By Denver Collins

All Good

The All Good Festival is alive and kicking in the gorgeous scenic mountains outside of Masontown, West Virginia.  Just south of the Mason-Dixon, the people are laid-back and mild mannered, yet still know how to throw down for a great time.  The festival is truly unique in that the audience has grown tremendously over time (an estimated 25,000 in attendence this year) yet it still retains its small, community-like atmosphere.

It’s an eclectic four-day celebration of music, with artists from all over the board; from bluegrass to rock, from funk to reggae, electronica and everything in between.  With two stages set up next to each other on the side of Marvin’s Mountaintop, one performance starts directly after another, giving the audience the rare opportunity to hear everything, without having to pick and choose.

“It’s a festial that’s kind of grown, kind of manifested itself in different ways,” says Tim Carbone, violin player for Railroad Earth.  “Now this location is perfect – this little bowl where the stages are located, and all the camping is along roads and ridges.”

His band has become a staple of the All Good Festival, playing somehwere in the ballpark of nine times there, Carbone says.  Railroad Earth and All Good seem to be a perfect fit for each other too, as they both get the importance of expanding genres.

“Everyone in the band is open to everything, and everyone has their own tastes.  The modality of the band is an acoustic situation for the most part, we start there as a base.  So basically, it’s an acoustic band that’s amplified with drums, and from there, we can do anything we want, which is what makes it so beautiful for me,” he explains.

The festival has changed locations a few times over the years, Carbone recalls.  In 2001, they played it when it was still in eastern Virginia.  Railroad Earth has watched the festival grow since then, and Carbone is pleased with the results.

“It kind of has its own vibe now,” he says.  “It’s totally found its home.”

Having a smaller second stage next to the main stage lends itself to new opportunities for different music – up-and-comers who have all the right tools and just need a chance for exposure.  Papadosio, the young experimental synth-rock band out of Athens, Ohio is just starting to hit the festival circuit and couldn’t be more pleased.

“We are finally getting to play all these festivals we always wanted to go to,” says Billy Brouse, who plays keys for the band.

“And it’s not that we’ve just been given lucky slots at festivals,” adds Anthony Thogmartin, lead guitar and vocals.  “We work hard, we’re always touring or playing somewhere.”

That hard work is paying off as Papadosio’s slot fell right between Dr. Dog and Railroad Earth, in front of a crowd that was ready to let loose.

“There’s a different mentality in the South,” Brouse says.  “When we play a show in Tennessee for example, people are walking into the bar already dancing.  That happens up north too, but not as often.”

Another band from a town called Athens played the second stage as well- Perpetual Groove from Athens, Georgia.  This was their third time playing All Good, and lead vocalist Brock Butler says it just keeps getting better.

“This is the biggest crowd they’ve ever had, but there’s still a really nice mellow vibe to it,” he says.  He notes there isn’t just one kind of music or one demographic, it’s the amalgamation of different tastes and backgrounds that makes All Good what it is.

“I’ve noticed over the years it seems to have an appeal on all sorts of ages,” Butler says.

Even with their largest turnout, the staff is able to keep the mountainside respectfully clean, partnering with an event-cleanup group called Cleanvibes that helped keep recycling and trash separate, while encouraging festival goers to pick up after themselves.

And Mother Nature replied by giving three days of beautiful sunshine, yet cooling down halfway through Saturday with a light shower, welcomed whole heartedly by the sunburnt crowd.

“That’s the other thing, the climate here is perfect,” Butler says.

But Carbone puts it best when asked how he enjoyed the festival, reading a quote from his iPhone, “West Virginia: wild and wonderful, strange and weird.”

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