Snapshots: Watermelon Pickers Festival @ Watermelon Park (Berryville, VA) — 9/16-9/19/21

Posted on 09/24/2021 by Chester Simpson in Live Review and tagged Americana, Bela Fleck, Bijou Creole, bluegrass, Bumper Jacksons, Cedric Watson, Charley Crockett, Daryl Davis, music festival, The Infamous Stringdusters, Town Mountain, Watermelon Pickers Festival.

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Charley Crockett performs at Watermelon Pickers Festival 2021. (Photo by Chester Simpson)

Watermelon Picker’s Fest is one of my favorite festivals that I look forward to every year. The experience of camping, socializing with old and new friends while listening to music is an amazing experience not to be over looked. Besides music on the stages, there’s the night jam sessions, where various musicians travel from campsite to campsite for a special musical experience. It’s an opportunities to hangout with performers in a pleasant, usually quite rural, setting.

Live Review: Appaloosa Festival @ Skyline Ranch Resort — 8/13-8/15/21

Posted on 08/20/2021 by Chester Simpson in Live Review, Local Spotlight and tagged Abigail Dowd, Appaloosa Festival, Appaloosa Music Festival, Arbo, Bill and The Belles, bluegrass, Honeyday, Justin Trawick, Justin Trawick and the Common Good, Mink's Miracle Medicine, music festival, roots, Scythian, Young Dubliners.

Flex Matthews joined Justin Trawick at the last minute to fill an emergency opening in the 2021 Appaloosa Festival. (Photo by Chester Simpson.)

Alex and Dan Fedoryka, founding members of the band Scythian, wanted to bring their friends and fans back to their family’s hometown of Front Royal, Virginia, on the scenic Skyline Ranch Resort, nestled in the Shenandoah Valley. It’s just a few minutes from the northern entrance to Shenandoah National Park and Skyline Drive, and less than a mile from the Shenandoah River. There is camping available on site, plus opportunities in the immediate vicinity to hike, canoe, fish, and bike.

Welcome to the perfect setting and the perfect weekend for the annual Appaloosa Music Festival, the result of the Fedoryka brothers’ dream to celebrate life and music with their friends and family, which includes you and me!

Snapshots: Red Wing VIII Roots Music Festival @ Natural Chimneys Park (Mt. Solon, VA) — 7/9-7/11/21

Posted on 07/16/2021 by Chester Simpson in Live Review and tagged Asleep at the Wheel, Betty Lavette, Jon Strickley Trio, music festival, Natural Chimneys Park, Red Wing Roots Music Festival, Red Wing VIII, roots, Sierra Ferrell, Son Little, Steel Wheels, The Mavericks, The Steel Wheels.

Sierra Ferrell performs at the Red Wing Roots Music Festival VIII last weekend. (Photo by Chester Simpson)

The Red Wing Roots Music Festival was held over three days, on July 9, 10, and 11, beneath the towering 500-million-year-old rock formations of Natural Chimneys Park and Campground located in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.

It was a breath of fresh air, to voyage out of our confined space for the first time to a music festival that’s near and dear to our hearts. COVID canceled all gatherings of this type last year, but gave us a new appreacation for what everyone had missed … sweet love of music.

Live Review: Stiff Little Fingers w/ The Avengers @ Black Cat — 10/23/19

Posted on 10/30/2019 by Chester Simpson in Live Review and tagged Black Cat, Penelope Houston, punk, Stiff Little Fingers, The Avengers.

Stiff Little Fingers perform at Black Cat on Oct. 23, 2019. (Photos by Chester Simpson; Words by Mickey McCarter)

Belfast punk legends Stiff Little Fingers visited the Black Cat recently to play through their debut album Inflammable Material and to celebrate 40 years of publishing music. And the Irishmen brought along with them California punks The Avengers for a rousing good evening of rock.

Around Town: 155th Anniversary Reenactment of the Battle of Cedar Creek @ Middletown, VA — 10/18-10/20/19

Posted on 10/28/2019 by Chester Simpson in Around Town, Excursion and tagged anniversary show, Battle of Cedar Creek, battlefield, Civil War, reenactment.


Greg and Shirley Pituch with their medicine wagon, supplied with medications, dressings, and amputating table. (Photo by Chester Simpson)

Oct. 19, 1864 — 155 years ago, the last and largest Civil War battle in the Shenandoah Valley was held on the original battlegrounds in Middletown, Virginia. General Jubal Early of the Confederates launched a surprise attack on the Union Army and pushed three corps from their positions. Union General Phil Sheridan arrived and counterattacked, driving the Confederates back. This battle helped Abraham Lincoln win reelection in November 1964.

Live Review: Sleepy Creek HarFest @ Sleepy Creek [Berkeley Springs, WV] — 10/4-10/6/19

Posted on 10/10/2019 by Chester Simpson in Live Review and tagged Americana, Ben Miller Band, Berkeley Springs, bluegrass, brass band, Carrie Nation, Carrie Nation & the Speakeasy, Cris Jacobs Band, Dangermuffin, Eat Yer Meat, folk, HarFest, High and Mighty Brass Band, jam band, Mateo Monk, Megan Jean & The KFB, music festival, Sleepy Creek, Twisted Pine.

