The Weekend at Joe Val

The 25th. Annual Joe Val had everything a first class festival needs, a top rate lineup, a clean well layed out space, organized, knowledgeable, and courteous volunteers, good dining services, plenty of work shops, (50) covering all aspects of the genre, a good assortment of vendors, and plenty of space to jam. It's easy to understand why it was named Bluegrass event of the year by the International Bluegrass Music Association in 2006. Moreover, the artists I talked to were very impressed with the accommodations and general treatment they received.
Pictured below are some of the bands that performed over the weekend. I missed several because of attending workshops and jamming but from what I saw personally and what I heard from those who saw all the bands they all exceeded expectations.

Russell Moore and IIIrd Tyme Out showed how wonderful harmony vocals can be as they did several a capella in their set and Steve Dilling (banjo) filled the spots between songs with hilarious "down home" humor.

Russell Moore

Justen Haynes,Steve Dilling, and Russell

Rabbit in a Log, the duet of Skip Gorman and Richard Starkey performed old time Bluegrass and showed their pickin skills as well.

Skip Gorman and Richard Starkey

The Gibson Brothers have three songs on the Top 30 Songs list published by Bluegrass Unlimited and their hit album "Ring the Bell" is currently number one and has been for three months running, always a hit when they come to the Joe Val.

Joe Walsh

center>

Eric Gibson

Leigh Gibson

Ryan Roberts is another fine vocalist from Canada, doing much of the lead singing with Special Consensus.

Ryan Roberts

Greg Cahill

The Spinney Brothers put on a fine set of traditional Bluegrass and received well deserved applause throughout the set. They announced they would be touring full time now as they've sold their mink farm and have decided to live their dream.

Rick Spinney and Gary Dalrymple

Gary and Allen Spinney