More from Gary...

Here is part two of my conversation with Gary Chetkof,
Producer of The Mountain Jam Festival

Gary, share with us a bit about the process behind choosing the festival line-up.

The simple answer is that we look towards the best music we think is coming out and we start there. We are part of a Radio Station, Warren (Haynes) is part of the artistic world, and our first desire is to go after things that wow us. It's totally done from a creative stand point.

There's Sharon Jones, her CD just knocked me out, Grace Potter's new album is amazing and we wanted her back. The Felice Brothers and Dr. Dog we think are rising stars. I'm a big fan of Jackie Green and the Drive-By Truckers blew us away. We've never had Dark Star on the bill and we thought that would be really cool to have.

After John Scofield’s amazing performance last year, and we wanted John back. Since we didn't have MMW last year, so we thought why don't we bring them back with John.

We think the world of Umphrey's McGee. They have a great slot before Mule. You'll remember that part of their set got rained out last year so we definitely wanted Umphrey's on Friday night.

We are really excited about Levon Helm, who was added with the thought that he would be amazing for Warren to jam with. It's all about the synergies. We really do program each day with a thought about the jams that can happen. So it's all just done from pure love of the music.

Speak to the wonderful vibe that is created at Mountain Jam?

You know the thing about Warren is that he is the most gracious host I have ever met. He's the nicest man, everybody loves to play at and be a part of his festival. That’s why Michael Franti
who is hardly doing any festivals at all this summer, flies in from California just to do this because he loves the vibe.

It's definitely the coolest vibe. And that's what made this festival happen. This festival wasn’t meant to go past the first year. It was devised as part of the 25th anniversary concert celebration for the radio station, WDST. The only reason its gotten where its at is because everything was so cool, people loved it and everybody wanted it to happen again. It's totally a product of the vibe. It's just such a pleasure and we feel such an honor bestowed that this thing has happened and flourished. Because it just was never planned. It just grew out of peoples wanting it to grow.

Rolling Stone dubbed Mountain Jam one of the top festivals of the summer! How does that make you feel?

We are delighted and thrilled. We always knew it, but we 're glad the rest of the world now knows it. We plan everything with the fan in mind. It's all about the music and giving the people a lot of attention and making it smooth for everybody to have a good time. It's in a beautiful, intimate setting. It still has that intimate feel and people are really number one.

You know Rich, I was always in that audience most of my life. So I can bring the fan perspective to it. You'll see me out there in the audience. If it's run correctly, it allows me to enjoy the music. I refuse to be the kind of promoter that's in the building doing work. If everything is running right then I should be out there to share in the fan experience. That really is why I do it. I love creating this thing and I want to be out there with everybody else!

Last year I drove around in a golf cart and picked people up that were coming in struggling with there stuff and drove them to their camp site. I think that goes really far with people.

What additional coverage will be offered up from the mountain?

We are excited about all the coverage. In addition to this great Blog coverage continuously throughout the festival, we will be broadcasting the festival live again. iClips will be broadcasting video for us this year on mountainjam.com. Those that can't attend please watch.

We will also have Sirius Satellite Radio broadcasting some of the festival on their Jam Bands Channel. Umphrey's McGee's set on Friday night and the Gov't Mule set on Saturday night. The Grateful Dead channel will be airing Ratdog's performance on Sunday night. We also have another deal with Mogulus which is kind of a YouTube for live video and they will have people with cameras shooting the crowd and all the craziness that's going on . There's quite a bit of new and emerging technologies stuff going on.

Did you order up some good weather this year?

Absolutely! Grade A sunshine for 3 days!
The only moisture is gonna be from dancing.

Thanks Gary, we will see you on the mountain!

~ Read part one of this interview here ~