Van Morrison   Photo by: Melissa Broome

It’s been a busy summer of music and we are woefully behind on updating our blog. I looked back at our bucket list and we’ve knocked several off the list. The biggie was finally seeing Van Morrison. And not just Van but we caught him with the Outlaw Music Festival on September 8 in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Outlaw Festival meant we were also treated to Tedeschi Trucks Band, Sturgill Simpson, Lukas Nelson and Willie Nelson. SCORE! What a night. Well, it rained. But otherwise, what a night!

But Van!! It was a great show! We’ve heard he can sometimes be moody on stage. It was a rainy night and starting to be cold and misty. But as the dark took over Hershey, he and his band ripped through a ton of classic hits and songs from his new album. They rolled from one song to the next. As the last notes were still playing, he’d call the next song and off they went.

Van’s set list was:

1.       The Way Young Lovers Do
2.       Sweet Thing
3.       Benediction (a Mose Allison cover)
4.       Magic Time
5.       Baby, Please Don’t Go
6.       Here Comes the Night
7.       How Far from God (a Sister Rosetta Tharp number)
8.       Days Like This (!!)
9.       Moondance
10.   Have I told You Lately
11.   Carrying a Torch
12.   Wonderful Remark
13.   Warm Love
14.   Vanlose Stairway
15.   I Can’t Stop Loving You
16.   Wild Night
17.   Broken Record
18.   Ballerina
19.   Did Ye Get Healed?
20.   Brown Eyed Girl
21.   Gloria

What a great show! We were thrilled to finally see him and heard several songs we were hoping for. Moondance, Baby Please Don’t Go, Have I told you Lately — wow! Wonderful Remark and Days Like This were less expected. Wild Night was fantastic. I Can’t Stop Loving You – what an incredible cover. He ended the show with Gloria. G-L-O-R-I-A-A-AAAAA! What an original classic. I looked it up since I wasn’t sure of the songwriter. I’ve heard so many bands do this song. It was originally recorded by Them and is written by Van the Man, Van Morrison. So grateful to check him off our list. We’ll see him again sometime!

Willie Nelson! Another photo by Melissa Broome

Seeing Willie was fantastic too. It’s been a few years and it was good to see that Texas Flag fly from the stage. I could see a difference in him from the last time we saw him but he’s still out there, still On the Road and picking for his fans all the time. Go Willie!

Willie invited Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks out and with them and his family, they closed out the show with I’ll Fly Away.

Not everything we heard and saw in Bristol and at Festy fits into the bluegrass genre. Here’s a bit on the other great stuff we caught.

Joan Osborne

Joan Osborne was a treat at Festy. She’s a wonderful singer. We first saw her at Roanoke College back in the early 90s when she first broke onto the scene. Then she showed up with the Dead a few years later. Her albums are fantastic and her most recent efforts looks at the songs of Bob Dylan. Her set at FEsty was all Dylan, with a little interview time worked in as part of an Almost e-Town set with Nick Forster. Osborne said there was a moment of panic when she learned Dylan won the Nobel Prize for literature and she thought everyone would be doing his songs. At Festy, she sang Tangled Up in Blue and many other classic Dylan tunes. Her band has a great groove with a piano and guitar.

Also at Festy, the Drive-By Truckers played a great set. These guys are true Southern rockers. Their latest album is American Band. They did a wonderful heartfelt Tom Petty tribute, The Waiting. They also did a recent song called Perilous Night about the recent problems in Charlottesville that led to Nazi marches and the death of one young woman and two Virginia State Police officers. A similar, much smaller, march was happening again in C-ville at the same but we didn’t realize it from the venue that night.

Sam Bush

Sam Bush, the newgrass king, also addressed recent violence in America, just days after the deaths of 58 people shot and hundreds injured at a Jason Aldean concert in Las Vegas. Bush remembered those people and thanked the audience for coming out to listen to live music. He combined the sentiment with a Tom Petty tribute with I Won’t Back Down. After a terrible week of news from Las Vegas and the loss of Petty, it was a moment of unification for the audience. Later in his set, he played a new song called Stop the Violence.

