Feel free to listen to the podcast on our new Rent-to-Own option!

David Larsen and Mark Williams built a few dancing platforms for us to use at the upcoming Bluegrass & BBQ Festival at Chantilly Farm. The platforms were built as individual units which will be put together on site. Thank you Mark and David for all your help!

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Installing Underground Power at Chantilly Farm

This is the first component of our underground power grid for Chantilly Festival Farm in Floyd. As we move ahead with infrastructure improvements, Rick Gibson of Gibson Pump Service assisted with digging the necessary trenches. Check out the video below! This ditching machine was able to dig the 300 ft trench in about 45 minutes. Thanks Rick!

This line will be feeding power to stage area #3, which is part of our long-range plans to have three stages.

Our first festival at Chantilly Farm will be May 28,2011. "Bluegrass & BBQ"!!! Featuring Ashlee Blankenship & Blades of Blue, BCR with Bernie Coveney, Janet Turner, Mike Mitchell Trio and students of the Floyd Music School! Get you tickets here by clicking on the 'Buy Tickets' at the top of the site!

Mike Mitchell Trio to Perform at This Year's Bluegrass & BBQ Fest

Festival Farm Productions is excited to welcome the Mike Mitchell Trio to perform at the upcoming 2011 Bluegrass & BBQ Fest at Chantilly Farm!

(Courtesy: www.mikemitchellmusic.com)
Born in Buffalo, NY on August 5, 1971 “Mikey” and his single mom immigrated to Ontario, Canada in 1973.

Like most good players, violin lessons started for “Mikey” at the tender age of five with a beginner Suzuki instructor, and then, after two years, with Maria Reidstra in Elmira, Ontario. He stayed with Mrs. Reidstra’s instruction in the Western Conservatory of Music and the Kitchener Waterloo youth orchestra for 7 years.

It is worth noting that Mike was awarded top honors in the National Canadian competition for first year students. He continued to place highly in contests throughout his school years. It is also interesting that Mike, while staying in the top five of his division in classical performance, never won a Canadian fiddle competition. “I tried to learn fiddle style and compete a few times, but there was always something missing.”

The son of a classical pianist and a long line of church musicians and singers, Mike’s world was filled with music from the beginning.

“I grew up hearing Bach, Handel, Mozart, Debussy, Chopin and a healthy mix of Johnny Cash, John Denver and Canadian folk singers, while practicing violin concertos and singing in the church choir.”

Mike’s teenage years were more troublesome. In his 15th year, he had dropped out of high school, youth orchestra and music lessons and was living on the streets. After hitch-hiking across country and into the U.S, Mike was arrested for shoplifting and sent into the juvenile system of Ohio. As far from music as he was, those hard years were a formative part of his later style of playing and songwriting.

After finding peace with his grandfather on a family farm in Ohio, Mike went on to finish his education and major in violin studies in college.

In the 1990’s Mike met Conni, the love of his life. A girl from Southern West Virginia, she was the granddaughter, and great-granddaughter of coal miners. It was then he discovered his permanent home in the mountains. It was there that Mike first heard the lonesome strains of Bluegrass and Old Time music, although it would be another decade before he embraced the style as his own.

“Those years were spent at Grateful Dead and Widespread Panic concerts, and doing my own shows with acoustic groups and a couple of rock bands. Electric violin with a Wah pedal was the thing at that time, as well as long hair and a bohemian lifestyle!”

In 1998 Mike Mitchell was brought to the Roanoke valley in Virginia as a session violinist and performer for regional record label, Encrypted. Through the guidance and coaching of Tom Ohmsen at Flat Five Press and Recording, a partner with Encrypted, he learned the art of session playing and the ins and outs of the music business.

On New Year’s Eve, 2000 something happened that changed the course of Mike Mitchell’s music for good.

