The Workshop Stage at High Mountain Hay Fever

The High Mountain Hay Fever Festival, that we go to every year, boasts a nice complement of workshops--two days worth. This year, the guy in charge of the workshop stage was none other than David Okay Patton himself. He looked quite serious right before the start of the first workshop.

Now, typically a festival offers workshops that are simply an instrument class, taught by one or two of the performers in the festival. HMHF is the exception. They offer some of the most interesting classes I've seen. Here's a listing of the schedule.

FRIDAY

Comedy in Performance with Aaron Wolking, The Moron Brothers, and Ron Thomason

The Country Gentlemen "Tradition" with Randy Waller and the Country Gentlemen

The Trials and Adventures of Starting a Band with Jett's Creek

Putting the DRIVE in Bluegrass with the Larry Gillis Hard Drivin' Bluegrass Band

The Role of Radio in Traditional Country and Bluegrass Music with Joe Mullins

More than a Half Century Performing Traditional Bluegrass Gospel Music with The Sullivan Family

The Baddest Square Dance in Colorado with local rancher Tom Young,"Dancin' Queen" Heidi Clare, et al

10:15 - ??? High Mountain Hoot Owl Concert/Jam led by Dave Patton of Coal Creek Bluegrass and you never know who might hit the stage.


Saturday

Meet the Legendary George Shuffler with Ron Thomason, et al

Bluegrass Guitar with George Shuffler, Mike Wolking, Adam McIntosh, et al

Bluegrass Banjo with Joe Mullins, Larry Gillis, Adam Poindexter, et al

Meet Leroy Troy !

Mini Concert featuring Heidi Clare and an unnamed accompanist

Bluegrass Mandolin with Brian Aldridge, Mike Terry and Joe Wolking

Mini Concert featuring Jett's Creek

The Baddest Square Dance in Colorado -- The Sequel, with local rancher Tom Young, "Dancin' Queen" Heidi Clare, et al

The most popular workshops were the ones taught by Ron Thomason. He was the unnamed accompanist who performed a mini concert with Heidi Clare. The room was fulled to overflow and Dave had to stand outside the door and turn people away in order to try to stay within 50 people of the fire code limit. Leroy Troy pulled in a big crowd. The square dances were packed. These square dances had more than your typical square dance band: Dry Branch Fire Squad themselves accompanied Heidi with the music. We danced the first night; it was chaos--a lesson in how to feel stupid! We were in a square with a young, excited couple who were a lot of fun. Another girl in our square had her act together and kept the rest of us on track.

We played the Hoot Owl concert with the guys in the Moron Brothers and the mandolinist from the Country Gentlemen. It was great fun and we raised $132 for the clinic. When we were playing, the young couple from the square dance came in; they appeared astonished to see us playing. I told Dave that they probably didn't think we were coordinated enough to play our instruments!