I'm spending my entire weekend at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, three days (four days if you count the children's program) of music spanning six stages, estimated attendance half again the attendence of Woodstock– but since it is a family-oriented event, and since no alcohol is sold (not even wine or beer), last year there was a grand total of just one arrest the whole weekend.
Yesterday's events:
Got there around 11 a.m., the people I sat with said they got there at 10– there were very few people, but the entire area in front of the mixing board at the Banjo Stage was covered in tarps. More on the Banjo Stage to follow…
Went over to the Star Stage to see Zigaboo Modaliste (founding member of the Funky Meters of New Orleans w/ Art Neville). He looked over the enormity of the crowd and cracked, "Attention: There's some bad acid going around." (a reference, to those who don't know the reference, to Woodstock. The announcement appears in the movie and on the recording of the event.) Good, hearty, New Orleans Funk (strangely, featuring two Bay Area professors).
Back to the Banjo Stage. Sat to the left of the sound board, slightly behind it. I first saw the David Bromberg Quartet with special guest David Grisman. Oddly, there were six people on stage (but I'm not a mathematician). I heard Bromberg in college, doing an electric blues duet with Mike Bloomstiein. He was playing bluegrass this time, so it sounded quite different, as you might expect.
Next up, the Del McCoury Band with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band. I wasn't expecting this: it was the highlight of the day. I had seen Del McCoury before– very strict traditional bluegrass (I like bluegrass that's a bit more… up to date…). He's about 70, and was just inducted into the Bluegrass Hall of Fame. However, with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, he really loosened up. And, far from being a stunt (Hardly Strictly Bluegrass is full uf genre crossover, and odd pairings), the two groups frequently took the lead in the other's oevre: Del McCoury's group frequently took the lead on jazz tunes, and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band took the lead on bluegrass tunes. It was a great matchup!
Next was John Prine, who I was really looking forward to seeing. He played most of his "hits", including a song I first performed publicly back when I was in high school. He looked tired (he cleared his throat frequently, so he might have been under the weather), and was a bit of a disappointment, but it was still good to hear his songs.
Closing the show (and the reason for all the tarps) was Robert Plant and his Band of Joy, featuring Patty Griffin. He opened the show with Black Dog (he performed six Led Zeppelin tunes in all, three from the unnamed (aka Zoso)), and did not appear all that energetic in doing so. As a matter of fact, he didn't appear comfortable doing his old Led Zeppelin tunes; the reason, I'm guessing, is because they're out of his range (they were out of his range in the 70's too, as you could tell if you ever listened to live recordings of Led Zeppelin from the 70's). That being said… Robert Plant's voice has never sounded better. His voice is much fuller, and his tone much warmer, than it was during his Led Zeppelin days.
The band's set really didn't come alive, though, until they performed a cover of Richard Thompson's (my personal fave) House of Cards. The guitar player really had a feel for Thompson's style. Another thing that was refreshing about Plant's set, is that he didn't take all the vocals. His guitar player, his fretless banjo/oud(balalaika?)/mandolin player a,d Patty Griffin all took a turn on lead vocals. That wasn't the only Richard Thompson cover of the evening. He interrupted his performance of Led Zeppelin's Ramble On for a verse of Fairport Convention's Calling On Song.
The whole thing is free, a party thrown by a rich philanthropist for 800,000 of his closest friends. Not a bad deal…
My itinerary today is:
12:30 Alison Brown Quartet – Banjo Stage
1:30 Guy Clark (he wrote LA Freeway among other popular songs) – Rooster Stage
2:30 Patty Griffin – Rooster Stage
4:15 Gillian Welch – Banjo Stage
and 5:45 The Flatlanders, featuring Joe Ely and Jimmie Dale Gilmore, the seminal New Country supergroup from Loredo, Texas; who, along with T-Bone Burnett & the Late Great Townes Van Zandt, influenced a generation of Country Music performers. (Willie Nelson, long know in country circles for writing songs for others, finally got his own breakthrough on the charts when he and Merle Haggard (who's also performing today with Kris Kristofferson– I may see him, depending on crowd flow) covered Townes Van Zandt's Pancho & Lefty).
