It was the biggest and best small festival I have ever attended. There, I said it. I have started with a boom; a writer’s biggest mistake. There was no building to this statement. The opportunity to hook you with subtlety and humor was lost. If you stop reading now, I have only myself to blame.

Last year I wrote a preview for a festival I had never attended. This year I write a demand for anyone who considers themselves fans of bluegrass. Go to Grey Fox!For 37 years, this festival has been doing it right. It’s the total package.

MerleFest, offering the feel of both music festival and family reunion, drew nearly 76,000 fans to North Wilkesboro, North Carolina during April 25-28, 2013.  Beginning in 1988 as a tribute to the life of Merle Watson, this year’s event also served as a celebration of the lives of Merle’s parents, “Doc” and Rosa Lee, who passed away in 2012.

Just as the day prior, the Tennessee sun decided to give me a rude awakening by cooking me alive in my tent.  Sleep is not something that happens very often at a major music festival.  Either you are up too late or the morning comes too soon.  Thank goodness for pure adrenaline and Kashi granola bars… it’s the little things that keep you grooving!  When making our way to Centeroo for the start of day 3, we stumbled across this fellow attempting to channel his inner George Harrison<