We told you back in July that recordings were being made at the 2006 Grey Fox festival which would be available for purchase via FestivaLink, a web-based company dedicated to offering high quality festival recordings for sale online.

They work closely with the artists, and live tracks are carefully mixed before release. FestivaLink also operates under a code that seeks to ensure that “fair compensation for everyone involved: artists, songwriters, and presenters” is part of the equation.

Mountain Heart’s Jim VanCleve contacted us last week, brimming with excitement over their Grey Fox audio on FestivaLink. Jim said that he wasn’t sure when the audio files were officially released online, but indicated that the band had just recently “signed off,” giving their complete approval and promoting the Grey Fox audio downloads as the “first ever live recording by Mountain Heart.”

Jim shared a few thoughts about the FestivaLink/Grey Fox concert audio:

“We (Mountain Heart) have been asked about a billion times over the past few years about when we were planning to release a Live recording. So, we are really excited to FINALLY have exactly that available to the people! What’s even better, is that the Live Show we ended up releasing for folks is from one of the highlight Festivals of our touring year, AND at a Prime Time Spot on one of the most Storied stages in all of Bluegrass Music!! …Grey Fox, Saturday night, in the headline spot of the show…

The obvious energy a situation like that can produce… THAT is what a live musical recording is all about!! I can’t wait to hear what people have to say about this performance!”

There are 11 tracks in the Mountain Heart set, taken largely from their current release, Wide Open. 30 second audio samples of each track can be found on the FestivaLink site, where you can purchase the Mountain Heart set in either an MP3 or FLAC format.

Other audio from Grey Fox ‘06 includes shows from Austin Lounge Lizards, The Jerry Douglas Band, Crooked Still, Red Stick Ramblers and Tim & Mollie O’Brien.

The popular Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival in NY is celebrating their 30th Anniversary this year by joining forces with FestivaLink to make audio from this year’s fest available for online purchase. These will be full-length recordings which can be purchased for download, or on audio CDs, and will be available shortly after the festival concludes. Grey Fox 2006 runs July 13-18.

FestivaLink also recorded a number of sets at this year’s MerleFest. Audio from Doc Watson, John Cowan, Nashville Bluegrass Band, Hot Tuna, Mike Seeger and others can be purchased online. Prices range from approximately $10 for MP3 downloads to $17 for an audio CD of each set.

A new music download service has been launched, run by a team of audio professionals who are also committed festivalgoers. FestivaLink.net was formed to find a way to offer high quality, legal audio downloads of live shows, recorded at major festivals. They will offer their debut service as a joint effort with Merlefest, making professional quality recordings available for download within days of the festival’s conclusion. The concert audio will be remixed, edited and mastered, and offered in three formats:

To help entice new users to register and try this new service, they are offering a free MP3 download to anyone who signs up by May 1. More details can be found at FestivaLink.net.