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Justin Bruhn of Pert Near Sandstone talks Blue Ox and remembers Max Graham

March 17, 2021

After livestreaming last year, the Blue Ox Music Festival is planning an in-person return for August 2021. In an interview via Instagram last Friday, Justin Bruhn of festival co-founders Pert Near Sandstone talked about the spirit of the festival — and how participants plan to pay tribute to the late Max Graham of Kind Country.

Watch our conversation and, below, read a slightly abbreviated transcript of the interview.

Jay Gabler: Let's talk about the Blue Ox Music Festival. I have to confess I'm sorry, I've not actually been, but I've heard amazing things. My family members go every year and they bring their kids. It's just a great time for the whole family. Incredible lineup, including, this year, you've got Jason Isbell, Shakey Graves, other people joining the lineup. So let's talk a little bit about the genesis of Blue Ox Music Festival. What were what you're really hoping to achieve with that festival?

Justin Bruhn: So, the Bischels are our festival teammates. They own the festival and then they kind of run the logistical side of things. They own the campground and they provide the facilities and all that. And then we help curate the lineup along with Mark Bischel, who's like our age, Jim's son. So they saw us play out in Colorado with the McCourys, the Travelin' McCourys, and we were like, we need to have a festival. Well, initially, we were going to maybe do a side stage of their Country Jam, which is a huge production they did for decades out in Eau Claire. But then we kind of talked him into, well, we think we can pull off an Americana festival of our own, and just have it separate. So they agreed, and that was six years ago. Ever since then we've kind of figured out better each year, you know, what folks like and what folks don't like. Like you said, we're super family friendly, we want to keep that focus, while also appealing to everybody who is a music fan.

It's really fun to kind of bring your own personal mixtape to the stage for people to enjoy life. You know, it's kind of a total dream come true for us. Who are our favorite bands, and who do we think people in the Upper Midwest should see live? Who can we bring in that we're really excited about? That's kind of how we go about it. And then we see who's available and work within our budget. This year's lineup is great, you know, a lot of holdovers from last year. But we added Jason because we lost a couple of big acts because of COVID and the pandemic.

The Blue Ox Music Festival happens at an Eau Claire campground, now known as the Pines. I understand it's kind of being rebranded.

It was Whispering Pines campground for years, but they're just going with the Pines now. It's cool when you're out there and it's breezy and the winds blowing, because it definitely is a unique sound very specific to the tall pines that are there.

Yeah, I've been there a couple of times for the former Eaux Claires music festival, and yeah, there was some there was some wind that was a lot more than whispering a couple of those years. But yeah, beautiful venue.

This year, of course, we did our virtual festival from there. And it was by far the best weather we've ever had. That would have been that would have been the same weekend that we would have held it, so that was that was a bummer.

Yeah. So this this is last year, obviously [a] very perilous public health situation last summer. And so you decided to take the festival virtual, but with performances that happened on site?

Yeah, we had we had live performances from a number of bands. Horseshoes, Kind Country, us. We had we had live performances; we did the whole distanced and sanitized [thing and] it was really chill. We had the whole campgrounds to ourselves. And yeah, it was nice...I feel like I got to cheat a little, you know what I mean? Like everybody else has been deprived, but we who were there got to cheat a little and actually have a bit of a festival, a bit of a come together, you know, in the middle of the summer.

Yeah, I thought that was kind of the theme of last year: do what you can staying as safe as you can to keep the music alive. And now this year, we had good news from Governor Walz today. Things are moving in a good direction in terms of public health and the Blue Ox Music Festival is coming back. August 19 through 21. So what are you excited about this year? I mean, besides just the fact that it's gonna be different than last year, it'll be a music festival again.

Right? Well, I'm always excited to meet the artists that come in and I will confess that might be a puddle when Jason Isbell turns the corner. Oh my God, there he is. There's one of my recent musical idols right here in the flesh. You know, that was a huge gift for us, and I'm really stoked about that.

But yeah, we got people like Nora Brown, if you've ever heard of her. She's [a] 15-year-old out of Brooklyn who is super steeped in old time already. And she's really good at the banjo. We just interviewed her for our podcast The Road to Blue Ox yesterday — Nate and I did — and we'll be publishing that pretty soon.

Lillie Mae's coming back this year. You know, Leftover Salmon. The list is great. I'm always excited to see the music and interact with the people. The campfire jams are my favorite: just staying up all night...it's just gonna be such a love fest. People are just gonna go crazy for it.

So yeah, we're trying to get, the Public Health Administration in Wisconsin, what they're comfortable with and what we feel like we're comfortably safe with. So we, we might have to cap sales if ticket sales keep going up. We're not exactly sure on that yet, but we do have a number of months to figure out what it's gonna look like, you know, so. And thankfully, we placed it at the end of August, [so] we will have the whole summer to sort of gauge what the word is.

