard starting in the middle of the night and we figured we would not be able to move anytime early on Sunday, with the mud being so very bad.

[Dick Wade]

I left Saturday before Sierra Hall went on. I was willing to stay and take a chance even if I had to wait till Monday. My wife got all freaked out by the doom and gloom talk that was going around so hooked up our scamp trailer to our Subaru outback and drove out with no problems except a little slipping in a couple of spots. A few of my friends left Sunday and also had little problem getting out. All that panic fed the exodus and I missed out on the Saturday nite shows and the jams. The weatherman strikes again, but the weather didn't.

[Charles E.]

"Grey Fox Mud" sounds like the name of a fiddle tune.

[mbruno]

I couldn't make it this year but a bunch of friends went. They all left Sunday and mostly needed tractor help - so took a bit to get out. Overall, they had a good time and said it didn't take that long compared to other similar years with rain etc.

Sorry I missed this year though - sounds like it was a great weekend!!

[Dick Wade]

Grey Fox is always a great time what ever the weather

[Mandomike45]

I woke at 6am Sunday and immediately drove right down the lane (Crowe) and out with no problem. I figured later the road would have been churned to soup, so leaving before the rush made sense. Not sure it was actually bad later though.

[Timbofood]

That’s coming! Don’t think it won’t be “slick” either!

[journeybear]

I haven't gone in about a quarter century but I had a memorable mud experience one year.

I was driving a Toyota pickup, and had thrown my futon in the back. Yes, a bed in the bed. It had rained hard most of Thursday, so when I got there on Friday they weren't letting anyone up the hill because of the mud. While I was in line getting told this, a couple of volunteer carrying ream boxes of papers up the hill came by. I asked the guy working the line if I could give them a ride. He said yes, and they happily hopped in the back. When I got up to the next level, I asked the person in charge there if I could head on up the hill, seeing as how I had shown to be such a helping-out kind of guy. He said sure, if I thought I could. Well, I did. By using a tacking maneuver, shallow angles back and forth, I made it up there. There were two other camps set up, but I left them be, relishing having that whole enormous hillside to myself - OK, ourselves. I pulled in right up to the treeline so I'd get the morning shade. I strolled on down the hill for the evening shows, might have jammed a bit while I was down there - everyone was just camping in the parking lot, somehow - and climbed back up for a glorious, peaceful, quiet night under a great big starry sky. The best sleep I ever had there.

They let people up the hill on Saturday, but the ground was still soft. All the vehicles driving up and down and over the horizontal roads dug big ruts in the muddy earth. That made walking around treacherous. But the worst was yet to come. The hot sun baking the mud turned it into a dust bowl, and by Sunday everything was covered in dust. And it rained again - not a lot, but enough to soak my futon, which took a couple of weeks to dry out.

I've camped in vans ever since.

[tmsweeney]

We only went Thursday - but just managed to make it to a friend's camp to take refuge from the deluge - it poured Biblically.
We didn't bring the car into the campground, but for us old people, just trying to walk on that slick mud can be a challenge, it sprays up all over your pants or shorts, and gets mud on your instrument case.
I've been there before and watched others get towed, always managed to make it out without a tow, not so sure I would have been so lucky this year.
Turns our we could have went Saturday, I will say the only "true" Bluegrass I heard on Thursday was Dan Timinski ( and Dry Branch but they tend to talk more than they actually play these days)His mando player was on fire! While the other groups were great in their own fashion, it was not "traditional Bluegrass". I admit I used to look for something other than Bluegrass at Grey Fox as the lineup used to be very traditional, now it seems you have to look for traditional at a "Bluegrass" Festival. I'm not putting down Grey Fox, I understand they need to attract volume attendance to make it work, and traditional Bluegrass just does not generate that kind of volume attendance in Upstate NY ( I think its under new management which is probably more the cause)
I will say there seemed to be a lot less jamming than there used to be, could have been the weather, but I generally don't go to see the acts but more to jam (with folks I know but I always like to jam with strangers as well), I thought Thursday night was usually the big jam night but the weather might have been the damper there.

