2009 Bands Include Peter Rowan, Tim O'Brien, Bruce Molsky, Randy Waller & The Country Gentlemen, Larry Keel & Natural Bridge, The Woodshedders, Furnace Mountain Band, Cedric Watson & Bijou Creole, Danny Knicely presents Bluegrass & Beyond, Taarka, The Whiskey Rebellion, Walker's Run, The Fox Hunt, The Speakeasy Boys, Chesham Creek, Fiddlin' Dave & Morgan, The Acoustic Burgoo, The Polka Dots, and tons more!

Read on to Learn more about The Bands or CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL SCHEDULE

Saturday @ 9:30 p.m.
Peter Rowan was one of the major cult bluegrass artists of the '80s, winning a devoted, international fan base through his independent records and constant touring. A skilled singer/songwriter, Rowan also yodeled, and played numerous stringed instruments and the saxophone.

He started playing professionally in the 60’s and was rhythm guitarist and lead singer with Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys from 1964-67.  He then joined mandolinist David Grisman in the folk-rock band Earth Opera.  After leaving Earth Opera, he became a part of Seatrain, a rock-fusion unit whose records were produced by George Martin. Rowan left the band in 1972 to form the Rowan Brothers with siblings Chris and Lorin, and recorded one eponymous album. After the group disbanded Rowan then recorded Old & in the Way with Grisman, Jerry Garcia, Vassar Clements and John Kahn. In 1974, Rowan, Grisman, Clarence White and Richard Greene formed Muleskinner, a short-lived bluegrass band. He then reunited the Rowan Brothers, who this time played together until the early '80s. Meanwhile, Rowan also began playing rock and bluegrass with Mexican Airforce, which featured accordion player Flaco Jimenez. In the mid-'80s, he and Jiminez again reteamed to record Flaco Jiminez and Peter Rowan: Live Rockin' Tex-Mex. He founded the Nashville-based Wild Stallions in 1983, and throughout the '80s and '90s continued to work with a variety of musicians and tour as a solo act.

Peter Rowan returns to Watermelon Park Fest this year, having played here with Tony Rice in 2007, and will share the stage with his Bluegrass Band late on Saturday.

http://www.peter-rowan.com/
www.myspace.com/peterrowan

Saturday @ 7:45 p.m.
At a point in his career where you'd think he'd be charging at full speed toward the next big thing, Tim O'Brien confounded expectations by doing something else: he took time--and plenty of it--to create the next small thing. “Chameleon” is an intimate project that, in its blend of virtuosity, wit and warmth, is unmistakably his. And this time around, it's literally his alone.

"Back in January of 2006, I said to myself, I've got to do something different than flying every which way all year," O'Brien recalls. "And when I got the Grammy award in February, it sort of woke me up. It was so validating, because I'd already been feeling that pushing was not getting me anywhere, that I was just getting worn out and disillusioned…[So] by June, I was telling people that no, I'm not going to be doing as much next year."  Of course, even at his most relaxed, the veteran O'Brien continued to be more productive than most. He still offered occasional performances, both on his own and in various configurations, and he worked on the acclaimed Blind Alfred Reed tribute, “Always Lift Him Up”. But mostly he wrote and began work on his truly solo project, “Chameleon”.

Though he first won renown as a member of one of bluegrass's premiere bands, Hot Rize, O'Brien's been doing solo performances for a long time.  This latest solo project, Chameleon rambles from the autobiographical to the whimsical, and themes emerge, whether it's the nods to tradition found in the appearance of hoary lyric phrases in "Where's Love Come From" and the sly quotation from Bill Monroe in "Hoss Race," or the wry political observations in a trio of songs ("This World Was Made For Everyone," "When In Rome" and "World Of Trouble") planted in the back half of the collection.  "Right toward the end of the time when I was writing and getting ready to record, I wrote 'Get Out There And Dance,'" he notes. "That's one of my favorite songs I've ever written, and it's totally fun. I really liked the idea: if you want to live life, you'd better get in it... 'If you don't get on the floor and dance/You can't hope to win the game of love.' I used to lean toward ballads more with my writing, and when I tried to write funny things, it didn't work--but now I'm finding ways to do it, and it's nice."

