I would like to apologize to the kid who passed out before my mosh pit neighbors' feet at the sound of my scream. It was at that point in the early morning, somewhere between midnight and dawn, when the thick voodoo pierced my soul sacrificing my voice to the hottest, heaviest, dirtiest jam I have witnessed in my short thirty years on this planet. The victim can take solace in the fact that four nights later my voice has yet to return. Yet he was hardly the only person whose knees buckled at the sounds emanating from the stage.

The Northwest's premier acoustic music festival returns for its sixth year to beautiful Horning's Hideout in North Plains, Oregon, on August 24-26.  The event boasts three days of nearly all-acoustic music, culminating each night with main stage performances from musical hosts Yonder Mountain String Band, this year joined by special guest fiddler Darol Anger (David Grisman Quintet, Psychograss).

The buzz from the excited crowd anticipating two of the jam band's scene's most up and coming bands was fresh and impulsive. These are bands that have mostly broken through by their tediousness in touring and their successful musical appearances at major festivals such as Bonnaroo and Wakarusa.