Folk musician and radio host Nick Forster discusses performing at the festival in the 1970s and the unparalleled feel of the Pecan Grove with KMUW's Jonathan Huber.
You're listening to Walnut Valley Festival: The Early Years. I'm Jonathan Huber. Nick Forster is Hot Rize's bassist. He also hosts the music program E Town. I asked him if Hot Rize had ever heard of the Walnut Valley Festival before being booked for their first appearance in 1979.
Nick Forster: Well, for a few different reasons, our guitar player Charles Sautel, prior to Hot Rize, he had a sound a sound company called Sawtell Wilson, and they were doing PA for various festivals, including Winfield. So he was the provider of the sound system for the main stage at the Winfield Festival in the mid '70s. And not only that, I'm pretty sure Tim had been to Winfield, maybe to... maybe you know he was the Wyoming State fiddle champion as a young man, and so he might have gone there just to play enter the guitar contest or you know something like that. The other thing that I knew about was that the Telluride Bluegrass Festival started primarily by this guy Fred Shelman. He was in a band that had gone to Winfield, and that experience was the inspiration for them wanting to start the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. So they went to Winfield and came back in '74 I believe and said, "Yeah, we're going to do our own and start... they started theirs on originally on July 4th, but it migrated to the you know the solstice, the third weekend in June.
How did you see the festival change over the years from your first performance to 1988, and then even when you came as Nick Forster and friends in '99?
Not at all, zero. I mean, you know, the obviously the site is relatively unchanged. There weren't like massive improvements to the fairgrounds, the Walnut Valley Fairgrounds that I was aware of. The campsite was the same. The sort of you know blending of the contests and the performances, and the emphasis on mentorship and learning and improving your skills, those were at the core of the festival in the 70s, and they were the same when I was there in the '90s. And so, I mean, with all due respect, I mean, evolution is not always a good thing. We probably stayed in motels instead of staying in the bus or camping or you know whatever. So our... our pay went up a little, and I think our accommodations got better, but for the most part, it's just what it is. You know, it's the festival, the Winfield Walnut Valley Festival is just like reliable because it is it defined itself and distinguished itself early on as being not just "hey we're going to come together and we're going to hang out for the weekend with a bunch of musicians", it was about getting young people to practice and study and learn and prepare themselves for the terror of standing on a stage and competing with their peers. It was a... it was a wonderful, you know, a gateway for people who are interested in that style of playing, to come in and be immersed and be challenged, and also to meet other people who have similar interests.
Performers are not the only musicians at the festival. Campers and other attenders participate in what's known as parking lot picking. Festival rules say that amplified music is not allowed in the campgrounds, but unamplified music is. Take a walk through the grounds, and you'll hear a wide variety of jam sessions at all hours of the day and night. Hot Rize bassist Nick Forster says that's because the campgrounds offer an unparalleled atmosphere that attracts musicians.
That's one of the highlights of that festival. The caliber of parking lot picking at that festival. I mean, the caliber of musicianship because of the contests was always spectacular. And you know, I was 25, I guess in 1980, or 24 and '79, probably when we first got there, so I was full of vim and vigor. We would definitely stay up late and ramble around and look for jam sessions and do all the things in the campground.
Nick also says the setting of the campgrounds is hard to match.
Well, you know, when I look back on it, I just there's something kind of magical about the calib, the quality of the nighttime in the campground, just the balance of humidity and temperature, and just the vibe of the campground at midnight. I can just conjure it up right now. Just the sort of feeling of the air and the sounds of the different jam sessions, and it was very special.
So you appeared at festivals with other bands and acts like Newgrass Revival, Kathy Fink, Dan Crary. Were there any collaborations that Hot Rize did, or anything like that with other performers? Anything really memorable?
The thing about Winfield, of course, is that they work you pretty hard. It's like you don't just breeze in and play your main stage show and breeze out. You know, it's usually for a young band like ours I'm sure we were there for at least two days, and that we probably did five sets a day, I'm guessing? And we were judging contests, and we were playing workshops, and we were doing collaborations. We were playing at least one show a day on the main stage, and you know, so it was... it was full days of activity. Sure, I remember you know doing all the workshops, and those were basically forced collaborations where you don't know who's going to be on the other side of that workshop with you, and you get to hang out. And whether it's you know Doc and Merle or you know Dan Crary or Berliner Crary Hickman or all of those... all of the bands that played there, we would have cross pollinating moments. And certainly over the years, the main one was Newgrass Revival because not only were we occupying kind of a similar spot in the contemporary bluegrass world, we were both kind of young renegades. We were both breaking the rules because we both had electric bass, and we both had obviously listened to a lot of different kinds of music. But we still had a lot of respect for the traditions and the founders. But we also had the same agent, and so Newgrass Revival and Hot Rise. It was literally like every couple of weeks we'd be on the same festival together. Our agent Keith Case had a great roster and included John Hartford, Newgrass Revival, Hot Rize, Brian Bowers, and Norman and Nancy Blake. So that is essentially the Winfield Festival. If you were organizing the any festival, and you wanted one of those acts, and you got to talk to Keith Case. You would say, "Well, sure, I understand you want John Hartford, but what about Newgrass Revival, and what about Hot Rise, and what about Brian Bowers, and what about Norman and Nancy? And pretty soon, you know, three quarters of the lineup is booked by the same agent. So we saw each other all the time.
Nick, thank you so much for joining me. I really appreciate it.
You're welcome, John. I hope it works out. And congratulations! I love the connection between obviously between radio and live music. I was inspired certainly by my experiences at Winfield to create the radio show that is E Town, and I learned a lot from being at that festival and being in that environment. So thanks for celebrating it and for including me in that celebration.
Nick is the host of E Town and the bassist for Hot Rize. You're listening to Walnut Valley Festival: The Early Years.
