Pickathon Announces Lineup

Pickathon announced the lineup for its 2011 edition in February. The festival runs in August on a farm in Happy Valley, Oregon.

The 2011 lineup continued the pattern established in previous years: a mix of Americana, folk, and roots acts with a selection of artists from adjacent traditions. The booking is not genre-pure. The through line is a commitment to music that rewards close listening rather than spectacle-seeking.

Specific acts announced for 2011 included names from the contemporary Pacific Northwest Americana scene, several acts from the broader American folk and roots world, and at least one booking from outside the standard Americana orbit that made sense within the Pickathon curatorial logic.

The festival's approach

Pickathon's sustainability and limited attendance policies produce a festival experience that is qualitatively different from the large commercial events. The music is closer, the crowd is smaller, the acoustic environments on the farm stages are better suited to roots music than amplified outdoor stages typically are.

The barn stage remains the festival's most distinctive venue. The intimacy of a seated barn audience is the right size for a solo performer or small ensemble working in the folk or country tradition.

Why this matters

The Pickathon announcement matters in the context of this site because the festival is one of the few large-format events that consistently presents the artists this site covers in settings where the music can be properly heard.

For the earlier Pickathon coverage: The Light of Pickathon. For the Fleet Foxes interview from the 2009 festival: The world's most awkward interview with Robin Pecknold.