Skip to main content

Silver Cloud Campout 6.9 & 6.10.17


Silver Cloud Campout
Haugan, MT

Words & Photos by Brad Hodge


In only its fourth year since inception, the family farm gathering known as Silver Cloud Campout has grown up to be a full fledged music festival. In Montana we like things comfortable and friendly, so it should come as no surprise that our up and coming premiere music festival is held on a family farm, the beer tent writes your name on your beer cup and dogs are allowed to roam the grounds of the festival at will. I mean if there wasn’t a music festival happening, there certainly would be some critters roaming these beautiful grounds. The site is nestled in the mountains of western Montana, nearing the border of Idaho. There is no shortage of hiking, biking, river floating and fly fishing to be done in the down time from a stellar music line up.

The music line up showcased an array of local talent ranging from the Black Keys-esque duo of The Rotgut Whines to the funky horn driven jams of Shakewell. However, in the fourth year of booking this party, the headliners moved toward national touring acts. Day one brought a headlining set from New Orleans’ Dumpstaphunk and late night set by Montana heroes of the bluegrass world, Kitchen Dwellers. Both the Dwellers and Dumpstaphunk delivered amazing sets as a very stoked crowd danced away the evening under what was most certainly a gorgeous full moon engulfed by the festival namesake’s Silver Cloud. No doubt providing one of the summer’s best Friday nights yet.

Saturday was filled with sunshine, lots of socializing and another day of great music. I took advantage of being close to Silver Mountain’s Bike Park (the Pacific Northwest/Northern Rockies favorite bike park) all day, and jumped back into the music action with the early evening show from the Shook Twins. This powerful ensemble delivered one of my favorite sets of the weekend. They were followed by Colorado’s season pros Whitewater Ramble for a delightful set.

The Infamous Stringdusters have a history of delivering the goods in Montana and the evenings two set headlining performance lived up to the expectations. At one point Jeremy Garrett addressed the audience to let us all know that being here was as much a treat for them as it was for us. Before he and other members of the band showed off their Wilma/Top Hat t-shirts that were tucked away under winter coats (the night got chilly and lots of dancing was required for warmth). Late night saw one more act. Spafford is a band many in attendance had heard good things about, however most had never seen them. If they wanted to impress the newly obtained audience they certainly accomplished that. Well in to the early morning hours they delivered phenomenal grooves and kept the party moving. Around 3:30 when the music finally stopped parties began to huddle around fire barrels throughout the campgrounds, as laughter and socializing took most on thru to the sunrise. Well-played Silver Cloud Campout! No doubt we will see you again next year.

Brad's Photo Gallery

www.silvercloudcampout.com

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Livetronica Sampler 3.22.11

Words by Greg Molitor ( ReMIND Photography ) Ozric Tentacles This British group has proven innovative throughout the years offering a space-rock meets psytrance sound that remains alive to this day. Though never having a major record label, Ozric Tentacles has produced 28 albums of diverse psychedelia throughout its career. The band met at the Stonehenge Free Festival in 1983 and truly fathered livetronica music with its use of sequencers and synthesizers. Simply put, there would be no livetronica without Ozric Tentacles. www.ozrics.com Octopus Nebula Colorado’s Octopus Nebula has certainly hit its stride as of late with its constant touring and increased festival interest. The group expands on the deep sounds of highly regarded acts such as STS9 and Shpongle but also carves a path of its own with its fresh takes on synthesizer tones and sampling in the live setting. Octopus Nebula Live at Cervantes' Masterpiece Ballroom on March 26, 2010. <--- Direct Archive Link www.octopus

Buckethead: Gimmick or Guitar God?

Words & Photos By Nicholas Stock ( phatphlogblog.blogspot.com ) At what point does the gimmick overshadow the performance? The obvious answer is Buckethead. The man is an amazing guitarist but something is not right in this world. The idea a performer who dons a KFC chicken bucket on his head for a concert has always intrigued me, and some of his side projects such as Colonel Claypool’s Bernie Bucket of Brains have been huge successes. However his performance last weekend in Fort Collins simply left me perplexed. From his robotic dancing, to his nunchuck display, to the fact the he performed with an iPod rather than a band all added to my confusion. Going into the show I was ready to be blown away, despite rumblings of disgruntled fans from the previous night’s show at The Gothic. Buckethead had had some sound issues and some missed cues in Denver but I was still trying to be positive for the show in Fort Collins. It did go off without a hitch technically but that was the least

The Origin of MusicMarauders

Words By J-man "What should I name this fucking thing?" I asked myself in the midst of a joint in my Upstate, NY apartment. "It's got to be something with just 'Music'in the title. Nothing more specific than that, as we'll be covering a wide variety of genres." One more drag on the joint yielded the memory of driving down Woodward Ave. in Detroit, listening to Tribe Called Quest's Midnight Marauders. "MusicMarauders! That's it... It completely encompasses what we do in the sense the we are 'maraudering' or 'pillaging' for music," I thought as I stared out of the window at about three and a half feet of fresh Upstate snow. First things first, the domain had to be registered. "Do I have ten dollars in my account?" I thought to myself from a position of just scraping by. Pulling out my shiny, rarely used debit card, I put it to the test and was able to secure MusicMarauders.com. "What's next?" I