Reconfigured Duhks return to Tacoma

[Photos by David Conklin]

With all the recent personnel changes in the lineups of progressive acoustic bands, this was my first chance to catch up a band that started the trend already a year ago. That would be The Duhks, where Sarah Dugas replaced Jessica Havey as lead singer. More recently, Dugas' brother Christian has joined in on drums, replacing former percussionist Scott Senor (although they will apparently use both drummers on occasion, as they did on the recent Cayamo cruise).

The Duhks are one of the bands that have led the wave of so-called "new traditionalists," mixing folk styles from various world cultures with a heavy dollop of rock and roll energy. The Winnipeg MB band has been a hit on the roots festival circuit for several years now, including at two earlier Wintergrass festivals.

After missing them at the festivals I attended in 2007, I was anxious to see how the personnel changes affected the sound and personality of the band. As a bonus, the band has a new CD in the works, and I also got to sample The Duhks' new material.

Dugas certainly has the pipes for fronting the band—good range, tone and projection. Her duets with fiddler Tania Elizabeth, who now gets a more prominent supporting role, were very fine. It is not as clear that her personality and image meshes as well, however.

Not that I would expect her to match Havey in the body art department, but there is something rebellious about The Duhks' persona and Dugas seemed possibly too conventional for the part.

Mannerisms aside, The Duhks' music was true and consistent in the older material, and the new songs (a new album is on the way) build on the band's sound rather than depart from it.

They kicked off both sets I saw with a rocking "Fast-Paced World," which seems to describe both the band's international lifestyle and its up-tempo musical attack. As much as Senor added to the band with his variety of percussion instruments, the addition of a full-blown drum kit serves to amp up the proceedings even more as they swung next into the Afro-rhythmic "Old Cook Pot" from the last CD.

Next they displayed their more lyrical quality, taking on the harmonies and catchy hook of "You Don't Feel It," written by Dan Frechette, who also penned the group's hit "Mists of Down Below." That might be the single to look for on the new record.

At this point in the show, the previously quiet band leader Leonard Podolak stepped up leading an instrumental medley and a fun sing-along about all all-night interstate car ride, "95 South Cackalack," which seems destined to be a trademark. He also entertained the crowd with his implsh stage banter.

As mentioned, Elizabeth seems to be playing more of a role vocally, but her main thing is her hotshot fiddling. She and guitarist Jordan McConnell took a thrilling instrumental duet, and then set the rhythm on the Cajun-flavored "Down to the River."

The overall impression I came away with is that The Duhk's sound and musical identity remains consistent despite a 40 percent turnover in personnel. They are also one of the hardest working acoustic bands, touring worldwide and appearing at festivals large and small.

I may catch them next at Festival International de Louisiane, the Francophone fest in Lafayette LA where they should fit especially well. I hope to have a follow up then.

Oh, what a (Friday) night at Wintergrass

Three of the most highly regarded progressive acoustic bands, each with a new record in the can but not yet released, previewed their new material in a glorious evening of music Friday night on the Wintergrass main stage. The show featuring Crooked Still, The Infamous Stringdusters, and Punch Brothers with Chris Thile burnished this festival's growing reputation as a prime venue for innovative acoustic string music.

To be sure, Wintergrass presents straight-ahead bluegrass as well. The early evening program at the Pavilion Stage presented mainstream stars Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper and Bobby Osborne & The Rocky Top X-press. Cleveland's band is full of hot pickers, not least the fiddling front man who has notched numerous IBMA honors, but the set seems packaged as an act, lacking the kind of spontaneity we would shortly be hearing. At 79, Osborne is a delight as a surviving bluegrass pioneer, but you don't see him expecting anything new.

Crooked Still
With the traditional bases covered, Wintergrass then brought out the musical firepower. First up was Crooked Still, reconfigured with Tristan Clarridge on cello in place of wild man Rushad Eggleston and with semi-regular special guest Casey Driessen on fiddle. Another new member, Brittany Haas, was not on hand, however.

As did each of the three bands, Crooked Still featured its new material while mixing in favorites from previous albums. As usual, the focal point in the band is vocalist Aoife O'Donovon, whose whispery voice and collaborative band leadership sets the tone for the proceedings. Probably the big question was how Clarridge would fit as Eggleston's replacement. The answer is that he delivers all of Rushad's trademark chops and that he adds an improvisational lyricism as an added dimension.