Beats Antique

Another interesting band at Festy was Beats Antique. Some have described it as electronic tribal music. It’s heavy on drums and very visual. Three singers/dancers/drummers played drums but it was more of a performance. They were also cheerleaders and belly dancers. The show ended with a giant inflatable cat!

Ani DiFranco

Ani DiFranco did a great Festy set. Many in the crowd on a sunny Saturday afternoon were there to hear her brand of folk rock.

In Bristol, The Broadcast rocked the twin city festival. They are bluesy rockers with a killer singer. Amanda Shires did a great set of rocker fiddle music on the State Street stage. Dust Bowl Revival was still rocking the Bristol crowd late Sunday afternoon. The Cactus Blossoms were a new one for us but awesome. We also count ourselves among the new fans of Langhorne Slim and American Aquarium too. Hope to catch them again soon.

Both festivals included Phoebe Hunt and the Gatherers as well as Love Canon. Phoebe’s music is folky but with a good dose of bluegrass. Love Canon is a fun band and everyone loves to sing along to their bluegrass versions of songs we know by heart.

David “Dawg” Grisman at the 2014 Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion

The weather cools off nicely and the days and nights are perfect for live music. The mid-Atlantic area has several great bluegrass and Americana festivals throughout the fall.

Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion – happening September 15-17 is a great downtown festival covering several blocks of the twin cities of Bristol Virginia/Tennessee. Large outdoor stages, small intimate venues, the beautiful Paramount Center for the Arts feature music from country, Americana, bluegrass and alternative country. As a bonus, it’s one of the more inexpensive festivals and there’s always more music than you can possibly take in.

Bristol is the Birthplace of Country Music and the festival is connected to the wonderful Birthplace Museum. Definitely worth a visit during festival weekend or a good reason for a return visit. Music history is always an important component of the festival. This year, an updated Farm and Fun Time recreates the popular radio show and another show celebrates the 90th Anniversary of the 1927 Bristol Sessions, where country music was born.

http://bristolrhythm.com/

Americana Fest – Nashville, Tennessee September 12-17. This is an outstanding lineup of Americana artists. Some favorites include The Lil Smokies, Colin Hay, Leeann Womack, Webb Wilder, Blind Boys of Alabama, Buddy Miller, Lukas Nelson (Willie’s son), Jim Lauderdale, North Mississippi All Stars, Robert Cray and Hi Rhythm and the Steel Wheels. Wow!

http://americanamusic.org/about-americanafest

World of Bluegrass is the annual festival produced by the International Bluegrass Music Association in Raleigh, North Carolina. Wide Open Bluegrass is the festival portion of the week – on September 29-30. Big (ticketed) shows are held in the PNC Ampitheater and a big variety of free shows are at different stages in downtown Raleigh. This year, WOB features Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers, The Infamous Stringdusters leading the Wide Open Jam, the Traveling McCourys with Del McCoury, Jerry Douglas and Sam Bush, Lonesome River Band, Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, Balsam Range and much more. This is a bucket lister if you like bluegrass!

https://ibma.org/world-of-bluegrass/wide-open-bluegrass

The Festy Experience – Nelson County, Arrington, Virginia October 5-8. A great October festival with a great line up of bluegrass and Americana. Hosted by the Stringdusters, this year’s line up features Drive By Truckers, Ani Difranco, Sam Bush Band, Joan Osborne (yay!!) and the Jerry Douglas Band, Cabinet, Della Mae, Billy Strings and Sarah Siskind and Sunliner to name a few. Also, the best gospel set of any festival with the GarrettGrass Gospel Hour which is a wonderful and uplifting way to start any festival day.

https://www.thefesty.com/

Hit the road. Buy your tickets. While you are there, buy some albums and merch to support these hard-working musicians. By all means, get out and enjoy the music!

