Day 2 at DelFest lived up to all the expectations as anticipated. The Kitchen Dwellers out of Bozeman Montana brought what they call “Galaxy Grass” to the Appalachians with quite a bang with their 10:30am morning set. Their Potomac Stage set was a great start for the day. The Main Stage would be the next stop for a solo banjo set by Punch Brothers banjoist Noam Pikelny who wove song and stories into a very entertaining set. Next up would be Sierra Hull on the Main Stage performing as a duo with bassist Ethan Jodziewicz. I was first introduced to sierra’s music at last years DelFest. The 25 year old mandolin player started playing at age 11 then considered a virtuoso mandolin player. She plays one the fastest and smoothest mandolins I’ve ever seen. Keep your eyes out for this young lady she is a force to be reckoned with. Friday would also include a set of River Whyless an interesting blend of folk, rock and nature music out of Asheville, North Carolina. They were the first band I saw that utilized a bike rim as a drum cymbal.
There were two real rocking sets to turn morning into afternoon with Baltimore based guitarist Cris Jacobs and Portland, Oregon’s Fruition. Cris had a strong local I was first exposed to Fruition at last years DelFest and they are a real crowd favorite. Their set went from rootsy rock to full-fledged rock band. Look for them on the summer festival circuit. These two groups really got Friday into full motion and the train rolling.
After an early dinner I would return to the Main Stage for another incredible and mesmerizing set of the Del McCoury Band of which Del’s brother Jerry would help close out on bass, a true family affair. The night would finish with jam band guitar god Trey Anastasio of Phish with his own band featuring a three piece horn section as well as keyboards, drums and percussions Not being a fan of Phish and having missed Trey’s NOJ&HF set I was very surprised at what I heard. Mostly originals and and couple Phish tunes proved to be a very entertaining set. This was a great end to a pretty solid set and left everyone excited about what we had in store for Saturday. I will let you know how that played out right here so check back.
