The 15th annual edition of the Fretboard Festival brought crowds to Kalamazoo Valley Museum on Saturday for performances by 19 regional artists, plus workshops and instrument vendors. Recap, photos.
Engaged Audience: Kalamazoo’s Out of Favor Boys performing at Saturday’s Fretboard Festival. (Photo/Derek Ketchum)
SCROLL DOWN FOR PHOTOS, VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS
Support our coverage of
West Michigan's music scene
Lansing singer-songwriter Monte Pride was making his first-ever appearance at the Kalamazoo Fretboard Festival but it didn’t take him long to get a feel for the day-long celebration of instruments and regional music at Kalamazoo Valley Museum.
“It’s such a community event,” the 23-year-old acoustic guitarist reveled after his morning performance on the museum’s Mary Jane Stryker Theater stage, a set scheduled after Pride won a January play-in contest.
Monte Pride (Photo/John Sinkevics)
“It’s packed. It’s great to have an event like this at the end of winter.”
For those celebrating the approaching end of winter, Saturday’s sun-splashed day was a perfect, spring-like opportunity to roam the corridors of the museum and neighboring Anna Whitten Hall to ogle guitars and other gear from various vendors and take in 19 performances by regional acts on three stages and several “pop-up” venues.
Many also took part in a bevy of workshops, from guitar instruction to “ukulele basics” and “African string instruments.” And, of course, there was plenty of instrument testing and a fair number of jam sessions.
For another first-timer – Kalamazoo’s Celeste Alison, who fronts the folk/jazz/pop Celeste Allison Trio, 2020’s other play-in contest winner – the festival gave her a chance to show off her vocals and allowed fellow band members to strut their stuff for a full house on the Museum Stage.
Jam Session: At the Great Lakes Acoustic Music Association booth. (Photo/Derek Ketchum)
“I love it,” she said. “It was very cool. The turnout is fantastic. It just seems ‘local’.”
Highlights from the family-friendly day of music included Hawks & Owls’ renditions of historic folk songs, Mark Sahlgren & The Fragile Egos’ harmony-laden set, Uganda native Samuel Nalangira’s dance-inspiring world music and Kalamazoo’s Out of Favor Boys pumping up a full house with their robust blues.
Add to that a two-man version of Last Gasp Collective getting jazzy and soulful, Celtic music’s An Dro giving fans an early St. Patrick’s Day earful and bluesman Rev. Robert Jones getting retro-bluesy to close out the main Museum Stage, and it was a much satisfying 15th annual edition of the Fretboard Festival all around.
PHOTO GALLERY: 2020 Kalamazoo Fretboard Festival
Photos by Derek Ketchum and John Sinkevics
Copyright 2020, Spins on Music LLC
