One would expect a music festival centered around bluegrass, roots, Americana, and folk music to come from – and continually succeed – somewhere in the deep South, but Cabinet makes it happen right here every year in the mountains of Pennsylvania.
The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre jamgrass outfit hosted the fifth annual Susquehanna Breakdown Music Festival at The Pavilion at Montage Mountain in Scranton on Friday, May 19 and Saturday, May 20, which featured three sets from the band (and an additional collaborative set with Keller Williams and Cabinet) as well as performances by Greensky Bluegrass, The Wood Brothers, Keller Williams, Turkuaz, Tom Hamilton’s Breakdown All Stars, Billy Strings, Kitchen Dwellers, Driftwood, Organ Freeman, Serene Green, the duo of Tom Graham and Justin Mazer, The Dishonest Fiddlers, and a reunion of Scranton’s own And The Moneynotes.
With crowds of all ages camping and packing The Pavilion all weekend, there were many great musical moments witnessed on those two stages, with highlights including Williams and Cabinet playing each other’s songs and jamming long into the night; the adorable young son of Moneynotes’ drummer Brian Craig joining them on the washboard; Cabinet singer, songwriter, and mandolinist JP Biondo paying tribute to the recently deceased Chris Cornell with Audioslave’s “I Am the Highway;” Cabinet closing their final set with their own bluegrass take on Cake’s “The Distance;” Greensky Bluegrass taking on Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs;” and Turkuaz mixing things up and making new fans with a funky closing set.
Watch or listen to Episode 8 of the new live streaming NEPA Scene Podcast with Biondo to learn more about Cabinet and the Breakdown and hear two exclusive acoustic performances:
Stream or download full sets from the Susquehanna Breakdown on archive.org.
