Over the next six months, the region stretching from North Carolina to Pennsylvania and West Virginia will turn into Festival Country. Festivals are concerts with amplitude and, sometimes, attitude.
Most festivals are family-oriented, a canny combination of art, frolic and information.
For instance, you may be at a blues festival, but over the course of the day, you'll probably hear a raucous mix of acoustic or electric instrumentation, strains of Chicago, Texas or Mississippi Delta blues, performed by venerated elders and young pups. And festivals by their very nature encourage jams, both onstage and off. In fact, some folks never see an onstage performance at a bluegrass festival. They go to play rather than to listen. It's a lot easier when the instruments are acoustic, and when enthusiasm is almost as important as virtuosity, electricity can fill the air.