The groove is alive and kicking on "Departures," the first full-length album from Canadian instrumental group Apollo Suns. With an expected release date on Do Right! Music in late September, this 12-song compilation delivers soulful jazz-rock with influences stemming from funk, prog rock and psychedelia. Listening to Apollo Suns is revelatory – your feet will move, and your heart will follow.

Apollo Suns, hailing from Winnipeg, is currently on tour in the US and Canada in support of their upcoming album. They are sure to thrill audiences, especially fans of instrumental horn-heavy jam music, with renditions of their new material and older cuts from three previous EP releases, released as far back as 2017. The core group includes founder Ed Durocher (Guitar), Tim Iskierski (Drums), Erika Einarson (Percussion), Bryn Herperger (Bass), Garrett Malenko (Trumpet), Benjamin James Hill (Trombone), Aaron Bartel (Bari Sax) and Anatol Rennie (Keyboards/Synths).

On their new album, produced by Juno award-winning producer Ben Kaplan (Five Alarm Funk, Mother Mother, The Rare Americans), Apollo Suns swaggers and preens with an innovative plan that announces their imminent and inevitable arrival on bigger stages. A cohesive and self-assured effort, Departures has a lot to say, and says it well.

The first single from Departures, "Pluto," hit the airwaves in Spring this year. Like most of the cuts on the album, "Pluto" is built on melodies, beats and solos reminiscent of Snarky Puppy, Galactic's instrumental jams, and 70's funk (e.g., Average White Band's "Pick up the Pieces"). But Apollo Suns takes a fresh and ferocious approach to the genre. Regarding "Pluto," for instance, Durocher says that its namesake deity from Greek mythology " is a many-faced god who is capable of great kindness but also is temperamental. We wanted the song … to convey that feeling to listeners.”

Temperamental taken literally means "liable to unreasonable changes of mood." But there is nothing "unreasonable" about Apollo Suns' music. Indeed, in keeping with the album's title, each song is a departure not only from a designated starting point, but also from well-worn paths. Occasional rhythm shifts bring to mind well-coordinated leaps taken by Phish, Frank Zappa and King Crimson. Everything makes sense, even when it's unexpected.

The album's opening track "Through the Woods" exemplifies this well. An intro synthesizer effervesces in the background while the horns and percussion begin to fill the room with tentative fist-pumping punches and drum rolls. Then, as if celebrating an unexpected victory, the whole band kicks in with a triumphant march punctuated by uplifting guitar and sax solos. And before you know it, in the blink of an eye, it's over. The procession has passed, and we are filled with feelings of hope and achievement – and anticipation for whatever will come next.

Other experiences, always positive and inspirational, surface throughout the album. "Horses" begins with a moody guitar stroll before the music breaks into a trot and then a run, exploding into a full wind-in-your-hair gallop through alternating fields of trumpet and sax leads. In the end, the horses slow their pace, strutting with heads held high as the horns welcome them home. "Fonxy" is a N'Awlins-style brass outing that will fill a floor with smiles as well as dancing shoes. The album closer, "Beyond the Woods," is a restful tune, the only track on the album that doesn't spotlight the horns. A keyboard melody accented with mellow guitar leads and some background radio noise provides a suitable ambiance for reflection, for closing one's eyes and taking a few breaths in the pause before another glorious day arrives.

The essence of Departures is a confluence of hope and uncertainty, with promises fulfilled and risks rewarded. More than just dance music or idle musical chit-chat, this is a collection of stories that, despite a human voice, speak of the human experience – with a heavy emphasis on the rewards of joy and elation. In both jazz and rock ‘n’ roll, the absence of a human voice doesn't limit the ability to communicate; that function can be performed by a melody or a solo. (Certainly, fans of Jerry Garcia and John Coltrane can relate to the latter.) Apollo Suns, both as an ensemble and as soloists, say that our future is bright – and because they are very good at communicating this viewpoint, their future is equally bright.

For tour dates and more information, visit https://www.apollosuns.ca

Bluegrass may have its roots in Appalachia, but it has sown its seeds far and wide. Northern California in particular has been fertile ground for country pickin' for decades, with legends Peter Rowan and David Grisman among the many genre luminaries who have made their home among the Bay Area's redwoods. Fans of The Harmony Grits (from Santa Cruz) and Hot Buttered Rum (from San Francisco) know that bluegrass has long been alive and kickin' in these golden hills, and Silicon Valley's Molly Tuttle has garnered enough attention beyond bluegrass festivals in recent years to earn a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist.

AJ Lee and Blue Summit, with opening act Crying Uncle Bluegrass Band, brought the bluegrass spirit to Hopmonk Tavern in Novato, CA on Saturday, August 19. KC Turner Presents has hosted a stellar lineup for this year's 10th Annual Cookout Concert Series at Hopmonk Novato (with a few more events still to come), and this show was no exception.

The venue for this concert series is a fenced in restaurant "backyard" in the midst of a mall parking lot. (Hopmonk also has an indoor club venue for ticketed events as well as a full service bar and restaurant.) Audiences show up early to grab a spot at one of a few dozen shaded picnic tables situated "house left," or to throw a few low-backed lawn chairs on the small hillside at "house right." The stage is between those two seating areas, with a broad dance floor stretching back to bar and BBQ stations. Throughout the show, Hopmonk serves up tasty BBQ and brews a variety of worthy beers.

AJ Lee and Blue Summit (AJ Lee on mandolin, guitar and lead vocals; Scott Gates and Sullivan Tuttle on guitars; Larry Cook on bass; and Jan Purat on fiddle) are not strictly bluegrass, but they lean heavily in that direction. Some songs by this Santa Cruz quintet inhabit a broader Americana landscape. They write and play soulful tunes as well as dawg-inspired jammy butt-kickers. They have fun and they raise the roof. 

Several cover songs in the set were crowd pleasers, including two Dylan songs ("Meet Me in the Morning" and "From a Buick 6"), as well as a spirited version of the Everly Brothers' "Poor Jenny" followed by a soulfully crooned "I'm a Believer." But it was the originals that provided the backbone for the set, mostly cuts from their sophomore outing I'll Come Back and also a number of new songs they recently recorded for a forthcoming album due in 2024.

Of the latter, "Sick on a Plane" was a memorable biographic number, funny and poignant. "This is a goofy song I wrote well before the pandemic," said Lee. "But this seems an appropriate time to play it now that we've been through all that."

Most bands are lucky to have one wicked good guitar picker. Blue Summit has two, and both are good singers to boot. Sullivan Tuttle (yes, he's Molly's brother, and yes he is as brilliant as she is) showcased his bluegrass baritone on another new song, "Seaside Town." Scott Gates took a star turn on "Mountain Heartache" and "The Man Who Dies With the Most Toys Wins."

And because this is bluegrass, everybody in the band got to showcase their pickin' and grinnin' skills in almost every song.

AJ Lee and Blue Summit shine on bluegrass shredders like their barnstorming "Faithful," but Lee's voice can also touch – and break – hearts with songs like the show opener "Something Special." Holding her notes in a manner reminiscent of Alison Krauss (perhaps a half octave lower), Lee commands attention with her personality as well as her melodies.

"It's good to be back near home," Lee told the crowd at one point. "We travel all around, and when we say we play bluegrass, people say, 'Oh I’m from Kentucky.' But we’ve got our own kind of bluegrass here on the west coast."

Hopmonk's live music promoter KC Turner deserves a shoutout for his enthusiastic cheerleading, jumping on stage at the end of the set to encourage a roof-raising encore demand from the sold-out crowd. Lee and company obliged with three more songs.

To end the show, Lee sang "Someone Please," a sweet, plaintive tune she wrote in high school. “This is so vulnerable,” she said, standing alone on the stage. (The band had exited to let her perform this song solo.) But she needn't have fretted; the audience was enraptured by her crystal clear vocals. You could hear a pin (or a rib bone?) drop in the crowd where I was standing by the picnic tables as she poured her heart out through her vocal chords to end the night.

Earlier, the show was opened by Crying Uncle Bluegrass Band (brothers Miles and Teo Quale on fiddle and mandolin, respectively, with Andrew Osborn on bass and Ian Ly on guitar). The quartet are Bay Area Gen Z'ers with old bluegrass souls. For Osborn, this show was something of a homecoming; he grew up in nearby San Rafael and went to high school in Novato. 

The Quale brothers hail from across the Bay in Alameda, and they've been playing instruments since they were each three years old. (I can't help but think of a lyric from John Sebastian's "Nashville Cats": Been playin' since they's babies.)  Between the two of them, they've racked up a string of well-earned state and national pickin' and fiddlin' awards. They also perform as a duo from time to time.

The Hopmonk show was guitarist Li's first appearance with Crying Uncle Bluegrass, but there was no greenhorn in his bluegrass. His harmonies melded well on Crying Uncle's original tunes as well as classic covers, and his rhythm and lead picking bodes well for the band.

Dressed in Gand Ol' Opry style vests and ties, Crying Uncle huddled around their lone large-diaphragm condenser mic to deliver a tight set of timeless, high lonesome sounds. By the time they finished their set with Neil Young's "Old Man" – an apt choice for these bright and budding stars – the crowd was eating it up as hungrily as they were the BBQ ribs.

Perhaps nobody noticed that there wasn't a single banjo in sight the entire night. Bluegrass isn't all about banjos and it isn't all about Kentucky either. NorCal can take pride in the plethora of talent under the stars in Novato last Saturday.

Jamaica's Marley family has produced no shortage of history, hits, homages, and musical heroes. On his fifth solo album, seven years since his last one, Stephen Marley pays tribute to his storied and successful family – and to a life of inspiration and influences ranging from Frank Sinatra to the Beatles to (no surprise here) his father, Bob Marley.

"Old Soul" will be released by Tuff Gong Collective/UMe/Ghetto Youths International on September 15, 2023.

The headlines for the album will tout the collaborations, including contributions from Bob Weir, Eric Clapton, Buju Banton, San Diego reggae band Slightly Stoopid, and Stephen's brothers Damian "Jr. Gong" and Ziggy. Likewise, covers such as "I Shot the Sheriff" and "Don't Bring Me Down" will attract some media attention and generate a ton of Spotify clicks. But make no mistake, the focus of this album is Stephen Marley. The 51-year-old Grammy winner's voice is the star here, not the headline guests and choice of cover tunes.

