Festival jams
When musicians gather onstage for jams, there’s often unexpected fun and sometimes a bit of magic.
All posts tagged: John Cowan
Back to the Future(man): How are we going to top day two of Merlefest?
At 12:30 on Friday afternoon, I thought I had seen the best show I was likely to catch on Day Two of Merlefest. Well, when I’m wrong, I’m really wrong! And I’m here to be the first to admit it. The day started strong. As I expected, The Steel Wheels had a huge crowd on hand at the Americana stage for their morning set, and they didn’t disappoint. The Shenandoah Valley band – at both this set and a later gig at the Creekside Stage – played to large and enthusiastic crowds. I heard more than one person turn to their friend/partner/spouse and say, “These guys were incredible last night.” Spider Wings (“When you got too much, you don’t got anything”…or something like that) was my favorite, but they had so many good tunes coming out of them all day long it was hard to pick out just one. Lead singer Trent Wagler’s piece about his grandfather’s response to Alzheimer’s – entitled Can’t Take That Music From Me – was lovely. The juggling of schedules …
Bright morning stars
Every day at breakfast before heading off to MerleFest, I’ve sat down and planned how I’m going to negotiate the day and the 14 stages. This morning I had penciled in some old favorites, but when I arrived at the festival site I had a change of heart and decided to spend my morning listening to new bands. You could call them the bright morning stars of the Americana music world. Saturday is the longest day of the festival, so I’m just back into my hotel room after midnight and have downloaded my pictures. Rather than write a long, involved review, I’m just going to hit some of the highlights of the day for me: Hearing the young band Bearfoot from Alaska. They sing beautifully and write interesting songs such as Drank Up All the Whiskey and Good in the Kitchen. Angela Oudean is a promising young fiddler and Odessa Jorgensen is a fine songwriter and singer. I love the energy of the New Generation Super Jam on the Watson (main) stage. The SteelDrivers played great straight-ahead …
New wave and old standards shine at Merlefest 2009
Merlefest Day 2 began bright and early for me this morning, with a rousing performance at the Americana Stage by the DC-based band Scythian. I caught the irony of having a band fronted by two Ukrainian brothers opening up the Americana stage, but that’s the joy of Merlefest and hey, it is a post-Obama election world. Then came the first great surprise of the morning. I went to the Traditional Stage to hear the New North Carolina Ramblers, but walked in to a packed tent listening in rapt attention to 86-year-old festival patriarch Doc Watson playing a set with old time banjo wizard David Holt. (It turns out the Ramblers were double-booked and so Doc and Holt were on-call. And when I say packed, I mean packed. The picture below was taken from the side because the front was crammed with kids and grandparents alike.) Doc was in fine form, playing guitar and singing with lots of strength and emotion. Fiddle tunes (Whiskey Before Breakfast paired with Ragtime Annie) were interspersed with Travis-style picking (Deep River Blues) and even …
More to Come... 