IPFS News Link • Entertainment: Music

Meet the Ozark Family Band

11-29-2022 • arclein

The journey is filled with persistence, a lot of juggling of full schedules, and some "lucky" breaks. The idea for the band came almost 20 years ago, when the family stumbled into their first bluegrass festival while vacationing in Gettysburg. When Jon saw the family atmosphere of the festival?"multiple generations of families all hanging out and playing together with no video or TV screen in sight?"he decided then and there that they would become a family band. The oldest, Katie, would play fiddle. She was already taking classical violin lessons and was not happy when her dad signed her up for the festival's Fiddle Bootcamp. "Most large bluegrass festivals have workshops," said Ellen. "It's a great way for the performing bands to make some extra money and the hobby musicians to get some good instruction."