Dangermuffin performs at Sleepy Creek HarFest 2019. (Photos by Chester Simpson; Words by Michael Tucker)

Sleepy Creek HarFest: The Place Where We Belong

Each time I go to Sleepy Creek, it feels like coming home. Although I attend a few bigger festivals each year featuring the bleeps, bloops, and synth-knob twiddling of Jamtronica I love so much, Sleepy Creek owns my heart. It’s like that favorite worn in pair of jeans that fit just right or a pair of super comfy pajama pants perfect for lounging at home. Just as importantly, the truly wonderful people who run, staff, and attend Sleepy Creek Presents events create the perfect environment for family, fun, creativity, connection, enjoyment of musical artistry as diverse as the American landscape, and, perhaps most importantly, Sleepy Creek gives festival attendees a place where they can be themselves.

During my weekend adventure at HarFest 2019 in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, on Oct. 4-6, I saw a bumper sticker on an RV that sums up my experience; it read: “There is no alternative to being yourself” — and Sleepy Creek is exactly that: a place where we can be ourselves, a place where we belong.

Snapshots: Watermelon Park Festival @ Watermelon Park (Berryville, VA) — 9/19-9/21/19

Posted on 09/26/2019 by Chester Simpson in Live Review and tagged bluegrass, Cedric Watson, City Stompers, country, country music park, Fiddlin' Dave, folk, Furnace Mountain Band, John Miller, Larry Keep Experience, Lindsay Lou, music festival, Route 7 Bybass Boys, Sam Bush, Sam Bush Band, Shenandoah National Park, Sierra Hull, Songs from the Road Band, The Infamous Stringdusters, The Keel Brothers, The Woodshedders, Tim O'Brien Band, Travelin' McCourys, Watermelon Park, Watermelon Park Festival.


Larry Keel performs at the 2019 Watermelon Park Festival on Sept. 20, 2019. (Photo by Chester Simpson/ Rock-N-RollPhotos.com)

The 16th Annual Watermelon Park Fest a three day music festival, was held at the Watermelon Park Campground near Berryville, Virginia. It’s located on the banks of the beautiful Shenandoah River on Sept. 19-22 with music, camping, as well as canoeing, kayaking and inner-tube floats and late night jam sessions around the campfire. Nothing better!

Snapshots: Pasture Palooza Music & Arts Festival @ Berryville, VA — 9/13-9/14/19

Posted on 09/19/2019 by Chester Simpson in Live Review and tagged Anthony Gill, Big Something, blues, Dalton Dash, folk, funk, Greg Marti & Scantily Clad, he Nth Power featuring Jennifer Hartswick, Jouwala Collective, music festival, Native Sons, Pasture Palooza, Pasture Palooza Music & Arts Festival, People's Blues of Richmond, Sid Kingsley Duo, Sono Lumini, soul, The Fritz, Toubab Krewe.


Big Something headline the Pasture Palooza Music & Arts Festival on Sept. 13, 2019. (Photo by Chester Simpson)

Pasture Palooza Music & Arts Festival is an annual weekend festival and camp out held in a field off Minniewood Lane west of beautiful Berryville, Virginia. It started as an outrageous party and has turned into a festival, which celebrated its 10th anniversary on Sept. 13-14, attracting from 750 to 900 people.

Snapshots: Appaloosa Festival @ Skyline Ranch Resort — 8/30-9/1/19

Posted on 09/04/2019 by Chester Simpson in Live Review and tagged Americana, Appaloosa Festival, Aztec Sun, bluegrass, Celtic rock, Fireside Collective, Gothard Sisters, Honeyday, Hussey Brothers, Jack Dunlap, Jessica Willis Fisher, Jonathan Byrd, Justin Trawick, Justin Trawick and the Common Good, music festival, Screaming Orphans, Scythian, Sibling Rivalry, Skyline Ranch Resort, Steep Canyon Rangers, The Dustbowl Revival, Upstate, Yarn.

5th Annual Appaloosa Roots Music Festival

Jessica Willis Fisher performs at Appaloosa Festival over Labor Day weekend. (Photo by Chester Simpson)

“There are no strangers here, only friends who have not yet met.” — William Butler Yeats.

That quote from Yeats opened the program for the 2019 Appaloosa Festival, which invited friends of all stripes to Skyline Ranch Resort in Front Royal, Virginia, over Labor Day weekend for a gathering of bluegrass, folk, Americana, Celtic rock, and more! Parklife DC’s Chester Simpson captured the action on film.

Snapshots: Red Wing VII Roots Music Festival @ Natural Chimneys Park (Mt. Solon, VA) — 7/12-7/14/19

Posted on 07/18/2019 by Chester Simpson in Live Review and tagged Americana, bluegrass, Cedric Watson Trio, folk, Lucinda Williams, Mandolin Orange, music festival, Natural Chimneys Park, Red Wing, Red Wing Roots Music Festival, Red Wing VII, The Steel Wheels, The Wood Brothers.

The Steel Wheels pose for a picture at the seventh annual Red Wing Roots Music Festival. (Photo by Chester Simpson)

The Steel Wheels presented the 7th annual Red Wing Roots Music Festival at Natural Chimneys Park and campground in Mt. Solon, Virginia, last weekend. It was three days across five stages with 40 bands performing along the North River, under the Natural Chimneys, known as the Cyclopean Towers.