In Tune with Spring
Reprinted from Texas Highways magazine.
Article By Rob McCorkle, Photographs by J. Griffis Smith
Bluebonnet season, barbecued pork ribs, and live acoustic music under the stars rank as three of this native Texan’s favorite indulgences. Being able to savor this hedonistic trio during one glorious April weekend-at the Old Settler’s Music Festival-makes me one happy camper.
This once humble, mom-and-pop bluegrass music festival, created by the City of Round Rock in 1987 (and held for years at the city’s Old Settler’s Park), has blossomed into one of the nation’s top five events of its kind, drawing more than 10,000 people over four days. This year’s 18th annual celebration of Americana and roots music returns for the fourth year to the Salt Lick BBQ Pavilion and Camp Ben McCulloch. The festival’s new home-a pastoral setting on the banks of Onion Creek on Austin’s rolling southwestern fringes-is a perfect fit.
The Old Settler’s Music Festival [..] has become an alluring rite of spring for people of all ages and backgrounds. The festival draws a colorful mix 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, which borrows from the pages of folk, reggae, bluegrass, blues, and old-time mountain music.
Festival impresario Randy Collier, an Austin businessman and self-professed “bluegrass nut”, describes the festival’s eclectic talent-booking philosophy this way: “We want a central focus, which is the acoustic music of America, including bluegrass. We also have a strong Texas singer-songwriter component. Then, we always throw in a left turn.
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The Line Up
Patty Griffin with special guest Buddy Miller, The Joe Ely Band, Alejandro Escovedo and The Sensitive Boys, Ruthie Foster, 7 Walkers featuring Bill Kreutzmann & Papa Mali, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, Buddy Miller, New Monsoon, The Gourds, Fred Eaglesmith, Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band, The Travelin' McCourys, Blue Highway, The Lee Boys, Brave Combo, Mindy Smith, Band of Heathens, Alison Brown Quartet with Joe Craven, The Infamous Stringdusters, Radney Foster, Bearfoot, Solas, Green Mountain Grass, The Jitterbug Vipers, Flounders without Eyes, The Trishas, The Special Consensus, Elizabeth Cook, The Wronglers, The Giving Tree Band, Dirtfoot, John Fullbright, The Rockin' Gospel Project, Ruby Jane, Sarah Mueller .
Get to know the artists
