For some 15-20,000 progressive bluegrass fans, the Walnut Valley Festival has become a Midwest American Institution. Campers affiliated with the festival begin arriving 7-10 days early in order to participate in the Great Winfield Land Rush for choice campsites in the vast campgrounds and take part in the numerous jam sessions. Like the Chet Atkins Appreciation Society gathering in Nashville, the Winfield festival has become an annual family vacation destination.

Beppe Gambetta (center) performs with John Moore on mandolin and Nashville studio ace Brad Davis.

Many wonderful artists perform at Winfield including: Beppe Gambetta, Brad Davis, John Moore, Tim May, Tommy Emmanuel, Pete Huttlinger, Julie Davis, Stephen Bennett (absent this year), John McCutcheon, Michael Reno Harrell and some great traditional and progressive family bands; the A-list of performers goes on and on, and like the artists at CAAS or Fan Fest, all are easily accessible at the signing tent and product tables or anywhere you might encounter them while strolling the fairgrounds.

Brad Davis (left), shown here with Guitar Sessions Editor Stephen Rekas, visited the Mel Bay Booth to autograph copies of his book, Flatpicking the Blues.

Sign language interpreter Linda Tilton performs with John McCutcheon (far left).

It was a special treat to see sign language interpreter Linda Tilton (right) perform with multi-instrumentalist and singer/songwriter John McCutcheon. A performer in her own right, Linda does much more than just sign the lyrics. I was also impressed with the number of audience members who were familiar with McCutcheon's lyrics and joined him in full-voiced song.

Tommy Emmanuel takes Stage 1 by storm to play his signature tune "Initiation."

Tommy's guitar shows the battle scars of years of use as a percussion instrument. For Tommy, the more haggard the guitar looks, the better it sounds.

The various instrumental solo competitions are a big draw as well. Categories include: autoharp, banjo, flatpicking and fingerstyle guitar, mandolin, resonator guitar, fiddle, and mountain and hammered dulcimer. Using an extremely fair blind jury system in which the judges never see the competitors, a person of any age or either gender can compete without fear of discrimination or favoritism. If you say so much as a word in the course of playing your preliminary or final competition sets, however, you would be disqualified. With an entry fee of only $10.00 for each category, prizes for the top three contestants include trophies, cash and gorgeous top-of-the-line instruments.

A contestant shows his stuff in the fiddle contest.	Trophies for various instrumental categories and the guitars to be awarded to the Winfield Fingerstyle Champions.
Prize banjos for the top three 5-string contestants.	A gorgeous mandolin awaits its new owner.

For the Mel Bay Publications crew, Winfield is an opportunity to get out and meet our constituency, gather ideas for new publications, touch base with a few of our retail accounts, and of course- sell, sell, sell from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.! This time, in addition to scores of books and DVDs pertaining to the music heard all around the fairgrounds, we brought along all of the remaining VCR tapes in our warehouse- perhaps 1500 of them- with the mandate to not bring any home. We sold the tapes for a dollar a pop and gave one away with each $10.00 purchase. By the end of our 2nd day at Winfield, the tapes were gone. Thank you Winfield! We couldn't have offered them to a more appreciative crowd and I felt confident that many of you got some outstanding values.

Bud and Donna Ford of Cripple Creek Dulcimers, long-time Mel Bay dulcimer authors who make their own dulcimers and guitars.

A panel of soprano ukes in the Cripple Creek booth appealed to the Winfield crowd, resulting in sales of Mel Bay's uke books.

One of our hottest sellers at the Winfield event was the new Parking Lot Picker's Songbook by Dix Bruce which presents more than 225 bluegrass, old time, country and gospel songs; two companion CDs containing the first verse of every song are included, and separate editions for guitar, mandolin and banjo offer the melodies in standard notation and tab. This format in a song collection is another first for Mel Bay Publications. The songbook is an amazing resource for songwriters, singers, arrangers and of course, campground and parking lot jammers.

Not to be outdone, the diverse and informed crowd at Winfield also picked up on the quality of our new Complete Django book imported from France, and we quickly sold out of it. This book includes every one of Django Reinhardt's original compositions plus chord grids of the authentic Gypsy jazz chords used to accompany them.

Mark Huddleson tunes and demonstrates one of his hammered dulcimers for an appreciative client.	At least three hammered dulcimer builders displayed their wares at Winfield, this one by Michael C. Allen of Cloud Nine dulcimers, was particularly beautiful.
Luthier Steve Mason www.ask-a-luthier.com has offered on-site repairs and adjustments for all fretted instruments for as long as anyone can remember.

