If you go
› What: Trampled By Turtles› When: 6:30 tonight› Where: Coca-Cola Stage› Admission: Riverbend 9-day wristband ($55); one-day wristband ($25)
For all the seeming diversity of Riverbend’s schedule, there are some genres that seem under-represented on the riverfront each year. Curiously, given its popularity in the area, bluegrass is one of these.
In the last decade, I can only think of a handful of bluegrass groups who graced one of the stages: Ricky Skaggs (2007), Alison Krauss (2010), Slim Pickins (2010/2013), Steel Drivers and Greensky Bluegrass (2011), Strung Like a Horse (2013) and Sleepy Man Banjo Boys (2015).
Some might argue that pickers and grinners can slake their thirst at a bevy of other festivals in the area, but I’d offer the counter-argument that Riverbend is presented as an event for the entire city, so leaving any popular genre out in the dark is an odd choice.
That being said, Friends of the Festival have thrown a bone to bluegrass fans by booking Trampled By Turtles as tonight’s early Coke Stage headliner. And this time, it’s a colossal mastadon thigh packing rich musical marrow.