Band Spotlight: Blue Pearl

     This year at the TallGrass Festival we will have performing for us, a regular at our festival, Blue Pearl.  Blue Pearl plays good old fashioned bluegrass music, with a slick intricate detail for picking and harmonious vocals.  They will be kicking off our gospel night, when they take the stage on thursday May 31st at 6:00 pm.

The members of Blue Pearl have been friends, and playing for years now. Blue Pearl played as the house band at the theme park Dry Gulch USA for several years, as well as the Chili and Bluegrass Festival in Claremore and other area venues.
Band members include: Shirley Gunderson - vocal, emcee, Steve Earnest - vocal, lead guitar, Doug Scott - fiddle, Trish Webster - vocal, bass, Paul Gunderson - vocal & banjo.

You can find out more info about Blue Pearl on their Facebook page.  Hop on over there and take a look, and while you are at it, you can catch a tune or two on their Facebook music player.

Need something to bide your time while you count down the days till the festival?  Paul Gunderson of Blue Pearl has a hand in an internet radio show call "Pickers Corner" on Redneck Radio 101. 

 Redneck Radio101

A LIVE internet streaming radio show, every Sunday evening 7 - 9 pm CDT at www.redneckradio101.com Also re-broadcasting Sunday's show on each following Wednesday at 1:00 pm CDT.

Pickers Corner Details:

Stuff you won't hear on the radio!! Primarily bluegrass, but some other stuff thrown in (newgrass, hillbilly, cowboy). Good CLEAN family entertainment you can let your kids listen to. I feature local talent from NE Oklahoma, NW Arkansas, as well as main stream from Nashville.

 

Give them a listen, then come see them perform on our stage on Thursday night at 6:00, on May 31st. 

As always, you can pay cash at the gate, or you can go online to www.tallgrassfestival.com to purchase tickets. 

Thursday (May 31)- $5

Friday (June 1) - $10

Saturday (June 2) - $15

Full Festival Pass (May 31- June 2) - $25

 

Don't chance missing ANY of the great bands we have booked this year, come on out and camp with us!  Tent camping is $3 a day, and RV camping is $15 a day.  You can get more info here.



Come On Out And Be A Happy Camper!

     Hey folks!  The TallGrass Music Festival is proud to announce that our new website is now up and running!  It's a beautiful new site, done by the talented Tracy Blair.  If you haven't yet, go check it out.  Lots of great info, pics, and links to buy your tickets.  Also, the website is the place for you to go and get your early bird tickets, which you can access here.  Its a great deal (all three days of the festival for $20) that you can only get for the rest of this month, because as of May 1st it will go back to the normal price.  So hurry on over and order your tickets, and take a few minutes to browse the site as well!

    So, with the festival just shy of 8 weeks away, all of us here at TallGrass headquarters are working hard to iron out all the last minute details.  Which really means we are just 5 weeks away from the crying and name-calling, but none the less, it's going to be another great festival this year!
     Did you come out and camp with us last year?  If so, we'd love to see and share some of your camping pics.  Email them to me here.  Here are a few of mine from last year; not a bad turn-out.

Happy Campers as far as the eye can see.  And that was just what we CAN see! 

A great bird's-eye-view of the stage and seating area.  How did she get photos with such phenomenal aerial views you ask?  Well it was all thanks to a dedicated and determined TallGrass board member who gave it not a second thought of fear, height or danger......when he asked me to get into the lift of that bucket truck..  Viva la musica!

     If you have never camped at a music festival (especially ours!) then you have been missing out!  The camping is personally one of my favorite parts of the festival.  During the day, while the festival is in full swing, the camp grounds are a quiet place to come back to and relax between bands.  And after the stage has gone quiet for the evening, its where the more laid back part of the festival continues.  There is generally picking and relaxing, and good conversation. Whether you play an instrument or not, its something to experience.  And the only way to have access to this, is to come out and be one of our campers this year! 

     If you are on the adventurous side and would like to tent camp, the spots are $3.00 a day.  If you are a little more for the "easy-living" side and do all your camping in an RV, then the spots are $15.00 a day.  There are dumping spots available for RV campers on the grounds.  Camping spots, water, and electric are on a first come-first serve basis, so don't waste any time getting out to get a spot!  You can pay online for tent camping or for RV camping, or pay at the gate with check or cash.  (no cards can be taken at the gate)

     Don't forget to send me your camping pics from last year, if you have some, at this address.  Hope to see you all out on the campgrounds this year!

