Folks Festival Turns 21
By Brian F. Johnson
www.bluegrass.com/folks
August 19-21
Planet Bluegrass Ranch
Lyons, Colo.
If the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival was a person, this year, it’d be able to legally drink — and so it’s no wonder that the festival is letting its hair down a bit and going nuts.
As part of their Festival Gone Wild approach this year, Planet Bluegrass is lifting its shirt to show off the debut of a brand new trio, who will be playing their inaugural gig at the festival. Bob Weir (Grateful Dead, Further), Jackie Greene (Phil and Friends) and Chris Robinson (The Black Crowes) are to unveil their new group, but as of press time, a sound for that project had yet to be revealed.
Folks Festival will also get a rare solo set by “The Great Pretender,” Jackson Browne, who has sold more than 17 million albums over his career, and whose activism and environmentalism fits in perfectly with the Planet Bluegrass theme. Planet Bluegrass has been in the forefront making festivals sustainable for more than two decades, and was one of the pioneers in offsetting the carbon output of their events by investing in carbon offsets and renewable energy credits.
You’re going there to see: Jackson Browne and the new Robinson, Greene, Weir trio.
You’re going to come home talking about: Durham, N.C.’s Grammy-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops; and Fort Collins’ ukulele-toting funny girl, Danielle Ate the Sandwich.
TRAVEL TIME:
(As calculated by maps.google.com from Denver, Colo. to Lyons, Colo.)
Total Est. Time: 1 hour, 1 minute
Total Est. Distance: 45.9 miles
YOU NEED TO KNOW: If you’re one of the lucky ones to get a campsite, how well you treat it this year might just lead to you securing it for next year. The festival will once again sponsor “How Green Is Your Grass,” which awards kudos for clean, sustainable and creative campgrounds. Judging happens each day and the grand prize winner is announced once everyone is packed and gone. The grand prize winner receives a pair of on-site camping passes for next year’s festival.
Camping: Both on-site and off-site camping is available, but very limited.