11th Annual Leander Bluegrass Festival Sure To Be Hootenanny For The Whole Family

LEANDER, TX -- Mark you calendars: The Leander Bluegrass Festival starts this weekend, offering a respite from the bad news of the world with family fun and American roots music.

The 11th annual event runs for two days (Sept. 23 and 24), featuring live music from stellar bluegrass bands. It's free to attend, and starts at 7 p.m. starting Friday at Robin Bledsoe Park, 601 S. Bagdad. Also offered are concessions, children's activities and variety of vendors on hand.

Alcohol and cooler are allowed, but officials ask that you not bring glass containers. Friendly, bluegrass-loving pets can enjoy the festival too, so long as their restrained on a leash.

So what can you expect in the way of music? Plenty. Three bands will be featured on the festival's first day, each playing one-hour sets starting at 7 p.m. A sneak peek is provided on the Leander municipal website, with the following descriptions of each band taken straight from the city portal.

Friday, Sept. 23:

• International artists Rolf & Beate Sieker created their own style of Bluegrass/Country Music. Critics call it spectacular and exciting - a vibrant collection of contemporary bluegrass. Around here, we just call it really good." -Meet the Artist, CTBA Newsletter. Learn more about the Sieker Band.
• Comprised of Sarah Dossey from the critically acclaimed Americana band The Reliques on Banjo, Tanner Evans of Austin's Internationally touted theResponse on Mandolin, and Jesse Schaefer of #1 Billboard charting Pop Electronic band Scientist and theResponse on Guitar, Indian and The Jones is a foot stompin' good time. Learn more about Indian and the Jones.
• While most bands point solidly to one member on fiddle, another on mandolin and so on, such limited designations only give half the story on MilkDrive. This Austin-based, acoustic power team features skilled multi-instrumentalists versed in a variety of musical styles. Learn More about the Milk Drive Trio.

On Saturday, Sept. 24, four bands will take the stage, starting at 6 p.m.:

• "Take a gander at Rusty Razors‘ Facebook page and they’re pretty up front what they do. “We call our music bluegrass, but Bill Monroe probably would have called us ‘no part of nothing.'”Fair enough, but giving credit where credit is do, Rusty Razors surely brings a fresh spirit to traditional music in the bluegrass vein and parts beyond, be it folk, or hillbilly country. Formed by front man and songwriter Patrick Davis (originally as Patrick Beard and the Rusty Razors), the band recorded their first full-length release Fritz Hatchery last year at Ice Cream Factory Studio with engineer/producer Matt Parmenter (formerly of Quiet Company). The mix of original and traditional songs on the album honors old-time Austin porch-pickin’ vibes, and Davis’ memories of growing up in southeast Iowa." -Laurie Gallardo, KUTX. Learn more about the Rusty Razors' band.
• The award-winning Pine Island Station is a Houston-area bluegrass band that delivers energetic, heartfelt music from a wide variety of sources, including original tunes. Whether it’s traditional or contemporary, cowboy or folk, swing or gospel, this top-notch acoustic group makes the songs their own, with crowd-pleasing vocal and instrumental arrangements.
  Learn more about the Pine Island Station.
• Released May 2016, their newest record Tempest & Rapture is the group's most expansive, experiential recording to date. It marries their brand of folk and Americana (Tempest) with more experimental, psychedelic sounds (Rapture), like two wings of one bird. One half is rooted and raring in surreal folk and Southern gothic, the other is pronking out in transcendental surf-dream wilderness.
  Learn more about The Deer.
• "Chops away at traditional bluegrass constraints with a mischievous cleaver, mixing in shadows of Delta swamps and New Orleans basements... the fierce inertia of Old Crow Medicine Show, the ramshackle folk punch of Felice Brothers and the punk energy of a pre-sobriety Deer Tick." - Rolling Stone
  Learn more about the Whiskey Shivers.

For a flyer of the event, click here.

>>> Photo of instruments via WikiMedia Commons, image of flyer courtesy of City of Leander