WinterWonderGrass Review: Bluegrass Brought the Heat to the High Country

A sizzling helping of roots-steeped music is usually what warms audiences up at the traditionally snowy WinterWonderGrass festival in Steamboat. But with this year's balmy, spring-like temperatures and clear blue sky, audiences were able to soak up a mother-lode of string-based artists without a bag of hand warmers.

The sold-out slope-side gathering, which held its twelfth edition from February 28 to March 2, boasted a talented lineup that highlighted such jamgrass favorites as Leftover Salmon, Kitchen Dwellers, Trampled by Turtles, Yonder Mountain String Band and Sam Bush, as well as many up-and-coming and highly pleasing offerings including Sister Sadie, Daniel Donato's Cosmic Country, the California Honeydrops, The Po Ramblin' Boys, The Brothers Comatose,  Lindsay Lou, Kyle Tuttle & Jon Stickley, WinterWonderWomen, Pixie & the Partygrass Boys andThe Fretliners.
The first WWG was held in the parking lot of a brewery in Edwards, and then it moved on to Lake Tahoe before going to Nottingham Park in Avon for a while. The movable event eventually found its angle of repose in 2017 at the base of Steamboat Ski Resort, where it has remained since. For this year's edition of the now well-established jamboree, a hearty aggregation of music- and fresh-air lovers gathered to take in both the sound and the spirit of the hills.

Shadowgrass, a rising young band that rose from the Blueridge Mountains in Virginia, kicked off the fest on Friday, February 28, with an energetic and welcoming performance on early Friday afternoon, christening the newly named Pete Van De Carr main stage, which was just renamed to honor longtime local Van De Carr who died in a skiing accident earlier this year.
Following the opening set, Fireside Collective blew up the nearby Jamboree tent with a 'tweener performance that treated its audience to some funky grass-infused takes from the Grateful Dead catalog as well as a bit of high-spirited down-home bluegrass that had the crowd roaring, fist-pumping along and generally getting the weekend off to a rollicking start. In the spirit of cross-pollination that defines the jam community, Fireside also enlisted a few musical friends, including banjoists Torrin Daniels from Kitchen Dwellers and the fleet-fingered Kyle Tuttle.

Other bands embraced the communal jam ethos as well, with the Durango area's High Country Hustle stepping out with a little help from mandolin player Silas Herman and others on the Pickin' Perch stage. Meanwhile, back under the Soapbox tent, Cousin Curtis and Diggin' Dirt added their artistry to the tapestry of sound, pleasing audiences during their respective slots.
Pickin' on the Dead delivered some spring-like musical warmth on Friday, and the crowd ate it up. The band — comprising guitarist and vocalist Rob Eaton from Dark Star Orchestra, flatpicking champion Tyler Grant, drummer Jake Wolf, Michael Kirkpatrick, bassist "Ace" Engfer and keyboardist Kyle Hollingsworth of the String Cheese Incident — rolled out a romping display of well-appreciated Grateful Dead tunes. Kirkpatrick's mandolin chops enhanced the usual Dead-specific electric-guitar mesh and added more spice with Hollingsworth's festive keyboard playing. The crowd bopped and grooved to songs, which included "Here Comes Sunshine" and "China Cat Sunflower" as the sun faded behind the hills, and a big cheer welcomed the spirited Colorado references during the band's version of "I Know You Rider." Pickin' on the Dead seemed to fuse the weekend's elements of bluegrass, jam music and outdoor appreciation into a big ball of fun that continued to roll throughout the entire event. And the Dead's music permeated the long weekend, popping up on lots of different set lists.

On Saturday, March 1, Alabama's Mountain Grass Unit made a splash with its hot-pickin', no-holds-barred take on a variety of bluegrass-infused ditties. The band even took the old-time Grateful Dead-associated standard "Dark Hollow" for a lively walk through the acoustic woods, much to the delight of the audience. The skilled and well-named Magoo (from Denver) lit up the Soapbox stage with a couple of well-celebrated performances, and the all-women group Sister Sadie, out of Nashville, also made a welcome appearance on Saturday, as did the fast-rising Arkansauce.
Other highlights included Daniel Donato and his band, which red-lined the fun meter, while Leftover Salmon put the cherry on top of the day with its well-honed polyethnic-Cajun-slamgrass energy peaking on the main stage, with jamgrass family sit-ins (including the hard-working Kyle Tuttle) adding to the celebration.

Nederland-hatched jamgrassers Yonder Mountain String Band stepped up to the main stage on Sunday afternoon for a set that showcased its original material along with a few choice covers by the Dead, Bob Dylan and the Allman Brothers. Later, the horn-spiked, upbeat, feel-good grooves of the California Honeydrops added soul and sass to the mostly grass-inspired weekend, with the entire outdoor audience dancing along approvingly.
Also on Sunday, Pickin' on the Dead made a jubilant return with three different sets in the Soapbox tent. The group took everyone to church with an homage to Phil Lesh in the form of "Box of Rain." and tore up a banjo-infused segue of "Maggie's Farm" into "Cumberland Blues" that had the stuffed Soapbox tent rising off its poles. Minnesota's Trampled by Turtles closed out the festival on the main stage with its hybrid blend of Midwestern-born prog-grass.

WinterWonderGrass Steamboat offered it all: yoga and bluegrass events, a kids' tent, ADA access, conveniently located water stations and port-o-potties, good food trucks, good spirits, music workshops, on-mountain shows, Grass After Dark, and a helpful staff. Colorado is lucky to have such a well-planned and well-managed festival as part of its winter musical landscape.