Most of the album was recorded in a converted garage on a family farm in Florida.  Some tracks in particular, notably "Old Soul" and the opening track "Don't You Believe," have a stripped-down, live-in-your-living room instrumental feel. The ensemble on these cuts is predominantly acoustic (acoustic guitar, bass, flute, saxophone, trumpet, and nyabinghi drums), giving warmth and intimacy to familiar classics and unfamiliar tunes.

For the record, this isn't a reggae album, though certainly reggae is among its strongest influences. It's an amalgamation of seductive Caribbean and African melodies driven by hand-played drums and accented with woodwinds, trumpet, and piano. "Thanks We Get (Do Fi Dem)," featuring Buju Banton (a Junior Byles classic written by Lee “Scratch” Perry), rolls on waves that flow somewhere between Toots and the Maytals and Jimmy Buffett. Stephen's version of the Beatles' "Don't Let Me Down" also has a decidedly island feel, borrowing a smidgeon of Hawaiian breeze in the acoustic guitar riffs between each vocal phrase. "Winding Roads," with Jack Johnson sitting in and Bob Weir & Wolf Bros as the backing band, is a float-along piece of Americana that sounds like something Jerry Garcia might have crooned in his latter-day "Black Muddy River" phase.

Stephen's mature voice is at times warm, strong, confident, tender, and authentic. On "Cool As The Breeze" for instance, he delivers a silky-smooth ode. It's a good guess that this song is dedicated to his father, but it could just as easily be a love song. In the end, he slips into a falsetto for the closing refrain, a bit wrinkled by refreshing, raw emotion.

"This Time" showcases Stephen's vocal maturity. He doesn't hide his age in lyrics that reflect a middle-aged man's wisdom, such as: "For I'm like a little child, I live with love and not with style." It's a cool and sexy love song tempered by patience but full of passion.

"Georgia On My Mind" combines all these elements well – the intimacy, the melding of genres, a sweet voice retelling familiar stories on the front porch of an island family's home. This version kicks off with piano, a N'awlins trumpet throws a few soft air punches, and then Stephen steps up to the front of the stage with his rendition of the Ray Charles classic (written by Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell). It isn't a jaw-dropping interpretation, but it has a comforting, old-pair-of-jeans vibe. Stephen lets the trumpet knock out a few mellow bars – it's one of the longest instrumental breaks on the album – before a Bourbon Street coda.

Stephen even tries his hand at jazz with "These Foolish Things (Reminds Me Of You)," a standard recorded by luminaries including Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Nat King Cole, and Bing Crosby. The version here adds a jumpy island rhythm and rolls at a faster clip than pretty much every other version ever. It's not easy to reconcile the pep with the sadness of the lyrics ("Oh, how the ghost of you clings"). But it is fun and jaunty, and the muted trumpet keeps it from getting downright exultant. Stephen is hanging his hat on the glass-half-full part of the lyric, "Those little things remain that bring me happiness or pain." His heart has wings, where most interpretations have wallowed in profound loss.

"I Shot the Sherrif," a meaningful revisitation to Bob Marley's poignant 1973 protest song, will probably get the most clicks of any track on this album. In the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement and other global struggles for racial justice, Stephen's version of this classic (originally released just a year after his own birth) marks the slow pace of social change over the past five decades. Eric Clapton plays guitar on the new cut, and his licks provide a strong current that drives the flow of the song and keeps it fresh. But it's Marley's take on the lyrics, paced more slowly than both the elder Marley's original and Clapton's famous cover version, that provides gravitas and commands attention. At 51, his voice is even more gravelly, more world-weary than Bob's voice was at 28. It's like he's channeling the old man Bob might have become: Man, is this bullshit still going on?!

"Old Soul," the first track released from the album (earlier this summer), is both a biographical journey and an expression of Stephen's familial spirituality. The song was written originally by Jamaican artist Omi, but Stephen has retooled the lyrics to make it his own. Memories of his father, and a bonus Peter Tosh name-drop, precede stanzas about Stephen's own life journey. He resolves that journey with a declaration of his Rastafarian belief in reincarnation and a deep connection to his ancestry. “I’m an old soul, living in the body of a 9-year-old,” he sings. (He was nine when his father died.) "Inside me, your legacy lives on."

This track might have even more impact if Stephen's voice was engineered with the same living-room ambiance found on most of the other songs on the album. It's a minor nit to pick, but the studio-tinkered feel on "Old Soul" distracts from the honesty and tenderness revealed elsewhere on the album that carries its name.

The video for "Old Soul" intersperses still pictures of Stephen, his father Bob, and other family members with a caption at the end dedicating the song to his own son. Quite the dynasty they've got going on here! The Marley name lives on in many voices, and Stephen's is worth listening to.

Pre-order the new album HERE.

NorCal bluegrass jammers Hot Buttered Rum (HBR) and members of San Francisco’s ALO headlined their annual family-oriented fest in the Mendocino County redwoods last weekend. They were joined by Eddie Roberts and his Meters-inspired funk, SoCal reggae roots quintet Arise Roots, jamband up-and-comers Eggy, and a variety of other acoustic and electric stylists that meshed into a seamless musical milieu.

Camp Navarro, a multi-use forest campsite replete with stereotypical camp cabins, tent areas, RV parking, a bonfire pit, and a lodge, had 24 hours to transition from last week’s cryptocurrency firm's offsite gathering to become the host for this annual festival. Practically overnight, a jam fest grew in the redwoods.

Camp Deep End (CDE), now in its seventh year, was the brainchild of Camp Navarro owner Dan Braun. Like many beautiful things, CDE was born out of adversity. Following a few difficulties for Camp Navaro under different management, Braun took over the operation of the camp eight years ago. The first CDE, Braun says, "was a party because of all the fucking work I had done to save this place. I wanted to throw a party for the property and for myself."

Braun roped in two of his favorite bands right away, calling on ALO (with lots of high-level support from the band's manager Jenna Lebowitz) and HBR, whom Braun had managed for a number of years previously. Nat Keefe of HBR recalls that the inspiration he, Lebowitz, and Braun drew upon was to create "a tradition that we would raise our children in, where we could have PG days and R-rated nights." He added, "We wanted a place to have our bands do our things with their nearest and dearest and the next circle out of our nearest and dearest. And we didn't want it to be a Bonnaroo."

With only slightly north of 400 tickets available each year, CDE is no Bonnaroo! CDE is an intimate, family affair. Musicians camp out and wander the grounds in awe of the redwoods just like everyone else, and children cavort and frolic safely and freely.

The festival name, “Camp Deep End,” is derived from “Boontling” lingo, a dialect of jargon from nearby Boonville that dates back to the 1890s (Google it). "Deepend" was the nickname given to the western end of the Anderson Valley, an area that Braun says was known in days of yore as the abode of "the freaks" who were ostracized throughout the rest of the valley True to form (and not unlike a million other jamband festivals), many Deep Enders wear freaky stuff, like glittery face paint and fuzzy rave jackets – and there is a plethora of “Loveguard” pins made by a CDE lifer. Saturday evening was aglow with pink to celebrate "Ken and Barbie Night."

It's freaky, but it's also about family. As I write this on Sunday morning at CDE, seven or eight kids aged perhaps three to six are eating breakfast together on a redwood bench near the lodge. I’m sure their parents are nearby, but nobody feels like they need to hover over their children here; it’s an incredibly safe space built for children to enjoy themselves as much as adults. Kids partake in arts and crafts sessions, line up for a climbing wall, and snarf down s’mores around the bonfire. Some tots and teens dance in the front row during musical sets. Others probably don't even realize there is a music fest happening at their mid-September summer camp.

But of course, there is music. Braun books a wide variety each year, not just bluegrass and jam. "It's my job to find amazing artists who will appreciate the setting. You can't fit a circle into a square. They have to get this."

ALO and HBR always provide anchor performances at CDE. Typically, one or the other band will close the main stage on Friday and Saturday. This year, ALO sent three members to camp. (Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz on guitar, Steve Adams on bass, and Ezra Lipp on drums. Keyboard player and singer Zach Gill was caravanning around the world with some guy named Jack Johnson – perhaps you’ve heard of him?) Trevor Garrod on keys and vocals (Tea Leaf Green) and Vicki Randle on percussion and vocals (The Tonight Show, Aretha Franklin, Mavis Staples, etc.), joined the ALO threesome for a Friday night set that gave everyone on stage a chance to share a few of their own songs.

Lebo also jumped on stage with, well, almost everyone at one point or another.

HBR was also everywhere, including two main stage sets over two days and yet another set in the small redwood-ringed amphitheater. Their six-man ensemble often grew, with guest appearances by Lebo, Roberts, and several young pickers from Broken Compass Bluegrass and Sicard Hollow.

For many attendees, the standout performance during HBR's sets this weekend was when Maysa Jane Carper, the 12-year-old daughter of CDE alum Bo Carper (New Monsoon, Fog City Ramblers) joined her musical uncles for a song. A star was born in the amphitheater on Sunday afternoon as Carper gazed to the heavens to sing Chris Stapleton's "Tennessee Whiskey."

For his late-night set in the lodge on Friday, Eddie Roberts (The New Mastersounds) was joined by Adryon de León on vocals (Orgone), Chris Spies on keys (Honey Island Swamp Band), and the rhythm section from The Greyboy Allstars (Zak Najor on drums and Chris Stillwell on bass). de León killed it on the Rufus with Chaka Khan hit "You Got the Love." Roberts and Spies gave a master class in funk leads.

Roberts' Saturday daytime main stage set was sans singer de León, but Roberts came to the mic for the Isely Brothers classic "Who's That Lady" to close the set. Prior to that, Roberts and Lebo traded licks “Guitarmagedden style” while Najor and Stillwell laid down the heavy beats that have made them de facto demigods on the funk and jam circuit.

Broken Compass Bluegrass (Kyle Ledson on mandolin and guitar, Django Ruckrich on guitar and mandolin, Mei Lin Heirendt on fiddle, and Sam Jacobs on bass; everyone sings) is a CDE favorite. Ledson has attended and played at every CDE, starting when he was thirteen. "[CDE] is so chill. I feel like this is rejuvenating. A lot of festivals, I get a little tired afterward, as great as they are, but this one, I feel energized. The redwoods are the best part!"

Together and also in ones and twos, Broken Compass was everywhere at CDE, from an evening amphitheater set to bonfire jams to guest appearances with pretty much everyone else all weekend long. They added a drummer, Aidan Steckley, for their main stage set on Saturday afternoon – his second (and if success is a measure, not his last!) appearance with Broken Compass.

