FloydFest
Floyd, VA
July 27-31
by Miles Hurley
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Spread across the Southern reaches of the beautiful blue ridge mountain is the sixteenth annual FloydFest Music and Arts Festival, going down from July 27th to the 31st.
Floyd Fest has quite the stellar lineup this year, with some legendary headliners in Gregg Allman, Bruce Hornsby, Femi Kuti, and Warren Haynes’ beautiful, latest project Ashes and Dust. Rounding off the top are a couple recently totally-blowing-up-the-scene-groups in Nahko and Medicine For The People and Nathaniel Rateliffe and The NightSweats.
And this fest is one of the larger ones that really features a nicely expansive covering of genres, like Southern rock and blues (The Congress, Anders Osborne) to indie folk (Shakey Graves, Elephant Revival) soul (Pimps of Joytime, Mingo Fishtrap) and more.
As always, Floyd’s got it’s bluegrass and americana plate well covered, with sets from festival veterans Railroad Earth, and also The Wood Brothers, Greensky Bluegrass, Leftover Salmon, and a heap of great smaller, up-and-coming grass groups like Dead Winter Carpenters and The Midatlantic, just to name a couple.
And, of course, we’re grateful as ever to be getting multiple doses of our man Keller Williams, when he does a set with his own group, More Than A Little, and then one with his picking’ friends, The Keels.
With all the incredible sets that will be going on, it’s amazing how much more they fit in. Workshops and cultural performances on everything to clogging to storytelling, while the Healing Arts Village is a splendid place to vibe out for awhile during the day. The children’s universe area of the festival is has its own hodgepodge of activities, from Taekwondo to open mic to open mic.
FloydFest, as either its longtime slogan or most anyone who’s experienced it will passionately inform you, is all about weavin’ the dream- its a wonderfully, humbly weird idea about sharing in this big and beautiful thing with longtime friends and new ones you’ll definitely make there. That thing is the experience of this awesome fest-one that’s definitely way up on there on the list of all around really goof bigger music events across this country.
The last thing I’ll say is that the Pink Floyd Stage located in the neat little center jungle that is the beer garden, is THE place to be late at night-that’s where some of the tastiest jams are always thrown down.
https://youtu.be/z2JMXiO_lzg?t=20
To Submit a review or story for consideration hit us at[email protected]
Check out the Live Music News and Review.com Facebook page for updates and announcements.