Perfect Conditions

(run with KK column mug)

The Mulberry Mountain grounds have more than once ended up in severe weather's bulls eye, whether that weather came from a tornadic storm (one touched down eight miles away in June 2013) or the remnants of a hurricane (Ike in 2008).

"We've been swimming in mud and water for so many years," Yonder Mountain String Band bass player Ben Kaufmann said during a press conference on the festival grounds.

That's what makes the most recent edition of that band's Harvest Music Festival on Mulberry Mountain all the more vivid in contrast.

"It is the definition of perfect ... The weather is reflective of how I feel inside," Kaufmann said.

Saying Harvest Festival participants deserved such a treat is tricky business, because it implies we likewise deserved the deluges of previous years for some unnamed misdeed.

But it sure felt like we were due, and in 2014, my eighth Harvest Fest, we were feted with an ideal three-day run of weather. We woke up to vivid orange sunrises; we watched the sun set over the mountains, leaving remnants of pink light in its wake. Perhaps perfect camping weather stays a little warmer in the late evening hours, but that's what fires and warming beverages are meant to remedy.

And indeed, if any musicians were bounding around with sunshine on their shoulders during the weekend, it was Yonder Mountain String Band. The Colorado-based group provided nearly eight hours of official sets, but that wasn't enough. Two new players have joined the Yonder organization, a move that transpired when founding mandolin player Jeff Austin left the group this spring. Having watched pieces or the entirety of about a dozen Yonder shows, I feel confident in saying the band is as lively now as it has ever been. That bears out in how Yonder treated the festival, playing two unannounced sets in addition to the three headlining gigs on the main schedule. I understand they also played a campground set on the Friday night of the festival for all of about a dozen people. I didn't catch it, and that was the idea, I think. Some random campers got lucky. Others were left waiting for next year.

And Yonder was just one of about 50 artists on the roster. Among those on the bill, I left most impressed with Trampled by Turtles. I've watched them before, actually, but the band has only grown in abilities and songwriting in the two years since I've seen it live. Their four-song sound check early in the day on Thursday was so well received the crowd begged for an encore, if that gives you an idea of their immediate and obvious talent.

Likewise, the Carolina Chocolate Drops wowed me. They play smart songs, often with heavy subject matter. Whether covering Hank Williams or playing their own music, they left me wanting more.

I caught many other acts on my personal bucket list, including The Jayhawks and the crazy Kansans of Split Lip Rayfield. One of the players wore a Kansas City Royals shirt, and a "Let's Go Royals" chant broke out midway through the set. When is the last time a sports team got a mid-concert cheer in this state other than the Arkansas Razorbacks? I couldn't even venture a guess.

The weekend delivered many of those kind of pleasant surprises, including at least two mid-concert proposals. One happened during the truly wild party rock set offered by Andy Frasco on Friday afternoon, and I'm told a second took place during Elephant Revival's Saturday concert on the venue's Backwoods Stage.

That's the same place where Missouri band Ha Ha Tonka, with 15 minutes remaining in their program, decided to close out the evening by playing only Tom Petty covers. Their reasoning -- solid, no doubt -- was because they were playing a festival and could do whatever they wanted.

And the gathered masses did as they wanted, too, unencumbered by the elements. I'd take a Harvest Festival like this one every year.

Kevin Kinder is associate editor of What's Up! Read his music blog at nwatunedin.com.