THROUGH THE LENS: Music Made Amid Nature at Pickin’ in the Backwoods and Clifftop

This week’s column is dedicated to pickin’ in the backwoods, featuring two roots fests that are held in picturesque rural areas of their respective home states of Indiana and West Virginia. 

The inaugural Pickin’ in the Backwoods Music Festival was held Aug. 16-17 in Nashville, Indiana, near Brown County State Park. And the 33rd annual Appalachian String Band Music Festival, better known simply as Clifftop, took place July 31-Aug. 3 at Camp Washington-Carver in Clifftop, West Virginia, adjacent to Babcock State Park.

Both parks are also popular tourist destinations. Brown County, known for its fall foliage, offers a 24/7 leaf cam. Also known for its foliage, Babcock’s Glade Creek Grist Mill has been featured in magazines and calendars around the world. But music was the main draw on these festival weekends.

Column regular Chad Cochran visited the Backwoods fest, while I made my annual pilgrimage to Clifftop.

Pickin’ in the Backwoods Music Festival 2024 by Chad Cochran 

It was impressive for a first-year festival to bring in the likes of Rev. Peyton’s Big Damn Band, The Local Honeys, Arlo McKinley, William Elliott Whitmore, Rachel Brooke, and Jeremy Pinnell. Even though most of the other 30-plus performers were new to me, and far from household names, I was struck at how deep the talent went for this two-day festival. 

The fest was held on the grounds of eXplore Brown County at Valley Branch Retreat in rural, southern Indiana. Folks camped around the grounds and were treated to two stages of incredible music. Additionally, late-night campfire gatherings provided intimate settings where folks could relish in a once-in-a-lifetime confluence of acoustic guitars and chirping, tree-bound cicadas. I am looking forward to seeing how this festival takes its next steps in this beautiful setting.

Clifftop 2024 by Amos Perrine 

Clifftop is a four-day mountaintop gathering of musicians and friends with contests, concerts, workshops, square dances, camping, and campsite jamming throughout the day into the wee hours of the morning. The first two days of the contests are devoted to the fiddle and the banjo, and the latter two days to traditional and neotraditional bands. 

Nearly everyone attending Clifftop camps out, and the camping is rustic, as attendees park their vehicles and set up their camps in the middle of the woods that surround Camp Washington-Carver. Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, Washington-Carver, constructed in 1942 under President Roosevelt’s New Deal program, was the nation’s first 4-H camp for African Americans. In addition to Clifftop, Washington-Carver hosts other summer activities such as concerts, theater, and camping events.

Some camps are just small tents, while others feature canopies with what appears to be around-the-clock open buffets as many folks create small enclaves. This facilitates a homey atmosphere that results in numerous impromptu old-time music jams. Quite a few of the entrants to the traditional and neotraditional band contests that close out the fest come out of those jams.  

While there are jam photos in the gallery below, you can get a better feel for it in Craig Evans’ 2024 Highlight Reel video:

Click on any photo below to view the gallery as a full-size slideshow.