Freshgrass has been a pilgrimage for me personally for the last 6 or 7 years. There is something incredibly magical about the drive up and over the hill country and the descent down into North Adams. Some of the town almost frozen in time, while the seemingly never-ending brick labyrinthian halls of Mass MoCa play home to some truly beautiful and inspiring contemporary visual arts. It wasn’t even until a couple years into my annual trek that I realized you could actually go into the museum halls…and then at that point there was the constant push and pull of wanting to wander about while also being able to catch everything that was happening on the stages of the fest.

This week marks a few huge announcements for Freshgrass.

Freshgrass Awards: The FreshGrass awards are back to celebrate and reward the most innovative emerging bluegrass and roots music artists. The prizes total more than $25,000 in cash, and include brand new instruments and studio time with Alison Brown at Compass Records. With five categories, — band, banjo, fiddle, guitar, and mandolin — this is your opportunity to have your tunes heard by the best in the business. SUBMIT NOW.

North Adams is coming… the big North Adams lineup announcement is rolling out on April 29 for the September 24-26th event. Edge of our seats waiting on that one.

And, although its not New England centric, some big Bentonville, AR Freshgrass news just dropped today: “With vaccines rolling out and live music events feeling closer than ever, we cannot wait for FreshGrass | Bentonville. We’re putting together a stellar lineup featuring Grammy award-winning artists Billy Strings and Old Crow Medicine Show, Jazz legend Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, and more than 15 bands in all (more announced soon!).”

Crossing my own fingers and toes that that Billy Strings announcement may translate to a Massachusetts showing, but only time will tell. In the meanwhile, check out a few sessions that we shot at Freshgrass a few years back with artists and always excellent folks to run into Dom Flemons, Kathleen Parks and Ethan Hawkins, Mile Twelve and more!