This young collaboration is among a slew of California string band upstarts, along with Molly Tuttle, AJ Lee and Blue Summit, Crying Uncle, and many others, who have created a new epicenter of bluegrass in Northern California. Sicard Hollow guitar player Alex King praised the Broken Compass string players when he told the campfire jam crowd one night, “Seriously, we even live in Nashville, and we don’t have pickers like these guys where we live!”

Sicard Hollow (King on guitar and vocals, Will Herrin on mandolin and vocals, Matt Rennick on fiddle, and Parrish Gabriel on bass) are no slouches either. With punk-rocky, often frenetic bluegrass (see “Turtles, Trampled By,” and then add a heavy dash of early Meat Puppets), their own high-energy sets in the amphitheater and on the main stage made many new fans for these young Tennesseans. Like Broken Compass, the Sicard Hollow pickers made frequent guest appearances with many other acts throughout CDE.

Arise Roots made their first CDE appearance on Saturday night in the amphitheater. Their conscious roots reggae was a hit with the crowd. At the request of Braun, their evening set was a semi-acoustic affair. “We don’t usually play acoustic,” said Karim Israel. Under redwoods lit with soft stage lights, it felt like they’d been doing this their whole lives. Arise Roots also played a full electric set on Sunday afternoon, closing with legendary roots band Black Uhuru's “Sinsemilla.” Israel felt the warmth of the redwoods and the love of the CDE family, and he told the audience, " I feel like this place has got into me now. I gotta come back!"

Making its first appearance at CDE (and really, only its second appearance ever, aside from a few smaller, dry runs) Patrick Ball's "Field of Flowers" art-and-sound installation blossomed in a field adjacent to the main stage. Ball described the installation this way: "Our software tells the flowers, 'Make a pretty sequence of colors!' We create a wave of color that washes across the field, and we coordinate it with sound. The lights and sound move around the field in a way that creates a sense that things are blowing or sloshing around you."

Nat Keefe of HBR, who composed and recorded sound suites for the project, DJ’ed a “live” set, accompanied by Ball on "Flowers," late Saturday night. Bizarre and sort of ominous Oohs and Ahhs emanated sporadically from the talking flowers, and also from the campers wandering through the field.

Eggy made waves too. The Connecticut jammers (Alex Bailey on drums and vocals, Jake Brownstein on guitar and vocals, Mike Goodman on bass and vocals, and Dani Battat on keys and vocals) added some Grateful Dead and CSNY songs and snatches to their setlist, but their originals shine even brighter. Brownstein and Battat soloed tastefully in both their late-night lodge set and main stage appearances, with long jams building from melodic riffs to well-crafted jamband frenzy. As one of this year's jamband "flavors of the month," Eggy showed promise of a long festival career to come.

Philly's Little Stranger brought the smoke-filled house down in the lodge during their late-night set. The light-hearted hip-hop duo's rendition of Sicard Hollow and their own “Coffee and a Joint” was a highlight. This song might be part of the “R-rated” CDE experience Keefe was talking about, but at least one tot was swaying in her mother’s arms while the crowd sang along with the anthemic refrain. Little Stranger also covered Gorillaz' 2001 hit "Clint Eastwood" (with a sample of the chorus from Beck’s “Loser” in the middle) for a Gen X singalong.

Samuel J, from Cornwall, England, brought a serious love-fest'y new-age vibe, but he also got the crowd laughing and singing along to his soulful originals. He once asked for a volunteer camper with gym class experience to lead the seated audience in a mid-set stretch session. But a young purple unicorn named Hana (I think she’s four or five?) stole the show, dancing solo in front of the amphitheater stage for the entire set. In conversation, Samuel J praised CDE: "I've been overwhelmed by the whole vibe of this, all the people here and how loving everyone is."

Mikaela Davis brought her harp and a four-man band to deliver her own brand of folk-inspired rock. Her Sunday set of Grateful Dead covers in particular was a crowd-pleaser. The familiar tunes were given new life by the ethereal addition of Davis's harp and her softly strong vocals.

Last year, at CDE, Jessica Malone and Ruby Jaye joined Hattie Craven and her band for some stage sets and campfire singalongs. This year, Malone got to take center stage with her fun and fiery songs. (Keep an eye out for her next album, which is being produced by HBR's Keefe. Release date TBD.) Malone and crew rocked the redwood grove "house," and their harmonies reverberated pleasantly throughout the woods.

Marin County's Marshall House Project (Sam Hamby on guitar and vocals, Matty Tucker on drums, and Jason Thor on bass) has many fans among the CDE family. Their psychedelic guitar-driven jams and bass-fueled beats kept everyone on their feet dancing.

Musical acts weren’t the only attractions at CDE – this IS camp, after all! Some campers hiked trails or headed off to shoot arrows at the archery corral. Jenga tables, hula hoops, and cornhole sets fill a meadow near the art barn where kids make crafts all day. Janna Barkin and Lisa Rueff led yoga sessions on the weekend mornings. “Tree pose” perhaps is never so meaningful as it is when practiced beneath towering trees!

Dr. Leah Taylor has hosted her Embodied Groove experience at six of the seven CDEs. Embodied Groove sessions combine dance, movement, intention, and a live music experience. She describes the experience this way: "Embodied Groove helps people get out of their heads and into their bodies, feeling joy and flow and pleasure in big and little ways." At this year's CDE, she was backed by a band that included members of ALO, Broken Compass Bluegrass, and Tea Leaf Green.

And then there’s the annual Commisioner’s Ramble, a plugged-in jam session organized each year by longtime CDE denizens Alan Bush and Ted Pelletier. Bush led this year’s volunteer musician ensemble in Willie Nelson’s “Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die.” Over a dozen other singers and players got to show their stuff too. (Yours truly got to sing his version of “Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out.”) But perhaps the most poignant Deep End moment was 14-year-old Sonora Gelbard’s solo cover of Big Thief’s "Change." Her father Jonathan is CDE’s main stage host, and not unlike Broken Compass’s Kyle Letson, Sonora has grown up with CDE in her blood.

Going to camp is an archetypal part of childhood for so many of us, and we keep those memories with us as we grow. CDE is only one weekend each year, but it’s jam-packed with art, activities, and music – and lifelong memories! Adults and kids come back year after year to see old friends, meet new friends, and thrill to familiar and unfamiliar sounds and sights. “Family” means a lot at CDE.

Near the end of HBR’s Saturday set, Lebo added his deepest baritone vocals on the refrain of “Down in the Deep End,” a CDE anthem he and HBR frontman Erik Yates wrote on-site two years ago. Everyone in the camp agreed; we were all way down in the deep end, and the fun meter for all ages was set to “stoked!”

"My dad moved on and so did I, inside I kept his songs alive – so they say."
- Stephen Marley, "Old Soul"

Stephen Marley's autumn tour is a stripped-down roots reggae affair, a mostly acoustic performance in support of his new album "Old Soul." He appeared at the legendary Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco on Thursday, September 21, with opening act Eli Mac.

Marley's Old Soul album was recorded with a low-key "living room" ensemble, and the touring band brings that intimacy to the stage with acoustic guitars, bass, flute, electric piano, and nyabinghi drums. Arrayed in front of a golden lion on a stage flanked by posters of Bob Marley and Halie Selassie, the band remained seated for the entire show. Marley himself, dressed in a brown coat and a long scarf (everyone knows San Francisco is much colder than Jamaica!) only stood up for the last song. For most of the show, he remained seated in front of a single drum, adding soft rhythms to the music and occasionally picking up an acoustic guitar

The set list at the Fillmore included several of Marley's new songs, including the album's title song as well as "Cast the First Stone" and a Lee Scratch Perry cover, "Thanks We Get (Do Fi Dem)." Older cuts from Stephen Marley's catalog were given a new spin in the soft-touch setting with prominent flute solos and acoustic guitar riffs – including a lively version of "The Mission," a spirited political anthem originally recorded over a decade ago with Stephen's brother Damian "Jr.Gong."

The audience was clearly hungry more than anything for cover versions of songs made famous by Stephen's father, Bob Marley. The second son of the reggae great fed that hunger. Stephen's soulful cover of "I Shot the Sherrif," recorded with Eric Clapton on lead guitar for the new album, was poignant and warmly received. But the crowd really ate up "Three Little Birds" and "Could You Be Loved," singing along and holding cell phones high to record videos for Facebook.

It is a cliché to mention the plumes of smoke at reggae shows, and the Fillmore has certainly earned its reputation for copious partaking. Oddly, however, while there was certainly pot in the air, it may be a reflection of the times (and the wide availability of edibles) to point out that the stage never disappeared behind a veil of fumes.

Eli Mac opened the show with her own sparse ensemble, just a guitar player and drummer. The one-time "American Idol" contestant (who has had songs produced by Stephen Marley during her career) delivered a set of comfort-food roots reggae that meshed well with Marley's performance. She sang that she was – and clearly, she is – "a roots girl." Her own roots include ancestors from Ireland, Spain, and The Philippines. But with a member of the illustrious Marley dynasty in the house, everyone gets to sing along to reggae beats and celebrate the legacy of Bob Marley.

The Wreckless Strangers describe their sound as a blend of blues, R&B, Americana, and good old-fashioned rock ‘n’ roll. On Orange Sky Dream, the sextet's latest EP, that blend is heavily laced with late-70's / early-80's FM radio rock. The EP's six songs on this release evoke an era of cassette tapes and Cameros, and a generation of older Americans still shy of Social Security eligibility are going to feel like they're listening to songs they might have sung along to in high school.  

The new release was produced by Grammy winner Dave Way (Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, Tracy Chapman, Stevie Wonder, Sheryl Crow). His collaboration with the Wreckless Strangers is both a nostalgic excursion and a cautionary travelogue that traverses the many roads interlacing good times and bad times.

Orange Sky Dream will be available on September 29.

You're in Bad Company when you hang out with the Wreckless Strangers. The Bay Area band started as a pickup jam session in 2016, and they've since released three albums and performed extensively. The ensemble's esteemed and experienced members include Amber Morris (a premier Bay Area vocalist and voice coach whose clients have included members of Journey and the Eric Martin Band) on vocals; David Noble (Poor Man's Whiskey, Pardon The Interruption) on lead guitar, vocals; Joshua Zucker (The Jones Gang, Rowan Brothers) on bass; Austin de Lone (Nick Lowe, Elvis Costello, The Fabulous Thunderbirds) on keys, vocals; Mick Hellman (The Go To Hell Man Band) on drums, vocals; and Rob Anderson (repeat world champion cyclist) on guitar. (Timely side note: Mick Hellman's late father Warren founded San Francisco's annual Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival, which debuted in 2001 and continues over three days this weekend.)

