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These days Cormier rarely plays with bluegrass bands, but he always grabs the opportunity to sit in with the great bluegrass connection in Moncton, centred around fiddler/mandolinist Ray Legere. The quiet musician took home an East Coast Music Award this year as the region’s top bluegrass player, and is renowned through Canada and the U.S. for his stellar playing.

Both Cormier and Legere will be among the featured performers this weekend at the annual Fox Mountain Bluegrass Festival near Berwick, Kings Co. It’s one of the premiere gatherings in the region.

"I like to keep the music on the old traditional side," says festival organizer Darrell Frail. "This music has been in my blood ever since I was born."

Frail says this event has been growing every year, and he attributes some of the growth to the ground breaking O Brother Where Art Thou? soundtrack. The movie sparked a new interest in traditional string band and bluegrass music.

Cormier agrees. "That (movie) was an incredible shot in the arm. Some of the purists were insulted by it, claiming the movie made the people who played the music look like idiots. I don’t agree. I think the movie was funny, and the music was incredible."

Most outdoor music festivals demand little of the listeners - buy a ticket, stake out some turf and kick back and enjoy. The music is created onstage by paid professionals.

But at a bluegrass festival, the boundaries get blurred. Fans pack up their guitars, mandolins and banjos along with sleeping bags and Coleman coolers.

All weekend long, impromptu jam sessions are boiling away in the campgrounds.

"Those field picking sessions are the most important part of the festival... when you hear people out pickin’ under the awnings," says Frail.