The Universal Language of Bluegrass in La Roche

The crowd filed into the festival grounds at this year’s Bluegrass in La Roche in eastern France as the hot August sun began to set, offering a little relief to festivalgoers. The band Blue Weed, from Italy, was wrapping up their first song on the main stage. This annual event, held in the quaint town of La Roche-sur-Foron, nestled in the Auvergne-Rhone region of the Alps between Annecy and Geneva, has become Europe’s largest and most important bluegrass festival, attended by more than 11,000 people over four days. Looking west across the festival grounds, a stone tower dominates the skyline, a remnant of a castle destroyed centuries ago in a battle between a duke of Savoy and a count of Geneva. Between sets on two stages, attendees line up for burgers, hot dogs, jambalaya, chili, spit-roasted pork, and a French dish of pasta and reblochon cheese called croziflette. There’s also beer, wine, and a champagne bar.

Despite its location far from the Appalachian Mountains, the heart of bluegrass, this gathering of fans transforms this small town into something strikingly similar to the countless bluegrass festivals held annually across the US. Yet, La Roche is different. From the musicians who form jam circles throughout the town to the crowds who gather to appreciate them, participants bring a distinctly European flavor to the American institution of a bluegrass festival.

A bluegrass festival in Europe is a joy to attend. If bluegrass is a niche genre in the United States, it is even more niche in Europe, meaning fans living in Europe who like bluegrass really like it. They bring a palpable energy to festivals, including La Roche, that is reflected by the vibrant flow of bluegrass music on and off stage.

Bluegrass in La Roche is the brainchild of local resident and bluegrass enthusiast Christopher Howard-Williams. While playing bluegrass music with friends downtown, he received such a positive reaction from locals that it inspired him to propose the idea of a bluegrass festival to city officials, who were eager to boost the town’s profile among visitors. With support from the local government and a crew of more than 200 volunteers, Howard-Williams launched a festival in 2006 that quickly grew beyond the French bluegrass scene to become a significant four-day event for musicians worldwide.

Bluegrass festivals are built on a web of personal connections, and Howard-Williams has built La Roche’s over the years by traveling to the US and across Europe to scout the best bands for his lineups, leveraging the festival’s reputation for taking good care of its artists. This year’s festival featured 33 bands from 11 countries, with several bands from the US, including East Nash Grass, The Rick Faris Band, Broken Compass Bluegrass, Cisco and the Racecars, and Stella Prince. With its location in the middle of Europe, fans come from across the continent, and many return year after year.

Like any bluegrass festival, the La Roche experience isn’t just about the bands onstage, but also the jams offstage. Fans — often musicians themselves — bring their instruments out and play together late into the night in the nearby campground and on corners and in cafés in La Roche’s quaint downtown. Meanwhile, the performing acts have a chance to drink and cut up together in a festive atmosphere in the VIP tent. In so doing, they’re sharing music and making connections that instantly cross geographical and cultural distances, which many musicians told me helps make La Roche such a unique experience. For European musicians, it’s a vitally important aspect of this event: It might be their only opportunity all year to immerse themselves in the practice of bluegrass.

Bluegrass, even now, is a genre marked by orally transmitted language and intricacies learned through playing with more experienced musicians, and that presents a logistical challenge for European musicians wanting to learn more about it. To address this, Bluegrass in La Roche begins with a three-day instructional camp, and jam sessions always provide an opportunity for improvement. Additionally, to ensure a pipeline for the future of the music, the festival includes a set from the Kids on Bluegrass Europe program, which hosts a three-day camp prior to the festival.

To be a musician trying to play bluegrass music in Europe isn’t easy. Ask Raphaël Maillet, arguably the best fiddle player in France. Although he could have mastered any of several genres with rich cultural spaces sufficient to support a professional career in France — manouche, classical, theater — his heart chose bluegrass. Maillet has attended every La Roche festival since its inception, jamming with American bands both onstage and off and teaching at the workshops each year.

In Europe, he can’t rely on bluegrass to sustain a professional career year-round. But for the first weekend of August, at the Bluegrass in La Roche Festival, he can relish in the music that has moved his heart. And for a musician like Maillet, enamored with bluegrass like the rest of his community that meets in this place in time, just this moment is enough.

Below are photos from the 2024 Bluegrass in La Roche from Emmanuel Marin. Click on any photo to enlarge and view as a slideshow.