Dunegrass & Blues Superstars

Aug. 1, 2007

Stephen Volas and Jeremiah Sequoia, high school buddies from Benzie County, formed Grassroots Productions in the fall of 2004. Their mission was to bring national acts to Northern Michigan year round. This weekend they will oversee the 15th annual Dunegrass Festival. Some might think they are crazy for trying to put on a major music festival when the region’s focus is on the Traverse City Film Festival.
“We had the weekend first,” chuckles Stephen Volas. “No, I think it is great that we have all of these types of offerings here in Northern Michigan. That is our mission. We don’t feel we were impacted negatively when they moved to the same weekend as us last year. I think people who are interested in both will do both.”
Volas and Sequioa took over Dunegrass in 2005 when the festival’s founding father Mike Vanderberg bumped into Sequioa at a farmers market.
“He told me that festival took so much energy to put on,” said Sequioa. “I mentioned to him that we had this production company and would gladly administer the festival — and the rest is history.”

ON TOUR
After graduating high school, Volas started touring with the Grateful Dead and Phish, working for their non-profit organizations. Upon returning home between tours he was frustrated with the lack of national acts performing in the region.
“I felt there was an opportunity to create this melting pot of the talent from our region with the talent traveling the national circuit,” Volas said. We have had some pretty impressive artists here to date, both at Dunegrass and during our fall and winter series.”
Those artists have included Hot Tuna, Vince Welnick (Grateful Dead, Tubes) and Greg Brown (who will return this September to kick off their fall series). This year’s lineup has been described as “Interlochen” in its caliber of artists.
“We have heard that from several people,” said Volas. “Each year we are going to push the envelope. We wanted to take this show and prove to the Village of Empire that we could organize a first class festival.”

INTERLOCHEN CALIBER
Artists Yonder Mountain String Band and Keller Williams sold out Interlochen a few years back during their Acoustic Planet tour. Then there are legends like David Grisman, whose 40-year career as a mandolin player has earned him critical acclaim. He’s noted in particular for his collaborations with Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead.
The Dunegrass Festival is located in Empire, near the Lake Michigan shoreline with the Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore as its backdrop. The festival has been expanded and now includes a fourth day. The site has camping and all the necessary provisions for a weekend stay. Attendees may obtain either day or weekend passes.
Here are some of the musical highlights:

Dark Star Orchestra (DSO):
For fans of the Grateful Dead this is as good as it gets today. With the passing of Jerry Garcia in 1995 there will never be another true Grateful Dead show. Shortly after his death some Chicago musicians gathered and began jamming Dead tunes. Then the idea came of forming a band to not just pay tribute but also to recreate actual past concerts.
“I know at first people were saying ‘What?’ This was a new type of tribute concept,” said John Kadelcik, a founding member of Dark Star Orchestra. “The idea here is to give fans a historical perspective of the band. No two Dead shows were alike, and through the years instrumentation changed, songwriting styles changed. So for each concert we pick a show from the past and do it in its entirety. It may be a 1973 show or a concert in California from 1985.”
So, any hint as to what show you will recreate at Dunegrass?
“It is a closely guarded secret,” said Kadlecik.
One thing that DSO has not been able to avoid is the “curse” of the Grateful Dead keyboardist. Three former Dead keyboard players have passed away, including Vince Welnick, who headlined Dunegrass three years ago. In 2005 keyboardist Scott Larned, who co-founded DSO, passed away while the band was on the road.
Dark Star Orchestra is definitely the “best of the best” when it comes to bands who pay tribute to the Grateful Dead. Kadlecik’s voice is hauntingly similar to Garcia’s, and a DSO performance is more than a trip down memory lane — it captures the musical spirit of this great American jam band.

Yonder Mountain String Band:
These four talented musicians from Chicago (who met and formed in Colorado) made their only appearance in the area a few years ago when they kicked off their Acoustic Jam tour at Interlochen with Keller Williams and Bela Fleck. The four-hour, sold-out concert featured non-stop music. Instead of taking 30 minutes between performers, each band would walk out on stage and jam on the other band’s closing song and then stay on and perform their set.
“It was really cool. If you had a lot of wine or beer before that concert and had to go to the bathroom you were screwed,” said Jeff Austin. “I know Keller is playing right before us at Dunegrass, but I don’t think we can pull it off again.”
Austin and Keller Williams are not ruling out jamming together.
Yonder Mountain String Band formed in 1998 and the group immediately hit a chord with the jam band community and the bluegrass circuit. Members actually grew up on ‘80s music, listening to bands like Quiet Riot, but Austin believes that there is a connection between all forms of music.
“The similarities exist and there is connectivity between all musical styles,” said Austin, who converted from guitar to mandolin in 1996.
Austin scoffs at the idea that he is one of the top mandolin players in the country.
“I am not sure I even really know how to play it,” said Austin. “Sam Bush — now there is a guy that knows how to play.”
For Austin, his career highlight will come when he performs the National Anthem at Wrigley Field for an upcoming Cubs game.
“It is the hardest 80 seconds for any musician. They want me to bring my mandolin and sing it as well,” said Austin. “It won’t be a Jimi Hendrix version -- the fans won’t go for that. I have been going to Cubs since I was 15 and sitting in the bleachers for $5 a ticket. I know what the fans want from that song, so there is a lot of pressure — plus it is an ESPN game.”
Austin and his bandmates wind up their long summer tour at Dunegrass.
“We basically are taking August and September off. Just a couple of festivals, including headlining at Red Rocks,” said Austin. “We go back in the studio in January and have big plans to celebrate our 10th anniversary as a band next year. Our goal remains the same if we can put out enough energy to sustain a crowd without drums, and show them they can still dance their asses off, well, we’ve achieved our goal.”