[bigskygirl]

I have noticed the same thing tmsweeney, we have a local festival that is "bluegrass" but I haven't heard one bluegrass tune the last several years. More old time, progressive, Bob Dylan, lots of originals, etc stuff. Not complaining just commenting - the music is still fab but it's not "bluegrass" as I think of it...YMMV...

[tmsweeney]

I guess officially Bluegrass is barley 80, will we see a renaissance of Frist Generation style? Perhaps. I suppose us curmudgeons complaining about the lack of traditionalism might be like an 0lder cousin praising Paul Revere and the Raiders as true rock and roll and wondering how we could possibly like Pink Floyd over that.
We must accept that revolution is a feature of society.
We were putting in some new flooring so for work music I chose Spotify Del McCoury ( just everything) and its great working music, I missed most of the songs but caught glimpses here and there. Then they covered "When I'm 64". Bluegrass ? not really.
It was good but I honestly am happier with "High on a Mountain" or "Rocky Top".

[mbruno]

To derail the thread further on the "bluegrass festivals that lack bluegrass music" note.

Personally, if I'm going to a bluegrass festival, I expect at least 50% true bluegrass music at a minimum - and by that, I mean standards or originals that sound like they could be standards. However 100% bluegrass festivals can be tough too. A full 3 days of 1 4 5 is a bit much - and I find myself in the same boat of searching for something other than bluegrass haha. We have a few festivals around here that are 100% bluegrass AND they hire the same 5 bands to play 2 or 3 nights - AND often the band has 1 set list for each night. I went to 3 like that last year - didn't return to two of them because of it and I'm only going to the 3rd because it's Darrington and it's beautiful!

I love standard tunes played traditionally or with a new spin, but I also love hearing people push the genre forward with originals or non-bluegrass covers. Too much of the same thing gets old really quick - just look at the average age of a traditional bluegrass festival haha!

Greyfox has always been a little gem when I used to go regularly (2005 - 2016 or so). Good mix of traditional bluegrass and Zydeco music in the dance tent. Sounds like that may have changed a bit - but I'm planning on going next year, so I'll see first hand!!!

[tmsweeney]

This may sound silly but I think the younger you are the more open you are to new music, I was exactly the same maybe a decade ago as Mbuno described, will I go back to Grey Fox, its an hour from home kind of a no brainer. There were a few good ones that were more unknown acts, local stuff from upstate NY but an occasional visitor, heard some really great music, from people who will never be on the main stage at Grey Fox, or let alone the emerging artist tent, and I am thankful for the experience. I still like modern progressive stuff, and like the surprise of non bluegrass at a bluegrass festival, but a sprinkling will do, half the line up is a little much, but it may be hard to find high profile traditional acts that have that time slot open and want to come to the North East, so we could have a bumper sticker or t-shirt here, "other music isn't bad, its just not Bluegrass"

[tiltman]

so we could have a bumper sticker or t-shirt here, "other music isn't bad, its just not Bluegrass"

I'd buy that!

Kirk
not as old as I seem...

[Bob Buckingham]

To derail this thread even more, the closest bluegrass festival to our house is the Earl Scruggs festival and it is varied to say the least.

[tmsweeney]

Earl being one of the founding first generation Bluegrass musicians ( with a playing style named after him!) was very progressive musically in his later years, so I 'm not surprised his festival is less than 100% traditional BG.
What I miss and it might be due to my own ignorance, is the small bluegrass festivals, maybe a few hundred people ( including performers and support staff!) tops, there used to be a bunch of them in the Eastern part of NY, I did see a few in Vermont, but it was after the fact.
Perhaps next year.

[Zach Williams]

I made it out Sunday just fine. It didn't rain any and was much easier then everyone was predicting. I did end up cutting my Saturday night jamming much shorter then I would have liked but that just because I didn't want to drunkenly drop my guitar in the mud while making it back to camp. The tractor was busy but plenty of folks were making it out with no assistance