For two years straight I went to the Bluegrass Festival in Grass Valley, CA to get a taste of back home. On the first occasion Bill Monroe was there. He had a presentation that is hard to describe, something I had never witnessed when listening to his records or the Grand Ole Opery. The same with the Wilburn Brothers. Emmy Lou Harris showed up just about every year. Yep, they feature the artist from back home, be it SW VA, TN or KY. The show on stage for three days running was great but to match it are the jam sessions that gathered at the camp ground at night. The groups were made up of attendees and each would go from one group to another and ask for permission to join in. The headliners would do the same. You can imagine the old back home comradeship that came from these groups, especially while being accompanied by Bill Monroe. I did see a little bottle passing but no dope or anyone getting out of hand. They have booths and the more interesting are those that sell hammered dulcimers by the craftsmen that make them. They do have a most wonderful sound. Hillbilly Music is one thing and Bluegrass is something else. People from all over the world attended these festivals. I just viewed some pages of upcoming Bluegrass Camping Festivals. They were all over, even New Yawrk. You can get some straight stuff at this site: http://www.healey.com.au/~mkear/monroe.htm