Brassroots Festival

[StevenC]

Today was the inaugural Hudson Valley Brassroots Festival at Seed Song farm in Kingston, New York. Eight brass bands from throughout the northeast played from 2:00 to 10:00 PM. Local bands from Rosendale and Red Hook played, and bands from Brooklyn, Providence and Sommerville (near Cambridge) played. It was a blast. My band was up first. We played a pretty good set. There was plenty of dancing, cheering and photographing. The organizers fed us really well.

[BGuttman]

Sounds like it must have been fun. Wish I could have been there.

Isn't Red Hook a part of Brooklyn? Or is this a different Red Hook?

Also, were these Brass Bands or Concert Bands?

I'm really curious. Is there a Web Site for the organization?

[StevenC]

Town and Village of Red Hook are on the Hudson River, 100 miles north of New York City. I live in Red Hook, but play with the Rosendale band. These are American Brass Bands. An overarching genre would be "Honk". We grab influences from wherever we want, Jazz, New Orleans, Funk, Balkan, lame pop, less lame pop, punk...

[BGuttman]

I found the Web site and listened to the sound clip (apparently from last year). Sounds like New Orleans style bands. Not your typical British Brass Band or American Military Band of the turn of the 20th Century.