Tim O’Brien returns to Watermelon Park Fest this year, after performing here in 2005, and is playing on Saturday night accompanied by Danny Knicely (mandolin, guitar) and Mike Bub (bass).

http://www.timobrien.net/
http://www.myspace.com/timobrienmusic

Thursday @ 7:45 p.m. | Workshop Friday @ 2 p.m. + | Dance Friday @ 4 p.m.
Alone or with fellow musicians; guitar, fiddle, or banjo in hand, Bruce Molsky has been exploring traditional music from an astonishingly broad range of cultures over the past two decades – synthesizing them and refracting them through his own evolving sensibilities to the point where the sources of his inspiration transform themselves into a sound that is uniquely his. While most identified with traditional American old-time music, Molsky’s influences range from the Appalachian soul of Tommy Jarrell to Delta blues; from the haunting modal strains of Irish music to the rhythmically nimble music of Eastern Europe.

“Soon Be Time” is Bruce's newest solo recording (Compass Records, May 2006) and features his unique approach to traditional music. This and his other recordings, including six other solo ventures, have become staples for music lovers of every genre and have received great praise from the Washington Post, Washington Times, Bluegrass Unlimited and others. Bruce has been featured on Garrison Keillor's acclaimed A Prairie Home Companion radio show, appears as special guest artist on Darol Anger's Diary of a Fiddler (Compass Records), has been featured in and occasionally written for a variety of music print publications, and is much-in-demand as an instructor.  Bruce continues to tour extensively in the U.S. and Europe as a solo artist. He has performed at Lincoln Center in New York and The Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, DC.

This fall, he is one of the headliners of the Thursday night lineup at Watermelon Park Fest, and will also be leading a fiddle workshop in the Clarke County Properties Jam Tent at 2pm on Friday and playing for the Contra Dance in the Sunspot Dance Tent at 4pm Friday.

http://www.brucemolsky.com/
www.myspace.com/brucemolsky

Friday @ 6:30 p.m. | Workshop Friday @ 3 p.m.
The Country Gentlemen has a history like no other band.  In July of 1957, the original members came together to help out Bill Emerson, whose regular band mates had been injured in a car accident the night before.  The group quickly figured out that they had something special and the Country Gentlemen were born.  In a remarkably short time, the Gents had established a reputation as a band that could honor bluegrass traditions while simultaneously changing the rules that defined bluegrass.  Fifty-two years and hundreds of members later, the band continues to impress audiences with their skilled playing and singing, their showmanship, their unique legacy, and their willingness to break the rules.

After crafting his own successful career playing country and rock music, Randy Waller returned to his Bluegrass roots and joined the band in 2003, and has been leading the band since 2004 when his father, Charlie Waller, passed away.  Charlie’s unmistakable voice helped define the CG sound, as he was the one continuous band member from the time of the band’s inception until his passing.  Since then, Randy has been carrying on the tradition established by his dad and such legendary members as John Duffey, Eddie Adcock, Jimmy Gaudreau, Mike Auldridge, Tom Gray, Jerry Douglas, Doyle Lawson, Ricky Skaggs, and many others.
Over the years the band has been nominated for and won numerous awards from both WAMA and SPBGMA, and in 2006, the Country Gentlemen were inducted into the WAMA Hall of Fame.  In 2007, Randy paid tribute to his father and the long history of the band by bringing together as many previous members as possible for a once-in-a-lifetime 50th Anniversary Celebration here at Watermelon Park.  And while the band will always play the old CG tunes that folks know and love, they are also looking to the future and exploring music in ways that showcase the current members’ talents, skills and backgrounds.  Randy not only inherited his father’s rich voice and guitar skills, he also inherited his willingness to step outside the box and have fun with his music.

This latest version of the Country Gentlemen also features Dave Kirk (mandolin), Adam Poindexter (banjo), and Steve Block (bass).  Kirk brings a long family history of traditional music playing in several bands including the Kirk Family band.  Poindexter is a skilled traditional bluegrass banjo player and multi-instrumentalist who most recently spent 10 years playing with the James King Band.  Block has more than forty years of experience playing bass with such bands as RC Harris and Blue Denim.
They are releasing a new CD in 2009 that honors the innovative bluegrass tradition of the Country Gentlemen while exploring a variety of traditional and contemporary acoustic styles such as Franco-American swing, country ballads, gospel, and Texas swing and featuring a number of Randy Waller originals.