Roanoke’s Berglund Colesium was packed with loud, energetic country and bluegrass fans. Stapleton’s first solo album, Traveller, was a big country hit. Lots of folks thought he was new to the scene but he’s been traveling the music road for years. He was a big part of The SteelDrivers, a great bluegrass band. He wrote songs and provided those strong vocals for the band.

Stapleton brings the audience back to what country used to be, not pop-country but old school, authentic country.

This two-hour set included several favorites from Traveller and a few older tunes from the SteelDriver days. The show was on April 20 so he opened up with Might as Well Get Stoned.

Stapleton’s lyrics are often simple but pure and beautiful. Running on hope and a tank gas, like dreams ain’t just for dreamers,” he says in When the Stars Come Out. Another nice line is “I drink because I’m lonesome and I’m lonesome because I drink,” in Between Whiskey and Me.

Stapleton is a triple threat. He’s a fantastic guitarist. He’s long been a successful songwriter, with number one songs recorded by artists like George Strait and Kenny Chesney and his songs have been on albums from a variety of country artists and even Adele! But his real strength, in my opinion, is his pipes. His voice has depth and variety and those slow bluesy songs give him plenty of opportunity to wail on the lyrics. The combination of all of that, plus about 9,000 screaming fans, is something special!

Other highlights included Country Song, Parachute, Fire Away, complete with a cell phone and lighter candlelight ending all around the audience. He ended the show with the hit Tennessee Whiskey and sang intros for all the band, including several sweet lines about his wife, Morgane. What a romantic!

His band for this tour was a four piece group with a drummer and bass player, plus his wife, Morgane, on vocals and Chris plays guitar and belts out wonderful country tunes.

I wish the sound had been clearer when he talked. It was difficult to make out what he was saying as he chatted between songs.

He played a song from his new album, From A Room: Vol. 1. It’s out in May and is one of two long awaited albums he will be putting out this year. Can’t wait to hear them!

LeeAnn Womack brought the country, with some traditional folk mixed in.

Bryan Sutton’s band is a tight and talented group. Put him on your must see list.

Earls of Leicester were a trip and also a must see for any fan of 1950s and 60s bluegrass. Their cover of all things Flatt and Scruggs featured songs I grew up with. When they broke into Fox on the Run, almost everyone in the crowd sang along and knew all the words. We used to sing it on bus trips in high school.

Town Mountain was heading to the Grand Ole Opry the next night for their Opry debut! Congratulations guys!

A quick note to say Robert Greer, the guitarist and lead singer for Town Mountain, is the brother of my friend William Greer. Great to watch his career doing so well!

Del McCoury and his talented band was fun as usual. Del always has a smile and a good time. I especially love the request portion of his show. He laughs, claims not to remember songs and then dives into a fan favorite or a little nugget from the archives.

I always love the Infamous Stringdusters and their late night set had the crowd dancing and having a great time! Andy Falco’s guitar work is phenomenal.

Travis Book’s vocals are smooth as silk. Jeremy Garrett can rip the fiddle and bring the high lonesome sound. Andy Hall’s dobro is sometimes psychedelic while honoring the old school. Chris Pandolfi’s banjo is precise and creative at the same time. Combined their mastery comes together for an energetic show like few others.

Audience at their show is a mix of dedicated fans and those who were just exposed – and saying “wow!” they are soon to be dedicated fans too.

In addition to the festival Owensboro is home to the International Bluegrass Music Museum. All the history of bluegrass, plus a great gift shop/music shop. Admission is free with the festival ticket too!

There was so much more! I was fortunate to cover the festival for Bluegrass Today so check out my full review over there.

The Infamous Stringdusters kicked it off on Friday with two sets of old favorites and rare treats. They broke out Tears of the Earth a beautiful and rarely heard song.

Cabinet played Friday night as well (and did a wonderful show on Thursday night for the early arrivers.) They are progressive bluegrass and they contributed some fantastic bluegrass. Fun band, go see them!

Saturday was packed and fans were not disappointed by the Larry Keel Experience. Sam Bush had just arrived so he joined in for a song or two. There was some incredible picking going on between Sam and Larry.

