The fest of us: The Festy made its name by pairing killer music with killer views, and this time around the organizers have reinvented it in a beautiful setting where strict COVID safety measures can be taken. The musical experience is spread out through socially distanced small-group seating and a series of show dates, with a variety of headlining acts including Sierra Hull (above) & Justin Moses and Keller Williams, and a promise of more musicians to come.
Axe grinder: Texas singer-songwriter Jackie Venson is starting to escape a tagline. Winning Best Guitarist at this year’s Austin Music Awards pushed Venson past all of the gender references that typically surround a woman with an electric guitar in her hands. Combining power, skill, and dreamy vocals, her music draws comparisons to Jimi Hendrix and Prince, and Guitar Player magazine noted the classically trained musician’s “unique ability to blend blues, rock, R&B, and soul into a idiosyncratic sound that’s unmistakably hers.” Venson plays The Festy in its new urban setting with a lineup that includes Robert Randolph & the Family Band, Dawes, and Samantha Fish.
It’s not often that you can learn about mushroom cultivation, experiment with the didgeridoo, get an acupuncture treatment, and take a yoga class while the Hackensaw Boys, Gillian Welch, and Ricky Skaggs belt it out in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The Festy Experience is defined by three days of Americana music in a family-friendly, comfortable setting that offers curated food and drink along with wellness activities and creative conversations.
When Erin Lunsford is on the road with her band, Erin & the Wildfire, she’s often overlooked. Because she’s a woman, Lunsford says, many assume she’s a groupie—even though she’s the band’s lead vocalist and it’s her name on the bill.
Though it’s initially difficult for her to pick just one, Lunsford recalls a particularly irritating moment when someone ignored her before a show—she says it happens all the time. At an unnamed venue, Lunsford says, the band received a complimentary meal. The waitress took the male bandmates’ orders, and skipped Lunsford after assuming she wasn’t part of the band.
“She didn’t even take my order. She just walked away,” Lunsford says. “It wasn’t her fault. It’s just systemic, patriarchal oppression.”
As a Charlottesville artist, Lunsford has been asking herself how music can be intersectional. To Michael Allenby, director of The Festy Experience, one answer to that question is a festival lineup that balances female and male talent. The eighth Festy Experience takes place October 5-8 at Infinity Downs in Arrington, and features an equal number of male and female performing artists.
“I’m so grateful to Festy for setting this example and don’t want to diminish how wonderful it is,” says Lunsford, who performs a solo set at the festival and emcees its main stage. “But at the same time, it’s like, ‘Duh.’”
“Most people who create festivals are trying to sell tickets, and what they think people want to buy tickets for—and by-and-large it’s true—are bands [fans] want to see, so [organizers] turn to the music industry,” Allenby says. “The music industry has its ego, misogynistic tendencies and some nasty people. If you’re going to go to that to get your artists, you’ll get male artists.”
By separating his event from the mainstream music industry and its commoditization of artists, Allenby says he can create an inclusive, family-friendly experience for his audience. He can focus on community, supporting artists and their careers—regardless of gender.
“We have to pull each other up,” Lunsford says. “Not that everybody needs to be an activist, but it would be great if everybody was an activist.”