The Country Gentlemen have played at Watermelon Park many times, most recently for the Country Gentlemen 50th Anniversary in 2007 and the Country Gentlemen Bluegrass Festival in 2008.  But this is their first time at Watermelon Park Fest, and they will round out an eclectic mix on Friday evening.  Randy will also be leading a workshop and jam Friday afternoon on the Country Gentlemen Legacy: Moving Into the Future.

Friday @ 9:30 p.m.
Connecting traditional songs of yesterday with their own original and inventive sounds of today, Larry Keel & Natural Bridge create astonishingly powerful acoustic music rich in heritage, heart and hot licks! With a style that evokes both atomic rock energy and dynamic tonal purity, Keel and his ensemble are intent upon taking their instruments and their voices to their fullest potential for emotion and amazement. While paying respect to the legacy left by the forefathers of bluegrass, Keel bridges the gap between traditional and contemporary American Mountain Music. Larry Keel & Natural Bridge includes flatpicking guitar master Larry Keel (guitar, vocals), Jenny Keel (bass fiddle, vocals), Mark Schimick (mandolin, vocals), and, Jason Flournoy (banjo, vocals).

Born and raised in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, Larry Keel is a young veteran musician who has always been immersed in the traditional ways and etiquette of playing mountain music. Both Larry’s father and brother (themselves skilled and versatile acoustic musicians) influenced the younger Keel to thoroughly master the foundations of acoustic guitar (tune, timing, tone) before venturing into his own original territory. From a very young age, Larry made it his goal to honor and preserve the discipline of the Traditional Bluegrass music he knows and loves, while expressing his own ideas through acoustic music. One of Watermelon Park Fest’s most popular acts, Larry Keel and Natural Bridge will raise the energy level to a fever pitch late Friday evening.

http://www.larrykeel.com
http://www.myspace.com/larrykeel

Friday @ 8:30 p.m.
The Woodshedders explore the boundaries of traditional acoustic music, and bring forward an array of influences including Swing, Old-Time, Bluegrass, Rhythm & Blues, and especially the Hot Club Jazz of Django Reinhardt. A genuinely charming sound is rendered, and a host of creative songs are delivered forth featuring poetic lyrics, unique vocals and harmonies, and stellar musicianship. The repertoire completes by honoring and evoking the heroes of music past while defying age and genre.

The Woodshedders consist of Dwayne Brooke (guitar, vocals), Ryan Mayo (upright bass, vocals), Stuart Orser (guitar, vocals), Jesse Schultzaberger (drums, skiffle trap, vocals), and David VanDeventer (fiddle, vocals), with special appearances by Aimee Curl and Morgan Morrison (vocals). The Woodshedders are the host band of Watermelon Park Fest and will be serving up their unique musical styles on Friday evening at 8 p.m.  Expect the unexpected when this band gets on stage.

http://www.thewoodshedders.com
http://www.myspace.com/thewoodshedders

Saturday @ 6:30 p.m.
Furnace Mountain has graced stages near and far, from the Yangtze River in China to the banks of the Shenandoah River, where they serve as hosts of the famous Watermelon Park Fest each year. The band consists of Dave VanDeventer (fiddle, vocals), Morgan Morrison (bouzouki, vocals), and Aimee Curl (bass, vocals), and occasionally includes transient members Danny Knicely on mandolin, Zach Lester on bodhran, and John Flower on washtub. The music of Furnace Mountain is at times lively and raucous, with spirited fiddle melodies weaving in and around the powerful rhythms of the bass and bouzouki. It is at other times poignant and poetic, with sublime vocal harmonies beautifully interpreting some of the oldest songs ever written. Furnace Mountain also performs a variety of original compositions, such as “Scrampwang”, “Weezer's Dream”, and the ever popular “Spuds”.  You just never can tell what these incredibly talented musicians will pull from their strings.

