Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band kicks off Friday night at Rockygrass

From the moment we arrived at the fir-nestled red rock canyon of Planet Bluegrass Ranch, it has been full-out RockyGrass bliss. Instrumental virtuosos Mike Marshall and Darol Anger, playing with Swedish folk trio Väsen, were already wrapping up their encore, but we would have a chance later to catch Marshall again.

RockyGrass is a relatively small festival accommodating 3,500 fans with music on only one stage. So there is no running around from place to place—once you've established in a locale you're there for the day. We soon found our little oasis in the trees and it wasn't long before the music kicked in again with a long-time favorite, Peter Rowan, playing with his bluegrass band.

Vested with a green kerchief tied around his neck, grey hair whisping in the light breeze and the here-and-there scattered drops of hardly rain, Rowan delighted us with stories and songs. He began with a old-timey "Blue Diamond Mines," pleasing the bluegrass purists in the audience, including those who have been here all week as participants in the festival's bluegrass academy, which precedes the performance weekend.

Backed by a trio of great pickers—Keith Little on banjo, Jody Stecher on mandolin monarch, and Paul Knight on bass—Rowan crooned and wailed through a mix of bluegrass classics and original numbers. Stecher was featured on a couple of songs, and the whole group contributed harmonies.

It wasn't all trad-grass. Rowan's jesting "Chopping Down The Trees For Jesus" brought a social-political note to the set. And then would show his hipster side, donning what he called "John Hartford memorial sunglasses" and going incognito for "Panama Red," his hit with Jerry Garcia and Old and In the Way. He closed the set with a crowd pleasing yodel performance on "Land Of The Navajo."

Between songs, Rowan frequently paused to admire the crowd and express his appreciation as he said, "I'm just happy to be where you are" and "there's no better place to play bluegrass." You could see the sincerity in his eyes and the crowd reflected the appreciation right back.

Since RockyGrass has just the one stage, it frequently puts up tweeners as the equipment is being set between scheduled acts. Sometimes they are impromptu performances by artists who might not usually play together. We got a great taste of that with a wonderful mini-set by Mike Marshall on guitar as well as mandolin, joined by youngsters George Meyer (son of Marshall collaborator Edgar Meyer) on fiddle and Dominick Leslie on mandolin. Their performance ranged in a new-agey direction for a while but by the end returned us to recognizable mountain music, setting the stage for the much anticipated next act.

Complete RockyGrass 2009 coverage