Orange Sky Dream will take you on a Journey, starting from the opening power chords of "Break the Line," the EP's first cut. Guitars drive the riff for a few bars, but then the vocal lead takes the wheel, gliding over a massive rock organ progression. The song conjures a landscape somewhere out on the American highway system, a fast breeze blowing by, and tunes cranked up on a quad stereo.

Of course, you gotta have Heart when you take a trip to the late 70s. Morris's ballad "Roses of War" slows down the EP's pace a bit for a melancholy relationship song. "Will there ever be an end to the fight going on?" There may be hope yet, but the road is uncertain.

One thing is clear by this point: Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore. "Shudda Known" is a riff-heavy head banger with a hint of something ...political? Angry? The lyrics preach generically, for instance: "Signs tried to give us a warning back in 1988"; and "You can't fight back if you can't take the heat." But while the messaging is somewhat directionless, maybe that's the point. This isn't a business trip! A flash-bang guitar solo seals the deal and confirms the Strangers are taking an oratory detour on the highway to hell just for rock n' roll kicks.

The Devil Goes Down to Georgia on "Fast Girls." This "Hot Rod Lincoln"-esque rockabilly pedal-stomper starts out with tires squealing, and de Lone keeps the rubber burning with a few tasty turns of frolicsome electric piano in the middle. Even so, Morris's vocals admit that "You can't catch up, you know how fast girls are." Until the end that is, when a rip-snorting guitar solo brings the song to a quick burst of nitrous-fueled energy to take it over the finish line victoriously.   

Imagine a fleet of polished-chrome Fabulous Thunderbirds cruising the nation's backroads. The Strangers may call themselves "Wreckless,' but their songs are well-tuned, dent-free specimens that harken back to the pre-SUV era.  In this vein, De Lone takes a vocal lead on "Grace of God," gliding across Texas blues country with effortless aplomb. It's a bit of a sermon, with lyrics like, "Could be a long way up, could be a long way down." The press release for this song says it "provokes introspection and encourages listeners to be grateful for what they have and empathize with the factors that shape the lives of others." Maybe so, but this song could also sell beer on TV – it's a well-brewed country rocker guaranteed to inspire the sudden appearance of air guitars and skankfaces in any flyover country barroom.   

Like Eagles coming home to roost, the Wreckless Strangers bring this EP full circle on the closer, "You're All I Need." Someone tunes a radio dial past FM radio static and a snatch of the Emergency Broadcast System before landing at the beginning of the track, with Morris singing plaintively from the get-go. She makes an urgent power-ballad request for the eponymous "You" to "take me back to the beginning." Morris leads a chorus of her cohorts all the way to the end, emphasizing that indeed, "You're all I need!"

And then, six songs after they started, with the tank exhausted and the engine still hot, the Wreckless Strangers' latest journey comes to a powerful close. It's been a fun ride, and a reminder that it's the people in our lives who matter, who share our fondest memories of those crazy nights driving fast while even going nowhere on the outskirts of town. 

I just returned from a Musical Sojourn in Porto, Portugal, a weeklong musical experience featuring ALO’s Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz, Natalie Cressman and Jennifer Hartswick (Trey Anastasio Band and multiple other projects), Nikki Bluhm, members of Greensky Bluegrass, Fruition and Railroad Earth, and many other artists from the extended jam and bluegrass world. This was a unique and intimate event with six days and nights of musical tourism in one of Europe’s most beautiful cities. (The entire musician list is at the end of this article.)

The Musical Sojourn in Porto was produced by Matt Butler (Jambay, Everyone Orchestra). “We’re trying to facilitate a musical community with a living room feel,” he told me a few weeks before the journey began.“ This event is all backstage.”

All the attendees and musicians stayed in two hotels in Porto, with Hotel Mouco serving as home base and also as the venue for some of the events. (The hotel has a performance hall that rivals many small clubs for acoustics and ambiance.) Other performances were held at charming local venues. Musicians from Portugal were also featured throughout the week, including jazz, a cappella, and Portuguese traditional Fado music artists. Performers and guests mingled and soaked up the local atmosphere, making new friends across the Atlantic.

Matt Butler founded Everyone Orchestra (EO) in 2001. EO is an ongoing improvisational musical project that features a constantly revolving roster of musicians. Butler typically brings together instrumentalists from the jam, bluegrass and improv scene, many of whom have never played together. He then “conducts” live, unique experiences via musical cues, often written extemporaneously on a handheld whiteboard (or two, or three). Those cues might be as simple and open to interpretation as “Dots” or “Unison.” Often the audience is asked to chime in with a “Yes!” or a “Hey!”

In many ways, the Sojourn is an expanded EO experience. Butler told me he hoped the event would “facilitate a unique connection with the musicians. They’re all beloved EO people. I’m excited to provide a super meaningful experience.”

And now, on with the show.

DAY 1
Monday, October 9

We were greeted with laminated lanyard passes and wine tasting at the hotel, followed by a sumptuous buffet dinner in the hotel bar and courtyard.

ACT I

Our first musical treat was a local band, Retimbrar. Driven by Portuguese percussion and rhythms, the eight-piece ensemble got the crowd moving with their interpretations of traditional songs and original tunes. We danced in spiraling circles to “Vai de Centro ao Centro,” a traditional Portuguese folk song. Another audience participation number, a traditional line dance sort of thing, was more like a drunken wedding reception line dance (and became more so each time the band sped up the pace) -- which may or may not have been the point.

After a short break, The Eights (Lebo, Scott Law, Ross James, Holly Bowling, Matt Butler, and Nikki Bluhm) delivered an ass-kicking set of jammy rock and blues. I asked Lebo why they called this band “The Eights” when there were only six people on stage, and he hinted that it was a secret. Holly Bowling made a lip-zipping motion when I asked her about it. (I sorta know the answer now, but I’ll keep quiet.)

The sextet hit the ground running with covers of “Get it While You Can” and “Tore Up Over You.” Next, Bluhm tore up her own vocals on her hit “Little Too Late.” Later in the set, Mimi Naja added some vocals. Natalie Cressman and Jennifer Hartswick also jumped onstage with their trombone and trumpet in hand, joined by Los Lobos’s Steve Berlin on baritone sax to add an arsenal of horns. (Berlin was a late addition after the untimely death last month of James Casey.)

The clock was running late after an extended “Don’t Let Go” (with “Dark Star” interlude), so The Eights wrapped it up quick to make room for an all-too-short Everyone Orchestra set. This version of EO featured everyone from the Eights’ set, and Kellen Asebroek played as well. Drummer Tikyra Jackson (Southern Avenue) joined on the skins so Butler could move up front. He led the fray in his trademark conductor’s jacket, of course. Two extended improv pieces gave everyone a chance to shine.

DAY 2
Tuesday, October 10

ACT I

It’s been unusually warm and wonderful weather for a Porto October.  A mild breeze helped to cool the sunshine for a morning “Bom Dia Musica” session in the Hotel Mouco courtyard with Scott Law, Tikyra Jackson, Kellen Asebroek, and Ross James.

Asebroek kicked it off with a few solo acoustic tunes. Then he brought out the others. “We didn’t work up a set list for this morning. We’ll just see where the spirit guides us. That usually works out.”

After drumming for a few of Aesbroek’s songs, Jackson put down her sticks to pick up an acoustic guitar and we got to hear her as-yet unreleased song “Sweet Child.” She told us, “This is my first time meeting a lot of these musicians and I feel like I know them already.”

Matt Butler was happy. “To see a performance like this just evolve over 18 hours is a real treat. it’s all an experiment, but so far, the experiment is working out.”

ACT II

The Tribunal da Relãçao do Porto is the federal courthouse in downtown Porto. It’s a stately building on a hill above the main tourist area. We were advised to leave any “contraband” at home.

The venue for the afternoon “Songwriters on Trial” session was a voluminous courtroom with 40-foot-tall windows and murals of Portuguese history (kings, courtiers, that sort of thing.) One of the people on Butler’s team said his great grandfather had painted the mural! An appellate court judge introduced the event.

Several songwriters took a turn on the witness stand. The other musicians sat behind each performer in a semicircle of high-backed red leather chairs like an agreeable and attentive Portuguese politburo.

Nikki Bluhm was the first to testify, with Scott Law backing her on a Telecaster guitar. She sang one cover, Sippie Wallace’s “Women Be Wise,” and also a new breakup tune of her own,

“Leaving Me.” She said she was nervous in the great hall of justice, but her voice rang true. Jay Cobb Anderson and Megan Letts followed.

Other witnesses, I mean performers, included Jennifer Hartswick, Natalie Cressman and Ian Faquini. Hartswick teased the crowd regarding their complicity: “I feel like you’re all in your best behavior now. But I saw you last night!” She sang the aptly titled “Innocent,” a thank you to the lands that she grew up on. “I see you winking in the trees, watching over me and mine.”

Fiancés Cressman and Faquini said it was the first time they’d ever played as a duo standing up. (Then someone got Faquini a chair.) They sang a sweet song about the time they met followed by the first song they ever wrote together, a soulful jazz number “Setting Rays Days of Summer.”

All were found guilty … of talent and creativity!

ACT III

In the evening, we gathered at Ateneu Comercial do Porto, a theater built by a private cultural association in 1885. Tall mirrors lined the walls of the ornate performance hall.   

Bernardo Couto played a set of traditional Portuguese fado music on guitarra portuguesa. His virtuosity and skill were enhanced by Holly Bowling’s accompaniment on grand piano for two pieces that resonated with transcendent sublimity.

The Fruition Trio came next. Jay Cobb Anderson, Kellen Asebroek, and Mimi Naja played a number of new songs and fan favorites. Regarding the new stuff, Naja wryly said, “It’s an intimacy experiment, who doesn’t like those?” Later in the set they were joined by Greensky Bluegrass’s Porto trio (Mike Devol, Paul Hoffman, and Anders Beck), as well as Tikyra Jackson and Matt Butler trading off on drums. A Fruition set of yacht-rocky Americana morphed into a bluegrass barnstormer.

DAY THREE
Wednesday, October 11

I ran into Los Lobos’s Steve Berlin at breakfast (he saw my “Scrabble” T-shirt and asked me if I played). After some word nerd talk, I asked him how his Sojourn was going. “I’ve played in the same band for 50 years, and you know, some nights I could literally be in a coma. I don’t have to use my brain. It’s nice to actually have to use all of it.”

