Obviously, booking can make or break a festival, but there's no right way and wrong way. Pinedale books famous headliners, while the North Atlantic Blues Festival tries to bring in ten very solid blues acts, and two or three acts which could be headliners. Pocono books only national recording artists who have released a CD within the last 18 months.

The mix, however, is key. Veteran promoters agree that many festivals don't offer up an interesting show. The most successful promoters expend tremendous effort fitting the acts together into a menu which will both appeal to their audience and stretch that audience's musical horizons.

Not by chance did Woodstock clearly have one of the all-time great lineups. "Booking is finding a combination that will work musically," said Michael Lang. "I look for similarities that may not be readily apparent, and try to balance the bill with 1), people who will draw, 2), the kind of music that audience is looking for, and 3), something to expand their horizons but not go out of their ballpark. It's OK to do once in a while, but you want to be careful." At AmsterJam he paired the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Snoop Dogg; all told, ten bands on the main stage and 12 on the B stage.

Charles Attal originally booked Stubbs, the venerable Austin nightclub, and though his company now books all levels, from clubs to big-time headliners, the middle tier is the meat. "The most compelling stuff can be in the middle of the day on a side stage," says Powell, who booked 130 bands on the ACL lineup alone.

Cloeren likes to mix it up—harp, female vocalist, gospel—to give the fans the full spectrum of the music. Powell also talks about his "grid" of stages and performers. Chicago's Barry Dolins takes the historical perspective literally, starting off with a blues legend who would be 100 years old that year, as an anchor and a focus, and distills five years to make one festival.

"Every year hopefully tells a story, to uplift and enlighten," he said. "It must be the schoolteacher in me."

Unearthing up-and-comers means detective work and having a finger on the pulse. Arkansas' Pillow learned that committee rule results in compromises and the lowest common denominator, when it should be about digging deep. Lang's scouting talent used to be instinctive, but "now I get input from my kids and friends' kids, mostly in their late teens to early 20s. If you're trying to bring in undiscovered talent, that's where you look for it." When we expressed skepticism, he conceded "It's only input."

Naturally Powell pays attention to Austin's SXSW, but also keeps his ear to the ground, starting in October for the following summer, as do most festival organizers. "We see about 90% live, and hear everybody," Powell says. Interestingly, the remaining 10% comes from MySpace. Powell always includes local and regional up and-comers.

Benjamin scouts talent at other festivals because he wants to see bands specifically on a festival stage. Not everybody on a promo record travels with the band, and a band may sound good in a club but won't have the oomph to hold a big audience. Dolin's lineup is 55-60% local talent, because there are probably more blues artists in Chicago than anywhere else, but promoters in smaller markets shy away from local bands which can be seen any time. Lori Dean scouts other festivals, gauges the audience reaction…..and passes out flyers.

Affording talent is always a problem, but there's more than one way to skin a cat. At Merlefest, which raises a million dollars a year for Wilkesboro Community College (N.C.), "A lot of great artists cut us slack, and we appreciate that," said Art Menius. In San Francisco, Mazzolini said, "Some prices are humiliating." Gustafson concurs: "The more money they want, the harder it is to give it to them. Aretha Franklin wanted $250,000, and we can't get her to come. ZZ Top, $150,000, we couldn't give it to them.