Bluegrass Rediscovered

I am all about ease and comfort these days - and my style reflects it. Justin and I went to various cultural events in the past week or so - we watched Evita, a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber performed by Ovation, a local musical theater, and Twelfe Night, or What You Will in the beautiful Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island which we enjoyed a lot, though I will admit it is difficult for me to understand the language of Shakespeare. That was all in one short weekend, and I dressed up for both occasions, though we forgot our camera, and I don't have photos to share. This weekend, we attended another fun event in a park - Bluegrass Festival held 8th year on Bainbridge where I discovered that I loved bluegrass music all along, not even knowing what exactly it was.

My outfit originally contained more layers - I had a long underskirt with lace (actually it was my white skirt from this post) and a green camisole underneath this airy folk style blouse. I also had other shoes with me. I loved my layered boho style outfit so much, and was really looking forward to a shoot on location. But it got too hot too quickly for this fair skin bluegrass music lover. Lots of sunscreen, lots of water and icy cold smoothies, lots of umbrella hiding from the heat of the sun, and all the underneath layers just had to be removed. The outfit photos were taken after we had already left the festival, in a shady area of the park. I couldn't bear the thought of adding back more layers for the photos - sometimes, there are ideas of styling, and there is living. :)

I am finding myself very much into tiered skirts now and wear them a lot this month, admiring their easy femininity. This one is a thrift find from Goodwill - the brand is First Option, the label says "made in USA", I believe it's from the 1990s. I adore its sophisticated print and subtle colors! Why did I avoid wearing skirts like this one when I was younger? I suspect I did not like the country feel of them, little miss fancy pants. Now I enjoy them to the full - in country or city:

Photos taken at Des Moines Marina - a fine place for a leisurely stroll, crabbing or a cup of clam chowder. 

Meet the newest member of my clutch family: Meow!

My favorite band happened to play in the very beginning of the music program yesterday. Of course, I did not know yet that they would become my favorite. North Country is their name, very inspired musicians with amazing energy between them. They just released their new CD.

All I knew before yesterday was that I loved some kinds of American country music, and not others. What I did not know was that the kind I liked is a very distinctive sub-genre of American country called Bluegrass. It is cheerful high energy music that originated in Appalachia, with lots of influences from Irish, Scottish, Welsh and English folk music. If you like me don't know terminology well, you'll recognize this type of music with an intricate somewhat Celtic feel to it, played on such instruments as fiddle, dobro, guitar and banjo. Just yesterday I realized that it is the very music of my childhood, oddly enough, performed by the Russian Bluegrass band Kukuruza (means "corn" in Russian) which my brother and I used to like as kids. If you're interested, here is a very popular Russian folk song (I adore it!) performed by Kukuruza in Nashville back in 1990s. Isn't it great!?

Photos from Battle Point Park, Bainbridge Island

Justin, a.k.a. The Real Adventure Man, who knew the difference between bluegrass music and other kinds of country music all along, and probably told me about it only about two bazillions times, before we decided to get tickets to the festival where I learned this difference from the experience.

And that is all about my little adventures in Bluegrass. What about you guys? Do you like tiered skirts and folk music? Any new cultural or sartorial discoveries or, as in my case, rediscoveries this Summer?

Skirt - thrifted (Goodwill)

Lacy blouse, denim vest & jacket - Chico's

Animal print sandals - Crocs

Other sandals - ages ago via TJ MAXX

Cat clutch - tapestry pouch by Laurel Burch via TJ MAXX (only $4.50 for such cuteness!)

Jewelry - Russian birch bark (the ring was carved by my brother Andrei)

Linking up with Visible Monday!