Published: July 02, 2009 09:49 pm      

Richie Havens will be 2009 Master Musician

The granddaddy of all outdoor music festivals has to be Woodstock. Held in the summer of 1969 in rural New York, the festival served as a watershed moment for an entire culture, ushering in the music and values of the generation to come.

The first act those gathered on that now-famous farm would see was Richie Havens.

Originally slotted to be play fifth on Woodstock’s opening day, Havens instead went first, as tensions over how the counter-cultural crowd would react allegedly scared other performers from going on stage.

The crowd greeted Havens excitedly, and Havens scheduled 20-minute set turned into three hours. It included the song “Freedom,” one which was woven by Havens on the spot but has since gone down as one of the era’s most beloved anthems.

Now, 40 years later, Master Musicians Festivalgoers will get a little taste of the man — the legend — himself.

This year’s featured Master Musician, Havens will perform at the Master Musicians Festival on Friday, July 17. Havens will be honored as 2009’s featured guest, and will join the 16-year long list of “Master Musicians” that the festival has honored, including Robert “Junior” Lockwood, Doc Watson, Honey Boy Edwards, Pinetop Perkins and Vassar Clements – all masters in their own genres of music.

“I’ve always joked that I don’t think I ever want to see what a crowd of 100,000 people look like in person,” said MMF staff member Robyn Baker. “I can’t imagine what it would have been like to be in that field with the quarter to a half million people reported to have been at Woodstock.

“But what would be a great thing to experience is about five to ten thousand people at MMF chanting and singing “Free-dom” before Richie Havens leaves our stage in the summer of Woodstock’s fortieth anniversary.”

The news that Havens would be appearing at Somerset’s own two-day outdoor music festival has already made waves.

"Ticket buyers calling us to place orders by phone keep asking how in the world we managed to book Richie Havens to come to Somerset,” said Baker. “Apparently, we’re not the only ones to realize how phenomenal this is.”

Advance tickets will be available by phone at 677-2933 and at Citizens National Bank, Monticello Banking Company, and the Somerset Pulaski Convention and Visitors Bureau until July 16.