Backbone Bluegrass
Iowa’s Oldest and Largest Bluegrass Festival
In Northeast Iowa, around 4 miles south of a small town called Strawberry Point (home of the World’s Largest Strawberry) and a few miles north of Backbone State Park, lies a picturesque 20-acre wooded site. During the last full weekend of July, this beautiful location is full of campers and tents belonging to people from several different states. They’re here for one reason – Iowa’s oldest and largest bluegrass festival, the Backbone Bluegrass Festival.
For me, personally, Strawberry Jam Camp and the Backbone Bluegrass Festival are the main reasons I started playing mandolin. My family first attended the festival in 2011 when I was 7 years old. My dad attended jam camp first, then my mom. In 2013, my younger sister, who played fiddle, was planning to go. At the time, I only played piano, which wasn’t one of the instrument categories (guitar, banjo, bass, fiddle, mandolin, and Dobro) and would not have been easy to travel with. About a month before Strawberry Jam Camp, I decided I would learn to play mandolin – just to go to the camp. I’ve been a part of Strawberry Jam Camp and the Backbone Bluegrass Festival every year since, and I have, in turn, formed many close and long-lasting friendships.
The Early Years
The backstory to the Backbone Bluegrass Festival starts with Backbone State Park. The park, which is also known as Iowa’s first state park, is located along the Maquoketa River and includes a distinctive ridge of bedrock that forms the Devil’s Backbone, or the highest point in northeast Iowa. The park also contains Backbone Lake, which was created from a dam constructed in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps. By the early 1980s, this lake had gone from clear, welcoming water to badly silted and unappealing. This led to the formation of the Backbone Lake Preservation Association.
The association began its efforts to preserve the state park by attempting to lobby the DNR and local legislators to have the lake dredged out and restore Backbone Lake to its former beauty. They began brainstorming various fundraising ideas. One member of the association, Linzy Martin, was struck by an idea on his way to work. “I was going to court one day and had my radio on. They were interviewing Bob Lewis of the Bob Lewis Family Band,” Martin explains, “Bob had his family, and they played a song. It reminded me of the music I heard growing up, and the thought came to me – maybe we could put on a music festival as a fundraiser.” Martin ran with his idea and immediately started making phone calls. Eventually, he connected with Noble Boyd, a bluegrass festival emcee, who helped him set up the very first Backbone Bluegrass Festival in 1981.
For the first 4 years, the Backbone Bluegrass Festival was held in a hay field. “When I first conceived of the idea of a bluegrass festival, I discussed the idea with a friend, Gerald (Jerry) Lincoln,” says Martin, “He and his two brothers, Larry and John, were in a partnership known as the Lincoln Brothers’ Farms. They owned the land adjacent to Backbone State Park and gave me permission to hold the festival there. After four years, they had to rotate the crop and made our current location available to us.”
In the late 1980s, Linzy Martin took over emcee duties and served in this role at the festival for around 15 years. As a kid, Martin played several instruments, including accordion, tuba, and guitar. When he came up with the idea of the festival, Martin states, “I started out playing the fiddle, and then the mandolin. I just wanted to be part of the overall experience.” He became a member of The Strawberry Pickers, the Backbone Bluegrass house band, who performed at the festival for many years.
Shortly after the first few years, the Backbone Lake Preservation Association realized bluegrass festivals weren’t the best way to raise funds. However, instead of discarding the festival, they decided to update their name to Backbone Lake Promotion Association and alter their goal to preserve and promote bluegrass music and to promote tourism to Backbone State Park and surrounding areas.
Bill Monroe in Strawberry Point
In the spring of 1987, Bill Monroe played a show in Strawberry Point, Iowa, as a part of his Great River Tour. During this tour, he promoted various festivals up and down the Mississippi River. Former Bluegrass Boy and longtime Backbone Bluegrass Festival attendee Bob Black explains, “Our band, Harvest Home, was the opening band for those shows, and the Strawberry Point performance took place at the Strawberry Middle School Gym, which has since been torn down. While there, Bill wrote a tune that he called ‘Strawberry Point.’ Alan Murphy taped Monroe playing it and learned the tune.” Later, Murphy recorded the song with the group Special Consensus on their 1991 album, Hey Y’All. According to Linzy Martin, “I took Bill out to the site of our festival and gave him a tour. He said, ‘This is beautiful, keep up the good work.’”
Past Performances
From the earliest days of the festival to recent years, the Backbone Bluegrass Festival has always featured a mix of local, regional, and national talent. Some of the more well-known bands include Alison Krauss and Union Station, Special Consensus, the Cox Family, Mike Snider, the Bob Lewis Family, Bob Everhart, the Sally Mountain Show, the Faris Family, the Grascals, and the Kody Norris Show. One of Bob Black’s favorite memories of the festival is seeing Alison Krauss and Union Station play in 1987. “I very much admired her singing and playing.” Black recounts, “I also enjoyed listening to her banjo player, Mike Harman, who later recorded with her on her 1989 Grammy-nominated album, Two Highways.”
Keith Yoder, a talented multi-instrumentalist who has taught at music camps across the country since 2007, describes his first experience at the festival. “My first festival was in 1986 when I attended with my friend Kirk Stimson. It was fun to see a lot of fine bands and take part in some picking sessions in the campground.” Later on, he played the festival with the McPunk Brothers, the first bluegrass band he was a part of. “We have played the festival several times and have always enjoyed being there,” says Yoder.
