BRUNSWICK – This Labor Day Weekend marks the return of the Thomas Point Beach Bluegrass Festival in coastal Maine. After a one year hiatus, the Bluegrass Festival will again be held this weekend, through Sept. 5.
This year’s lineup combines musicians in Nashville and the hottest bands in Maine, New England and Canada. Leading the lineup will be Grammy award winners Ralph Stanley and The Del McCoury Band of Nashville.
Stanley is noted recently for his contributions to the “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” movie soundtrack. Stanley will be performing two shows on Saturday with his band The Clinch Mountain Boys. The Del McCoury Band, reigning International Bluegrass Music Association Entertainer of the Year, will close the show Sunday.
Making its Thomas Point Beach debut will be the show band Riders in the Sky. The festival also is welcoming for the first time King Wilkie from Nashville; Pine Mountain Railroad, also from Tennessee; Bob Perilla’s Big Hillbilly Bluegrass from Washington, D.C.; and Honi Deaton & Dream from Georgia.
Young ‘phenom’
Favorites returning to the stage here include IIIrd Tyme Out, Charlie Waller and The Country Gentlemen, Larry Sparks and The Lonesome Ramblers, The Gibson Brothers, Bob Paisley and Southern Grass, and the 12-year-old bluegrass “phenom” Ryan Holladay. Holladay has appeared on the Grand Old Opry Stage since the age of 5 and is credited with being the youngest performer on that famous stage.
Bluegrass musicians from New England include the Jerks of Grass, Maine; New England Bluegrass, New Hampshire; Gopher Broke, Vermont; Adam Dewey and Crazy Creek, Massachusetts; Evergreen, Maine; Alice Waters and The Waves, Rhode Island; and White Mountain Bluegrass, New Hampshire. Freewheelin’ of Massachusetts will be performing for the first time at Thomas Point, as well as putting together the Thomas Point Beach Children of Bluegrass Band with the children at the festival.
Camping available
The shows on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 3, 4 and 5, start at 9 a.m. and end at 10 p.m.
Three-day and single-day tickets are available at the festival gates. Single-day tickets are $40 for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, or $30 after 5 p.m. Three-day tickets include free camping and are $110 per person. Children under 12 years of age are admitted free; teens from 13 to 16 pay half the adult rate. A single-day camping area is available for $20 per night. Food and gift vendors will be on site. Visitors are being asked to leave all pets at home.
The festival also will feature workshops each day.
For further information, people can call (207) 725-6009 or toll-free at (877) 872-4321 or visit the Web site.
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