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MerleFest Revisited

© Stephen Strother

Just over two years ago I wrote an article about MerleFest, an annual music festival in Wilkesboro, North Carolina featuring mostly Americana style music. This year I was fortunate enough to attend my fourth consecutive MerleFest and just like my previous three visits, the experience did not fail to amaze me.

This year's festival took place between April 28 and May 1, 2005. I decided as always to attend MerleFest on a Friday. I did not have a specific agenda in mind other than I wanted to see one specific band perform - The Avett Brothers (mainly because they are from near where I now live). I did not arrive at MerleFest until almost 2:00PM and I was a little worried that I might have arrived to late to see much. I checked the stage schedules when I arrived and found that the Avett brothers did not play until 6:15PM. To my satisfaction I found that there were many interesting acts to choose from. I quickly decided on five acts that I wanted to see - The Greencards, Wayfaring Strangers, Daybreak, The Avett Brothers, and Doc Watson (the host of MerleFest who is world renowned for his muical talents and considered by many to be the patriarch of today's Americana musical tradition).

I am not a music reviewer so I am not going to go into detail on any of the performances but I can tell you that in my opition all five groups were incredible. I thourougly enjoyed all of them - so much so that I bought 6 CDs (at least one from each artist) before I left for home. I know enough about music to know when I hear pure musical talent and I heard it from all five groups. In addition to talent though, what amazed me even more was how much fun it seemed that everyone was having on stage. I have noticed this everytime I have ever been to a live performance of Americana music - people that play this style of music seem to truly enjoy it. All of the musicians took their music seriously but at the same time they had fun with it. It was obvious through their smiles that they were enjoying themselves on stage and they all seemed to have a great repoir with the audience - so much so that it seemed that they actually appreciated the audience as much as the audience appreciated them. It is very hard to explain in writing - it is something you have to witness in person.

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