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‘Good people, good vibes’ in Rancho Del Rio

Caramie Schnellcschnell@vaildaily.comVail, CO Colorado
Special to the Daily/Mark RidenourScotty Stoughton's band Bonfire will perform at Campout For the Cause on Saturday. Stoughton organized the festival, which takes place at Rancho Del Rio and benefits local non-profit The Realm of Caring, and international relief organization Hands on Disaster Response for Project Haiti.
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VAIL, Colorado – It’s not often you can laze about in a Colorado River eddy while listening to live music on shore, just 30 feet away. Thanks to a strategically placed speaker, that’s just what attendees at this weekend’s Campout For The Cause will be able to do. In its second year, the festival is taking place at Rancho Del Rio, near State Bridge, Friday and Saturday. The experience is memorable for both concertgoers and the musicians attending. Playing outdoor music festivals is one of the highlights of being a touring musician, says Dango Rose, the standup bass player for Elephant Revival, a folk/Americana quintet from Nederland and one of the headliners at this year’s festival. “Combining music and the river is one of the great pleasures of our lives,” Rose said.This is the band’s first time performing at Campout For The Cause, but they played YarmonyGrass last August at Rancho. This year the Realm of Music Festival, a event that used to be held in New Castle and benefited the kids’ music education non-profit Realm of Caring, combined forces with Campout For The Cause, said Scotty Stoughton, one of the festival organizers and founder of Campout For the Cause. The bigger festival brings some improvements: the aforementioned riverside speaker, a bigger stage, an improved sound system and additional vendors, including a company that will demo stand-up paddle boards on the river. A portion of the proceeds will benefit two non-profits – Realm of Caring and international relief organization Hands on Disaster Response, which will give its share of the proceeds to Project Haiti.

Combining the two festivals also means more musicians and a diverse lineup, with everything from straight-up bluegrass bands to international DJ’s.Friday night’s headliners include Yamn, a four-piece electro-dance-fusion band from Breckenridge, and DJ Ana Sia, a female DJ who’s been nicknamed Princess Slay and is known for blending a variety of music genres together.”Yamn is a band I’ve been hearing great things about and people are very excited,” said Stoughton, who is the music promoter at Samana Lounge in Vail and also performs in the band Bonfire, which will play at the festival Saturday. “Later that night is DJ Ana Sia who is blowing up around the world,” he continued. “She’s big – her next show in Colorado is at Red Rocks and she’s playing as a favor. Friday night is just exciting. I don’t think anywhere out there – from Bonnaroo to Wakarusa – are you going to see a band doing classic Grateful Dead music followed by a world-renowned DJ back to back. It just doesn’t happen.”We’re bringing such a diverse lineup,” Stoughton said. “Our only common ingredient has to be good people, good vibes.”

Vail resident and YarmonyGrass founder Andrew McConathy will perform at the festival Saturday with members of Fort Collins bluegrass band Head For The Hills in a collaboration dubbed Head for the Reefer.While Rancho Del Rio will host both Campout For The Cause and YarmonyGrass (set for Aug. 21), the lineups – and the audience they attract – are very different. Only two bands will perform at both: Bonfire and Elephant Revival. But, McConathy said, the two festivals have a lot in common besides a riverside venue: “There is music at all times, whether you’re looking for an all-night party or some chilll acoustic music in the afternoon, it’s all there,” he said. “And you’re on the river… It’s the river that makes anything at Rancho unique. You get to play in it all day and listen to music.”Even better, you can do both at the same time. High Life Editor Caramie Schnell can be reached at 970-748-2984 or cschnell@vaildaily.com.


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