July 19 was a day we had been excitedly anticipating. We had been invited to play a new West Michigan music festival, the Saugatuck Green Food Bluegrass Festival. Not only were we glad to play the festival, but we were doubly excited that one of our favorite bands from the 1970’s would be reuniting to headline the show.
Cabbage Crik was truly our first ever exposure to live bluegrass and, as we like to say, “Life hasn’t been the same since.”
The weather was perfect – sunny but not too hot, and the venue was beautiful. The Felt Mansion was directly behind the stage, and the audience was divided between the sunny soccer field and the shade of the surrounding trees.
For our set we were joined on stage by John “Sky” King on guitar and Dan Seabolt on fiddle. We were the only band playing this bluegrass festival without a banjo, but nobody seemed to mind.
We played a mixed set of Ruth’s originals including High As A Mountain, Michigan Girl, the yet to be released Daddy Was an Old Man, and some of our favorite covers such as Remember Me (When the Candlelights Are Gleaming) and Crazy.
Sky and Dan played great as always and we all felt really good about our set.
Our longtime dear friends Paul (banjo) and Todd (bass) Kirchner opened up the whole festival with their band Full Cord.
The Green Food Bluegrass Festival turned into a wonderful reunion of West Michigan Bluegrass and Roots musicians and music fans. There was a lot of hugging and backslapping going on all day.
The Green Food theme of the festival was a great success. Several local restaurants that serve up locally grown food impressed the crowd with their great quality and flavor, and a couple of local microbreweries served up their fine locally brewed beers-fabulous.
We truly hope that the Friends of the Felt Mansion raised some money for this local landmark and that there will be a repeat of the festival next year. If there is don’t you dare miss it.
