Rosemount celebrates bluegrass weekend

Driving through North Carolina on the border of Virginia, Craig Evans rounded a corner to see the dome-like Pilot Mountain jutting out from an upper Piedmont plateau.

"It's stunningly beautiful," said the Rosemount resident, describing the view from the road. "This Pilot Mountain takes my breath away."

It was a pretty good day for Evans, who's working on a documentary about historians of open-back banjo players. He had just met with a personal hero who authored a book on famous banjo minstrels of the 1840s.

Evans, a self-described "banjo geek," is one of the forces behind -- and a performer in -- Rosemount's Bluegrass Americana Music Weekend, which takes place next weekend, July 20-22, in Central Park in Rosemount.

A couple of years ago, as a 60th birthday present to himself, Evans decided to travel the country interviewing North American banjo builders.

"I ended up meeting 25 new old friends," he said.

A special project blossoms

The effort also helped nab him an Artist Initiative grant from the Minnesota Arts Board, a springboard to start interviewing banjo historians. "I was so intrigued by what I learned along the way," he said. "The more I got into it, the more I got consumed by it."

Evans said he went through a pretty serious mid-life crisis about 12 years ago and shifted from a hectic life in the corporate business world to joining two bands at the age of 50.

"I consider myself one incredibly blessed person," he said. "I went from two-dimension black and white to three-dimension color. Music, art and the community are things I just can't get enough of."

Those things all make up the Bluegrass Americana Music Weekend.

Rundown on the weekend

On Saturday, a new group, the Dakota Citizens, plays its kid-friendly set at 3 p.m. to start off the day of bluegrass. Evans and bluegrass and gospel outfit Singleton Street play from 5 to 6 p.m. They are followed up by the Roe Family Singers, an old time and indie folk rock group featuring instruments like the saw or washboard. The Roe Family Singers were recently named "World's Best" at the 30th annual Battle of the Jug Bands in 2012. "They're fabulous," said Evans. "They are kind of setting the world on fire with the 20- and 30-year-olds in Minneapolis."

Switched at Birth, a hard-driving bluegrass group with country, rock and Irish influences, follows from 7 to 8 p.m., and the brother harmonies of Rosemount's young Sawtooth Bluegrass Band, which features two-time Minnesota flatpicking guitar champion Clint Birtzer. The 2011 state duet champions, Birtzer and Jesse Moravec, cap off the night.

Saturday also features a country market and juried craft show from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., plus a farmer's market and kids entertainment like magicians, balloon artists, face painting from noon to 3 p.m. and kiddie parade at 2 p.m.

Sunday features American roots music with the blues of the Moses Oakland band from 4 to 5 p.m., gospel group The Golden Swans from 5 to 6 p.m., the barbershop harmonies of the Four Seasons Quartet from 6 to 7 p.m., roots musicians Serendipity from 7 to 8 p.m. and Break Even, which plays '50s rock and roll to contemporary.