“We were playing an acoustic gig in Lewisburg, WV for Y2K and all night it felt like someone was holding my bow arm and trying to keep me from playing. It got progressively worse over the next couple of months, I thought I had lost my groove, my sense of rhythm and timing……”

On March 7th, 2000 Mike suffered a Grand Mal seizure. Were it not for a friend who was there at the time and knew C.P.R, he would have died.

A tumor was found in the lower left part of Mike’s brain and on March 17th, 2000 he underwent surgery to remove it.

“The surgeon said that it was a stage 4 tumor and the prognosis was anything but good. I knew he was mistaken, and although we began preparations for treatment, I wasn’t surprised when five days later the surgeon stopped by with good news. He said that the pathology had found a very rare form of cancer called Langerhans Giant Cell Histiocytosis X, or L.C.H. This cancer is found mostly in children and had never before been seen in the lower left brain of an adult, a truly one-of-a-kind event.”

“It wasn’t lost on me that this part of the brain works my bowing arm. And the temporary paralysis of my right side was a constant reminder. But after six months or so of intensive practice, I was starting to get my right arm back under control. It was then that I really pushed hard for a recording and performing career and hopefully some recognition…”

Mike recorded and released “High and Lively” on the Flat Five label in 2001, and spent the largest part of 2001 and 2002 touring nationally with the Mike Mitchell Band, and as guest fiddler with The Recipe, a Morgantown, WV based jam band.

“Those years were fun and a great learning experience, but a time came when my daughter was ready to start school and the family needed Dad at home. I quit touring and took a three year sabbatical from the music business.”

Mike and family moved out of the city and into the Blue Ridge Mountains in Floyd County.

“I had met a fiddle maker from the area named Arthur Conner. The style and reverent approach to Bluegrass Music of both Arthur and the community were infectious. It was in those three years that I really became devoted to learning the Bluegrass fiddle style of the Blue Ridge. I became aware of the fact that I was living in the heart of mountain music. And the rich heritage and tradition of playing fiddle gave me something I had not yet known. I realized that through playing this music and being a part of its nurturing, I was now from somewhere. And it is here that I truly belong.”

“As an educated player I had always kept a handful of students for extra income, but now it came to me that teaching fiddle style in this area continued the tradition and allowed me to help the youth realize that this is part of their heritage, something that belongs to them. It is their birthright.”

Mike Mitchell founded the Floyd Music School in 2005. In partnership with the Floyd Country Store, home of the world famous Friday Night Jamboree, and Virginia’s Crooked Road organization, the school has continued to grow and flourish. It now boasts 70 students, three teachers, ribbons at fiddle competitions, kids in the Roanoke Youth Orchestra, adult students in regional string ensembles, Lions club scholarship winners and invitations for local and regional performances.

In that same year, Mike co-founded Roanoke based newgrass band, Blue Moonshine.

In 2008 he released the critically acclaimed CD, “13 Hours” on the Mountain Fever record label.

“I am blessed to have been given the gift of music, been spared the loss of life and playing, and to now give back as a teacher and performer.”

Get you ticket now to the 2011 Bluegrass & BBQ Fest at Chantilly Farm in Floyd! Just click on the 'Buy Tickets' tab at the top of this page!

(courtesy of www.berniecoveney.com)

Although he was raised in the highlands of New  Jersey, it was the sounds of the southern hill country that drew Bernie  Coveney's earliest musical interest. Some might consider it happenstance  when he was asked to join Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters at the  age of 17 for an impromptu session. But if you don't believe in  coincidence, then you know he was being brought "into the circle" by one  of the matriarchs of country music.

The early 60's found Bernie and childhood friend  John Carlini, listening to WWVA (Wheeling, WVA) on the AM car radio in  John's driveway. Hooked by the likes of Earl Scruggs and the Stanley  Brothers, they seemed strangely out of place as rock and the British  invasion captured those around them. But the music of the mountains was  still at their core.

