There were a lot more people at Merlefest this year than either of the past two years. Maybe the new corporate sponsorship is giving them a bigger advertising budget (there were Lowes hardware signs everywhere). Who knows... But, it was crowded. Thursday and Friday had a lot of people, but Saturday was mobbed. And they apparently reduced the number of toilets. Awesome.

But, nonetheless, there were bands to see.

First up for us, The Duhks. We saw them two years ago, when they had a different singer. I wasn't really impressed, then. But this time around, I liked them a lot. The new singer has a great voice, and I don't know if it was the song selection, two more years of experience, or what, but the rest of the band grabbed me too. They did a few Cajun songs, a few French-Canadian songs, a few traditional bluegrass songs, and, they called out John Paul Jones for a pair of songs, including a bluegrass version of Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love - which sounds like a terrible idea, and I cringed when they started it, but it worked surprisingly well. The crowd was on their feet the whole time.

After that, Del McCoury:

As always, they were fast, polished, professional, and still fun. Mrs Cleek's a little put off by Del's voice, but I like it just fine. Plus, they're such amazing players and so polished at what they do - damn. They're like a little bluegrass machine.

After that, Mrs. Cleek and I went back to the campsite for a little nap action. Alison Krauss was up that night, and we needed to recharge. Of course we never made it back to the shows... and ended up listening to it all on the radio. John Paul Jones showed up again to do Whole Lotta Love with Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, et al. Oh well.

Everybody else showed up after Alison Krauss' set and then it was time for the all-night jam.

Sunday, we were all beat and there wasn't anyone playing that we needed to see, so we hung out at the campsite for a bit, then packed it up and left.

Another fine Merlefest.