A Watermelon Park Fest tradition has Fiddlin’ Dave and Morgan and friends open the festival on Thursday afternoon by honoring the festival site with a poignant rendition of “O’ Shenandoah”.  The whole Furnace Mountain band plays Friday evening and certain of the members can be heard jumping in to play with various other bands throughout the weekend.

http://www.furnacemountain.com
http://www.myspace.com/furnacemountainband

Friday 7:30 p.m. | Dance Friday @ 11:00 p.m.
One of the most noted young talents to emerge in Cajun or Creole music in the past few years, Cedric Watson is a fiddler, vocalist, accordionist and songwriter of seemingly unlimited potential. Born in 1983, Cedric grew up in San Felipe, Texas surrounded by the sounds of blues, old soul, country and zydeco. Unlike his hip-hop focused peers, Cedric was drawn to the old-style French songs of Southwest Louisiana and the greater Houston area. He soon made his way to Lafayette, LA where he was enthusiastically accepted into the musical community and immediately recognized as an important participant in the continuity of Creole music.

Cedric has played with some of the great family names in Creole music, including Dexter Ardoin and the Creole Ramblers and Jeffrey Broussard and the Creole Cowboys. With the Pine Leaf Boys, Cedric expanded his repertoire of Cajun songs while adding his Creole and zydeco foundation to the band's true-to-the-roots Southwest Louisiana sound. Now Cedric continues to explore the roots of Louisiana’s Creole music with his own band, Bijoux Creole. Playing a variety of old-school zydeco styles, original material and Creole traditionals, the polyrhythmic and syncopated sounds of Africa and the Caribbean are unmistakable in this ensemble of talented musicians.

Cedric's creative style and obvious joy in playing make him an engaging and exciting performer. Moving with ease between fiddle and accordion, his natural playfulness on stage makes him just plain fun to watch.   His soaring, soulful vocals, all in French, remind us of a time long ago. And his interest in reconnecting with the varied roots of the music in other parts of the world will make for an interesting ride. It will be nothing short of exciting to see what he does next.

Cedric and his band will add some spice to the Friday night lineup on the main stage, and then will get us all dancing in the dark at the Cajun Dance in the Sunspot Dance Tent at the end of the evening.

www.cedricwatson.com/
www.myspace.com/cedricwatson

Thursday @ 9 p.m. | Zan McLoed Workshop Thursday @ 4 p.m.
Waterford, Virginia based Danny Knicely is a fourth generation Appalachian multi-instrumentalist from a Virginia family steeped in mountain music tradition. He has used his roots in old-time and bluegrass to explore many musical styles from Irish, jazz and Latin, to the various musical styles he encountered while performing and studying music in India, Nepal, Tibet, and China.
Danny has won many awards for both his mandolin and guitar expertise, has recorded and toured nationally and internationally with many groups, including the award winning Magraw Gap, David Via and Corn Tornado, and James Leva and Purgatory Mountain, and is a musical director for the Mountain Music Project and Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble, featuring Mark Schatz and Eileen Carson. He has co-conducted lectures on the similarities between Appalachian and Himalayan music at Columbia University, and The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and for Asia Network.  He has played at festivals far and wide as well as such esteemed venues as The Smithsonian, the Birchmere, and The Fillmore.

http://www.myspace.com/dannyknicely

Saturday @ 3:30 p.m.
Emerging from a long tradition of gypsy circus troubadours come the solar-powered travelers -- carriers of a new musical light -- Taarka. This merry band is the culmination of the new millennial, sonic adventures of David Tiller (mandolin, tenor guitar, vocals), Enion Pelta-Tiller (five string violin, vocals), Daniel Plane (cello, vocals), Troy Robey (bass, vocals), and Dale Largent (percussion) - a virtuosic cadre of performers who have roamed the freeways and backroads of the new and old acoustic caravan trail in search of a revolutionary ancient sound for modern times. While the four musicians have individually been spreading song and tune over the aural superhighway since the last century, their collaborative intersection marks a new era of Taarkan tunesmithing. Taarka’s fourth album, featuring the fantastic new line-up and a guest appearance by superstar fiddler Casey Driessen, is a collection of beautifully written and arranged songs and original instrumentals swimming the gamut of indie-gypsy chamber folk.

What is Taarka? While meaning many things in many tongues to many peoples, the musical Taarka of your concern hails from Lyons, CO and performs a patented and irreplaceable blended evolution of Western and Eastern folk traditions of jazz, rock, bluegrass, old-time, gypsy, Indian, and Celtic music interpreted through the highly capable ears and hands of four of today's top classically trained, eclectic-acoustic music pioneers.

