Returned to the Banjo Stage: Robert Plant was rumoured to be showing up with Patti Griffin on the Rooster Stage, which he did for one song, so that stage, which occupies one of the smaller meadows, and the Star Stage, which occupies a medium-sized meadow, were far too overcrowded for my comfort.
Watched Earl Scruggs' group. He's getting well into his eighties, so he was sitting down in the back playing barely audible banjo, and had two other performers fronting his group. They were all good (though nothing spectacular), and in case you didn't know who Earl Scruggs was, they performed the theme from "Beverly Hillbillies", which Scruggs recorded with Lester Flatt, LO these 50+ years ago…
Warren Hellman (again, the man who puts on these concerts) sat in for a number, also on banjo.
Next was Gillian Welch, who's been with the festival for several years. Evidently, numerous people were attending just to listen to her. The crowd in the Banjo Stage meadow stretched so far back– it did remind one of the crowd at Woodstock. She played a couple of tunes that I recognized, including "Tear my Still House Down". She had a really nice, stripped-down yet hearty delivery that sounded very traditional.
Fortunately, the closing act that I most wanted to see on Saturday is "the Greatest Supergroup Nobody's Ever Heard Of": the Flatlanders from Loredo, Texas, featuring Joe Ely and Jimmie Dale Gilmore. (They were a seminal influence on the Young/New Country movement along with Townes Van Zandt and T-Bone Burnett. Willie Nelson, long famous in Country circles for writing songs for others, finally broke through as a recording artist in his own right when he recorded a cover of Townes Van Zandt's "Pancho & Lefty" with Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings. btw… both Waylon Jennings and Emmylou Harris performed that cover over the weekend). They were pretty much playing all-new material, so I didn't recognise any of their songs; but, as usual, Joe Ely stood head and shoulders over the rest of the group with his strong voice (his excellent enunciation) and powerful lyrics. I was able to sit as far forward as I've been able to the whole concert series, due to the fact that most attendees had no idea who the Flatlanders were. It was definitely the highlight of the day.
Off topic, but banjos frighten me. When I see or hear them, I immediately get this mental picture:Yes, I’m just that narrow minded.I will say, though, that banjo players are freakin’ amazing to me. The way they can pluck those strings with two pick thingy-ma-bobs. I sit there like :eyes: “HOW THE HELL?!”Excellent post, btw. :yes: Very well written. 🙂