Second Annual Red Wing Roots Music Festival Brings Trampled By Turtles, Hayes Carll & More to VA This July
Mar 17, 2014 | RVA Mag | by Andrew Necci
After a successful inaugural edition of the Red Wing Roots Music Festival, the festival has announced the full lineup for this year’s follow-up, which will take place at Augusta County, VA’s Natural Chimneys Park on July 11-13, 2014. Curated by up-and-coming Blue Ridge-based Americana band The Steel Wheels, the Red Wing Roots Music Festival II will feature such stars of the roots music scene as Hayes Carll, Trampled By Turtles, The Devil Makes Three, and many more.
“Since the festival was new last year, no one knew what to expect,” said Trent Wagler of The Steel Wheels, who founded the festival in order to bring a celebration of roots music to the Shenandoah Valley. “When it was such a rousing success, the bar was set very high. We believe festival goers will be even more delighted this year.”
This year’s festival will feature 40 bands performing on 4 stages over the course of three days, all taking place before the scenic backdrop provided by Natural Chimneys Park. Festival attendees will be encouraged to take advantage of their proximity to the surrounding environment, with organized bicycle rides provided by the Shenandoah Bicycle Coalition, as well as swimming, hiking, and other available outdoor activities. In pursuit of environmental awareness, the festival is encouraging attendees to bring reusable beverage containers–and in a nice change from typical festival policies, water will be made available for free.
And of course, there is the music–the real reason you’ll want to be there. As well as a set from The Steel Wheels (of course), fans can look forward to some major talents of the roots music scene. Trampled By Turtles are perhaps the most noteworthy inclusion–this percussion-less string band are deeply rooted in old-time sounds, but bring a punk-ish modern sensibility to their music, which can most clearly be seen on their cover of the Pixies’ “Where Is My Mind,” from recent album Live At First Avenue:
That’s just the beginning, though. The Devil Makes Three certainly grab attention with their name, and their music keeps that attention by mixing together a variety of genres (blues, jazz, mountain country, and worldwide folk traditions, to name a few) to form a unique melange. Hayes Carll is a honky-tonk troubadour who got his start putting out his own records, but managed to get signed to Lost Highway after his self-released album Little Rock hit the top of the Americana charts in 2005. Carll’s entertaining onstage hijinks make his sets well worth catching, as can be seen from this 2011 performance of “One Bed, Two Girls, Three Bottles Of Wine”:
Other headliners will include multi-instrumentalist and “newgrass prodigy” (Mojo Magazine) Sarah Jarosz, Nashville notables Peter Rowan’s Bluegrass Band, and country blues/western swing revivalist Pokey LaFarge. There’ll be plenty of great Virginia artists on the bill as well. Local legends The Hackensaw Boys will be bringing their juiced-up bluegrass sounds to the stage, and we can also expect a performance from previous RVA Mag profile subjects James Justin & Co, as well as Bryan Elijah Smith & The Wild Hearts, The Judy Chops, and other great VA-based performers.
And there’s plenty more where all that came from, so head on over to www.redwingroots.com/2014-line-up to see the full slate of artists scheduled to perform this year. Tickets for this festival will be limited to 3000, so you’re best advised to order now, especially since 3-day passes for adults are currently priced at only $129–and, in a family friendly gesture, tickets for teenagers are only $39, while children 12 and under get in free! Order tickets now by going to www.redwingroots.com/tickets.
