The Vinegrass Music Festival is the main fundraiser for the Vinegrass Organization, a non-profit music company, that produces concerts, camps, and workshops, in order to raise money for our charitable mission. The mission is to provide scholarships to students pursuing a degree in music at an accredited 4year music program. In addition to the scholarships, we will subsidize camps and instruments t
o younger students in need, and give an annual grant to an artist or band in the Roots genre. Founded by Monica Rizzio (Frontwoman for the band Tripping Lily) and her husband Pete Fasano in August of 2013, Vinegrass is a lifelong dream for Monica to give back to those who have helped her become a professional musician. Raised on a ranch in east Texas, Monica always loved music, but her family's financial means prohibited her from taking music lessons and having instruments. Her only instrument for the longest time was her voice until she was able to play the flute in the high school band. Monica did not learn to play the fiddle, ukulele, or guitar until she was 23, after graduation from Belmont University in Nashville with a degree in Music. She often wonders what may have been had she been given the opportunity as a child. She has opened the only roots based music school on Cape Cod, West Bend Music and provides musical instruction for the Fiddle, Banjo, Mandolin, Guitar, Piano, and Ukulele. Based on the shores of Cape Cod, Vinegrass is inviting the Roots world into our little mecca, full of artists, musicians, and fisherman. The festival will be held next October 4, 2015 at the Truro Vineyards, in the dunes of the outer Cape. In the next few years, Vinegrass aims to take its mission and festivals to vineyards around the country and world.