Keller Williams:
A multi-instrumentalist and master of the mouth flugle, Keller Williams has been delighting audiences as a one-man band for 14 years. He got his big break in 1997, and like a lot of musicians, he can relate to playing for free.
“I got to open for the String Cheese Incident in my hometown in Virginia. The guys liked me, so I asked them if I could open for them every night on the rest of their tour,” said Williams. ‘They hesitated until I offered to play for free and then I was in.”
Soon Williams was in with the audience as well. Touring with String Cheese, Williams quickly built a grassroots following that included several musicians.
“Keller is a unique talent,” said Bela Fleck. “I enjoy working with him and collaborating with him in the studio. He is a definite visionary. He stretches the boundaries.”
Bela Fleck is one of several musicians Williams collaborated with for his current release “Dream.” Others included bass master Victor Wooten, Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir, drummer extraordinaire Jeff Sipe and the String Cheese Incident, to name a few.
“It really was a ‘dream’ project,’” said Williams. “I sat down and made a list of people I wanted and they all agreed to do it. It took forever (three years) because of scheduling conflicts but I am pleased with the outcome.”
Williams took an interesting approach he gave his collaborators plenty of creative space.
“I didn’t want to write all the parts and dictate their play,” said Williams. “Why bring these guys in and not use them and their talents? I wanted them to bring something of themselves to each song.”

Particle:
Jeff Austin of Yonder Mountain jokes about taking the stage before Particle. “We will probably put everyone to sleep and they will definitely wake everyone up,” laughs Austin. “It probably should be the other way around. Now everyone is going to be wound up at 1 a.m. in the morning.”
Since forming in 2000, Particle has built a reputation for its late-night performances at festivals around the country. The Los Angeles-based jam band built a following for themselves for their energetic sets and were among the first bands to blend rock, jazz, funk and electronica info what is known as “livetronica.”
“We want to expand the musical boundaries of this festival,” said Volas. “A band like Particle takes us past the folk and blues and introduces the festival to a whole new audience.”
The “space porn” (fans of the band say Particle’s music conjures up visions of having sex in space) band Particle takes the stage around 11 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 3. They have been known to jam into the early morning (in 2003 they played for five hours at Bonnaroo), so how long will they perform at Dunegrass?
“That depends — we keep playing until we notice someone getting ready to pull the plug,” laughs keyboardist and founding member Steve Molitz. “Basically, people know by now that if they are a receptive audience we are a receptive band and will take them on a musical journey.”

Dave Grisman:
Since taking over the Dunegrass, Volas and Sequoia have been committed to bringing legends to the festival. The appearance of Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Jack Casady and Jorma Kaukonen of Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna fame kicked off the promoters’ tenure.
Now, they bring to the stage the legendary Dave Grisman, whose musical career spans 40-plus years. A voice for the preservation of the acoustic sound, Grisman, a mandolin player, has collaborated with numerous musicians. His work with Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia are among the most notable collaborations.
“I met Jerry at a campground in North Carolina back in the mid-‘60s when they hosted this old time fiddlers jam,” said Grisman. “We became fast friends.”
It was Garcia who gave Grisman his nickname “Dawg,” and Grisman affectionately refers to his work as “Dawg Music.”
A 2000 documentary, “A Grateful Dawg,” chronicles the close musical relationship between Grisman and Garcia -- a relationship that included Grisman playing on the Dead’s “American Beauty” album.
Grisman is a must-see for any fan of acoustic music. His legendary status aside, Grisman is among the best to ever to pick up the mandolin.

Others:
The musical and comedic genius of Todd Snider stole the show at Blissfest a couple of years ago. Snider is popular on the folk circuit with his quirky songs (he appears on the Bob & Tom radio show), and his fans include Kris Kristoferson and John Prine, who often perform with Snider (but won’t be with him at Dunegrass).
Great American Taxi with Vince Herman (formally of Left Over Salmon) will perform danceable jamband tunes. Troubadour Martin Sexton, who has been described by John Mayer as “one of the greatest singers of our generation,” will bring his soulful voice and songs to the stage on Sunday just before Todd Snider.

Local Artists:
Volas and Sequoia have several Northern Michigan-based artists on the bill. One unique offering is the collaborative effort known as The Biddies, which features the harmonization of three women who have a national following as solo artists Kitty Donohoe, Jan Krist and Claudia Schmidt.
Another collaborative offering will be Shout Sister Shout, with folkster Rachael Davis (originally from Cadillac and currently traveling the national circuit) on lead vocals joined by the boys from Steppin’ In It. Certainly, the collaboration of several great musicians to form Rusty Blaides has been music to the ears of old school country music fans. If temperatures happen to cool over the weekend, the Cajun/Zydeco offerings from K. Jones and The Benzie Playboyz will keep things hot.
The Dunegrass Festival takes place Thursday, Aug. 2 and continues through Sunday night, Aug. 5. The festival grounds are located just north of the village of Empire and are within walking distance of Empire Beach (on Lake Michigan and South Bar Lake). Multiple ticket options are available for the weekend and may be purchased online at dunegrassfestival.com. The website also has a complete schedule and information on all the performers.