Every year since 1972, a dedicated, eclectic group of folk musicians and fans from around the world have congregated at Quiet Valley Ranch near Kerrville for a couple of weeks over the end of May.

Take it from this science-living, NewAge-negating, Internet inhabitant: I had not experienced the positive, enveloping karma that I experienced at the Kerrville Folk Festival. There is truly magic all about the place. I am smiling as I prepare this webpage afterward.

Click the guitar for the complete lyrics to "Intergalactic Laxative"

The main stage inspires experienced acts to soar, like playing Gruene Hall the first time. The truly transcendent magic is made by amateurs at the campsites.

Your muse will shack up with you at Kerrville. It's like a restaurant with plenty of eager cooks; there is free, nourishing inspiration that wasn't even on your menu.

 

Click the camera for pictures of the happy campers of Camp Yeah Baby Lah!

 

Above: Washtub Jerry, the Crossroads guitarists, and Lisa Rogers bandmember on alt.percussion.

Best Hat 2003

There is a large amphitheater for showcase groups, featuring regional noteworthies outside the folk genre. The thumbnail below opens my best zoom shot, shooting Fuji 100 film through an 80x200 Zeiss lens. My night shooting during the Festival wasn't good. Next time I'll take a monopod, faster film, and an umbrella to keep the beer foam off the lenses.

Kerrville Folk Festival camping is tribal, coalescing around mutual convenience and compatibility. Campsites are named semi-permanently. I think that lends itself to psychic portability of the atmosphere no matter where a camper might be, even when the camp is in storage. I was fortunately assimilated into Camp Yeah Baby Lah!

There is a smaller stage, dedicated to Kenneth Threadgill, longtime Austin restauranteur and Texas musical legend. This is the site of the opening-weekend New Folk competition, in which two afternoon's worth of musicians sing their hearts out for judges in three songs each. There is much angst left on the stage. The winner goes on to the amphitheater for a main stage performance.

The Ballad Tree is a gathering on on Chapel Hill, itself the scene of gospel services on Sundays, that is open to all performers. Early arrivals draw one of several numbers to determine their order, and the rest listen to hours of outdoor music.

Here's a link to Kerrversions, a dandy site created by John Voorhees of Gulfport, MS.

This was the first year I camped onsite, which is the best way to enjoy the magic. Magic?! It's called a Kerrmoment, an epiphany, a convergence of coincidence. It's an illogical but undeniable phenomenon, and it will happen to you, too. For my own story, click the magical picture below.

 

Kerrdi Gras

 

 

 

 

On the right are two pictures of an outstandingly blue bass at Camp Duct Tape. One is a digital image, and the other is Fuji consumer-grade ISO100 film, scanned from a 4x6 commercial print. Both are shown at 96 dpi. Which is which?

This amazing fellow named Freebo may have been the most versatile musician at Kerrville. He played tuba with the Parnell Brothers rockin' blues Americana show (yes, tuba), then added bass and guitar at Camp Cuisine and others.

 

 

 

 
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