MASONTOWN, W.Va. — MASONTOWN, W.Va.  — Tim Walther said it started forming in his mind some years back, indefinite but clear all the same: “Music, community and crowds of people in my future ...”

He wasn’t so sure then, he said, of specifics like when or where, but one thing was inherent — it would be All Good.

And now, after years of inviting thousands of people deep into the mountains of West Virginia to bring that concept to life over a long weekend every July, Walther said it’s all come full circle.

The All Good Music Festival — grown over the past 13 years into the mid-Atlantic region’s largest summertime live music and camping event — is July 8 to 11 at Marvin’s Mountaintop in Masontown, W.Va.

Featuring an all-star and almost non-stop lineup of living jam legends with Further (the latest, much-heralded incarnation of the Grateful Dead, starring Bob Weir and Phil Lesh) at the top of the list, this year’s All Good is “going to be epic,” Walther said recently.

For jam fans, it’s like Christmas in July: Widespread Panic, Umphrey’s McGee, Yonder Mountain String Band, the Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi Band, Old Crow Medicine Show, Dark Star Orchestra, George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic, Keller Williams and more — way more — located on two central stages, without any of the overlapping sets that draw the ire of goers to many large music festivals.

In doing that, “the folks who put on the All Good ... have come up with a way to eliminate one of the things that sucks the most about music festivals,” according to Pollstar, one of the world’s largest concert information sources.

Even with upward of 20,000 in attendance, “I like to say that we have the largest small festival going,” Walther said. “We like to put on a large event, but still provide an intimate experience. ... Our motivation is to put on a festival where everyone from the bands to the fans to the staff can have the best time possible.”

After all, “life is short,” he said, “and everyone deserves a time and space where they can let their hair down, be one with the scene and community and have a hassle-free good time.”

And as in past years, Walther said the All Good’s organizers and volunteers work to make that sense of community spread well beyond the festival grounds. Hosted in a town that has a permanent population of less than 1,000, in a county of only about 30,000, the All Good donates funds to Masontown’s local community commission and its volunteer fire department, Walther said. And “we generate a ton of revenue to all of the local retail outlets, we generate a lot of taxes for the state, we put local folks and companies to work for the week (and) we hire local nonprofit groups,” he added.

Beyond that economic boom, Walther said the All Good also works with large nonprofits like the Rex Foundation (the annual Rex Jam there raises cash for the local high school music program); Conscious Alliance (they collect thousands of pounds of food for the local food pantry); and others like Headcount and Rock the Earth.

When it comes down to it, it seems, Walther and everyone else involved want to make sure the All Good lives up to its name.

“We do our best,” he said, “to set the stage for the incredible vibe that takes place each year at our event.”

All the people in the crowd have to do, according to Walther, is kick back and let themselves go with it.

Sometimes “it takes a day or two,” Walther said, but “at some point everyone comes together within this community and there becomes this universal sense (like the late reggae legend Bob Marley said) that ‘every little thing’s gonna be alright.’ ”



Ryan Smith can be reached at 724-6370 ext. 287 or by e-mail at rsmith@meadvilletribune.com.



You can go

“Laid-back. Enjoyable. Communal. Independent. Transcendent.”

Those are some of the words festival founder and producer Tim Walther uses to describe what’s coming again next month to the scenic, rustic Marvin’s Mountaintop in Masontown, West Va.

The 14th annual All Good Music Festival — the mid-Atlantic region’s largest summertime live music and camping event, featuring performances by nearly 40 of the jam music scene’s most celebrated names — is July 8 to 11.

Highlights of this year’s lineup include Further (the latest, much-heralded incarnation of the Grateful Dead, starring Bob Weir and Phil Lesh), Widespread Panic, Umphrey’s McGee, Yonder Mountain String Band, the Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi Band, Old Crow Medicine Show, Dark Star Orchestra, George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic, Keller Williams and more.

For festival tickets, directions, performer bios and more information, visit allgoodfestival.com. To view live performance clips from the 2008 All Good, visit iClips at http://iclips.net/festival/all-good-2008.