SLCene Suggests: Ogden Music Festival at Ft. Buenaventura

OGDEN MUSIC FESTIVAL, FT. BUENAVENTURA, OGDEN, May 30-June 1, 3-day pass $47, single-day pass $27, kids 16 and under free

Hard to believe it’s been seven years since the good people at the Ogden Friends of Acoustic Music launched the Ogden Music Festival, an annual throwdown that attracts all manner of roots-music artists–local, regional and national–to the lovely Fort Buenaventura park in O-town. This year’s lineup is full of excellent attractions worth any music fan’s attention. The headliners include the legendary Texan Alejandro Escovedo, whose career has spanned punk music to pioneering alt-country cats True Believers to a long and stellar solo career, as well as traditional bluegrassers The Steel Wheels, popular Canadian acoustic act The Duhks and excellent Boston-based Della Mae. The Shook Twins (pictured), Hollering Pines and Triggers & Slips are among the excellent local and regional attractions, and catching up with the Utah State Instrumental Championships is always a treat. Add in activities for the kids–and all kids 16 and under get in free–and some great Ogden food and drink, and you have a fine time easily accessible by Frontrunner for music fans along the Wasatch Front.

Here’s the day-to-day schedule for this year’s festival:

Friday, May 30

5 p.m. Utah State Instrument Championships–Fingerstyle Guitar

7 p.m. Triggers & Slips

8 p.m. Della Mae

8:30 p.m. Alejandro Escovedo

Saturday, May 31

8:30 a.m. Utah State Instrument Championships–Fiddle and Flatpick Guitar

Noon Sweetwater Crossing

12:45 p.m. Jeff Scroggins & Colorado

2:15 p.m. Bluegrass Rising

3:15 p.m. Shook Twins

4:45 p.m. The Hillbenders

6 p.m. Della Mae

7:30 p.m. The Steel Wheels

9 p.m. The Duhks

Sunday, June 1

8:30 a.m. Utah State Instrument Championships–Mandolin and Banjo

Noon The Hollering Pines

1 p.m. Marley’s Ghost

2 p.m. Joe McQueen
3:15 p.m. The Steel Wheels

4:30 p.m. The Duhks

6 p.m. The Hillbenders