The centerpiece of Wednesday was our riverboat cruise on the Douro River. A dockside cafe was not ready for the arrival of 150 hungry and thirsty pre-gaming music fans, but the lone waitperson did her best to feed and water us.

ACT I

We boarded the Esplendor do Douro and took off westward on the Douro toward the river mouth. The floating performance was a nonstop three-hour set of Grateful Dead by the aptly named Ship of Fools ensemble. Lebo and Law have performed under this moniker before. This time, they were joined by Holly Bowling, the Greensky trio (Mike Devol, Paul Hoffman, Anders Beck), Tim Carbone, Steve Berlin, Natalie Cressman, Ross James, and both Matt Butler and Tikyra Jackson on drums.

The riverboat was about the same size as a Manhattan Circle Line ferry, and the band filled the deck at the prow. It was a breezy, sunny day, and we floated downstream under river’s bridges and past Porto’s canyon walls. The set began with an apt “Big River,” with Bowling and Lebo playfully trading leads. The city’s distinctive pastel yellow and green buildings and port warehouses provided colorful background views. Some travelers on passing river tour boats got up to dance when we egged them on.

The high riverbanks mellowed to sandy shores as we approached the Atlantic near sunset. “Cassidy” gave a soundtrack to the visuals, the “flight of the seabirds.” A fisherman standing up in a small motorboat rocked in rhythm with us as he reeled in a fish. During “I Know You Rider,” our minds were wandering like the wild geese flying above our heads in the west (of Portugal).

Anders Beck shared a truism: “We haven’t yet found a place where Grateful Dead music doesn’t sound good.”

ACT II

Back at the hotel, O Gajo opened the evening festivities with a set of originals on viola campaniça, a traditional countryside 10-string Portuguese guitar with a distinctive and hypnotic tuning. Gajo was accompanied (as we learned when he introduced them) by “Right Foot” on a small kick bass drum and “Left Foot” on tambourine.

The Greensky Trio was joined by emerging Sojourn MVP Holly Bowling for a set of familiar GB songs. (Coincidentally, two of the other Sojourn musicians, Steve Berlin and Tim Carbone, had produced GB albums.) “What You Need” was particularly epic, with Berlin, Natalie Cressman and Jennifer Hartswick each soloing and adding “brassgrass” texture to the melody.

Bowling’s toddler son stole the limelight when he wandered on stage with his toy guitar and showed everyone else how to be a rock star. Hoffman began bidding for who could sign the boy up for their band.

DAY 4
Thursday, October 12

ACT I

Thursday morning’s “Bom Dia Musica” set in the hotel courtyard showcased Lebo, Mimi Naja and Ross James. Naja and Lebo harmonized on “Can’t Find My Way Home,” and then traded lyrics with him on “You’ve Got a Friend.”

Lebo sang his own “We Carry On.” He told us it was fitting to play in Europe because, “I wrote this tune on this continent, in Amsterdam some years back after a trip to the Anne Frank house.”

Naja reminded us of a poignant truth before singing Bob Dylan’s “Chimes of Freedom”: “I’m reconciling having the time of our lives while a lot of terrible things are happening around the world. We’re allowed to experience joy while we open our hearts to send out good thoughts, vibes, prayers, whatever you want to call them, for peace”

ACT II

We were invited to “dress to impress” for Thursday night’s “Sojourner Soirée” at the Palácio da Bolsa. The Palácio is on every “top ten things to see in Porto” list. It’s a 19th century uber-swanky, mega-ornate edifice. I remember Matt Butler saying a few months back he needed to find a suitable setting for a Holly Bowling performance. Mission accomplished! (Dancing was prohibited in the opulent Arab Room. We swayed gently instead.)

Tim Carbone and Todd Sheaffer opened this evening’s festivities. Sheaffer was recovering from illness and his voice was raspy, a little Tom Waits-ish. Notable in the duo’s short set was an Irish lament that Sheaffer introduced for “all our friends and family who have recently passed away.”

Holly Bowling and Paul Hoffman sound-checked half of “Eye of the Tiger” before Bowling began her mostly solo set on a Steinway concert grand piano. She focused on Grateful Dead songs, including “Crazy Fingers” and “Row Jimmy,” but recast them in her delightfully fluid and virtuosic style. Bowling was in awe of the room just like everyone else. “I always get lost when I play. I opened my eyes during that piece and said, oh, we’re here!”

Hoffman joined Bowling on mandolin for his GB song “Windshield” before Bowling closed her part of the show with an aptly chosen “Brokedown Palace.”

The evening’s “headliner” was billed as “Damas Noturnas,” and most of us assumed that was another Portuguese act Butler found to wow us. Instead, it was Mimi Naja. And Holly Bowling. And Nikki Bluhm. And Natalie Cressman, Jenifer Hartswick. And Tikyra Jackson. And Megan Letts. The ladies of the night! A nearly all-women set (Paul Hoffman and Anders Beck provided accompaniment on a few songs) blew us away with harmonies on a number of originals and covers.

All of las Damas Noturnas took at least one turn on lead vocals (with the exception of Bowling). Each was better than the last! We wanted more from each singer.

The most powerful and memorable moment was a version of Ralph Carmichael’s spiritual “A Quiet Place,” dedicated to sax player James Casey, who (as mentioned earlier) was slated to join us in Porto before his death in August. Casey’s Trey Anastasio Bandmates Cressman and Hartswick led the singing and crying, and the entire Arab Room was awash with tears.

Then from this quiet place
I go prepared to face
A new day with love for all mankind

Nikki Bluhm did a good job bringing some joy back into the room with Carole King’s “Sweet Seasons” before the closing number, an audience singalong cover of TLC’s “Waterfalls.”

DAY 5
Friday, October 13

ACT I

The “Bom Dia Musica” performance was moved to the basement music hall at Hotel Mouco due to rain. This was our first and only rainy day, a lucky and unusual treat for Porto in October. The stage used for evening performances was hidden behind a curtain, and the artists sat in folding chairs in front of a window along the side of the room. Several sojourners lay on carpets in front of the musicians, reclining on throw pillows. The vibe was mellow.

Jay Cobb Anderson (on his 40th birthday) kicked it off with a few solo originals and some magical duets with Megan Letts. (Not coincidentally, they are married.) Then Anders Beck and Jennifer Hartswick joined him. Paul Simon’s “Under African Skies,” the Stones’ “Wild Horses,” and Bill Withers’ “Kissing My Love” were among the tasty lunchtime covers. Anderson shared an original tune to remind us that, “One day we’re all gonna die.” During this one, a mariachi duel emerged organically between Hartswick and Beck, both jumping out of their seats to challenge each other playfully.

I asked Beck afterward what makes the Sojourn experience different from a typical festival collaboration. “Yeah, we often do this together, some of us, each weekend at a festival -- like, I’ll see Hartswick, and we’ll do something together. Or I’ll see the Fruition people, and we’ll do a song. But here, it’s the whole week. We’ll prepare a song and do collaborations that are incredibly unique. And everyone puts effort into those things musically.”

The effort shows. Beck summarized it this way: “It could be thrown together. But it’s not!”

The ”Bom Dia Musica” set ended with Letts and Natalie Cressman joining Hartswick in picture-perfect harmony on Aretha Franklin’s jazzy soul love song “Day Dreaming.”

ACT II

Sojourners spread out on their own throughout the city for sightseeing, twelve-course Michelin star meals, and shopping sprees until it was time for the first of two evening performances. The first was at Igreja do Carmo, an 18th century Catholic church that is one of Porto’s most visited tourist sites. We had to wait for Mass to end before we could file inside.

Typical of Iberian churches, the nave and alter areas of this midsize congregation house were bursting with ornate sculptures, paintings, gold-leaf filigrees and other accoutrements depicting saints and the story of Christ, particularly his bloody end. Some of us were amused by the irony of our presence, some were mildly (or perhaps worse) “triggered” by the trappings.

Sopa de Pedra (which translates to “Stone Soup”) is an a cappella group of 10 women from Porto. Five of them came to sing for us. They shared delightful songs about ripening fruit, birds, and peasant workers.

Next, Paul Hoffman and Mimi Naja played an acoustic set, trading guitar and mandolin. They played a few originals and some covers too. After singing “More Love” (The Chicks made it famous, it was written by Gary Nicholson and Tim O'Brien), Naja looked up at the iconography surrounding us and said, “Love, that’s my religion.” After a Greensky song, Hoffman said, “That was about right for a church.”

“Take Me Out of the City.” (a Dawes cover) was a perfect closer for the set, with the scene-appropriate (or not, depending on your point of view) lyric, “Take me out of the city, where God's never been; where my soul is my sorrow, and it's bound by my skin.”

We walked out of the church to thunder and lightning. Derive from that what you may.

ACT III

We reconvened later in the evening at the Hot Five Jazz & Blues Club, an American-style swanky jazz house with tiered seating, red table lamps, and a small dance floor in front of a blue-curtained stage. A large sign on the wall just left of the stage said, “Music On, World Off.” Well, okay then!

When we arrived, a jazz trio was on stage. With sax, drums and upright bass, Last Action Trio performed a Brad Mehldau arrangement of the Oasis hit “Wonderwall.”

Next up was Natalie Cressman and Ian Faquini . They told us they’d gotten engaged in Porto in February. Their love for each other shines clearly when they play together.

The duo kicked it off with some fast-talking Brazilian jazz songs. Cressman watched Faquini while they scatted in unison to follow his timing on the intricate “rap.” Befitting the jazzy venue, they also played an Ella Fitzgerald song, and then called up Nikki Bluhm to croon “Moon River,” the Henry Mancini chestnut. Throughout the performance, Faquini’s fluid Brazilian guitar styling was flawless and fluid. Cressman sat with her trombone across her lap while she was singing and then brought the instrument to her lips to provide immaculate accompaniment and solos.

Lebo and Friends (including Ross James, Tikyra Jackson, Natalie Cressman and Jennifer Hartswick, among others – Lebo has a lot of friends!) closed the evening with a long set that got us all sweating on the club’s small dance floor. We finally got to hear Lebo’s “I Wanna Feel It,” a fan favorite which had been cut from the Day 1 set due to time constraints. After that, there were two clear highlights:

1.    “Sympathy for the Devil” with enthusiastic “woo-hoo” refrains from the audience.

2.    The Talking Heads’ “Slippery People” included a long jam with shifting rhythms and Lebo riffing the “Gilligan’s Island” theme. While he did that, many of us joined in with an audience chorus of “A three-hour tour!” Lebo told me he’d meant to play the TV show theme in the riverboat set; better late than never!