Of course, he could never match Rushad's personality and wisely doesn't try, letting his bow work speak for itself. Clarridge is a string-band prodigy, having won numerous fiddle championships beginning at a very young age. Now 23, he began playing cello a few years ago. In an interview with Festival Preview last month, he described himself as a follower of Eggleston's cello playing style.

The interplay of low sounds coming from Clarridge's cello and Corey DiMarco's bass, the treble coming from Driessen's artistic fiddling, and the staccato of Greg Liszt's banjo produce a unique sound, especially layered over with O'Donovan's vocals. Rushad is a unique talent, but Crooked Still will now play more as a unit without his outsized presence.

O'Donovan returned the favor from Tuesday night and had Sarah Jarosz join in on a couple of songs, including a new original by O'Donovan, "Low Down and Dirty." That was one of the highlights of the set that we can expect to see on the new album in a few months. A couple of others that stood out were "Captain Captain," "Tell Her to Come Back Home," and Robert Johnson's "Last Fair Deal Gone Down." Other new material continued the band's formula of reworking traditional folk material.

The Infamous Stringdusters
Next up was The Infamous Stringdusters, fresh off one of the hottest album debuts in recent memory. Last fall, the band picked up IBMA awards for album of the year and new band of the year. The sextet played Wintergrass a year ago, and last night marked their triumphant return.

The 'Dusters also had a recent band personnel change, with Andy Falco replacing hot guitar picker Chris Eldridge (who joined Punch Brothers, coming up next on stage). Falco delivers all the licks and superfast runs Eldridge supplied, ably holding down the guitar seat in an amazing instrumental ensemble that also includes Chris Pandolfi on banjo, Jeremy Garrett on fiddle, Jesse Cobb on mandolin, Andy Hall on dobro, and Tavis Book on bass.

Book, Garrett and Hall trade off on lead vocals, adding to the ensemble direction of the band. More than half of the set was new material, with a few of the hits from Fork in the Road interspersed. The new stuff is all over the map, but the common denominator is the improvisational opportunities each song provides.

Several times, the jams veered into jazzy territory and occasionally into rock and roll. Each musician is impressive, but it seems to be Pandolfi who most often leads the band into unexpected forays. They closed with an jazz instrumental encore, "Moon Man" by Pandolfi, that was a delight. Expect that along with a host of great new vocal numbers on their new album due in June.

Punch Brothers
At this point, I am thinking, how can Chris Thile's new act top those two wonderful sets? The answer is by venturing even further out into musical abstraction. The centerpiece of the performance would be the third and fourth movements of Thile's ambitious newgrass suite, "The Blind Leading the Blind," which is also the core of Punch Brothers' new album due out next week. (The band played the first two movements in an earlier set at the Church Stage that I missed.)

Punch Brothers is the new name for Thile's band, previously known as How to Grow a Band and including Eldridge on guitar, Noam Pikelny on banjo, Gabe Witcher on fiddle, and Greg Garrison on bass, in addition to Thile's incomparable mandolin. If the Stringdusters start in bluegrass and veer into jazz, Punch Brothers starts in jazz and veers into avant-garde classical. This was my first hearing of the suite, which is a piece that will require multiple listenings to fully understand.

The suite is Thile's tour-de-force individual composition, but the rest of the material in the set and on the album is collaboratively written by all the band members, some as abstract as the suite but some grounded in familiar melodies and styles. The night closed with an encore of "Ophelia," the great song by The Band, with Gabe Witcher singing the part of Levon Helm. Wonderful.

As the happy audience filed out out of the Pavilion, many to head for the late-night dance venue or to post-midnight jams in the hotel, I had a sudden realization that this may have been the most exciting evening of music I have ever witnessed on a festival program. Oh, what a night!

Laura Love "represents" with Black and Bluegrass program at Wintergrass

There was plenty of representing and testifying at Wintergrass on opening night, with three bands exploring the "Afro-American roots of bluegrass," as hometown folk diva Laura Love described the program she curated. And while there may have been a little more funk involved than in a standard night of bluegrass, the program made a convincing case for the relationship between black music forms and the old-time mountain music that developed into the genre known as bluegrass.