Even though we vendors don't have the opportunity to hear many of the daytime stage performances or witness the competitions, you never know what you're going to see or hear while going about your business at Winfield. One of the oddities I spotted at the Gallagher Guitar Company's booth was a 12-string flattop guitar outfitted with a capo, a raised nut, and a reduced set of autoharp-like chord buttons. The inventor, Harry Wood (see photo), called it a "guitarp" and was trying to interest Gallagher in marketing the device. According to Wood, the guitarp can be used to accompany tunes in various keys by adjusting the position of the capo. Gallagher employee Steve Kerr achieved proficiency with Wood's invention in no time at all, and the sound was quite pleasing.

Musician/inventor Harry Wood (right) tries to interest Steve Kerr of Gallagher Guitars in his "guitarp"- a modified 12-string with a raised nut, capo and autoharp-like chord buttons.

Detail of Harry Wood's guitarp

Apart from the music at Winfield I was particularly impressed with the variety of hats in evidence both at Hatman Jack's ample booth and among the general populace. As the Walnut Valley festival is held in September and the temperatures can vary from sleet conditions to near 100-degree heat, it's a good idea to bring along a versatile hat! Here are some of the hat portraits I took at Winfield 36:

The currently placid Walnut River borders the campground at Winfield. A few weeks earlier the fairgrounds were submerged by floodwaters.

Gretchen May backs her husband Tim and Brad Davis on Stage 3 at Winfield.

For the first time in my three visits to Winfield, I saw and heard something quite remarkable after hours; because the Mel Bay staff had secured nearby lodging and had two vehicles at its disposal, I was able to get to one of the late-night jam sessions out in the campgrounds.

A 6-foot carp windsock marks the location of the Carp Camp jam.

One could expect to find some excellent players among the 15-20,000 progressive bluegrass fans at Winfield, but I wasn't prepared for the unique vibe or degree of excellence I was privileged to witness at Carp Camp, a consort of musicians who have gathered in the same area of the Winfield campground since 1985.

Conductor/MC David Firestine calls, "Play it LOUD!" and other directives to the orchestra at Carp Camp.

By chance, I happened to drop in on the camp's Jungle Jam Night, hence Firestine sported a dreadlock wig and plastic alien skull necklace. With many others wearing elaborate costumes, funny hats, or outlandish makeup, one could easily overlook the fact that there are several Winfield champions among them.

One of perhaps a dozen hammered dulcimer players at the Carp Camp jam.

Four months in advance of the festival, Carp Camp organizers send out copies of new repertoire selections so everyone is well prepared for the nightly jam sessions. With perhaps 50 musicians jamming under a large dining fly, they create absolute magic with charismatic director, Dave Firestine, calling the tunes' beginnings and endings, tempos, and featured soli instruments.

Flanked by two lions at the Jungle Jam, Carp Camp caller David Firestine doubles on bodhran and mandolin while calling the tunes.	I noticed a lot of beatific smiles among the Carp Camp revelers. Behind this woman, the guitarist with the funny hat is Winfield Fingerstyle Champion, Todd Hallawell.
Listeners delight to the bizarre and finely-crafted story songs of "Mackie," an invited guest from another camp.	Singer/songwriter/horse trainer Mackie Redd renders an original song about a guy who doesn't want to be like Superman because he wears funny clothes, but wouldn't mind spending a little time with Lois Lane. "Wouldn't that drive Superman insane?"
Jam party crashers from another camp good-naturedly invade the Carp Camp tent. "The door was open, so we came in," their leader explained.

Spectators 6-deep surround the shelter responding to the infectious melodies, driving tempi and drumbeats. A mother and daughter did energetic clog dancing on a special wooden platform in the middle of the diverse gathering. The girl had a hard time finding beat 1 of the eight-bar phrases but eventually nails it. Even those who wouldn't normally be drawn to this style of music find it irresistible when presented in this format.

Carp Camp welcomes the "virgins" (first-time listeners or participants) into the fold by inviting them to wear a silly wig and costume and sit in the middle of a gathering of a dozen hammered dulcimers, a whole string section including upright basses, numerous bodhrans, bones, the usual bluegrass band suspects, and even a slinky and a couple of didgeridoos. Apparently, the surround-sound effect of this accomplished consort of musicians is stunning.

A Carp Camp "virgin" experiences the gorgeous sound in the center of the gathering.

On command from David Firestine, a didgeridoo introduces the next Carp Camp tune.

Firestine might call, "Didgeridoo intro, 'Forked Deer'- Pick it up! Close your eyes one time through," or "Play it LOUD and bring it home!" The Carp Camp Jungle Jam at Winfield 36 will live in my memory and on my hard drive for a long time to come.

The day after the final jam, David Firestine coils the Carp Camp windsock suspension cord.

Like the Winfield fans, performers, campers, vendors, and hopefully the organizers- I can't wait to repeat the entire experience next September!

Stephen Rekas
Guitar Sessions Editor

To review the names of the 2007 Winfield Champions and learn more about the Walnut Valley Festival please see the organization's extensive website at http://www.wvfest.com/.

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