‘Deep tradition in Virginia’: Local brewery hosts bluegrass festival
The Hot Seats, a bluegrass band from Richmond, played at the 16th annual bluegrass festival at Hardywood Park Craft Brewery. Photo courtesy of The Hot Seats.
Maeve Bauer, Contributing Writer
Molly Manning, Contributing Writer
The Hardywood Park Craft Brewery on Ownby Lane hosted its bluegrass festival on Nov. 2. The festival featured bluegrass artists from throughout Virginia and North Carolina for a chance to celebrate music and tradition, according to the Hardywood website.
Featured bands included Garden Variety Stringband, The Hot Seats, Stuart, Spence & Shebish, InBetween Bluegrass Band, The High and Wides and Dirty Grass Players, according to ABC 8 News.
Hardywood’s first bluegrass festival was held in 2013, according to Justin Paciocco, the music, programs and festival director.
Paciocco said Hardywood honors bluegrass music — something that’s very important.
“Bluegrass music has such a deep tradition in Virginia,” Paciocco said. “It’s rooted in blues and gospel, and African American and old-time music. It’s inclusive, authentic and fun and matches perfectly with values rooted in Hardywood’s ethos.”
Paciocco said he hopes long-time fans will enjoy the line-up and that the festival will bring more fans into the bluegrass scene.
“We also hope this brings a lot of new fans into the bluegrass ‘tent’ and makes people realize that bluegrass isn’t just this old-dated style of music, but instead is something that is fun, fresh and energetic,” Paciocco said.
Featured band The Hot Seats have played at Hardywood since its opening, according to band member Josh Bearman. Bearman praises Hardywood for how they treat their performers.
Bearman said the band has been together since 2002 when they met and began playing at VCU.
Bearman said the festival has grown, noting the number and diversity of the bands increasing as well as the event setup becoming more polished as far as sound systems and organization.
“It started as all local bands, but over the years we’ve been able to bring in bands from Southwest Virginia, all the way from Georgia,” Bearman said.
The Hot Seats got their start in Richmond, Bearman said. Being a Richmond-based band has influenced their sound.
“Throughout the band’s history, we’ve been fairly edgy with our delivery and our content, and we’ve always felt a strong connection to Richmond because of that kind of edginess and abrasiveness of many of the bands that we love that come out of Richmond,” Bearman said.
Bearman said they take pride in being from Richmond, and declare at all their shows they are The Hot Seats from Richmond.
Bearman said they try to create something new while building on top of the structure that ragtime and bluegrass music has.
“I try real hard to keep my lyrics more modern, and maybe song structure more modern,” Bearman said. “I think the reason for that is there’s already a huge wealth of songs and tunes that exist in the tradition of folk and bluegrass.”
Bearman explains that the songs he writes pertain to someone who currently lives in Richmond.
Deb Shebish, band member of Stuart, Spence & Shebish, said that Bearman of The Hot Seats was the one who invited them to play at the festival this year. The band is from Indiana, Georgia and North Carolina and Shebish said the festival sounded like a great time and a good opportunity for them to do what they love — perform together.
Shebish touched on how bluegrass music is embedded into the South.
“That’s kind of what we draw on, the community aspect of this music,” Shebish said.
Stuart, Spence & Shebish formed about a year and a half ago, but they have been friends for longer, according to Shebish. They play folk music called old-time.
“Old-time music is an older form of what bluegrass is based on,” Shebish said.
Shebish said that old-time music out-dates bluegrass and the majority of the songs they play are old-time classics from the public domain. She said their band keeps the legacy of old-time alive by playing at conventions and festivals and teaching the next generation.
“I think taking the time to talk to people who are curious about what they’re hearing — if they’re interested in learning and hearing more of the music, kind of directing them to places they might find it definitely helps keep things alive. Spread the word, spread the music,” Shebish said.