Collectively and individually, members of Taarka have shared stages with members of the Grateful Dead, Phish, String Cheese Incident, Yonder Mountain String Band, Darol Anger, Joe Craven, ALO, Keller Williams, Mike Marshall, Danny Barnes, Leftover Salmon, Steve Kimock, Garaj Mahal, Widespread Panic, The Samples, Colonel Bruce Hampton and Aquarium Rescue Unit, Kevin Mohagoney, Kaki King, Drew Emmit Band, Rob Wasserman, Tony Furtado, The Slip, The Motet, Dan Bern, The Everyone Orchestra, and have been Mark O'Connor fiddle camp performers and instructors.

Taarka has performed at music festivals near and far, and, after a successful house concert at Shepherd’s Ford earlier this year, they are now lighting up the main stage of Watemelon Park Fest on early Saturday afternoon.

www.taarka.com/
www.myspace.com/taarka

Saturday @ 4:30 p.m.
The four musicians of The Whiskey Rebellion connected in 2005 at the Maury River Fiddler’s Convention in Buena Vista, VA. At the time, Myers and Phillips were playing some shows around Richmond and Simpson and Cosper were in Charlottesville, studying music at the University of Virginia. The Richmond Boys invited Simpson and Cosper to head east for a few gigs, and the band was born. The quartet plays a mostly high-energy, joyful brand of bluegrass, with skillful picking and two and three-part harmonies.
The songwriting, handled primarily by guitarist Ryan Phillips, leans heavily toward storytelling. Bank robberies, jail time, mill fires – the themes are familiar, but the lyrics are fresh and captivating. In addition to Phillips' guitar work, fiddler/vocalist Mary Simpson is a crisp soloist and is also a classically trained violinist.  Bassist David Cosper is an accomplished jazz-rooted multi-instrumentalist who grounds the band. In addition, Roy Myers' bluegrass/old-time hybrid-banjo playing sets the band apart from the standard Scruggs banjo band.

Like a lot of bluegrass bands, The Whiskey Rebellion has one foot in the past and one foot in the present. "Something old, something new, and losing track of the difference" is written in bold print across the top of their website. "Bluegrass is definitely the foundation," said Phillips "But it's about doing as much as we can with acoustic instrumentation."

Due to popular demand, The Whiskey Rebellion is returning to the Watermelon Park Fest stage in 2009 on Saturday afternoon.

http://www.thewhiskeyrebellion.net/
http://www.myspace.com/therealwhiskeyrebellion

Friday @ 5:30 p.m.
Walker's Run was formed in Rockbridge County, Virginia in the late nineties.  It's had a long and winding path.  In 2008 the band took a new turn with a line-up that includes Brennan Gilmore (guitar, vocals), Andy Thacker (mandolin, vocals), Nick Reeb (fiddle, vocals) and Zack Blatter (bass), and often featuring Will Lee (banjo, vocals)

Walker’s Run is new to Watermelon Park Fest this year and will take the stage early Friday evening.

http://www.walkersrun.com/
http://www.myspace.com/walkersrun

Thursday @ 10:30 p.m. @ Sunspot Dance Tent
The Speakeasy Boys started out as a group of local musicians who simply enjoyed getting together and playing music along the banks of the Potomac River near Packhorse Ford, outside of Shepherdstown, West Virginia, and at a nearby house dubbed "the speakeasy" (hence the band's name).

After about two years, they started performing in front of audiences, instead of just the usual barrel fire of barbeque chicken and fish. In 2003, they moved their jam to Ed’s Taproom, a local pub in Shepherdstown, where they played every other Tuesday night for nearly a year. Nowadays, they play a wide variety of venues, including pubs, clubs, theaters, festivals, parades, local events and private parties, and have become a Shepherdstown icon.

The Speakeasy Boys play traditional and non-traditional acoustic, bluegrass and old-time music, in their own unique zesty river hobo jugband style. The sound is very much like what you would hear at a jam circle – bluegrass and old-time tunes played in a rustic, upbeat, jam style, where each musician has the opportunity to play a tune and there are plenty of ‘breaks’ (solos). The musicians come from a blend of various styles and musicial backgrounds, so lots of different sounds and influences can be heard in their music.

