The Infamous Stringdusters officially welcomed 21-year-old mandolin player Dominick Leslie to the band at its second annual Festy Experience last weekend. In addition to playing with Leslie, the host group collaborated with several artists, hosted campfire jams and held workshops.

Leslie took the stage with Stringdusters at the festival, replacing Jesse Cobb, after Cobb announced his departure on the band’s website just two days before The Festy Experience. Leslie, who has studied with David Grisman, seemed to impress fans. When Grisman sat in with the Dusters for “Midnight Moon” on Friday, he and Leslie engaged in an intense mandolin face-off. One post on the Stringdusters website said, “That was a fine Festy moment when the Dawg got up on stage and traded licks with someone from a new generation of mandolin players.”

Later, the band returned the favor and joined the Dave Grisman Sextet. They also sat in with Toubab Krewe, dubbing themselves the “Infamous Krewe.” Larry Keel joined in on the performance as well. Other performers included Sarah Suskind, Lake Street Dive, Brett Dennen, Railroad Earth, The Wood Brothers, Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad and many more.

After the scheduled shows, campfire jams took place at Camp Stringduster and throughout the grounds at Devils Backbone in Virginia. The jams usually included all the Stringdusters, Keel and Morweena Lasko.

The Festy Experience celebrated more than just music. The event included organized hikes and other outdoor activities as well as several workshops.

Andy Hall led a dobro workshop on Friday, where he discussed the history of the dobro and its ability to produce un-amplified volumes by design. He explained his personal reasons for taking up the dobro—to alleviate tendonitis—and how he became hooked. Hall is producing a dobro teaching video as part of ArtistWorks Academy of Bluegrass.