IN PICTURES: BAYGRASS BLUEGRASS FESTIVAL BRINGS RHYTHMIC VIBE

a man playing a guitar on a stage
Guitar player Drew Matulich performs with the festival’s headliner, The Grass is Dead, a bluegrass Grateful Dead tribute band. JACQUELINE HALE/Keys Weekly

By Jacqueline Hale

Rich harmonies and high-energy rhythms poured from the Florida Keys Brewing Company’s beer garden as over 1,000 attended the ninth annual Baygrass Bluegrass Festival produced by Islamorada Community Engagement. Three nights of concerts, Jan. 13-15, featured Grandpa’s Cough Medicine on Jan. 13, The Knotty G’s and Micah & the Barstool Sailors on Jan. 14, and the Low Ground Band and The Grass is Dead on Jan. 15.

Jim McCarthy
Jim McCarthy is one of the many who escaped the snow and frigid temperatures in Western New York. A former crime & court reporter and city editor for two Western New York newspapers, Jim has been honing his craft since he graduated from St. Bonaventure University in 2014. In his 5-plus years in the Keys, Jim has enjoyed connecting with the community. Jim is past president of the Key Largo Sunset Rotary Club. When he's not working, he's busy chasing his son, Lucas, around the house and enjoying time with family.