MASS MoCA’s annual FreshGrass Festival returned this past weekend for its 13th year. This year’s lineup boasted Shakey Graves, Béla Fleck, The Devil Makes Three, and Drive-By Truckers. Local vendors offered snacks from food trucks and advertised vintage clothes. Fiddles and banjos and stand-up basses took center stage, alongside maple-flavored treats and dancing children.
Olivia Johnson ’26 and I arrived promptly on Saturday morning at MASS MoCA and set ourselves up at the Freshroots Stage. When the venue opened at 10:00 a.m., the eager and the wild rushed in. These early-rising bluegrass fans had strapped their camping chairs to their backs and lined up early in the morning to secure optimal listening spots. A fair number, however, stopped and lingered at the Freshroots Stage, where they had the privilege of hearing not one but two College alums perform with their band Pickled Peach.
“This is all Lily,” said Lizzie Ferguson ’22, the band’s fiddlist and mandolinist, referring to bandmate Lily Goldberg ’22, who is on banjo and vocals.
Goldberg first started playing with the band’s vocalist, her friend Maya Horn, when they were 16 at a New York City open mic series, and Goldberg met Ferguson during their first year at the College.
“But Lizzie and I have been playing together [since] I stumbled on [her] playing the guitar in Mission,” Goldberg said.
“Yeah, in MD2, in my entry,” Ferguson added. “Lily stumbled in and was like, ‘We’re going to play together!’ and I was like, ‘Who is this girl?’”
And play together they did. In their first year at the College, Goldberg and Ferguson filmed a Sawyer Session, a WCFM-sponsored project in which college bands were able to record a set in the style of NPR’s internet-famous Tiny Desk series. After a moment of fame — thanks to WilliNet broadcasting their session in Whitmans’ dining hall — they secured a professional gig: opening for a performance of Grammy-nominated musician Courtney Marie Andrews.
But Pickled Peach started with a pizza — after Goldberg and Ferguson graduated from the College. “Basically, when everybody moved back to New York, I was like, ‘You’re all coming over. We’re going to order a pizza, and we’re going to see how it sounds,’” Goldberg said.
Over pizza, the newly-formed quartet — which now includes the band’s fourth member, guitarist Jeremy Regan — had less than a month to prepare for their first performance at FreshGrass last year.
“We just somehow whipped it together,” Ferguson said. Now Pickled Peach has played together for a little over a year.
“This year we have a little more practice,” Goldberg added. “But [FreshGrass] is still one of the main places we play.”
Ferguson and Goldberg attended the festival every year they were at the College. This fall, for the first time in recent memory, the Residential Life Team did not offer free tickets to students. The absence of College students was noticeable, which Goldberg and Ferguson said was a bummer.
“Going to FreshGrass was the main time that I engaged with the North Adams community,” Ferguson said. “I think this was probably one of my earlier introductions to this kind of music,” Goldberg added.
During Pickled Peach’s performance, they played original songs written by individual band members. Their setlist included a particular favorite of mine written by Ferguson, called “Perfect Time.” “‘Perfect Time’ is the perfect song,” Ferguson said. As the band progresses, its members hope to write more music together.
“Getting over the self-consciousness of trying to improvise and write something together is something I’d like to do,” Goldberg said. Unfortunately, though, the familiar logistical challenge of overflowing Google Calendars persists post-grad.
“We barely have time to practice,” Ferguson said.
“But if any cool young alums want to manage and promote and sign us,” Goldberg added, “books are open.”
As they navigate jobs, New York City housing, and various other projects, Pickled Peach has become quite special to its band members. “I never really understood people who just played in bands when they were older,” Ferguson said. “And now, I play because it’s fun. I play because I love to play.”
As the clouds cleared, Johnson and I asked the alums in Pickled Peach how it felt to return to the Berkshires. “It’s a mix of nostalgia and admiration for the natural beauty of the region,” Goldberg said.
“I love it here so much,” Ferguson said. “I also feel like my anxiety immediately spiked.”
As for post-Williams life, Ferguson said she is grateful for how her friendship with Goldberg has deepened since graduation. “Your relationships with people at Williams can really develop into something not tied to the school,” she said. “That we started playing Goodrich and now we’re playing gigs in New York … I find really cool.”
Johnson and I left this year’s FreshGrass experience feeling fond about the Berkshires, bluegrass music, and the possibilities of friendship beyond graduation. As we sat on a grassy knoll, surrounded by flanneled shoulders, we listened to those twangs and strummings now so characteristic of MASS MoCA in the fall.