Band Spotlight: The Hillbenders

     I hope everyone is getting all geared up for the 8th annual festival, because June will be here before we know it!  We almost have a full roster of bands, and will release an official schedule just as soon as everything is tacked down.  One of the bands already in our line-up are The Hillbenders.  If you have never had the opportunity to hear The Hillbenders, or even see them live, then you HAVE to be front and center when they take our stage!
    The Hillbenders were formed in 2008, and have been up and rising ever since.  They have performed at many great venues such as Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival, Walnut Valley Festival, Telluride Bluegrass Festival, and many many others.  They have performed at our festival in the past with great festival-goer reviews, and this year will be back again for more. 
     It has been said that the Hillbenders have all but created their own music genre, combining country, bluegrass, jazz and roots.  The wildly talented group consists of five members who are now based in Springfield MO; Mark Cassidy on banjo, Gary Rea on bass, Jim Rea on Guitar, Nolan Lawrence on mandolin, and Chad Graves on dobro.  This band pours their heart and soul into their music, and their spectacular stage performance. 
     The Hillbenders released their first album "Down To My Last Dollar" in 2010, featuring 11 original compositions, which you can check out here.
   

 The Hillbenders have a great website, www.hillbenders.com, and you can find them on facebook.  Go "like" them and let 'em know that you'll be catching them at the Eight Annual TallGrass Music Festival!


   Don't forget!  The TallGrass Music Festival is May 31st, June 1st, and June 2nd, and will be great fun for the whole family!  You can find us here, and on facebook. 

See you all there!





  

Welcome!

     Welcome to the TallGrass Music Festival blog!  Here we will be sharing news, festival information, music education, pictures, and any and every other nugget of knowledge and interesting fact we decide to throw at you. 

     So first, some basic info about the festival:

     The TallGrass Music Festival (formerly known as the Skiatook Bluegrass Festival) is held in beautiful Skiatook Oklahoma, on the Skiatook Sports Complex grounds.  This is the EIGHTH annual festival, and it just keeps gettin' bigger, stronger, and better every year!  This is a family friendy event with fun for all ages.  The festival is three days of live music featuring bluegrass and other roots music.  There will be plenty of RV and tent camping (which usually always includes all day and after hours picking and jamming).  There will also be arts and crafts and food vendors featuring some wonderful merchants  (some local!)  And this year will be the second year for the great kids activities!  The first night Thursday May 31st, is gospel night, and will start at 6pm and goes until 9pm, and will feature three bands, just to get things started off.

     Day two, Friday June 1st, starts at 1pm and goes until 10pm, and features a larger number of bands.  Also, on friday evening we will be having bluegrass karaoke!  So if you think you got the chops (or just down-right KNOW you do) come show it off and sign up!

     Day three, Saturday June 2nd, starts at 9am and goes until 10pm, making for a full day of music!  Saturday is kicked off with the youth fiddle contest, featuring some wildly tanlented young'uns, which is followed up by the youth fiddle performance, both of which are definitely worth catching!  Following the kids will be the band line-up for the day, which will be announced soon.  Saturday will also feature some kids performances from local student musicians. 

     Now that we've got all the formalaties out of the way, we will be bringing you lots more information frequently!  So that you don't miss a beat (no pun intended) please sign up for our email notifications of our posts, which can be found to the right of this page.  Just enter your email address, and we will do the rest.  And of course you can always keep up with us on our Facebook page, which will have blog links as well. 
 
     Please feel free to leave comments, email us, and check out our website and "like" us on Facebook.  Any feedback you give us is greatly appreciated, and we would love to hear from you.  Our contact information is listed on the main blog page in the link section (on the right), or you can follow the link here to the TallGrass Music Festival information, or email me at this link here.  If u are interested in being a vendor at our event please inquire here.

     The festival grounds are located in the Skiatook Sports Complex at 3020 W. 133rd St. N. Skiatook, Oklahoma 74070.  You can aslo view a map for directions to the festival grounds here.

Thanks for reading, and hope to see ya'll back soon!

Heather T.