Above: Winter Wondergrass main stage gets some snow on Sunday, March 3
This past weekend, the 11th annual Winter Wondergrass festival kicked off in Steamboat Springs, CO. It was an unique and different experience to be a part of an outdoor music festival in the winter. The festival this year had a great line up with a wonderful collection of bluegrass artists.
The festival had wonderful weather both Friday and Saturday, however by Sunday, things quickly changed and it dumped snow all day and night. It was no doubt an interesting experience putting up with freezing temperatures and being outside for three straight days in a row for the festival. However, being in the crowd helped a bit, despite the icy conditions underfoot on the festival grounds as the snow continued to fall on Sunday.
There was a good mixture of first timers at the festival and folks who have been coming for years. There were also both young and older faces in the crowd, all there to brave the elements to listen to some great bluegrass music.
Besides the weather, there were many great highlights of the 2024 Winter Wondergrass Festival. Perhaps the best performance of the weekend as Friday night's headliner The Dead South. They graced the stage having great weather, and jammed out throughout the night. They are an incredible group of musicians that sound great together live, no doubt worthy of a headliner slot at any festival.
Other performances included a pumped up Lindsey Lou, who was excited to be a part of again the Winter Wonder Woman on Sunday. She was no doubt the bluegrass queen of the festival that weekend, performing several times throughout the event.
It was also great to hear some Grateful Dead music, which apparently has taken over the festival in recent years. Pickin on the Dead performed a worthy set of Dead music Friday night, jamming out to many singles like Uncle John's Band, which helped kicked off their set.
Winter Wonder Woman kicked off the festival Sunday, along with dumping snow. Lindsey Lou was great as always, and the group performed several great Fleetwood Mac covers during their set. "We don't ski," one of the ladies commented, "But we do this!".
The highlight of Sunday was an incredible performance by Nashville's own Molly Tuttle & The Golden Highway. While not as great as her own headlining shows, her performance was still one of the best of the festival. Molly put on an incredible performance that included her infamous version of Jefferson Airplane's White Rabbit. Lindsey Lou joined them on stage for that performance, and she amazed the crowd yet again with some incredible vocals. Wearing an impressive jacket for the event, Molly explained how it's not often how she has to buy winter coats for her performances. Molly Tuttle & The Golden highway proved how great they are and they absolutely deserved the grammy for their album, which most of the crowd was wanting to hear them perform songs off "City of Gold". "Joni Mitchell is one of my greatest influences," Molly commented after her performance, and it no doubt shows in every one of her songs.
Molly has an impressive tour coming up in 2024, and she is no stranger to playing Colorado. Her favorite venue is of course Red Rocks, and she is looking forward to The Telluride Bluegrass Festival as one of the highlights of her tour.
However, there was no doubt that everyone at the festival was there for Miss Sierra Ferrell. She drew the biggest crowd out of the whole festival and had the longest set. It was also her first-time playing Winter Wondergrass. Everyone in the crowd was excited to see Sierra, and she graced the stage wearing a beautiful fur coat, which seems to be a regular occurrence during her performances. "This is my first time ever playing in the snow,:" Sierra joyfully commented. Sierra's set included a great addition of In Dreams, her newest single Dollar Bill Bar, and several songs off her upcoming new record. However, her set did miss a few surprises, including Fox Hunt and several others.
Overall, the Winter Wondergrass festival was worth going to, and for sure a unique experience to be part of a winter festival, especially Sunday when everyone continued to have snow dump on them throughout the day and night.
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