WinterWonderGrass, photo by Dylan Langille

WinterWonderGrass returned to Steamboat Springs, Colo. over the weekend for its 13th annual staging. After a Friday night showcase that featured a set from Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country, joined by Billy Failing and Andy Frasco, the beloved bluegrass festival continued with two more uninterrupted four-stage celebrations of the time-honored musical culture and the collaborative, spontaneous and community-centered attitude it fosters.

On Saturday, the festivities started up again with an opening set on the Pete Van De Carr main stage from Tophouse, who followed up a late-night set on the Pickin’ Perch with a performance that included a captivating rendition of John Williams’ “Duel of the Fates” theme from Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Mountain Grass Unit, who worked outside their typical catalog with a cover of the Thomas the Tank Engine theme elsewhere on the ground, followed on the main stage, before Sierra Hull stepped into the spotlight with tried and true originals like “Come Out of My Blues.”

Leftover Salmon turned their talents on covers of Soundgarden, Men at Work, Radiohead, Iron Maiden, the Allman Brothers Band and more in their experimental “Will It Grass?” set, then The Infamous Stringdusters emerged to cap off the main stage schedule. The celebrated progressive bluegrass firebrands delivered a set that was every bit as rollicking and virtuosic as any attendee could hope for, best exemplified during a sit-in from Sierra Hull on a cover of Béla Fleck & The Flecktones’ “Stomping Grounds.”

Sunday’s shows rolled in with an opening performance from Boulder’s own The Fretliners, who expanded their fan-favorite “Suitcases & Heartaches” with a guest spot from Failing. The next band on the main stage was the WinterWonderWomen, an all-female supergroup of some of bluegrass’s foremost acts and a cherished tradition for the festival. While their Friday late-night set was hard to follow, Clay Street Unit managed to surpass high expectations by welcoming Andy Frasco for “Let’s Get Stoned” and hurling fistfuls of joints into the crowd.

Elephant Revival arrived after sundown for the penultimate main stage set of the festival, and kept the evening’s energy high by tapping Lindsay Lou, AJ Lee, Bonnie Paine, Megan Letts, Michelle Milo and Sydney Clapp for a cover of The Fugees’ “Killing Me Softly With His Song.” At long last, Leftover Salmon returned to take it all home, racing through straightahead set before a late-night cherry on top from Pickin’ On the Dead.

Get an inside look at WinterWonderGrass in the galleries below, courtesy of photographers Dylan Langille and Tobin Voggesser. Learn more about the festival at winterwondergrass.com.

Dylan Langille:

Tobin Voggesser: