Over the past six years, Chillicothe, IL Three Sisters Park Summer Camp has blossomed into the Midwest festival circuits unofficial kickoff. Anchored by moe., Umphreys McGee and Keller Williams, Summer Camp featured a breadth of jamband styles, including sets from the Disco Biscuits, Yonder Mountain String Band, Tea Leaf Green, Rusted Root, Brothers Past, Wilcos Glenn Kotche, U-Melt and members of the String Cheese Incident. As expected collaboration was a key part of the Summer Camp experience. Late Thursday night, Groovatron invited out Umphreys McGees Jake Cinninger for ‘Bone Diggin,’‘ as Michael Kang, Chuck Garvey, and Rob Derhak threw beach balls into the audience from behind the stage. During the Disco Biscuits afternoon Friday set, Umphreys McGees Brendan Bayliss performed on the Beatles I’ve Got A Feeling, while Umphreys McGee invited Kang out for a version of Mark Knopflers We’re Going to War. On Saturday, Al Schnier helped anoint another emerging jam-titan, performing on Waiting For My Man with Tea Leaf Green.

A day later, Al Schnier also played acoustic guitar with Yonder Mountain String Band on
‘Crow Black Chicken. ‘ While moe.s headlining performances remained guest free, the group did offer a number of unique tricks, spreading its trademark Rebubula out over two days.
On Sunday, moe. and Umphreys McGee scrambled into two Spit Squads:
Umphreys McGee’s Joel Cummins, Jake Cinninger, Andy Farag and
Ryan Stasik, along with moe.‘s Vinnie Amico and Chuck Garvey and moe.‘s Al Schnier, Rob Derhak and Jim Laughlin, along with Umphrey’s McGee’s Brendan Bayliss and Kris Myers. Both squads played a handful of covers, ranging from the Talking Heads Life During Wartime to Iron Maiden’s ‘The Trooper’ to the traditional Havah Negilah.
Each squad also touched upon its members original material, including Umphreys McGees Syncopated Strangers and moe.s Moth. The Split Squad event culminated with both Squads performing ‘The Weight’ and ‘Night Moves’ outside in the late-night barn performance space on acoustic instruments.
Additional reporting by Jeff Trinco