Lyle Lovett and John Hiatt hit the stage just before sunset. They took turns from one song to the next. Lyle did favorites Lights of L.A. County and If I had a Boat. John Hiatt did Drive South and Marlene among many classics. At one point, as the setting sun bathed the mountains in gold, Lyle told the audience to turn around so they wouldn’t miss the beautiful scene they could see from the stage. I’ve seen that happen one other time. Jeremy Garrett did the same at Floydfest–in the middle of a song.

Lyle and John’s encore was one song each. Lyle did the clever Church and John sang the amazingly simple and powerful Have a Little Faith in Me. Perfect ending to their set.

The banter between the two was fun. Both have a wry sense of humor. Our friend Ted described the scene well — like being in their living room.

Sam Bush Band closed out the night with a strong set of newgrass. The evening was so cool and damp you could see your breath and the band had to stop more than once to dry the instruments from the heavy dew.Lyle joined Sam for a few numbers early on.

Sunday opens with the Garrett Grass Gospel Hour, described by Festy regulars as the very best of Festy. Here’s the deal. It’s not to be missed no matter how late you stayed up on Saturday. Seriously, sleep next week. Just go to Gospel Hour. You listen to beautiful, personal gospel and spiritual music. I watched hawks float along the air currents coming off the mountain behind the stage. Magical.

Gospel hour music included Jeremy Garrett doing a solo Working on a Building. Jeremy and his wife, Connie, singing Lean on Love. (it was stuck in my head the next day and I loved it!). Jeremy, Connie and his sister sang lovely family harmonies. The set included the Stringdusters doing Let it Go, and One More Bridge.

Julie Lee debuted a wonderful new song.

Daniel Walker returned for another Gospel Hour, this year with Down by the Riverside, with Jeremy, Connie, Sarah and the Stringdusters.

The Falco Brothers–wow! So much wonderful positive music.

The Stringdusters closed it out with two hot sets on a cold Sunday night. Their sets on both nights included new music, old favorites and some that had been tucked away for a while. They did several cool covers. Jimi Hendrix Voodoo Chile and Allman Brother’s Midnight Rider. They have a new EP out with some great covers.

Fruition is an awesome band. Mimi, the mandolin player, was part of Gospel Hour and the band had a set as well.

Shook Twins is another fun act on the bill. They are quirky folky singers.

The talk of the festival was the possible location change next year. Word on the street and some news reports say the Festy is moving from Devil’s Backbone Brewery to Oak Ridge in Arrington, the site of Lockn, but Festy would likely use the smaller Blue Ridge Bowl stage there. The 2015 crowd shows Festy’s great potential and delivers on acts you don’t see at every festival. Music, happy people, Virginia mountains and more music.

As Saturday night’s show came to a close, Sam Bush invited the Stringdusters and Lyle Lovett to join him for Sitting on Top of the World. Lyle sang some new lyrics at the end and he said it best.

We came to the Festy
for the very first time
but it won’t be the last
not if you don’t mind.
She’s gone and I don’t worry.
Sitting on Top of the World.

Our friend Sarah scored a great video of Sitting on Top of the World. Thanks to Sarah for sharing! Give it a look.

Here’s a few more pictures.

Travis Book sings songs.

Connie and Jeremy Garrett

Andy Hall workshop

A double rainbow over Lockn 2014. Hopefully a sign for 2015 Lockn once it opens after storm delay.

A microburst storm hit the Lockn site just before they were to open, causing the festival to cancel the first day and keep the site closed. Thousands of campers and fans arrived before getting the word of the delay and had to find a place to spend the night. Nelson County breweries tweeted invitations to the fans. Businesses and individuals, as well as government groups, helped coordinate the efforts to find people places to stay for the evening, either camp sites or hotels.

Way to come together Virginia and help take care of these travelin’ music fans!

The line up and schedule for Lockn has been adjusted and they plan to open “first thing” Friday for campers.

