Colorado’s Midwinter Bluegrass Festival Celebrates 40 Years
In most of the Bluegrass world, the beginning of festival season generally happens sometime around Memorial Day. In northern Colorado, however, everyone knows that it begins over President’s Day weekend. That’s when the Midwinter Bluegrass Festival takes place. Celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, once again the Midwinter Bluegrass Festival takes over a hotel in north Denver and fills every available space with the sounds of Bluegrass, Old-Time, and Roots music. From the stage in the ballroom to the atrium to the exercise room, stairwells, and even elevators, you’ll find music everywhere.
From its beginnings, the Midwinter Festival has always been a community event. Some compare it to a clubhouse or reunion for the Bluegrass family. There’s always an excitement that buzzes around the hotel on Friday as the first jams start happening and friends old and new who have been cooped up over the cold winter months come together. That family feeling and the abundance of picking are, of course, staples of many festivals, and they have been at the heart of Midwinter since founder Ken Seaman started the event in 1986.
Seaman had been putting on a festival along the Current River in Eminence, MO, in the 1970s when he moved to Fort Collins, CO. After arriving, he wanted to organize a festival that would bring together the growing Bluegrass scene in Colorado during the middle of winter when festival opportunities would be slim to non-existent. The festival took place in the college town of Fort Collins from 1986-1997, and as the event grew in popularity, it eventually needed to move to a larger facility. Since that time, it has been located in north Denver, with a larger and recently remodeled hotel as its location.
Over the years, the Midwinter Bluegrass Festival has brought top national touring bands to Denver like Del McCoury, Dixie Chicks, Rhonda Vincent, Becky Buller, Missy Raines, Special Consensus, Chris Jones, and others. These bands only added to the embarrassment of riches that is the Colorado Bluegrass scene. Fans of the genre from outside the Rocky Mountains know of Hot Rize, and the jamgrass bands like Yonder Mountain, but they are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. There are always great local bands to see in Colorado, many of whom you’ll find in a showcase at IBMA or playing festivals around the country. This is, no doubt, aided by the incredible jam scene in Front Range. For one thing, on any given night in the northern Colorado area, you can find, on average, five to six excellent jams at coffeehouses, bars, and other venues open to the public. It’s not at all surprising during one of the larger festivals in the area to find yourself sitting next to Bela Fleck or Sam Bush at a jam session; that’s just what Colorado pickers have become accustomed to. Ken Seaman had a lot to do with fostering the jam scene in Colorado, and Midwinter has always been a “picker’s festival” where the jams going night and day are as much an attraction as the headliners on stage. The jamming, as it is with most festivals, is impromptu but Midwinter has always offered more organized opportunities for pickers as well with a band scramble, and a “Beginner’s Jam” where folks who are new to the festival experience and the genre can play in a setting where they know the songs are going to be at more moderate tempos and they’re able to get some coaching as well. Pete Wernick has also been a regular teacher over the years with his Wernick Method Jam Class. That was an important part of founder Ken Seaman’s vision. That vision has continued with Ben Slocumb and Dianne Stober, aka Ryegrass Productions, who took over the festival in 2021 when Ken Seaman passed away suddenly.
For many people, Midwinter has become a family tradition, with any number of pickers who can tell you stories about coming there as kids and growing up with the music. One of this year’s headliners, Shelby Means, had this to say about Midwinter: “I consistently went to the Midwinter Bluegrass festival as a kid. My dad drove the family down from Wyoming through snowstorms or sunshine. My brother and I were always among the kids sitting on the floor at the very front of the stage, as close to the musicians as possible, trying to soak up every lick they played, every knowing glance they gave each other, and every rafter-ringing harmony. I got a selfie with Rhonda Vincent and shared a breadstick with Mac Wiseman after watching him greet every single fan in the lobby. I couldn’t be more excited to headline Midwinter, and I hope to inspire the next generation to get out in the halls and jam after the set.”
Of course, any festival is a major undertaking, and for a festival like Midwinter it’s perhaps even more so. “Small festivals are incredibly hard to keep going,” said Dianne Stober. “Bluegrass has lost quite a lot of festivals, including several in Colorado.” Ben Slocumb added. “Like many festivals, Covid cast a long shadow over Midwinter. Costs have gone up; travel costs for touring bands and other costs have all gone up. But this festival is very special to us and many others, and we will do our best to keep bringing it back!”
One way that Midwinter has survived over the years has been the fact that there are so many top-notch bands in the area who can play a few sets over the weekend. Long-time attendees are often there to see some of those top local bands as much as the headliners, and also know that there are typically special performances. This year, there will be a new Colorado super-group, Martin Gilmore, Justin Hoffenberg, Jordan Ramsey, Eric Thorin, Dave Richey and Chris Elliot, known as “The Otherners” (rhymes with Southerners), playing at the festival. Again, this is a special element of the Colorado scene, all great musicians who have played with top artists, have won numerous awards and just happen to be local pickers too.
Even as a small festival compared to some of the more famous Colorado festivals, Midwinter has developed a reputation over these past 40 years as a place where bands want to play. “My hardest job as the primary contractor is telling people ‘No’ because at every level there are people who want to play,” says Stober, and “That includes local bands and touring acts too.”
The festival has always offered a diverse lineup that reflects the big tent of Bluegrass. One place this shows up is in the number of women on stage, this year featuring Shelby Means as well as Bronwyn Keith-Hynes.
After 40 years, there’s much to celebrate about the Midwinter Bluegrass Festival. This year, the event will feature “The Last Waltz: a tribute to The Bluegrass Patriots,” Ken Seaman’s old band, who were the house band for so many years until he passed away. High Horse, a Boston-based band, is an up-and-coming group who will be at Midwinter this year. Also on the lineup is a new band featuring longtime Colorado favorite Taylor Sims alongside many of the well-known pickers from the local scene. Also planned are more special-interest jams. Along with the beginner’s jam, there’s an old-time jam planned as well as an “Estro-jam” for women pickers.
Organizers Dianne and Ben are always looking for ways to improve the experience for fans. They’ve recently started making fine art posters available along with t-shirts and other merch for folks to take home with them. Ideas for workshops are always being tried out, and technical aspects like sound and lighting are always being updated. It can always be a challenge to make updates to a festival with so much history, but Midwinter has continued to grow while keeping the deep connection to the traditions of the past. “Our vision is to keep Midwinter going as that special ‘family reunion’ that everyone is excited to attend, for its music, its picking, and for its community,” added Ben Slocumb.
