Songs in the spotlight: ROMP Fest starts main stage performances
Jun. 23—While Wednesday saw attendees securing their spots to set up their respective campsites and catching up with friends and fellow festival goers at the 20th annual ROMP Fest, the four-day bluegrass and roots music event saw more action Thursday as it marked the first day of main stage performances at Yellow Creek Park.
Performers included Rick Faris, Kitchen Dwellers, Rhonda Vincent, Greensky Bluegrass and Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway.
Faris, a former member of the Grammy-nominated bluegrass group The Special Consensus, is the current International Bluegrass Music Association "New Artist of the Year." He was making his ROMP debut.
He opened his set with a cover of Huey Lewis and the News' No. 1 pop hit "The Power of Love," a bold and intentional choice.
"(It's) the first single on the new record. I love the song," he said. "It's just got a lot of power — no pun intended, but I guess it's alright if it is pun intended. It's just in-your-face bluegrass wrapped in a song that wasn't meant to be written as bluegrass."
After finishing his set alongside his band, Faris felt it was "fantastic" overall.
"I was blown away from the crowd for a Thursday," he said. "The weather's fabulous ... and everybody's just so on top of their game. I was just very impressed ....
"It's a great festival."
Faris' inaugural ROMP also comes on the heels of his new record, "Uncommon Sky," which was released on June 9.
He also was part of a "pre-ROMP extravaganza" event on June 10 at the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum, where he put on a free concert.
"It's been very exciting. It's been an insanely busy couple of months for us," he said. "We're really excited to be taking off and do a lot of touring."
Like Faris, many folks in the crowd were attending their first ROMP, including Carson and Sawyer Harris, who came from Greenbrier, Arkansas, with their 8-month-old daughter, Eloise.
For the Harris family, bluegrass is part of their everyday lives, and they were finally able to make the trek to ROMP after having known about it for many years.
"We are in a bluegrass band (called) Dr. Krunkenstein and the Hillbilly Express," Carson Harris said. "I had some time off work, and (Sawyer's) a teacher, so she has the summer off, so I took a week off ... and drove up from Arkansas (for about) eight hours on Tuesday. Then (hung) around the Airbnb for a couple days, and (then) came out here and started jammin'."
Being performers in their own right, the Harris family said watching the artists on stage gives them some inspiration for ideas to jot down and potentially use in their group.
"We're really bad about (saying): 'Write that down. Write that down,' " Sawyer Harris laughed.
Don and Kay Lewis, also from Arkansas, were enjoying the sights and sounds.
"We're just excited to come and see what it's like," Don Lewis said. " ... We don't usually go to many outside shows; (we go to) more of the in theater-type bluegrass festivals, but it looks like it's going to be a good crowd."
Carson Harris said ROMP has a different vibe compared to other bluegrass festivals he and the family have attended.
"This is definitely a lot louder, but that's not a bad thing always," he said. "I'm enjoying it. It is awesome."