Strawberry Jam Camp
In 2008, the idea came to Keith Yoder to start a music camp that would take place in the days leading up to the festival. He discussed his idea with Linzy Martin and found an instant willing partner. Yoder explains, “Linzy Martin – our fearless leader – has been the organizational part of camp since the beginning. He was instrumental in going to the committee and doing all of the legwork in getting things established and rolling along. I was the idea guy and really enjoyed leading the camp each summer.” This camp, which would uniquely focus on teaching jamming etiquette and helping participants learn to enjoy the fun of playing with others, was named Strawberry Jam Camp.
Strawberry Jam Camp is special for many different reasons. Unlike other music camps, Strawberry Jam Camp is very multi-generational, with attendees ages ranging from 7 to 90 years old. During the camp, participants are placed randomly in bands that go on to open the Backbone Bluegrass Festival by playing a few songs. A large majority of Strawberry Jam Campers are returning campers, or as Linzy Martin likes to call them, “repeat offenders.” “Each year I love watching the new first timers become part of our large family, and I will be forever indebted to the repeat offenders that come back year after year and make the camp the success it has become,” Martin says. Keith Yoder agrees with Linzy Martin, saying, “My favorite part is seeing the musical growth of returning students each year. A lot of great young musicians have been part of the camp for many years.” Yoder continues, “This includes the Briggs Family (Kaitlyn and Ashlyn) and the Anderegg Family (Evan, Graham, Nathan, and Jillian). These young folks are fine musicians who perform with their respective family bands.” Both family bands have also played at the Backbone Bluegrass Festival.
Many of the people attending Strawberry Jam Camp stay at the Backbone Bluegrass Festival grounds. Because of this, many of the students go to the grounds in the evening to jam. As Bob Black, one of the original jam camp instructors, says, “This is the time when I really get to know the students, spend time with them one-on-one, and have fun picking and singing with them. Having fun is what it’s all about!”
The Strawberry Jam Camp instructors include Keith Yoder, Bob Black, Bill Cagley, Paul Roberts, Scott Amos, and Daryl Yoder. Keith Yoder describes the instructors, saying, “They are willing to do anything necessary to help students on their musical journeys.” In recent years, Kaitlyn and Ashlyn Briggs, Evan, Graham, Nathan Anderegg, and Andre Garcia have been added as assistant instructors, all of whom have been part of Strawberry Jam Camp for over 10 years. The Songwriter’s Workshop runs concurrently with Strawberry Jam Camp and is led by acclaimed songwriters Donna Ulisse, Rick Stanley, and Jerry Salley. Several songs co-written at this camp have been recorded, including the 2024 song Front Porch of Paradise recorded by Kristy Cox.
Strawberry Jam Camp is approaching its 17th anniversary next year on July 22-24, 2026. For more information on Strawberry Jam Camp and Songwriter’s Workshop, visit their website strawberryjamcamp.com or their Facebook page, Strawberry Jam Camp.
In Recent Years
Steve Dikkers, the current president of the Backbone Lake Promotion Association, first attended the festival in 1995 after hearing a commercial on a local radio station. “That first year I had a good time jamming with other musicians and developing friendships that are still thriving,” he explains, “I believe that year I saw the sun rising as I was driving home.” Dikkers has gone to the festival nearly every year since (with the exception of one year) and has been a part of the association since 2010. “The late-night jams have to rank at the top of memories. For many years, I took pride in being one of the ‘Camp Fools’…the last people to quit jamming…usually as the sun was rising,” Dikkers explains. “Backbone was and is the best jamming festival I have attended.”
In 2013, an album titled Tom Schaefer, Bob Black, and Keith Yoder: Live! at Strawberry Point was recorded at the Backbone Bluegrass Festival. Bob Black describes the origin of the album, “In the late 1990s, I recorded an instrumental album with some friends of mine from the Twin Cities, which included Bill Cagley on guitar, Tom Schaefer on fiddle, and Sandy Njoes on bass. This led to a series of performances with the group, which we called ‘Cagley, Black, Schaefer, and Njoes.’” Black continues, “Some time after that, Sandy quit playing with the group and we continued as a trio: ‘Cagley, Black, and Schaefer.’ That group was scheduled to perform at the Backbone Bluegrass Festival in 2013, but Bill had a scheduling conflict, so we recruited Keith Yoder, from the Strawberry Jam Camp, to play guitar on the show. On the Friday night of the festival, Phil Maass, from radio station KUNI in Waterloo, Iowa, was at the festival recording the shows for later airplay. We obtained a copy of the program from Phil and issued it on CD, calling it Tom Schaefer, Bob Black, and Keith Yoder: Live! at Strawberry Point.” This album is available for sale on Bob Black’s website, http://banjoy.com/.
The Backbone Bluegrass Festival is made possible by volunteers. In 2021, several volunteers worked together to build a new and improved stage. Steve Dikkers states, “I have to give a shout-out to the other volunteers who make Backbone possible. Throughout the year, we hold planning meetings and fundraisers. Proceeds from the fundraisers go to campground improvements and maintenance on our fleet of lawnmowers; we need to mow our 20-acre site.”
Upcoming 45th Anniversary
The Backbone Bluegrass Festival is held yearly during the last full weekend of July. The grounds include a natural amphitheater and stage, both tent and trailer camping, electrical hookups, water (no hookups), a showerhouse, restrooms (portable johns), ample shade, and a food vendor on site during the festival. Saturday morning of the festival also includes workshops for guitar, banjo, mandolin, Dobro, fiddle, bass, and vocal harmony, as well as an open stage. Next year’s dates are July 24-26, 2026, which will be the 45th anniversary of the family-friendly festival. Carson Peters & Iron Mountain, Kristy Cox, Bluegrass Express, and the Bluegrass Blondies are currently booked to play, with more bands to be announced. For more information, visit their website backbonebluegrass.com or their Facebook page, Backbone Bluegrass.
