While this weekend’s Fresh Grass festival at MASS MoCA features acts from around the world, it also shines a light on the Berkshire music scene.
The marquee names at the 2018 installment of Fresh Grass are well known to the folk, bluegrass, and rock fans the concert attracts: Flogging Molly. Indigo Girls. Trampled By Turtles. But sharing the stage with those established acts are the Berkshire bands for which the weekend in North Adams will provide visibility — and a sense of solidarity.
“It means everything. It means everything when other musicians, your peers — national, local, otherwise — take the time to come up and say that was a good set, and I listened," said Karl Mullen.
His duo with Sarah McNair, Double Diamond, is playing Courtyard C at MASS MoCA Saturday at 1 p.m, in between a performance from the American Roots Music Program from Boston’s Berklee College of Music and 16-time Grammy winning banjo player Bela Fleck. It’s not the Williamstown duo’s first time at the festival. They both played in The Wandering Rocks, who appeared in 2013.
Mullen says that in the seven years he’s lived in the Berkshires, he’s only seen the local scene rise to new heights.
“It’s gotten better and better and better, and a lot of that thanks is due to MASS MoCA. We played this summer at their fabulous Chalet series," he told WAMC. "When we’re playing at Fresh Grass coming up, not only are we playing at the Roots Stage, but we’re also going what we call a pop-up gallery showcase where we’re playing one of their galleries with no microphones, just as if you’re hearing us in our kitchen.”
That sense of intimacy extends to the company Double Diamond will keep over the course of the weekend.
“I think MASS MoCA’s created an impetus for a bit of music scene — bands like Quincy, also playing Fresh Grass. Jeb Barry and Pawn Shop Saints, also local, from Adams, playing at Fresh Grass. Izzy Heltai, fabulous songwriter, playing Fresh Grass.”
Outside of the museum, Mullen says a network of other venues across the county have brought the music community closer together. “Also at the Dream Away and the Red Lion Inn and Hancock Shaker Village — there seems to be something afoot.”
One of the local groups appearing at Fresh Grass has specifically set out to encourage that sense of momentum.
“Our mission is to serve local and emerging artists," said Jessica Sweeney, Creative Director of the North Adams-based artist collective Common Folk, which is currently raising funds to open a brick and mortar space on the city’s Main Street. “We are an artist collective, so we are a group of artists of all different mediums and backgrounds, and we work together to share resources, work on projects together, and support local and emerging artistry in the area.”
The collective helps book art shows and brings musical acts to the Northern Berkshires, Upstate New York, and Southern Vermont. For the third year in a row, they’ll have a table at Fresh Grass with information about their efforts, and will present a Saturday evening local musicians’ jam.
“Matt Shiebler, he’s part of the Quincy band, and he has curated a few artists to come together with some of the members from Quincy, and they are just gonna improve music for their whole set,” said Sweeney.
Sweeney agrees that the museum has been a stabilizing force for the arts in the Berkshires — not just during Fresh Grass.
“They are always thinking about us, and thinking of ways we can all collaborate together. So we really think that MASS MoCA has our backs, which is really awesome.”
