Music festival ready to go back to the roots

(Sentinel photo by Magdalene Landegent) Wayne Longtin, of Le Mars, plays the bass on the stage at the Olson Cultural Event Center Sunday afternoon with Paul Burnett, of Le Mars, on guitar. Longtin will be playing this week at the Old Time Country, Folk and Bluegrass Music Festival at the Plymouth County Fairgrounds and will be inducted into the Old Time Country Music Hall of Fame. [Click to enlarge]

On a park bench, two men pluck strings and tune guitars.

On stage, a Johnny Cash tribute artist belts out the man in black's hits.

This was the scene at the Olson Cultural Event Center in Le Mars Sunday.

(Sentinel photo by Magdalene Landegent) Singing Johnny Cash favorites, Robert Simek, of Slovakia, crossed the ocean to play at the Old Time Country Music, Folk and Bluegrass Festival, which kicked off Saturday and Sunday with benefit concerts. [Click to enlarge]

Only the two men tuning up were from northwest England. And the Johnny Cash artist was from Slovakia.

Sunday night's benefit concert was a prelude to the Old Time Country, Folk and Bluegrass Music Festival, beginning in Le Mars today. Artists from around the globe are arriving each day.

Some, like Claude Gray, from Texas, started young -- he was 5 -- and sung their way up the charts in the United States. Gray earned his way into country music's top 10 for several songs.

(Sentinel photo by Magdalene Landegent) Dozens of people pull up lawn chairs and others park their cars and roll down the windows to catch the swinging country music Sunday night at the Olson Cultural Event Center [Click to enlarge]

Others, like Robert Simek, the Johnny Cash artist, have gained fame in Europe and hopped the Atlantic just for this music festival.

Simek has been playing for 25 years.

"Johnny Cash is my favorite, my life," he said.

(Sentinel photo by Magdalene Landegent) Terry Durr of the Sidetracks Band, of Le Mars, keeps the rhythm rolling on the drums during Sunday night's show at the Olson Cultural Event Center. [Click to enlarge]

The Slovakian artist never met Johnny Cash, but saw him at a concert in Prague years ago.

"We made, how do you say it, eye contact," Simek said. "He is the magic man. He has beautiful songs, beautiful voice."

The two Brits, Eddie Holden and Ron Westhead, started playing when they were 14.

(Sentinel photo by Magdalene Landegent) Ron Westhead and Eddie Holdon, who traveled to Le Mars from England, tune their guitars before stepping on stage at the Olson Cultural Event Center Sunday night. The duo are in town for the Old Time Country, Folk and Bluegrass Music Festival, running all week long at the Plymouth County Fairgrounds. [Click to enlarge]

"It was all rock and roll, it was all Elvis," Holden said.

Now they play up-tempo country with the Rambling Riversiders, a band that earned top ratings at a Missouri Valley music festival and made five tours in America.

They're glad to be in Le Mars, they said.

(Sentinel photo by Magdalene Landegent) Paul Burnett, of Le Mars, sings some sweet country tunes for the crowd Sunday night in downtown Le Mars. Burnett will be performing this week at the music festival. [Click to enlarge]

"We like the people," Holden said.

Not all artists needed passports to play at the festival this week.

People like the Sidetracks Band members, Terry Durr, Paul Burnett and Wayne Longtin, all of Le Mars, will be performing, too.

(Sentinel photo by Magdalene Landegent) Ed Duval, of Council Bluffs, takes it away on his guitar at the Sunday night benefit concert leading into a week of old time country and folk music at the Plymouth County Fairgrounds. The festival runs Monday through Sunday, 9 a.m. to midnight each day. [Click to enlarge]

The Old Time Country, Folk and Bluegrass Music Festival runs Monday through Sunday at the Plymouth County Fairgrounds.

The price of admission covers 10 stages running each day from 9 a.m. to midnight.

Simek, the Rambling Riversiders and more will be performing throughout the week.

"It's a good time," Holden said.