The Del McCoury Band will headline Pickin’ in the Pines Bluegrass & Acoustic Music Festival this year, along with Nashville Bluegrass Band. We’re well into planning our third annual festival, which will take place September 12-14, 2008. Last year’s festival drew a crowd of about 1700 people from all over the Southwest and beyond to hear great traditional music in the open air setting of Pine Mountain Amphitheater at Fort Tuthill County Park.

Flagstaff Friends of Traditional Music (FFOTM) produces the festival, which includes performances, contra dancing, a band contest, jamming, workshops, and children’s activities. Children 16 and under are free with accompanying adult ticketholder.

The lineup includes the two bands listed above, plus Valerie Smith and Liberty Pike, with Becky Buller (valeriesmithonline.com and beckybuller.com), Carolina Chocolate Drops (carolinachocolatedrops.com), Steve Smith and Hard Road (hardroadband.com), Burnett Family Bluegrass (burnettfamilybluegrass.com), Spring Creek Bluegrass (springcreekbluegrassband.com), The Billy Pilgrims (billypilgrims,com), and Sawmill Road (sawmillroad.net).

Also featured are Sandia Hots (www.sandiahotsband.com), Fire Ridge (www.myspace.com/fireridge), Muskellunge Bluegrass (www.nolanmckelvey.com), Knockabouts (www.knockabouts.org), Springfed Band (www.tonynorris.com),
Reno & Sheila McCormick and Traditional Blend.

Del McCoury’s website is delmccouryband.com, and information about Nashville Bluegrass Band is at cmt.com/artists/az/nashville_bluegrass_band/artist.jhtml

The Carolina Chocolate Drops includes Arizona native and former FFOTM member, Dom Flemons, who lived in Flagstaff for a number of years before heading east. Dom was a familiar figure at FFOTM campouts and the Folk Festival, so we’re honored to be able to bring him back for Pickin’ in the Pines.

Pickin’ in the Pines Bluegrass and Acoustic Music Festival is sponsored by Arizona Music Pro, Northland Beverage, Blue Moon Brewing Company, Flagstaff Cultural Partners, the City of Flagstaff, and the Coconino County Board of Supervisors.

Early bird weekend tickets are on sale through June 30 for $50, a savings of $20 over the gate price of $70. From July 1 through August 31 weekend passes are $60. Buy tickets from Pickininthepines.org, or locally in Flagstaff at the Wine Loft, 17 N. San Francisco St., 928-779-9463 and at Arizona Music Pro, 122 E. Route 66, 928-556-9054. Tickets are also available from Rainbow’s End Imports, 12 E. Route 66, 928-774-5535 and pinemountainamphitheater.com for a small service charge.

Contact the festival through our website, pickininthepines.org, or by phone at 928-525-1695.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 7th, 2008 at 11:36 am by Leslie Connell and is filed under Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.