What a joy it is to be back at DelFest and sharing with you the listener. I arrived Thursday around noon after a long wet ride to a somewhat wet forecast that ended up being "fake news".  The weather was cool and damp for a NOLA boy but the rain held out. The music kicked off around 3:30 for day 1 with The Del McCroury Band traditional soundcheck and Del and the boys did not disappoint. Then we got to hear an incredible bluegrass rendition of the Allman Brothers classic Ramblin Man performed by the winners of  the music academy's band contest the  Del-more East Allstars. The music academy takes place the week before the festival and participants are placed in to 10 bands by a lottery, the bands compete on the final day with the winner getting to perform on the MainStage on opening night. Next up would be my first opportunity to see and hear Trampled by Turtles out of Duluth Minnesota, I was aware of this band and can report back they are certainly worth checking out. They brought a lil old school country and bluegrass flavor from way up north. The performance was billed as Dead Man Winter featuring Dave Simonett so keep your eyes out for them.  Also performing on opening night were The Steep Canyon Rangers from Brevard, North Carolina. I've seen this group several times before and they are  a DelFest crowd favorite for sure. They rocked the place as the crowd grew in anticipation of The Del McCroury Band's first official set of the festival. The Del set that followed would feature our on Preservation Hall Horns as well as guest appearances by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys and Ronnie Bowman formerly of Lonesome River Band. John Fishman of the jamband Phish would played drums for most of the set which was filled by bluegrass classics as well as some rockers and an incredible rendition of the Hank Williams classic Jambalaya featuring The Pres. Hall Horns. The evening would end with an encore featuring the song All Aboard a true Del classic. I can tell you by the end the crowd as well as myself were all aboard for DelFest 2017 and looking forward to day 2. I will report on how that went in tomorrows blog post.