The members of this bluegrass group Athena & the River City Boys are, from left, Tristan Schumacher, Athena Patterson and Martin Stevens. The talented young trio will perform three times at Wintergrass. 

The 10th Annual Wintergrass Bluegrass Music Festival gets into in full swing today, and it's a wonder there are enough spotlights to go around. 

Even a partial list of the headliners is a tapestry of traditional music. The David Grisman Quintet, Kitty Wells & Johnny Wright, the Hazel Dickens Band, the Osborne Brothers, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, Laurie Lewis, Tim O'Brien, Darol Anger's American Fiddle Ensemble, Blue Highway, the Alison Brown Quartet and Tacoma's Pearl Django will pack the Sheraton Tacoma Hotel and other downtown venues.

Add more than 30 other acts, and choosing where to be and when to be there can be difficult. Throw in some impromptu jam sessions, and you might find it hard to leave the lobby.

The official concerts started Thursday, but some people have been on hand all week for the Wintergrass Academy, a series of master classes taught by world-renowned musicians.

Multi-instrumentalist (that's a word you hear a lot in bluegrass circles) Tim O'Brien has been teaching a mandolin class. One of the prime picker's students is Martin Stevens, 14, of Vancouver, Wash. On his way into class, O'Brien said the talented teen is "awesome" and "really plays his butt off."

Martin "really has grown up at Wintergrass," says festival co-founder Patrice O'Neil. "I remember when he was practically a baby."

Martin, who plays in the group Athena & the River City Boys, said, "I've been coming to Wintergrass every year. At first, I could play spoons and that was about it."

Now, according to his longtime teacher, Chick Rose of Portland, Martin "can play anything" and recently finished in the top 10 of a prestigious old-time fiddling competition.

Athena Patterson of Portland, who was waiting for a dobro guitar class, said, "This is just my second year at Wintergrass, but I started playing piano when I was 7."

She started singing about that time, too. O'Neil described her voice as "extraordinary, very mature and powerful." Rose said, "She sings like she's 30 and sounds like a cross between Wynonna Judd and Patsy Cline - a killer voice."

OK, so you make allowances for well-wishing enthusiasts - until moms Melanie Stevens and Angela Kanas provide a demo CD.

Athena & the River City Boys are astounding. Her voice is clear, strong and appealing, and it has to be to rate with the music she makes with Martin and 13-year-old Tristan Schumacher, of Gresham, Ore. They are all multi-instrumentalists.

"We even switch instruments during songs," Athena said.

Asked if their repertoire is all bluegrass, Martin said, "We're doing lots of stuff - old bluegrass, new bluegrass, old country, some Patsy Cline and even some Elvis."

With a 2 1/2-hour repertoire, how do they decide what to play?

"We all decide," Martin said. "We have a meeting."

"A meeting?" Athena asked with a laugh.

"Well, kind of," Martin said.

The trio will do three shows at Wintergrass; 6 p.m. today at the Copper Hollow Stage in the Sheraton and 3 p.m. Saturday at First Baptist Church. On Sunday, they will perform at 1 p.m. on the Mezzanine Stage during the noon to 4 p.m. Chick's Kids program.

Rose, a transplanted Texan, does a few of the 50 workshops that run through the festival, and by Sunday he will have been "cruising around finding the kids that can play."

Or can't play.

"Sometimes I bring a bunch of instruments and let kids who haven't played before try dobros and banjos and autoharps and mandolins," Rose said. "I give them a little instruction, (and) if they have any talent at all I can usually teach them to play a song in the workshop.

"It's kind of a talent roundup slash workshop, depending on who shows up. I'm pretty flexible. If there are a bunch of parents with kids who wonder how you do this, then that's what we do, talk about it.

"Generally the kids who've been coming to Wintergrass will let me know they're around. ... I'll stick the kids I know can play in groups and have them work up a couple or three songs. The ones that are new or just beginning, I start them off with a slow version of 'Boil Them Cabbages Down.'"

That sounds a bit like something from Gid Tanner & the Skillet Lickers.

"Actually, it's probably a field-hand black song," Rose said, "but it's been a fiddle standard for a long time. It's pretty easy to play, so I'll have the slowest kids start it and then the next-fastest kids pick it up, and slowly it will speed up. If I have a couple of my really hot fiddlers, it'll get pretty driving by the end. ... And if kids just can't play, I'll just have them doing chords in the background and looking cute."

In between boiling "Cabbages," Rose's program features bands with gifted young players, such as Athena & the River City Boys.

The longtime social services worker and teacher says he keeps coming back to Wintergrass because he enjoys teaching bluegrass to kids.

"If someone doesn't get them in it, it will go away," Rose says. "Traditional music is important to me. I think it's worth keeping it alive."

Did I mention he is a multi-instrumentalist?

Martin's mother, Melanie, and Athena's mom, Angela, were asked how they feel about hauling their children around to workshops and concerts.

"My older boys did the same thing," Melanie said. "It's a lot of fun to watch them play."

"Carrying the instruments is the most painful," Angela said. "They play so many instruments."

I'm sure I mentioned that the youngsters are all multi-instrumentalists.

The proud parents are already planning for Oregon's Pendleton Round-Up in September. The trio is booked to play three sets a day for six days. In addition to being a fun activity for the teenagers, Athena & the River City Boys is becoming a business.

"We're learning as we go," Melanie said.

"And we see other parents at the different festivals," Angela said. "It's like a family reunion."

Martin and Athena were asked whether they are pursuing music for fun or as a potential career.

"Both," Martin said emphatically. "Definitely both."

"I don't think I'd be happy doing anything else," Athena said. "Nothing else seems as important to me. ... It's too big a part of me to let go and do anything else."