The Colorado leg of the Winter Wondergrass festival took place this past weekend, February 23-25. The festival, which was hosted by the cozy mountain town of Steamboat Springs, kicked off shortly after the slopes closed down for the day and started things off in proper ski town fashion with a two-hour, free apres-ski featuring some of the Rockies’ finest local breweries pouring their best, brightest, and strongest brews for their thirsty patrons. Talents including the jazzy new grass Jon Stickley Trio, soulful Trout Steak Revival, and sizzling outfit The Lil Smokies literally and figuratively warmed up the crowd each eve on the main stage, serenading the crowd as the sun slowly set and a more arctic climate set in for the remainder of the night.
Meanwhile a variety of barn burners, such as The Wooks, Billy Strings, and Horseshoes & Hand Grenades set their strings ablaze and feet a dancin’ as they revived at capacity crowds in the three tents encircling the festival grounds. The highlights of both Friday and Saturday sets came as the headliners of the nights, Yonder Mountain String Band and Greensky Bluegrass, both played epic sets fueled by the flurry of snowflakes that give this festival it’s namesake. While flatlanders might’ve taken this as their cue to scurry off to safe warm hotel rooms, the hearty Rocky Mountain folk took the sudden snowfall as par for the course and part of the package, singing and dancing long into the frozen night! Those who missed this round can also catch the festival with many of the same performers (but different headliners) later this year, April 6-8 in Squaw Valley, CA.