DAY 6
Saturday, October 14

The final day!

ACT I (In four parts)

Cat Falcão Trio began the evening in the Mouco music hall. The Lisbon singer serenaded us with a country-ish voice that reminded me of Neko Case in her first-album days. Falcão told us she was nervous, but she had nothing to be nervous about; her voice was clear as honey and her songs rang with honesty and personality.  

Next up was a funk and soul set led and arranged by Jennifer Hartswick and Tikyra Jackson. They were joined by Lebo, Scott Law, and other members of what I’ll now call the Sojourn Musicians Union. Close your eyes and imagine a jam band playing at a hippie bar mitzvah on a cruise boat – and there you are! The hits kept coming. We grooved to “Tell Me Somethin’ Good,”  “How Deep is Your Love,” and “Midnight Train to Georgia,” the latter with us dance floor denizens joining in on the Pips’ classic backing vocals.  

Hartswick introduced the recent pop hit “Feel It Still” as an inside joke. It’s a song by alt-pop stars Portugal. The Man. Get it?

To complete the bar mitzvah jam cruise theme, three wee folks (kids of Holly Bowling, Ross James, Paul Hoffman) stole the show with their onstage rock star dancing during “Higher Ground” while Lebo and Law knelt beside them trading solos.

The last song of this set was a departure from the funk party theme. Nearly every musician in the lineup came up to honor and remember James Casey with a teary-eyed performance of his song “Outside.”

Everybody knows your name
And although it ain't the same
Know you're really glad you came
Outside

After a break, Matt Butler treated us to another version of Everyone Orchestra. Todd Sheaffer, Tim Carbone, Paul Hoffman, Kellen Asebroek, Ross James, Natalie Cressman, Megan Letts, Jennifer Hartswick, Mimi Naja and members of the local acts Retimbrar and Sopa de Pedra were among the cast. (I counted 22 musicians conducted by Butler at the end.)  Washboard impresario Andrea "Caterino" Scarso from Italy was a late addition to the lineup, and he played emotively and joyfully at the front of the stage.

This was one of my favorite EO sets ever. The vocals by Sopa de Petra added a magical harmonic dimension, and the Lisbon ladies were having the time of their lives.

Butler told me later it was interesting putting together so many disparate elements. “Part of the challenge is to get everyone to show up not knowing where it’s gonna go.” For instance, one of the jams was actually a repeat of an EO bit that emerged in Lisbon in 2019, a frolicsome bit centered on a fun vocal take on obrigado, the Portuguese word for “thank you”. “Only Kellen [Asebroek] knew we were gonna do it,” Butler told me. Smiles spread across the stage when Asebroek started singing “Oh … oh … oh …brigado!” The “lyric” was quickly picked up by everyone on the mics.

Toward the end of the set, Hartswick playfully mocked Butler’s EO whiteboarding by whipping out a handwritten sign for him that said, “Guns Out!” Butler complied, ripping off his trademark embroidered EO tuxedo jacket and finishing the set in a sleeveless white button-down shirt.

And so it ended. All things must pass, and our Sojourn was almost over.

Among the few Sojourn musicians in the house that night who were not in EO that night were four pickers: Lebo, Law, Naja, and Faquini. The quartet came out immediately after EO to stand with their guitars just in front of the stage. They led the entire assembly in a passionate singalong version of “Forever Young.”

There was cake for Lebo’s birthday. The rest was all hugs and goodbyes.

Matt Butler was happy at breakfast the next morning. “It was everything I ever dreamed of it being. Everyone Orchestra is a way for me to meet people and build community and trust and relationships. It’s powerful, it’s incredible, it’s a gift.” Butler and crew earned a standing ovation for sharing that gift with all of the Sojourners.

May we all stay forever young and have opportunities to share such memorable experiences. And let us raise a glass and sing a song for those who don’t have these magical opportunities.

COMPLETE (mostly) ARTIST LIST

AMERICAN PERFORMERS:
Paul Hoffman (Greensky Bluegrass; guitar, mandolin, vocals)
Anders Beck (Greensky Bluegrass; Dobro)
Mike Devol (Greensky Bluegrass; bass)
Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz (ALO; guitar, vocals)
Tim Carbone (Railroad Earth; violin)
Todd Sheaffer (Railroad Earth; guitar, vocals)
Mimi Naja (Fruition; guitar, mandolin, vocals)
Jay Cobb Anderson (Fruition; guitar, vocals)
Kellen Asebroek (Fruition; guitar, keyboards, vocals)
Nicki Bluhm (vocals)
Natalie Cressman (Trey Anastasio Band; trombone, vocals)
Ian Faquini (guitar, vocals)
Jennifer Hartswick (Trey Anastasio Band; trumpet, vocals)
Steve Berlin (Los Lobos; saxophone)
Tikyra Jackson (Southern Avenue; drums, vocals)
Matt Butler (Jambay, Everyone Orchestra; drums, conducting)
Megan Letts (Mama Magnolia; vocals)
Aaron Feder (The Burning Shore, Alma Afrobeat Ensemble, Pedal Steel)
Andrea "Caterino" Scarso (Washboard)

PORTUGUESE PERFORMERS:
Retimbrar
O Gajo
Bernardo Couto
Cat Falcão
Sopa de Pedra

In the early 80s (I know, I’m dating myself), my East Coast friends raved about their local hippie band Max Creek. When I visited my crew in Connecticut in 1984, they took me to my first Creek show. The vibe was Grateful Dead-ish, but Max Creek had their own flavor. It was like trying on a new pair of prewashed jeans in a new color. They weren't the same old jeans, but they were my kind of jeans.

Later on, I had a similar experience with Colorado’s Little Women (Jerry Joseph’s first band). After hearing my CO hippie friends play a cassette a few times, I checked out Little Women at a club after that afternoon’s Grateful Dead show in Telluride in 1987. They were fun, both familiar and fresh. I picked up shades of Little Feat and hints of funk and reggae, but there was something new and different in the mix too.

My friends in Burlington used to brag about their hometown band too – and man, did those guys take off! I never saw Phish in a small club, but I’ve seen countless other local bands over the years that travel the same roads as the archetypal Rock and Roll Hall of Fame jam bands. The best of these up-and-comers drive eye-catching vehicles that leave colorful tread marks on well-worn paths. Some turn into the jamband behemoth-of-the-moment (Widespread, Spafford, Goose, fill in your favorites here). Some spend years trying to get noticed.

It's time for people to notice Chicago’s Old Shoe.

Old Shoe’s new album Past the Light is the quintet’s first release in six years. The Shoe drops (sorry, couldn’t resist!) their new record on December 8, 2023.
Old Shoe’s website says their music “lands in a space that is as comfortable as an old shoe.” That’s a good description. Their Americana roots draw heavily from the rich loam fertilized by The Dead and the Allman Brothers. Like many jam-tangent bands over the last four-plus decades, Old Shoe (Matt Robinson, guitar and vocals; Joe Day, keyboards, mandolin, and vocals; Jonathan Reed, drums and vocals; Jim Conry, guitar and vocals; and Janis Wallin, bass and vocals) wears its influences on the sleeve of a big, comfy sweater. But like the best of the lot, their “sweater” has attractive, original designs. It’s not an ugly sweater! It is, well, a comfortable shoe.

The new album was engineered, co-produced and mixed by Stephen Shirk, who has worked with many jam-adjacent music festival stalwarts including Alabama Shakes, The Lumineers, and Trampled by Turtles. The experience shows, and this may be Old Shoe’s strongest outing yet. Past the Light is a well-constructed collection with high production values that showcases the band’s songwriting chops and performance skills. Old Shoe's last release, 2017’s Country Home, veered toward the southern rock side of the jam band highway. With funky keyboards and envelope filters, Past the Light takes a different route, one that often hews closer to avenues inhabited by Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir. At the same time, about half of the tunes stand out with distinctive, well-honed craftsmanship that places Old Shoe in their own lane. The first category of cuts (the somewhat Dead-ish stuff) suggests that Old Shoe has the chops to put on a damn good live show for jam fans. The songs in the latter category, particularly the last two songs on Past the Light, earn them the right to crow about their unique creativity.

The opening track, “Adeline,” kicks it off with heavy organ layered beneath a catchy introductory guitar refrain. Singer Jim Conry’s lyrics are ironic and playful: “I was only half full when you filled my cup”; “I can’t give you back any of your lost time — and if I could, I would give you all of mine.” Later, Conry’s quick-and-dirty guitar solo hints at the live performance potential for this cut.

“Flowers on the Hill” is a sweet, melodic song that could spend time in the rotation of any AOR station. It’s a well-sung mid-tempo ballad with a radio-ready chorus. Like many of the album’s best songs, the guitar bit in the middle takes it up a notch with Jerry-like twang. And yeah, not everyone likes a long solo – but in this case, Conry’s solo is too short. Like the jam in “Adeline” and many of the other songs on Past the Light, “Flowers on the Hill” sounds like a template for an extended version Old Shoe might kick out on a club stage. More, please!

Things move into the world of social commentary for just a few minutes on “Monkey Business Weekend.” Joe Day’s critique slams billionaire investors who play fast and loose with the economy to make a buck. Is it directed at someone he knows, or a generic Fuck you, Fat Cats! indictment? Either way, it doesn’t bring down the playful energy of the album, and the chorus is bound to get hands and fingers waving on the dance floor:

Wave your hand in circles in the air – Like a billionaire
Finger to the sky and buy the share – Like a billionaire

“Ray” will remind any Deadhead of “Rubin and Cherise” when they hear the opening musical refrain. (That’s what I thought, and then my wife said the same thing.) This is perhaps the best example on Past the Light of paying homage to The Dead. When the keys come in for a short instrumental interlude, and even more so in the closing guitar solo, “Ray” morphs into a variation of “Terrapin Station.” Conry’s solo is tasty, perhaps more Dickey Betts than Jerry Garcia despite emulating the latter’s trademark wah-wah sound. "Ray" is likely to be a favorite for Deadhead fans looking for something close to home in Old Shoe's repertoire.

The next track, “Seen the Way,” starts with an “Elizabeth Reed” for a moment before driving into its own groove. At this point, it's clear this song is not cut from the same cloth as the stereotypical jam song. “Seen the Way” has chorus harmonies by Day, Robinson and Conry that has shades of Alice in Chains, a different spin that underscores Old Shoe’s ability to combine disparate elements of American rock music into a cohesive mix. Bass player Janis Wallin adds to the harmonies on a soulful bridge.