The Speakeasy Boys consists of Ryan Guerreo, (guitar), Nathan Webb (guitar), Matt Robinson (mandolin), Jesse Shultzaberger (banjo), Scott Schmied (washtub bass), and Robbie Carruthers (fiddle), though they frequently feature other instruments including the skiffletrap (a homemade washboard and tin-can contraption played with a pair of spoons), the nose-flute, the kazoo, handsaw, harmonica and electric lapsteel guitar. In addition to bluegrass and old-time, they also play country, gypsy swing, blues, folk, celtic, and have even been known to play rock and reggae.  The Speakeasy Boys themselves describe it best: “We’re not a band, we’re a party!”

Watermelon Park Fest regulars, the Speakeasy Boys always pack the house with dancers, so this year they will close the night on Thursday with a dance-party in the Sunspot Dance Tent out in the campground.

http://www.speakeasyboys.com/home.htm
http://www.myspace.com/speakeasyboys

Saturday @ 5:30 p.m.
Serving up dirt-laden tales of substance abuse, lonely highways, infidelity, damnation, and redemption, Martinsburg, WV’s the Fox Hunt play a brand of music anyone can identify with. Their strong writing and instrumentation is rounded out by a raucous live performance, making them as comfortable in a rowdy punk rock bar as they would be on your back porch.

Singer/songwriter John R. Miller portrays an image of triumph over adversity. His writing plays on the failures and anxieties that exist in the hearts of human beings. Themes of defeat, loss, and missed opportunity abound in the apathetic wonderland his songs create, but by championing the underdog and reminding us that we are all human, his songs allow us to go on feeling more self-worth, unified in our shortcomings.

Miller's characteristic doom-and-gloom writing style is countered by the band's creative contra positive, Matt Kline. While often times bleak, Kline's characters are optimistic and hopeful, and while he deals with such universally hard-hitting topics as alcoholism and abandonment, he often does so with forgiveness and an insightful tinge of humor.

http://www.skull-city.com/artists_FoxHunt.html
www.myspace.com/lefoxhunt

Friday @ 4:30 p.m.
Chesham Creek’s source of inspiration is in the history and traditions of Appalachian culture and everyday life in the mountains of southwestern Virginia.  Created and led by Donny Lee Nuckles, Jr. (vocals, guitar, clawhammer banjo, fiddle) the band plays songs about such subjects as confederate soldiers longing for home, working in the coal mines, the strength and devotion of God-fearing mountain people, heartache, loss and even the little nicknames we give people we love.  Their songs tell the stories that many families share -- past and present. Donny and the band take pride in southern heritage, and strive to honor the people who left this legacy. Appropriately, Chesham Creek's first album is titled "Mountain Legacy”.  Supporting Donny in this musical project are Liz Monseur (guitar, mandolin, vocals), Becca Isaac (vocals), Gary Keel (guitar), Patty Embrey (bass), Josh Butler (mandolin, banjo) and Lauren Smith (fiddle).

Returning to Watermelon Park for the second time, Chesham Creek will open the main stage on Friday afternoon.

http://www.cheshamcreek.com/
http://www.myspace.com/cheshamcreek

Thursday @ 7:00 p.m.

Formed in January 2006, the Acoustic Burgoo is made up of Rudy Bzdyk, Ben Walters, Erik Burnham and Melissa Wright, four young graduates of Loudoun Valley High School. They bring a fresh sound to favorite old tunes with a professional dedication that belies their ages. Once even called "Loudoun's own Nickel Creek", they play a blend of modern and classic folk, blues, and bluegrass, as well as original tunes. They've been playing local gigs for quite a while now, recently opening for Ralph Stanley at Franklin Park, and have been regulars at the Round Hill Arts Center’s Bluegrass and Folk Music Jam over the years. To hear traditional music filtered and re-appreciated through these talented young adults is something not to be missed.

This year the Acoustic Burgoo graduates from the Watermelon Park Fest side stage to the main stage, helping to kick off the festival on Thursday afternoon. The Burgoo is fresh, vibrant, young, energetic, and ready to rock your world. When not on stage, the Burgoozers can usually be found adding energy to jams around the campground.

http://www.myspace.com/theacousticburgoo
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Acoustic-Burgoo/26517458877