Lots of talk on social media about whether Lockn will offer refunds or anything to help those who had additional expenses for accomodations and the lost day of music. Festival organizers have rightly been focused on site preparation and safety. But this topic may come back up again later.

Meanwhile, fingers crossed for warm, sunny Virginia days ahead, like the one above from Lockn 2014.

Nicki Bluhm and The Gramblers

Today I came across two new albums, not yet released, but available for listeners on the web.

The New York Times has a great feature Press Play where they preview full albums. They present Nicki Bluhm and The Gramblers new album Loved Wild Lost. Great opportunity to test drive this wonderful album, which is due out April 21 and can be pre-ordered from the band’s site. They have a great vibe.

NPR’s First Listen also previews new albums and they are offering up the sophomore album by Alabama Shakes. Check it out. They have a soulful sound fronted by Brittany Howard’s powerful voice. The album is Sound and Color and it’s also due out April 21.

Listen to these albums now while you can and then buy them as soon as possible. Real American music here folks — not overproduced but overly talented for sure.

Bill Nershi and Ronnie McCoury

The Jefferson Center in Roanoke hosted a night of bluegrass in late March. Hot Rize, The Del McCoury Band and then a late night show by The Travelin’ McCourys.

Hot Rize took the stage first and gave a strong bluegrass set. Tim O’Brien, Pete Wernick, Nick Forster and Bryan Sutton. Each one of them are amazing in their own right and they form a strong quartet. Their set was supplemented with Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers, a somewhat outrageous country western band with suspiciously similar line up to Hot Rize. Cowboy boots, ten gallon hats, sequins and even red fringe on the guitar. They’re a sight! Hot Rize came back out with more bluegrass to wrap up the set.

Next, main man Del McCoury took the stage with his fine bluegrass band. He led off with Traveling Teardrop Blues. Del may have a set list but every time we’ve seen him, he relishes the chance to ask the audience what they want to hear. As audience members yell out requests he discusses them from the stage in his wonderful tenor. “Oh sure, we’ll play that one.” Often he gets ready to start a requested song, only to redirect the band and start up another song.

In addition to Del, the band includes his son Ronnie McCoury, son Rob McCoury, Jason Carter and Alan Bartram.

Hot Rize members came out at the end and played with the Del McCoury Band. They all joined together to play Roanoke, a song named for the  host city.

One of the requests was for a gospel song and it was the high moment of the show. Get Down On Your Knees and Pray featured beautiful harmonies and created an uplifting moment. Take us to church, Del! Amen!

During the set breaks of the main show, we were fortunate to meet Bill Nershi of String Cheese Incident. He was there to play guitar for The Travelin’ McCourys in a late night show. We had not planned to stay but we were so glad we did.

For those who aren’t familiar with the Travelin’ McCoury’s, it’s basically Del’s band with a guest guitarist. Go see them if you get a chance. Tight band and always with fun and different guitarists.

* No cameras in the Jefferson Center so apologies for the cell phone images. All pics from Travelin’ McCourys set.

Lyle Lovett is such a talented songwriter and storyteller. His bands are amazing. The band line up is rarely the same but they are always fantastic. At the sold-out Jefferson Center show in Roanoke, he had the fantastic Francine Reed singing with him. It was our first time seeing her with him and wow, can that woman sing! The Large Band was a total of 14 musicians including fiddler Luke Bella and several members of the Memphis Horns so they’ve got a lush, full sound.

The show included several favorites: If I had a Boat, Cute as a bug, Penguins, My Baby don’t Tolerate, I’ve been to Memphis. He also did his cover of Tammy Wynette’s Stand By Your Man. funny! He also played my all-time favorite, Lights of LA County. A love song with a beautiful melody but if you listen closely, it’s actually a murder ballad! I loved the song for a long time before realizing that!

Francine Reed did Wild Women don’t Get the Blues.

The show closed with a wonderful rendition of Ain’t No More Cane.

Apologies for the crappy cell phone picture. It’s all we could pull off from the balcony without a good camera.