This year marks the third annual Americana Music Festival at Peaceful Bend. The festival takes place May 15-18 in Steelville, MO. It’s going to be flatpick central for four days.

The festival takes place on the grounds of the Peaceful Bend Vineyard in Steelville, MO. The vineyard sits on seventy acres above the Upper Meramec River about ninety minutes south west of St. Louis on Highway T. There will be camping available at the vineyard limited to advance reservation with other lodging available nearby.

The festival is more than just performances. It consists of workshops and private lessons during the day, followed by a concert each evening. Most of the performances will be held in the wine garden and will be limited to 200 seats. Thursday evening however will be special. National Flatpicking Champions Mark Cosgrove, Robin Kessinger, and Robert Shafer will perform in the wine cellar Thursday evening. Seating is limited to 100 in the cellar. I’m told the acoustics are fantastic in there, and I certainly hope so. I’ll be on hand that evening to record the performance for a future DVD release from Flatpicking Guitar Magazine and SimpleFolk Productions. The title of the DVD will be Pickin at the Peaceful Bend. This will be the fifth in a series of flatpicking concert DVDs I’ve produced for them. So come out and be part of the audience for this live production.

After Thursday’s taping, the rest of the weekend looks pretty spectacular as well.

Performers include

Friday: The Grass Pack, David Grier and Wyatt Rice.

Saturday: Will Maring and Robert Bowlin, Bryan Sutton and Russ Barenberg.

Sunday: Josh Williams, The Chapmans, Plus an All-Star-Jam!

For more information and registration details, visit SimpleFolkProductions.com.