Yarmony Music Festival 2024 Review: What is Yarmony?

Yarmony Music Festival took place at Rancho Del Rio in Bond, CO, June 28-29, 2024.  Headliners Lindsay Lou, Daniel Rodriguez, Drunken Hearts and The Fretliners were joined by Special Guest Billy Failing, Tenth Mountain Division, Jon Stickley Trio and many more.

Photos by Matthew Monczka Photography, JohnRyan Lockman (ShowLove Media) and Festy GoNuts

What is Yarmony?

Yarmony is a mountain in Colorado, elev. 9516 ft.

Yarmony is a Ute Chief from whom the mountain takes its name.

Yarmony is a music festival that has taken place in various locations throughout Colorado, owing its roots and name to Yarmony Ranch, where the very first YarmonyGrass festival took place in 2006.

Yarmony has taken place at State Bridge Lodge, then a single year at Copper Mountain before settling on its home for the past decade at Rancho del Rio. Yarmony last hoisted its flag in 2019, prior to the massive restructuring of music festivals (and all events) during and after the Covid pandemic

Through those changes, challenges, and adaptations, however, Yarmony has become something else.

When Yarmony rose from the ashes to triumphantly return after a long hiatus, we realized that it was actually always here, all along, inside every one of us.

Yarmony carried on in spirit during its hiatus, as fans of Yarmony (Yarmoneers) continued to gather on the shores of the Colorado, making the pilgrimage to Rancho del Rio to raft, swim, float, and celebrate the spirit of Yarmony.

So what, then is Yarmony?

Yarmony is an amazing music festival on the banks of the Colorado River, where attendees come to gather to witness some of the best music around in rock, funk, soul, folk, jam, and grass, which gave the festival its original name, YarmonyGrass, since shortened to better reflect the musical diversity of the Colorado festival.

Yarmony is the Colorado River, magically sending its energy throughout the festival, supporting the Floating Stage, and creating the one-of-a-kind eddy in which Yarmoneers have spent so much time splashing, playing, frolicking and, yes, swashbuckling.

Yarmony is Daniel Rodriguez, whose Friday night set shook the spirit of Chief Yarmony from the river to the mountains. Yarmony is Tenth Mountain Division, pouring it all out, as their band draws near to its own indefinite hiatus in a place that has certainly forged its growth. Yarmony is Liver Down The River, who was named at the festival, and forever embodies the spirit of YARRRR.

Yarmony can be found along the railRoad to Yarmony, in venues across the front range and through the Colorado Mountains.

Yarmony is Madeline Hawthorne inspiring the crowd using the speaker tower as a catwalk while her band wails behind her. Yarmony is The Fretliners closing the main stage on a Friday night with an unwavering energy.

Yarmony is a float by day that concludes right at your campground before the music kicks off.

Yarmony is Jack Cloonan and Silas Herman, who have always been “at-large” at Yarmony but were made official for 2024.  And Yarmony is Billy Failing, who brought every set to a new level, challenging everyone on stage and shredding faces.

Yarmony is Timber on the Floating Stage, whether it leaves the shore or not.

Yarmony is Derek Dames Ohl, Justin Garber, and Easy Tiger, all Colorado artists who forever embrace the YARRR. Yarmony is Bonnie and Tayler Sims, Violet Pilot, and Jon Stickley Trio, who will forever be connected to this amazing festival, all delivering show-stopping sets throughout Saturday. Yarmony is Queen Lindsay Lou and Mimi Naja shaking the entire valley with their talented band including Jon Stickley on electric guitar.

Yarmony is rainbows, sunshine, showers, moonlight, and starscapes.

Yarmony is, of course, the Drunken Hearts – led by Yarmony founder Andrew McConathy – performing a high-energy showcase of amazing songs and jams.  Drunken Hearts have consistently delivered over the years, sending the Yarmony vibe out into the ether and leaving our souls full.

So we ask again, what is Yarmony?

We would venture to say that Yarmony is a feeling. Yarmony is a spirit. Yarmony is an urge that grows inside of each of us, from our toes to the tips of our heads, urging us to shed our inhibitions, gather with those that we love and cherish, ditch societal norms, turn off our phones, check out of the world for a weekend and act like playful pirates and pixies while shouting from the depths of our souls… YARRRRRRRR!

But Yarmony is so much more than even all of this.

Yarmony is the music. Yarmony is the space. Yarmony is the feeling. But, even more importantly, Yarmony is the people.

Yarmony is us, and we are Yarmony.

You are Yarmony.

You bring your best Pirate gear, you growl “Yarrrr” to one another, you float in giant unicorns while shooting rum through a squirt cannon at a stranger (who is soon to be your new best friend) dancing on a paddleboard with glitter in her hair and a patch over one eye.

You make the trek to Rancho del Rio – or Yarmony Ranch, State Bridge, Copper Mountain, or wherever this gathering may be – to celebrate, and you are doing so to celebrate more than a music festival.

You are celebrating Yarmony.

And that celebration happens anytime we – the Yarmoneers – will it to be.

So here’s to the next Yarmony, and the next, and the next, and here’s to you, Yarmoneers.

YAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!