But if that sounds like it was an academic exercise, it wasn't. Actually, beyond describing the idea for the program, Love did relatively little talking. Mainly the music—from Love's new ensemble Harper's Ferry, the Ebony Hillbillies and Ruthie Foster—spoke for itself.

The Ebony Hillbillies were a late replacement for the scheduled Carolina Chocolate Drops, who had to cancel. While the Hillbillies were fresh and fun, the night lost some context without the Drops, who regularly talk about the history of black string band music in their performances.

Love said she approached the festival with the idea because she is accustomed to performing at events like Wintergrass, Merlefest and Telluride, where she is frequently the only person of color performing. "But I have been noticing there are more and more black musicians reclaiming this music," she said.

Reclaim it they did. The three bands offered a range of Afro-American music styles such as blues, gospel, and old time presented with acoustic string instruments (except for Love's own electric bass) that clearly were influences on and influenced by bluegrass.

Love's Harper Ferry kicked off the night with a six-piece band featuring Orville Johnson on guitar (Love said he as an "honorary Negro"), plus banjo rapper Turbo, Tanya Richardson on fiddle, Tory Trujillo on backup vocals and Clifford Ervin on the bones. Their set began with traditional material like "Cuckoo" and "Cotton-Eyed Joe" before moving on to spirituals like "Eyes on the Prize" and "We Shall Not Be Moved."

Looking and sounding like a latter-day Dave Van Ronk, Johnson impressed with his fine guitar work and high-harmony vocals, especially when he was featured on "Nobody's Fault But Mine" and Bill Monroe's classic "Working On a Building."

For an encore, banjo player Turbo led on a funky-chicken version of "Cluck Old Hen" that brought down the house.

Next up were the Ebony Hillbillies, a little known group of New York street musicians who present a more urbanized style of African string music, if that makes sense. They say that they hail from the "concrete hills of New York City." Their lead instruments are fiddle, banjo and mountain dulcimer, with bass and percussion backup.

I think it is not accurate to compare them with the Carolina Chocolate Drops, who play a more authentic but also a more studied form of mainly banjo-based music. Still they have an original and welcome new sound that adds to the texture of contemporary black acoustic music.

>The closer was Ruthie Foster, who lived up to her "phenomenal" billing with a strong set of eclectic material and lots of stage personality that entertained the late night audience. Backed by a bass and drums, she performed traditionals, covers of Mississippi John Hurt and Son House, an amazing reworking of Stephen Foster's "O' Susannah," and several of her own numbers, including a delicious imitation of Sam Cooke.

Her story about blues singer Jessie May Hemphill shooting a hole in her Gibson guitar was a great introduction for Hurt's "Richland Woman Blues." Now I know that Richland is a section of Memphis where the night life used to be. Any dude will do, indeed.

Foster finished with a rousing take of Son House's "Grinnin' In Your Face," with Love joining her on stage for a howling finish to an original and provocative night of music.

Sarah Jarosz impresses as Wintergrass opener

Wintergrass has been a champion of the youth movement in acoustic music—not just the crop of young bands like The Duhks, Infamous Stringdusters and Crooked Still who are playing here this weekend, but also the amazing bluegrass prodigies who we have watched grow up at Wintergrass and a few other festivals.

One of those kids is Sarah Jarosz, the 17-year-old Texan who first gained notice for her mandolin picking but is now emerging as a full-blown performer on every acoustic instrument but especially as a singer-songwriter. Jarosz opened the Wintergrass festival Thursday night fronting a musically inventive trio including teen prodigy compatriots Alex Hargreaves on fiddle and Sam Grisman on bass.

Jarosz alternated among banjo, guitar and her trademark mandolin on a series of her own compositions, both vocal arrangements and instrumentals, as well as some well chosen covers.

Like any young vocalist, she takes a risk singing love songs, but she comes close to convincing on the couple she tried. In her classy blue dress and high boots, she is emerging not only as a musician but as a young woman, a perspective best expressed in an original song performed solo on guitar, "End of a Dream," about wanting to figure life out, which she said was written only days ago.

