The organization that puts on this annual party, Planet Bluegrass, also puts on several other festivals, like the smaller festival called the Lyons Folks Festival (yes, Folk is pluralized in the festival name, I suppose, to highlight the fact that more than one person usually attends the concerts). When we moved to Colorado in 1995, we hadto do a festival. Unfortunately, we were a little too unorganized to make it happen until the following year.

We caught two days of the three day festival, and it was pretty damn fun. We saw Dan Bern (an unknown opening act who sang about watching his sister undress - I guess you had to be there), Vance Gilbert (who actually sang to the masses without a mikeat one point), The Laura Love Band (awesome rendition of Amazing Grace as the setting sun burned on the cliffs surrounding the stage), Bruce Cockburn (who somehow managed to talk longer than he played, and stalked off the stage because the crowd was too cold to care), Moxy Fruvous (Green Eggs and Ham performed as a rap song), John Gorka (worth the price of admission alone), Suzanne Vega (still attempting her comeback), and JJ Cale (the headliner for the sole reason, as far as we could tell, of being really really old), amongst others.

Again, we hadn't gotten around to arranging sleeping accomodations, and ended up camping out on someone's lawn (another story for another time) and out on National Forest land another night. The other big mistake we made was starting our drinking when the beer tents opened - before noon. Many people assured us their favorite act was Gillian Welch, who had the gall to perform while we were passed out on the lawn.

So now skip ahead a few of years; we decide to do the Lyons Folks Festival right. We reserve a campsite right at the festival grounds, and get 3-day passes. We pack everything up, leave work early on Friday - and get the last spot in the campgrounds. What, I recall thinking, don't these people have lives? In any case, a rain storm swept in as John Gorka, then Keb Mo played; John Gorka's set was taped for a PBS special, of all things. Actually, when we saw Keb Mo the previous year at the New Orleans Jazz Festival, torrential rain storms pretty much ruined the festival. The next time we see Keb Mo, it'll be indoors.

As it turned out, being last in the campgrounds wasn't too bad, since it meant the car was parked right next to the entrance. A change of clothes or a snack was simply a short walk away. At night, our tent was situated near one of the louder groups of would-be troubadours. We were serenaded to sleep (at least, that's how I thought of it). One of the best things about these festivals are the workshops. You get demonstrations, Q&A sessions, etc, and what it amounted to during concert singalongs was a well-practiced choir all around you. This was especially apparent during one song, where the entire chorus was the word "Iowa".

But I digress. The best act during the festival, as far as we were concerned, was someone we had never heard of before - Peter Himmelman.