July 6, 2012 – 80/35 Music Festival
Two days, 46 bands, 3 stages at the intersection of I-80 and I-35 and you have the 80/35 festival. It’s a homegrown festival, virtually totally volunteer run and organized (only two employees). There’s a good mix of bands, both local and national.
Headlining the day was the Avett Brothers.
With a cello, upright bass, banjo, acoustic guitar and more, the band runs on high octane!
Earlier in the day Pieta Brown and Bo Ramsey. Bo is a fixture in the Iowa music scene, as a solo artist, as Greg Brown’s lead guitar player and stints playing with and producing albums by Lucinda Williams. Nobody plays the silence between the notes like Bo – his sparse, mournful style is pretty distinctive. Now he’s playing with Pieta Brown.
Useful Jenkins is a Minnesota based jam bluegrass band based on acoustic guitars and mandolin.
Opening the day was self-described hippie bluegrass band Dumptruck Butterlips from Lawrence KS.