After the solo, the band came back with special guest Aoife O'Donovan from Crooked Still, whom Jarosz called "one of my biggest influences," for a wailing duet on another Jarosz original. For an encore, Hargreaves, Grisman and Jarosz let loose some tasty blues licks on Tom Waits' "Come Up to My House."

Jarosz has something bigger in mind than being the next bluegrass sweetheart. She has the talent and poise to be something like a future Shawn Colvin.

Wintergrass goes chic

Each time I have been to Wintergrass, I always think I'll make a visit to the famous Tacoma Museum of Glass, but each year the music schedule is so intense that I never seem to make it. This year it seems that the museum has moved in with the festival, with the newly renovated festival hotel, renamed The Murano, features beautiful glass art throughout the hotel, much of it truly stunning.

You might wonder how all that high design fits with the flavor of a bluegrass festival that has inhabited this space for all of its dozen years of operation. This answer is pretty well. There are lots of changes—lobby and lounge spaces rearranged, some no-jam zones, and boutique hotel flourishes throughout.

But the jammers seem to be finding new favorite places to set up, including a lounge area with fireplace to one side of the lobby that is a beautiful cozy nook. Even though parts of the renovation are still in progress, everything looks to be working smoothly.

One issue with the old hotel was not easy to fix, and the three elevators are again overwhelmed with traffic. Anyone trying to make it to suites on the upper floors may wait several minutes for an elevator and then make a dozen or more stops on the way up.

Jamming at Joe Val

Our friend Lisa G, who blogs at Festive Living, filed a report and photo gallery from last weekend's Joe Val Bluegrass Festival in Framingham MA.

Here's a great excerpt about the elevator jams at the festival. Go here for the full report and here for the images.

When one thinks of elevator music, it usually brings to mind some bland, boring background music meant to relax, but invariably having the opposite effect (at least to me). But at the festival this past weekend in Framingham, MA , the term "elevator music" took on a whole new meaning.

As you ride the elevator between floors, you can hear the sounds of banjos and mandolins getting closer and closer and then surprise! The doors slide open to a pickin' party. Don't care for that rendition of "Old Home Place"? Step back in, go up or down a floor and find another group playing "Foggy Mountain Breakdown".

This is what turns a 3-day concert into a real bluegrass festival, since bluegrass is a type of music where a high percentage of the audience are musicians themselves. You can just travel between floors listening to or taking part in endless jams all weekend.

Quaint old stage may be history at Grey Fox

While reaction on the Grey Fox email list to news about the festival's new site has been generally positive, posters expressed surprise and concern about the festival's decision not to use its historic old stage on the new grounds.

The same funky little stage has been used since the founding of the festival, but it lacks the facilities and amenities of a modern festival stage. So I can see that it makes sense for Grey Fox to use the move as an opportunity to upgrade, although rumors of a temporary metal stage are disappointing.

Probably it is too late for this year to build out an elaborate new facility, so bringing in a portable structure may be the only alternative. I have no doubt that management will do all they can with stage sets and graphics to make it feel homey. But nobody expects it to have the charm and character of the old stage.

Hopefully, the portable stage will be a stopgap solution and plans are underway for a grand new structure on the Walsh Farm site for Grey Fox 2009 and beyond.

Meanwhile, email list posters are proposing lots of interesting ideas about what to do with the old stage. A section of it could be incorporated in a new design, or pieces of it could be auctioned for charity.

The following post by Angela Hall was one of the moving tributes to the old stage.

Now that we are about to settle onto the [Walsh] Farm site and are filled with anticipation and heightened excitement for all things new. I lament over what I consider to be a true loss, that is, of our Main Stage.

Our sweet, looks like somebody's front porch, little stage resonates with the harmonies, melodies and rhythms of (without exaggeration) some of the greatest music in the world.

Our little stage, all dressed up in its best floral arrangements, was both humble and charming at the same time. It has nurtured the likes of the Shankman Twins, Nickel Creek, Alison Krauss, to name a few, as they grew and honed there art. Not to mention the future Casey Dreasons, Sam Bushs, Mark Suttons, Missy Raines through the Kids Academy. Who's performances highlighted Sunday Morning.

It has hosted the Greats of Bluegrass. Some of which are no longer with us. One memory I hold dear was standing in the pouring rain in 2000, mud up to my ankles, to hear John Hartford, loving every second of it.

