International Cinema Festival of India

Hoquiam’s residents with their passion for things that get people to be in touch with their history and reminiscences easily fell in love with Bluegrass music. So, once a year they celebrate everything about this type of song with local and visiting performers both amateur, professional as well as celebrity musicians get together in the historic Hoquiam Olympic Stadium to play, listen and feel everything in a Bluegrass tone. As the pioneer of Bluegrass music Bill Monroe once described the genre: “Scottish bagpipes and ole-time fiddlin’. It is Methodist and Holiness and Baptist. It is blues and jazz, and it has a high lonesome sound. It is plain music that tells a good story. It is played from my heart to your heart, and it will touch you. Bluegrass is music that matters.”

The Grays Harbor Annual Bluegrass festival is attended by people from all walks of life, they come to Hoquiam city to partake of good music, good food, and good friends. Bluegrass music has always been welcome in Hoquiam, Washington and the Grays Harbor area, its long history of working class and their daily struggles to keep alive through hard work and doggedness, logging the surrounding forest long before the genre existed in its present form maybe explains the people’s natural connection to this type of music.

Bluegrass music delivers a variety of emotions to the table when listened to and the audience is promised to enjoy the lively creative exchanges that characterize bluegrass music, all of this straight from the heart fiddlin and guitar play, the musicians daring each other to outdo the string of tunes his guitar or mandolin has played in quick succession as both are egged on by the audience to continue with their instrumental showdown of sorts.

The source of soul for bluegrass music is of course the musician and the musician relies on his chosen instruments, traditional instruments for a bluegrass band would be acoustic stringed instruments like the acoustic guitar, banjo, upright bass, fiddle and mandolin. All of these stringed instruments deliver a fast reverberating melody that definitely affects the crowd.

In bluegrass the climax of the performances are centered on the delivery of the instrumental solos that are played creatively without any rehearsal that on the spot challenges the skill and talent of the musician performing it.

Bluegrass music is very much alive in Grays Harbor and Hoquiam city, the festival brings together fans, bluegrass scholars and of course bluegrass musicians who enjoy each other’s company and talent. In Hoquiam’s Bluegrass festival it is not unlikely that some of the bands will play gospel songs and for the uninitiated this is considered as part of the bluegrass repertoire.

Aside from the well loved and much focused on traditional bluegrass music genre, other bands tend to be progressive in their use of other musical instruments to enrich their own style of bluegrass with some bordering their music play with instruments more commonly identified with mainstream country music, these type or form of progressive bluegrass is often referred to by avid bluegrass scholars and traditional fans as “Newgrass”.

If you love good ole music and enjoy amazing company and sumptuous food go lease an RV and go to Hoquiam during the Annual Grays Harbor Bluegrass Festival and sample bluegrass music at its best!

Check out Wade Entezar and the Gray’s Harbor Bluegrass Fwstival music that matters