While visiting one of their favorite radio shows, The Campbell Hour, recorded in the back room of Campbell's Corner  general store in Oxford, PA., Alex and Ola Belle Campbell took a liking  to the boys. They invited Bernie and John backstage to meet Don Reno  (Dueling Banjos) and Red Smiley. Don and Red handed them their  instruments and said, "play us a tune boys." Once they were through  playing, Don Reno invited them to play on the air with them - that  night!

Vietnam was full-on as Bernie and John gigged  around the TriState area mixing bluegrass and folk to an ever widening  audience. But college sent them in different directions. Meeting again  in Virginia Beach (while John was attending the Navy School of Music,  Bernie joined the working band Group Nine. The bands rehearsal space was  downstairs from an unknown young singer, Emmylou Harris, who asked  Bernie to back her up. They headed for New York where they recorded  Emmylou's demo.

Life happens, and Bernie as a single dad  eventually found his way back to NJ teaching guitar. One of his more  notable students was Robert Duval for his role in Tender Mercies. He  also  worked on the movie King of the Gypsies, with Stephane Grappelli,  John Carlini, and David Grisman. Further widening his circle, he played  with Tex Logan, Peter Rowan, Jerry Jeff Walker, Danny Flowers, Butch  Robins, Bill Monroe, Mike Seeger, and Ralph Rinzler.

His life journey finally brought him to the  mountains of southwestern Virginia. Though not by design (it was his  wife's idea), the place he now calls home is not far from the Carter  Fold or the original family homestead of Alex and Ola Belle Campbell.

Bernie now lives in Floyd,VA where he is happier than ever and actively participating in the local music scene. Bernie's latest venture is the group BCR, along with fellow Floyd musicians Rob Neukirch and Chris Luster. Don't miss Bernie at the upcoming Bluegrass & BBQ Festival at Chantilly Farm in Floyd! Get your tickets at www.chantillyfestivalfarm.com!

Festival Farm Productions is proud to present 'Ashlee Blankenship and Blades of Blue' as the headline act for this years Bluegrass & BBQ Festival at Chantilly Farm.  Ashlee and her band are taking the bluegrass world by storm and are getting ready to release their debut album this spring! The band is signed with Mountain Fever Records out of Floyd, VA. Led by Ashlee's soulful and energetic vocals and backed by one of the tightest bluegrass bands around, you won't want to miss this incredible performance!  Get your advance tickets at the Floyd Professional Center in downtown Floyd, VA.  Tickets will also be available the day of the event!

See what these bluegrass heavy-weights have to say about Ashlee:

“I feel like the sky is the limit for Ashlee. She has a powerful voice that can wrap around any song, whether old or new, and deliver it with authority and confidence.”

Adam Steffey

“Ashlee Blankenship is my favorite of the up and coming singers in the bluegrass industry. She’s soulful and energetic with a great range, and can sing anything from traditional to contemporary bluegrass with great feeling!”

Sammy Shelor

Don't forget about the other amazingly talented performers we have on the roster for the 2011 Bluegrass & BBQ Fest!  BCR featuring Bernie Coveney, Janet Turner, The Mike Mitchell Trio and the students of the Floyd Music School!!!  Bring a lawn chair or blanket and come out to Chantilly for an afternoon of food, music and fun!

LCF associates David Larsen, Dee Wallace and Jason Gallimore met with American Electric Power this week regarding plans to install underground power at Chantilly.  Having an easily accessible supply of electric power is an important part of our ongoing infrastructure improvements at Chantilly. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Wayne Queen, Sr. Engineer at AEP, for braving the blustery winter weather for a site assessment. We will keep you updated as things progress! Check out these photos!

We thought you might enjoy seeing these beautiful mid-winter photos of snow on the Chantilly Festival Farm. Talk about a great place to sleigh ride!

Improvements to the infrastructure at Chantilly Festival Farm are moving forward and things are looking great! Construction of the first road through the property is in progress, providing easy access to various event sites. Check out the photos below for a closer look at all that's happening at Chantilly.




We will keep everyone posted on all of the exciting progress at Chantilly. Send us an email or give us a call and we'll be happy to talk with you about using Chantilly for your next event!