Keystone Bluegrass & Beer Festival '25 ~ The La5t W1ld Buffal0 & Palis4des Br3wing Clearly #1s 02Aug25

I had a great time listening and tasting at this year's Keystone B&B festival, my 8th running... none disappointing. Yet, '25 bookers knew the lineage better than those prior who'd gotten country & rock artists where keen bluegrass musicians should've played. Whomever is in charge of '25 bookings ~ thanks, GR8 job; at least on Saturday's lineup there was good bluegrass and I expect no less from Sunday 'cause Broken Compass was booked to the Monetary stage, OMG 'coup... gotta meet this booker.  I arrived via Summit Stage (just in case) late but in time for the main stage opening act... easily the best artists on the day.

The 'Last Wild Buffalo' were spectacular - never again will I be able to see them free. Killer musicianship, great songwriting, 3 & 4 part harmonies; just all WOW. They did cheat and bring a bass drum ~ forgiven. The blondes on banjo and fiddle, who lead or write on many situations, are brother & sister and are 'beyond.' I saw and encountered their dad; humble but knowing.  The youngster female will obliterate concepts of voicing in bluegrass (and else) ~ she can do anything she wants with her voice, and never missed a moment on fiddle. Her brother was killer on banjo & voice; he wrote many cool tunes. Not to take away from the bass and guitar guys, they wrote and sang very well along with the kids. Golly, that was some of the most fun I've known from my spot in row 3, in the audience, in years. Go Eagle River, UT! I met the band, very cool kids, I'm a big fan now;  not a convert but you know, there were whack skills on display. I posed with the band while meeting them and got them to give me a signed setlist on the day... they warned me none of the titles would lead me directly to their work as they wrote them in memes. My only issue is they are not yet distributing through Bandcamp... just Spotify, etc. ~ I did have a talk with them.

I didn't make any weak recordings in the field so for those whose interests were piqued, their submission to NPR Tiny Desk for '25 is 'Rotting Away.'

So good. There are three stages at the KSB&B fest ~ one main, one larger, and one tiny. I did catch the last song of the opening act on Montezuma stage too, Pass The Snakes. "OK" but they did have a dobro!

I usually bounced between Montezuma and the main stage in the middle of River Run plaza, but on occasion went to the edge to hear locals Groundscore. Fun, lot's of instrumentals.

2nd up on the Montezuma was Off The Rails... solid bluegrass with covers and originals. 

FY5 are Colorado bluegrass stallwarts ~ professional all around and the bassist had a very sweet round voice. She and the older black hat dude did the most leading vocals.

I loved High Country Hustle too; instrument control was excellent ~ they killed on mandolin & fiddle and the bass player was a strong singer with a Metallica vibe. 

Billy Failing and band  had the best banjo and great bluegrass. I had an express bus back to Silverthorne at 4:45pm so left a smidge early. Solid guys.

I thought the Palisades Brewing Co showed me the most with a nice hazy IPA and a tasty Mex Lager... plus they rolled in kegs (vs most national brands pouring cans). All the local Summit Co brewers were good too but Palisades was new to me.