So you mentioned the podcast that you're doing: The Road to Blue Ox. You want to talk a little bit more about that, and what sort of content people who subscribe to that podcast can hear?

Yeah. So Nate and I produce it, we interview people who are going to be at this year's festival. There's a history of episodes, including people like Bryan McCoury and Sam Bush and Jerry Douglas. For those of you in the bluegrass know, those monsters have been around for decades. But then we have other people like Sarah Shook, we interviewed her when she came to play. You know, Adam from Horseshoes & Hand Grenades. Basically, we give an overview of the festival - sort of things you need to know. We highlight music from artists who are playing, and then we do an interview, usually about a half hour, 45 minutes with an artist who's going to be playing this year.

So it's about the festival, but not just about the festival. It's about music discovery, and about the stories of these artists who end up in the lineup.

Yeah, we hope to...I mean, like bringing the artists to Blue Ox, our mission is to broaden people's musical spectrum. And [what's] cool about the interview is you really do...just get to know people like. And it always happens, like...I never talked to Lissie before. And in our last episode, we interviewed her. She was at a farm in Iowa, and it was freezing cold when we interviewed her. So I mean, it's just like, you get to know people, and it's really fun. And then you get to meet them and, for fans, you get to see him on stage and just...you know, it's it's a great way to introduce yourself, and then you feel like you're a little bit more connected.

Yeah. And once again, Pert Near Sandstone will be playing two nights.

It's Friday and Saturday. Yeah, as hosts, we get that special privilege as well. It's always a gas, man. We have the most supportive crowd there. And honestly, the vibe has always been incredible. And I just am like, anxious and excited to feel that vibe again.

Yeah, there have been some great things about all the virtual experiences we've been able to have in terms of music discovery. I've certainly discovered a lot of new artists that way, but there is something about that in-person festival vibe, those serendipitous moments, those personal connections. It'll be it'll be fun to get back to that when it's, you know, when it's safe. I see on the wall behind you there...is that the artwork for your new album?

Christina Keith, she's my cousin. She's like, you know, one of those, how many removed cousins but she's a cousin of mine. And she is an incredible artist. She does these really cool...I mean, this is all this is all oil here. And the barn and the water, and then the clouds too. And she glazed over this. You know, it's like a star map, but it's all in French. You should really check out her stuff. Her name is Christina Keith. So we, you know, we were like, what do we do for artwork and I had recently been, she's started coming to our shows a lot. And I recently started following her and I was like, we should just should ask Christina to do it. And man we just like, are over the moon about this. Like the coolest album art we've had. And we really...yeah, and I hijacked it and I'm having it in my house for now. Sort of rotate it around the band members.

And of course, if people are looking for a print of that beautiful image, I understand it is available in a form that comes attached to a Pert Near Sandstone album.

Yeah, you get a vinyl insert that has grooves and songs on it too. So you know, pick it up on our website.

So innovative. Cool. Well, I will I won't take too much of your time on this. But I did want to touch base...I extend my condolences. I know Pert Near Sandstone know the band Kind Country, and of course we're remembering Max Graham: the frontman for that band has just died. So yeah, so sorry to hear that news. Tremendous loss.

Everybody's just heartbroken, still in shock. We gathered at the Joint and Cabooze parking lot last weekend for sort of an informal jam, like socially distanced, you know, because we were just like...everybody completely was just...he was such a monster in the scene and a really a rising star. He was, like, one of the hardest workers I've ever seen in the business. He practiced his butt off, he was super inclusive. He thought everybody should have a chance and he really believed in everybody. He was a great cheerleader. I mean, I just can't...we cannot believe that he's gone, and he's gonna be so dearly missed. And I mean in his work with, like...I know that the [death of] George Floyd and the unrest this summer had a huge effect on that, but he did...he was already leading the way and reaching out and writing with hip-hop artists and just people of color...I just can't believe he's gone. We're going to miss him so much.

Yeah, I know he had a really diverse musical history. You know, Kind Country was known as an Americana band, but he had played and made all sorts of music prior to his work with that band.

Super versatile musician. He'd really been playing hard for a long time. Even at the young age of 30 he was super skilled and, man...just can't believe he's gone, but hope that everybody can take a little bit of Max's light and try and carry it on, you know. Carry on his really good work. He really did work hard and really believed in everybody, man. It's tough...but you know, the show must go on and we'll just honor him musically. We're definitely going to have some kind of a tribute set to Max at Blue Ox this year, 'cause Kind Country was slotted to play. And yeah, we're gonna make sure that his presence is felt and that we show him all the love.

Justin Bruhn of Pert Near Sandstone talks Blue Ox and remembers Max Graham

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