The 15th annual ROMP Festival wrapped up last weekend, and even the 100-degree heat could not kill the good vibes. Growing in numbers every year, the festival continues to attract fans from around the world. Held annually at Yellow Creek Park in Owensboro, Kentucky, ROMP conveys a nice family-friendly atmosphere while relying on the music on stage to get the party started.

The crowd is truly a melting pot of locals, out-of-towners, festies, bluegrass enthusiasts, jam heads, and many others. The Dead Audio team was there to cover Friday and Saturday, and quickly got swept up in the bluegrass magic. Although we can recount our experiences the best we can, in the words of ROMP’s Marketing Director Katie Keller in a recent Dead Audio interview , “Don’t judge it until you’ve been.” This is truly a special community to behold.

F r i d a y , J u n e 2 9 t h

By Ben Hayes

ROMP started its day on Friday with a nice contrast of traditional and progressive bluegrass. The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys kicked things off with a classic feel that would please any bluegrass purist. Their sound evokes the early days of bluegrass music: something that one may hear driving through the Kentucky backwoods in the 1940s.

Next up was North Carolina natives Fireside Collective , who pleased the audience with a more contemporary set. Bouncing around genres like Americana, bluegrass, newgrass and folk, these young men could not hide the fact that they were happy to be there. As some of the members were introduced, the crowd cheered when they were told that one of the members just graduated college with a Bluegrass Music degree. Their energy was contagious as they threw out some original songs (“This one is about your woman sneakin’ around on ya!”) as well as covers “Eleanor Rigby” and “Uncle Johns Band”.

Well-known bluegrass pros Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out were next on the stage. Hailing from Georgia, the band showcased their vocal skills with the best sounding harmonies that were heard all day. Their cover of John Denver’s “Country Roads” was enough to make you forget that you were standing in 90-degree heat.

We Banjo 3 was the most fun and lively set of the day. All the way from West Ireland, this band knew how to work a crowd. They had everyone (including the people in chairs) on their feet as they asked the audience to sing and dance along with them. They also held a dance contest between two members of the audience while covering “You Sexy Thing” by Hot Chocolate, giving the winner a band t-shirt. At one point one of them joked, “I always wanted to see the great cities of the world. Paris, New York, London…Owensboro.”

Mixing in originals like “Don’t Let Me Down”, a song about personal struggles, with covers like the Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back” and R. Kelly’s “Ignition (Remix)”, it was easy to see why this band drew such a crowd. They certainly left with loads of new fans, and a set that had everyone talking.

After the sun went down, it was time for headliner Rhiannon Giddens . Although perhaps better known as the lead singer of the Grammy award-winning band Carolina Chocolate Drops , Giddens has had success in her solo ventures as well. It quickly became easy to see why as Giddens delivered the best set of the evening. Haunting and beautiful, her unique vocal style sounds like it should be part of an earlier century.

She played many songs off of her newest album Freedom Highway , as well as early folk songs and old-time music. Most of the music of her set detailed the Black Experience in the South; something that, given the mostly white audience she was singing to in a very red state, felt like a political statement in and of itself. Giddens did not shy away from controversial topics during her set, discussing, among other things, immigration (“Some people have forgotten how they got here”) and feminism (“Dolly Parton was such feminist. She just said what she felt!”).

A southerner herself, Giddens took time to explain that the best way for us to move on together was to share ideas with one another, not as enemies but as friends and neighbors. While some may not have appreciated her message, there were plenty in the crowd who found it refreshing to hear a southerner speak out on so many topics that may not be popular in today’s political climate. Bold and powerful, Giddens’ set showed why she is a can’t-miss when she comes your way in the future.