“Helium” is a light-hearted love song with an uplifting melody befitting its airy name. Majors and minors, step-ups and musical pauses keep this cut afloat. "Helium" is the most memorable, hummable tune on the record. The refrain is a bit trite – “I don’t wanna come down, wanna stay up here with you” – but the bridge is craftier:
The higher I go, the more the shadows grow
The closer to earth I get, the sooner I am to forget

The album closes strongly with “Astral Country Night.” Along with “Helium,” Old Shoe saved the best for last. “Astral Country Night” leads off by evoking imagery befitting its title; a pastoral, starlit intro that says there is “Not a care in sight.” Then Old Shoe jumps into a low-light funk groove that will get everyone out of bed to shake their nighttime bones. Joe Day’s classic organ crashes lead into a verse and Matt Robinson sings about “Moonlit silhouette gone dancing on
the beach, turning up the sand.” The band relies on a well-worn lyric to close the album: "It’s gonna be alright.” Maybe that’s not an original thought, but in the hands of creative, competent musicians and singers, is that really an issue? Like Elvis Costello said (when asked if he’d noticed that Olivia Rodrigo's song “Brutal” sounded like “Pump It Up”): “It's how rock and roll works. You take the broken pieces of another thrill and make it a brand-new toy.”

It's gonna be all right for Old Shoe. Check out their new toy.

Great American Trainwreck recently released Red Deer, the third record for the Seattle quintet (Stephanie Ward, lead vocals, acoustic guitar, and viola; Nick Nordus, lead electric and acoustic guitar; Dan Rogers, bass; Andy Basinger, keys; Dave Bush, drums). With a blend of bluegrassy twang and Americana rock and country influences, Red Deer is a confident evolution replete with radio-friendly lyrics and credible instrumentation.

The band describes this self-produced outing as “an opportunity to take more risks and explore new ideas that pushed the band and the album into uncharted waters.” Nick Nordus is a new addition to the lineup, and his lead guitar is prominent in the musical interludes between Stephanie Ward’s country-tonk vocals. But make no mistake; like their earlier releases, Ward’s soprano lead vocals provide the hook that gives Great American Trainwreck its distinctive sound.

For the record, this band has no apparent personnel connection to Great American Taxi (Vince Herman’s band during Leftover Salmon’s early-aughts hiatus). But if you like Taxi, you might like Trainwreck. Imagine Leftover Salmon with Lone Justice’s Maria McKee belting out Roadhouse Americana instead of Vince and Drew on the lead vocals. True to the genre, the songs hew toward subjects that include road trips, train rides, and landscapes. Through it all, there is a thread of nostalgia for days and relationships gone by. There’s also a healthy dose of living for the now and remaining hopeful for the future. Even the song titles spell it out. “Still Around.” “On the Run.” “Room to Roam.” “Pacific Moon.” “Loaded” captures the spirit of Red Deer’s lyrical essence:

Down a tunnel, southward bound
Lower level and underground
Skip the local, head to express
Ticket punched for regrets

Elsewhere, Ward tells us that it’s “time to make a U-turn and swing back around” (“Still Around”). She says she “heard about a place where you can climb above the clouds under the trees.” In “Light Years,” the first track on Red Deer, she describes being “miles from the moon running full speed ahead.” There is a loose narrative of longing for both past and future that strings these tunes together, and Ward sells it with a sweet alto-soprano.

The title track is the most interesting cut on Red Deer. It’s really two songs in one, beginning with a bluegrassy New Riders-ish ramble that includes the album’s best line: “Tables are turning, and velvet is burning to bone.” The first 3½ minutes could stand on its own as a radio track for any honkytonk or bluegrass station. But then, Great American Trainwreck detours into uncharted waters with a song-within-a-song jam. During this interlude, Nordus takes the lead for a few minutes of an Arabesque-psychedelic jam that might remind some older hippies of Jefferson Airplane’s deep cut “Spare Chaynge.”

Ward gets to take a breather during the interlude, until the pace quickens and she finds herself once again in bluegrass territory, “Rolling into madness like a red deer,” to bring the song to a rambunctious close. “Golden Gardens” closes Red Deer with wistful reflections on a lost relationship. Nordus’s slide guitar underscores the evolving, often imperceptible transitions inherent in life and love while Ward muses that it’s “hard to recognize the people we’ve become.” She longs for bygone, perfect moments in the chorus:

Playing our music
Without a sound
Millions of people, but
No one else around

Indeed, perhaps it’s often hard to recognize the people we’ve become. But it’s easy to recognize who Great American Trainwreck is by the time the song fades to black to close the album. They are “playing their music” – and perhaps with the release of Red Deer, they’ll build new relationships with legions of Americana fans.

Midnight North singer Elliott Peck brought some of her friends to Mill Valley’s Sweetwater Music Hall on Friday, Dec. 8, for a delightful and powerful headlining gig that showcased her brilliant voice and distinctive songwriting chops. The Sweetwater was packed with veterans of Phil Lesh’s Terrapin Crossroads scene as well as other music lovers who have grown to appreciate Peck as one of the Bay Area’s finest performers. She delivered the goods, illuminating herself as an artist on the rise whose prospects are unlimited.

The evening was billed as a record release party for Peck’s new four-song EP In The Pines. (The EP is now available on streaming services and can be purchased on CD via her website) Many of the musicians who helped her record the new tracks were on board, including her Midnight North bandmates Grahame Lesh (guitar, vocals) and Nathan Graham (drums, vocals), as well as ALO’s Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz (guitar, pedal steel, vocals), superstar session and touring musician Jason Crosby (keyboards and fiddle), and Burt Lewis from Jerry’s Middle Finger (bass). Rounding out the ensemble was a tight horn section with TAB alum Natalie Cressman (trombone, vocals) and Jazz Mafia’s Ross Eustis (trumpet).

For two sets (there was no opening act), the setlist alternated between a mix of country, classic rock, and R&B covers interspersed with a selection of songs from both Peck’s 2018 album Further From The Storm and the new EP. “I Believe to My Soul,” a Ray Charles hit, opened the show, and well-known songs like Stevie Wonder’s “Sir Duke” and “Into the Mystic” were crowd pleasers as the night progressed.

The covers were soulful and fun, but the originals shined brighter. And for good reason: Peck’s lyrical ground is heartfelt, a tide of pensive reflections floating atop imagery of farmhouses and forests. She’s “in the zone” when she sings her own words. “Good for You I Guess” and “Highway Song,” both from Further From The Storm, were solid anchors in the middle of the first set – and while Peck had fun and sang with gusto all night (make no mistake, she can belt out the blues!), she seemed most at home with songs like these.

This was particularly true during the semi-acoustic portion of the show that opened the second set. Peck’s Midnight North song “The Colors Here” (from that band’s new album Diamonds In The Zodiac, which was released just last month) was among the evening’s highlights: This house has been shaken and twisted from the floor
I got a feelin’ we’re not in Kansas anymore A new perspective’s worth the fear Oh, but the colors here...

Peck also triumphed on “Row the River,” the single from the new EP (available now on Spotify). Her lyrics on this song abound with spirits of classic country sorrows; she laments, for instance, that “I watched that sunset alone,” and “The past ain’t nothing but a postcard.” Lebo’s “Bakersfield sound” pedal steel added a layer of plaintiveness to complete the Americana landscape during these renditions.

It’s obvious why luminaries including Phil Lesh (Grahame’s father, of course), Bob Weir, Jackie Greene, and Reid Genauer have asked Peck to sing harmonies with them. Her voice is strong and unwavering, a hint of Crystal Gayle’s tone combined with Allison Krauss’s midwestern heartland purity. She paid homage to the latter at the Sweetwater with a rousing version of “Oh Atlanta” (originally by Bad Company) toward the end of the second set. Peck sings in a lower register than Krauss but with the same confidence, power, and clarity.

Other country / Americana covers included first-set takes on Dolly Parton’s “Do I Ever Cross Your Mind” (which is included on the new EP) and “Dry Town,” a Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings song that was a big hit for Miranda Lambert. Peck made these songs her own with tight accompaniment from her accomplished friends. She was born on a farm in rural Michigan, but her parents introduced her to the blues at an early age and took her to Chicago for music festivals as a child. While Peck’s own songs tend toward country music, her love of blues and R&B canon was evident at the Sweetwater when she sang Gladys Knight’s “Midnight Train” and "Baby Don't You Do It" (the latter written by Motown greats Eddie Holland, Lamont Dozier and Brian Holland for Marvin Gaye, and covered famously by The Band).

For the Terrapin Crossroads faithful, there had to be some Grateful Dead, of course. Peck’s take on the Dead’s “New Speedway Boogie” near the end of the second set was powerful, with her impeccable voice in the forefront of this bouncy blues classic. Reed Mathis (Billy and the Kids, Tea Leaf Green, etc.) joined on stage to shred some guitar, trading licks with Lebo and Lesh. Mathis and Lebo in particular have two of the most distinctive approaches to Jerry’s licks in the Bay Area’s expanded Dead cover band milieu – and even so, the best parts of the song came when Peck was at the mic leading the audience for choruses of “This darkness got to give!”

Yes, it was Peck’s night to shine, but certainly, the band was with her every step of the way. (Peck herself didn’t pick up a guitar until the third song, and she only played on about half of the numbers.) Lebo and Lesh took turns on leads, and Crosby often stepped up on keys to take the spotlight. Lewis and Graham held the floor steady all night, with equal aplomb on both the soft Americana and the boisterous R&B.

Grahame Lesh has matured on lead guitar since the early days of Midnight North. A residency at Terrapin Crossroads and numerous gigs with his father’s rotating cast of Phil and Friends has given him a ton of live experience, and it shows. (Most, if not all, of the musicians on stage have also played with Phil in various “Friends” lineups.) Lebo always impresses with his distinctive electric-style acoustic guitar chops and his country licks on pedal steel. Crosby is one of the most talented keyboardists in a generation. Together, the trio could support any singer on any size stage; the intimacy of the Sweetwater made their performance particularly sweet.

Cressman and Eustis were on stage for about half of the show, returning particularly to add horns on the upbeat rock and blues jams. Each had multiple turns to solo on their respective brass instruments. Cressman also took several lead vocal spots in addition to adding harmonies alongside Lebo and Lesh. Notably, she took one of the verses in the second set closer, “Brokedown Palace” to demonstrate her inestimable crooning talent. Cressman stands along with Peck as one of the extended jamband world’s best singers, and the audience rewards her with well-deserved attention and applause on each occasion.