This is where Doc Watson sat. This is where Del McCoury stood. This is where Rushad Eggelston leap into the crowd. This is where the "Old And In The Way" reunion was held and where Sam Bush played until 2:00 a.m. and that's only "current events."

This little stage has endured season after season, loyally waiting for the warmth and beauty that came annually every third week in July.

Not modern, back stage looked like a shack. But, if walls could talk! This truly is a relic of Americana History and will be missed. For this I mourn.

Way down yonder in the Indian nation

By Jimmy Carlisle

With festival season looming, in a matter of months it will be time to make the annual pilgrimage back to those Oklahoma hills where Mr. Woodrow Wilson Guthrie was born. But to you and me, he’s just plain old Woody.

This year's event runs July 9-13 in Okemah OK. I have been attending the annual Woody Guthrie Folk Festival since its first year in 1997. It was of course smaller 11 years ago, but the spirit has grown along with the attendance. The festival has grown into a homecoming for both the artists and the fans. A handful of artists are festival regulars. Jimmy Lafave, Ellis Paul, Joel Rafael, the Red Dirt Rangers, Don Conoscenti and Bob Childers have appeared at every festival.

This year's preliminary lineup includes all those plus John Gorka, Sara Hickman, Butch Hancock and more. Over the years, performers such as The Kingston Trio, Country Joe McDonald, Jackson Brown, Ramblin' Jack Elliot and Pete Seeger as have come through the hallowed streets of Okemah Oklahoma. The list goes on and on. And it only takes playing in Okemah once to become a member of the Woodyfest family.

From the first year with the only performance venue being out at the Pastures of Plenty, it has grown to the point where the hardest decision you have is not who to see, but how are you going to see as many artist as you possibly can each day. Of course, you have to start your day off at the Brick Street Café, but then your choices get harder.

You have the option of staying at the Brick and enjoying great performers right there, or you walk out the front door and turn left and go next door to the Rocky Road Tavern and enjoy some great open mic sets the are presented by the Oklahoma Songwriters and Composers Association. Or you walk the few blocks to the Crystal Theater, considered the second main venue of the festival, to take in another stage of festival greats.

Mixed in with those decisions are the ones that involve the Children's Festival on Saturday morning, or finding the time to explore town and see where Woody left his marks in the cement on main street, or walking down to the Hot and Cold Water towers, and finding time to pay your respects out at the cemetery on the hill overlooking the town of Okemah.

This is a festival that demands a full five days of your time. And when Sunday afternoon rolls around and you realize its 2 o’clock and the hootenanny at the Crystal is over and its time to hit the road and head home, you will think to yourself, "do we have to go?" and "how long is it till next year’s festival?" That’s when you realize that your have become part of the Woodyfest family.

Ted Lehmann on the ETA Bluegrass Cruise

Intrepid festival blogger Ted Lehmann leaves his RV parked in Miami this week while aboard the ETA Bluegrass Cruise with Cherryholmes, Grasstowne, Bradley Walker and more. His first installment of his shipboard blog (Internet access is $.37 a minute) is more about the ship than the music. If you ever wondered what it is like on a music cruise, Ted's reports will give you a good idea what to expect.

Here's a snippet about the first evening concert on Sunday night:

The bluegrass crowd reassembled in the Sphinx Lounge for the first bluegrass show of the week. There are about 270 people on the bluegrass cruise most had time to change back into more comfortable clothing in keeping with the usually informal dress of a bluegrass festival, which after all, this looks very much like, even if it’s taking place at sea.

Promoter Steve Wallach served as emcee, combining his usual combination of corny stories, long experience running this cruise, and familiarity with many of the people who have taken this cruise a number of times kept the proceedings moving forward in good humor.

Tonight three bands performed. Tim Graves and Cherokee opened, followed by Lorraine Jordan and Carolina Road with Grasstowne closing the evening as midnight approached. The response, even from this rather stuffed and tired crowd, was enthusiastic, too say the least.

The performers, struggling with a sound system not designed for the demands of the acoustic instruments of a bluegrass band, acquitted themselves very well, and the music was of a very high quality, even though it was sometimes difficult for the musicians to keep their feet as the ship’s rolling increased into the evening.

