Old Settlers Music Festival Article in Myth Magazine

Article for April 2008 – MYTH
By Rob McCorkle

OSMF Dishes Up Blues, Bluegrass, Rhythm & Blues, Bluebonnets, BBQ & More

Of the many music festivals I have had the pleasure to attend over the past few decades, I would have to rank the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage and Telluride Bluegrass festivals right at the top. They are world-class music festivals offering not only top-echelon talent encompassing myriad genres of music, but also important intangibles such as atmosphere, scenery, tasty food and drink, and goodtime vibes.
Now, you can open up your wallet to the tune of hundreds, if not thousands of dollars, and hock your home to fill your gas tank or buy airline tickets to get you to the Louisiana and Colorado festivals, or you can just head just up the road a couple of hours to Dripping Springs and soak up the springtime sounds of the Old Settler’s Music Festival. Old Settler’s may not be as flashy or carry the bragging rights of the two aforementioned monster music fests, but I guarantee it’s every bit as much fun and you’ll hear the same caliber of talent for far less money and far fewer hassles.
The Old Settler’s festival site has been itinerant during its 21 years, moving from its original location in a small Round Rock park – when it was known as the Old Settler’s Bluegrass Festival — to an interim site west of Dripping Springs for a couple of years and finally to its meant-to-be home at the Salt Lick Pavilion. It was while attending my first OSMF in the 1980s future Grammy winners such as Alison Kraus and bluegrass legend Peter Rowan. Rowan, who lives in Blanco, is back for yet another OSMF appearance this year.
This once humble, mom-and-pop bluegrass music festival launched in 1987 has blossomed into one of the nation’s top five events of its kind, drawing more than 10,000 people over four days as it enters its 21st year. The festival draws a diverse and colorful crowd of college students suffering from spring fever; older fans of traditional bluegrass music; aging hippies seeking that increasingly elusive Woodstock vibe and young, tie-dyed followers of today’s hard-to-classify acoustic roots music that borrows equally from the pages of folk, reggae, bluegrass, blues, and old-timey mountain music.
Simply put, spring in Texas wouldn’t be the same for me without a healthy dose of sunshine, bluebonnets, barbecue brisket and ribs, and hanging out with like-minded music lovers served up lovingly by the folks at the Old Settler’s Music Festival. The setting on Onion Creek just west of Austin at the Salt Lick Pavilion – one of the state’s most vaunted smoked meat emporiums – is bucolic and pluperfect. Do yourself a favor, mark your calendar for April 17-20 and buy your tickets now.
The best deal going is the four-day wristband for $135 that includes entry to the festival, a Thursday night show and camping privileges at shady Camp Ben McCulloch on Onion Creek right across the street from the festival site. On Friday and Saturday, campers are shuttled via buses to the main festival site across busy FM 1826. Lawn chairs or blankets are recommended.
Former OSMF impresario Randy Collier passed the director’s reins this year to former festival marketing director Jean Spivey, who promises more good times in a laid-back setting and a batch of genre-bending performers with music to appeal to a variety of tastes.
“Our festival is comfortable and relaxed,” Spivey tells me over a plate of sizzling fajitas rancheros at bustling south Austin eatery Habaneros. “There are bigger festivals, like Bonaroo, but, you know, it’s worth it to me to be able to get closer to the performers and have more room. And with a bigger festival, you can only hear so many bands anyway.”
Spivey’s unbridled enthusiasm for her job and the music comes through in staccato bursts, as she rattles off what she terms a broad range of performers.
“If you like singer-songwriters, there’s Todd (Snider) and Martin Sexton. If you like bluegrass, there’s Ralph Stanley and J.D. Crowe. If you like jamgrass, there’s New Monsoon. If you like rhythm and blues, there’s Betty Lavette and Charlie Musselwhite. If you like gospel, there’s the Jones Family.”
That’s not to mention a host of other standouts, including my favorite “nuclear polka” band, Brave Combo from Austin. Couple that with Fort Worth blues great Delbert McClinton, Marty Stuart and bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys and you’ve got an all-star lineup shaping up.
With music pouring from the two main stages simultaneously (located just far enough apart to keep the music from overbleeding), the biggest challenge at the OSMF is trying to be in two places at once to hear the almost 30 acts who will play over the weekend. Add to that performance workshops on songwriting, guitar, mandolin and the like, and you can really get spread thin trying to soak up all the sounds.
Check out just some of the artists playing on Friday and Saturday. Headlining Friday night’s show is Delbert, the David Grisman Bluegrass Experience, Eliza Gilkyson, the Waybacks, Bettye LaVette, Martin Sexton and Cadillac Sky. Saturday’s stellar lineup includes Ralph Stanley, Canadians Blackie & the Rodeo Kings, Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives, Peter Rowan, Todd Snider, JD Crowe & the New South and Terri Hendrix.
Youngsters and activities to keep them entertained are a big part of Old Settler’s as well. Kids can check out hula-hoops to twirl, can play in a giant sandbox, get their faces painted and enjoy a climbing wall, monster slide and storytelling. There also is a youth talent competition, where you’re likely to hear future main stage performers like Sarah Jarosz, a past talent contest winner. The Campfire Boys & Girls will lead an Earth Day parade through the festival grounds this year, which is sure to be a big hit with the kiddoes. The children’s organization is just one of three beneficiaries of this year’s event. The Capital Area Food Bank (a donation of canned food is appreciated) and the Health Alliance for Musicians are the other two.
Add to the mix a generous selection of food and drink vendors (yes, there is beer and wine), arts and crafts booths and the music tent offering festival paraphernalia and featured artist’s Cds and accessories, and there’s plenty at Old Settler’s to separate you from a buck or two, but at reasonable prices.
In addition to the 4-day wristband mentioned earlier in the article, you also can purchase a 3-day wristband (Fri-Sun) with camping in advance until April 15 for $120 or a 3-day wristband without camping for $90. Individual tickets for Friday and Saturday are $42 per day; Sunday for the campground gospel show is only $12. Expect to pay $3 to $15 more per ticket at the gate. Children 12 & younger get in free. For a complete breakdown on pricing, a list of performers and more information about the festival, log onto: www.oldsettlersmusicfest.org. Tickets can be order by phone by calling (888) 512-SHOW.
Music festivals and artists’ performances tend to blur in the mind’s eye over the decades. But I clearly recall several transcendent moments from past Old Settler’s Music Festivals that remain etched in my soul: Doc Watson’s flatpicking workshop in a jam-packed tent in Round Rock, the Fairfield Four’s harmonies floating on an evening breeze, Patty Griffin singing “Making Pies” and “Long, Black Limousines,” her red hair billowing in gusty Hill Country winds, and Wimberley teen phenom Sarah Jarosz jamming with some of bluegrass music’s kingpins on the main stage just a couple of years ago.
I have come to appreciate that any truly great music festival is marked by such memories. And, if the planets are aligned just right and the gods of good times prevail, one experiences the “magic” – a frozen moment when the sounds of instruments and voices transcend the worldly, lifting the listener to another consciousness, a joyous place. Magic awaits again this year at Old Settler’s.

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