E XECUTIVE Q& A
Meet Chris Wadsworth, the man behind FreshGrass BY TONY DOBROWOLSKI PITTSFIELD The Brooklyn borough of New York City isn’t known as a hotbed of bluegrass music. But that’s where Chris Wadsworth was living when he heard the music that changed his life. Wadsworth fell in love with bluegrass and that eventually led him to form FreshGrass, the festival that debuted at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams in 2011. FreshGrass returns in September. The festival proved so popular, Wadsworth produced a second FreshGrass in Bentonville, Ark., last October. Known mostly for being Walmart’s corporate headquarters, Bentonville is evolving into a hip arts space with a venue that resembles Mass MoCA. A second FreshGrass festival in Bentonville took place at the end of May, and more festivals at different venues across the country may be on the way. Chris Wadsworth also has been working on Studio 9, the recording and performance space at The Porches, the inn in North Adams founded by Chris’s father John “Jack” Wadsworth and his wife, Susy. Big things are planned for Studio 9 as well. We discussed these topics with the San Francisco resident during a recent telephone conversation. The discussion that follows has been lightly edited for clarity and length.
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PHOTO PROVIDED BY CHRIS WADSWORTH
Chris Wadsworth, the founder of FreshGrass, outside his home in San Francisco.
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What originally inspired you to start FreshGrass?
I loved this music from my earliest days. People who love bluegrass often point to a moment when, like, a lightbulb went off. For me, it was when I was 7 growing up in Brooklyn and my folks took me to a bluegrass festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. I was