IBMM "first generation" documentaries featured at bluegrass film festival

Three "first generation" oral history documentaries produced by the International Bluegrass Music Museum were featured at the first annual "IBMM Bluegrass Master's Film Festival" presented by the Northern California Bluegrass Society.

The event, hosted by Museum Trustee Carl Pagter, was part of the NCBS "Bluegrass On Broadway" Festival, held February 14-17, 2008 in Redwood City, CA.

The IBMM documentaries featured The Goins Brothers, Jake Quesenberry,and Vern Williams. The two non-museum films on the festival bill were about the songwriter family of Ola Belle Reed (produced by Tom Sims of the Reed family) and about Bill Knowlton's Bluegrass Ramble Picnic (produced by WCNY).

"The IBMM oral history project formed the basis for this new festival," said Michael Hall, director of the event and NCBS president. "We wanted to make these bluegrass history films available outside of the museum for our California fans."

The successful first-time film festival will likely become an annual part of the larger "BOB" city-wide music festival. The film event was produced by the Society with financial support from the Redwood City Civic Cultural Commission and the Redwood City Public Library.

The 3 festival films were chosen from the IBMM's 18 completed documentaries. Over 150 additional "First Generation" documentaries have been shot and are currently in the production process. Three more IBMM films will be used in 2009.

NCBS has issued a call for bluegrass documentaries to fill the non-museum slots on next year's program. Submissions should be sent to Michael Hall, 610 Island Place, Redwood City, CA. 94065. Deadline: October 10, 2008.

Ebony Hillbillies to fill Chocolate Drop slot at Wintergrass

Wintergrass moved quickly to fill the Thursday-Friday hole created when the Carolina Chocolate Drops cancelled their appearance at the festival, which opens in one week. The replacement band, The Ebony HIllbillies, are another African American string band--this one from New York City--playing banjo-driven mountain music. They appeared at last year's IBMA conference, where they apparently caught the eye of the Wintergrass organizers.

They appear to be a near perfect replacement for CCD in the Thursday night "Black and Bluegrass" program, which also features Laura Love and Ruthie Foster. (I saw the Drops perform last week in Berkeley, and plan to post a review soon.)

For those unfamiliar with the Ebony Hillbillies, check out this video by carltheclod:

Grey Fox finds its farm

The Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival has a new home in Greene County, New York, across the Hudson and 45 miles from its old location. The festival announced it had reached an agreement to hold the 32-year-old event on the Walsh Farm, also known as the Poultney Farm, in Oak Hill NY.

The 236 acre site is said to be well suited for a festival--relatively flat with open fields and some woodlands, bordered on one side by Catskill Creek. In the announcement, festival spokesperson Mary Burdette also noted that the land parcel "is shaped like a mandolin."

Excited Grey Fox patrons spent the day looking at Internet mapping programs to get the lay of the land (see above). Overall, the reviews among festival regulars were mostly positive. The new location is still within easy range of Boston, New York and is an hour closer for anyone coming from the west. Logistics are likely to be easier in a level location.

Though just a county away, there will be differences. The festival was begun as the Berkshire Mountain Bluegrass Festival and has always identified with that mountain range. The view from the old festival site was westward to the Catskill Mountains in the distance. Now the new site is in the shadow of those same Catskills.

In its announcement, the festival noted that Greene County is known for its Irish and Celtic culture. Bluegrass music, of course, is based in large measure on the music of the British Isles.

The announcement puts the focus back on producing a 2008 festival this July 17-20. Sam Bush was added as a Saturday closer to boost an already strong lineup. Musically, the most anticipated performance of the festival is sure to be the 30th anniversary reunion of Hot Rize.

Life After The Waybacks

I had a chance the other day to listen to a podcast interview with former Waybacks finger-picker Stevie Coyle on Michael Gaither's Songs and Stories blog. It's a loose rambling conversation covering Coyle's varied background, the Bay Area music scene and the influence of Hot Tuna. It was recorded a month before he stepped down from the Waybacks to pursue solo work.

That's well underway now, according to Coyle's MySpace page. He has been in the studio and a solo CD is on the way. And he is hitting the road beginning next week for a tour in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas. Most of those dates are house concerts and intimate venues, but I imagine we see him on festival stages soon enough.

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