For the encore, Peck and Co. tore through “Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning,” the traditional blues song perhaps best known as a Hot Tuna vehicle. Peck seemed to emphasize the sister in the line “Sister keep right on prayin'.” Despite being surrounded by a bunch of mostly guys on stage, and even when singing songs written by men, she is determined to own every line she sings. Peck’s authenticity is her power – and it may yet carrier her higher as a solo artist than the heights she has reached co-fronting Midnight North. If the Sweetwater gig is a sign of things to come, the world will hear a lot more from Elliott Peck.

Setlist:

SET 1
I Believe to My Soul
How Long Do I Have to Wait
Another Life Ago
Good for You I Guess
Dry Town
Highway Song
Do I Ever Cross Your Mind
In the Pines
Midnight Train to Georgia
Don’t Do It
Sir Duke

SET 2
Coyote
A Great Farewell
The Colors Here
Row the River
Oh Atlanta
Into the Mystic
Greene County
New Speedway Boogie
Brokedown Palace

ENCORE
Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning

Check out more PHOTOS from the show

Nat Keefe’s Concert Carnival came to town and performed “without a net” at The Independent on Sunday night, December 17, 2023. The venerable San Francisco club was full of talent, musical and otherwise, for the 18th annual fundraiser produced by Keefe (Hot Buttered Rum, BeatMower).

Billed as an “All-Star Cabaret Variety Show,” this year’s Carnival featured music from Keefe and a few of his bandmates from Hot Buttered Rum (Erik Yates, Bryan Horne), as well as Elliott Peck of Midnight North, members of AJ Lee and Blue Summit, the Coffis Brothers, and many more.

Keefe’s annual holiday-season Concert Carnival was launched in 2006. After five years of nonstop touring with Hot Buttered Rum, Keefe says he was “looking for something to mix things up and reconnect myself with my favorite parts of music – and to have an excuse to work out tunes with new and old music friends.” His vision extended beyond music and evolved into a variety show with all sorts of performers. “We’ve had aerial dancing, a trick dog show, movie premieres, circus arts, theatrical shorts. Every year a different recipe.”

The ”recipe” at this year’s Carnival included a rated-PG burlesque comedy routine by Femme Fatale, a screening of a short film, The Taste of Sound, and Patrick Ball's "Field of Flowers," a unique and colorful visual display on the edges of the stage.

Make no mistake; the core ingredients for Keefe’s annual Carnival “recipe” are (naturally, organically) the musicians. Over the years, the Carnival has featured members of The String Cheese Incident, Railroad Earth, Cornmeal, the Brothers Comatose, Poor Man’s Whiskey, ALO, New Monsoon, and more.

This year, Keefe assembled an all-star Carnival troupe featuring Elliott Peck (Midnight North), Katia "Pixie" Racine (Pixie and the Party Boys), country/Americana singers Jessica Malone and Hattie Craven, and Kyle Ledson and Mei Lin Heirendt (Broken Compass Bluegrass). A Santa Cruz contingent included the Coffis Brothers Duo (Jamie and Kellen), AJ Lee, and Lee’s bandmates Jan Purat and Scott Gates. Award-winning California bluegrass guitarist Yoseff Tucker and drummer Anna Elva rounded out the bill.

Also on hand were local DJ Cibby, spinning before and between sets, and emcee KC Turner. Josh “Gelf on a Shelf” Gelfand roamed through the crowd selling raffle tickets and spreading holiday cheer. Femme Fatale’s French Kiss lesson was charming and funny.

The Carnival is all about fun and games (Turner told the crowd, “Every year the Nat Keefe Carnival gets a little spicier), but it’s more than that. The event is always a fundraiser for a worthy cause. Keefe says, “For the last couple of years, I’ve decided to focus on SF-local small nonprofits, where our modest fundraiser can probably make the biggest difference.”

This year’s beneficiary is San Francisco’s City of Dreams, whose mission is to help build brighter futures for youth in underserved communities. City of Dreams’ services include mentorship, a gardening and financial literacy program, and afterschool programs with homework help and enrichment activities at two public housing sites.

As Keefe puts it, “I sometimes think of the parallels with the nonprofit world and the ‘not- profitable’ early stages of being a musician.” The performers Keefe selects each year reflect that sensibility. (My first Carnival was in 2011 when the daughter of some very good friends of mine was in high school, and Keefe invited her indie band The She’s to play a short set.)

Certainly, music was the main event of the Carnival. Musicians rotated on and off the stage for two long sets of bluegrass, folk, and Americana featuring a host of singers. Jessica Malone sang the first number along with Keefe, accompanied by Keefe’s HBR partners Bryan Horne and Erik Yates, among others. (Keefe produced Malone’s soon-to-be-released album, and it’s a good bet that this song, “On & On & On,” will be on that record.) Mandolin prodigy Kyle Ledson followed with a barn-stomping version of the bluegrass classic “High on a Mountaintop.” Several pickers took turns on leads, each playing their respective instrument with the mindfulness and sensibility required by acoustic players on a crowded stage.

Shortly after that, following Femme Fatale’s fun and frolicsome “French Kissing Lesson” interlude, the stage was given over to AJ Lee and the Coffis Brothers for a stripped-down rendition of the Everly Brothers classic “All I Have To Do Is Dream.” A few songs later, Elliott Peck took the mic for a rousing “Oh, Atlanta” (a Bad Company song many know from the Alison Krauss version). Salt Lake City’s Pixie closed the first set with a jaunty “Club Thing.” Like many benefits of star-studded stages, the audience wanted more from everybody!

After a short break, emcee KC Turner touted the fundraising raffle while the resident holiday spirit “Gelf on a Shelf” prowled the crowd to plea for raffle purchases. All the proceeds were designated for City of Dreams, the evening’s beneficiary. Prizes included the chance to have Nat Keefe write a song specifically for the winner.

Before the music started up again, the audience was treated to a screening of a short documentary, The Taste of Sound, by filmmakers Bria Light and Jennifer Wiley. The film featured an engaging introduction to musical synesthesia, with musicians describing their own sensory experiences. (Google “musical synesthesia” to learn more about this fascinating type of neurodiversity.)

And then – back to the music.

Set Two kicked off with some hell-raising bluegrass by Mei Lin Heirendt and Jan Purat on fiddles, Scott Gates on mandolin, Yoseff Tucker on guitar, and Bryan Horne on the double bass. After some master instrumental picking (Bill Monroe’s “Roanoke” and “Wheel Hoss”), the ensemble featured the voices of Heirendt and Gates on a classic country version of Johnny Cash and June Carter’s “Jackson.” Heirendt’s vocals were notably fierce on this country crooner.

As the set continued, the collected musicians in the house again took turns on stage, picking leads, and stepping up to the mic. Peck, the Coffis Brothers, Malone, Lee, and Pixie each had another turn or two at vocals. Keefe sang as well, but predominantly on harmonies, letting his guests steal the spotlight for most of the night.

All of the performers were on stage by the end, including Philip Brezina of the Brothers Comatose (a surprise appearance). For the closer, Erik Yates led the crowded stage on “Joesph’s Dream” by John Hartford. All the angels sang: “Just when you think it can't get no better, then it does!”

And with that in mind, a chorus line of Carnival companions took a well-earned bow. The circus was over. That is, until next year’s triumphant holiday-season return of Nat Keefe’s Concert Carnival!

The Bay Area was awash with live music during the final days of 2023. During the week leading up to and including New Year’s Eve, live music fans in the region could choose The String Cheese Incident, LCD Soundsystem, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, Les Claypool’s Bastard Jazz, Jerry Harrison and Adrian Belew’s “Remain in Light” Talking Heads tribute, Charlie Musselwhite, and Jerry’s Middle Finger, among others. And of course, some folks stayed home to stream Phish.

For many fans, however, Leftover Salmon (LoS) was a must-see for at least one of their three gigs at Mill Valley’s Sweetwater Music Hall on December 29, 30, and 31. With their timeless, high-energy recipe for “polyethnic Cajun slamgrass,” the well-loved band rang in the new year to the delight of their faithful followers.

LoS advertised special guests David Nelson (New Riders of the Purple Sage, David Nelson Band) for the Dec. 30 show, and singer Maria Muldaur for New Year’s Eve. These two nights sold out, and as promised, each performance included a unique collaborative experience. A few surprise guests during the three-night stand added to the fun.

LoS played their first NorCal show at the Sweetwater, in the club’s old site down the street, way back in January 1994, five years after they got their start in Boulder, CO. The venue holds a special place in the band’s heart. Thirty years after that first Bay Area appearance, the venerable bluegrass-jamband was in fine form as they returned for yet another Sweetwater run. Founding members Vince Herman (guitar, vocals) and Drew Emmitt (guitar, mandolin, fiddle, vocals) are currently accompanied by Andy Thorn (banjo, fiddle, vocals), Greg Garrison (bass, vocals), Alwyn Robinson (drums) and newcomer Jay Starling (keyboards, pedal steel, dobro), who joined in 2022.

Vince Herman underscored the importance of the Sweetwater gigs “We’ve always loved playing the Sweetwater since the early 90’s, but this year was really special for us. Having Lorin Rowan, Eric Thompson, David Nelson, Maria Maldaur, and Matt Axton as guests really made for a great celebration of California music history.”

Friday night’s opening show included songs spanning their three-decade discography, including “Tu Nas Pas Aller,” from LoS’s debut album Bridges to Bert, and a cover of Lionel Hampton’s “Ridin' on the L & N,” a cut on their latest release, 2023’s Grass Roots. Eric Thompson (Black Mountain Boys, Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions) sat in for “Little Sadie” and “Beaumont Rag.” Local luminary Lorin Rowan (The Rowan Brothers) joined at the end of the first set for a cover of Lorin’s brother Peter’s song “Perfection.”  

David Nelson sat in for most of the first set on Saturday night. After a few LoS songs to open the show, Nelson was given a chair at center stage to lead the band through a number of songs that touched on the NRPS songbook, including a lovely “Last Lonely Eagle” and a raucous “Crooked Judge,” the latter written by Nelson with Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter. Swimming on their own in the second set, LoS went deep into jam heaven with extended versions of Dylan’s “Tangled Up In Blue,” Doc Watson’s “Reuben’s Train,” and the LoS original “This is the Time.”   

New Year’s Eve was, of course, particularly festive. The audience was festooned with party hats and swanky hippie chic clothing for the affair. Vince Herman covered his button-down tie dye with a sport coat. Andy Thorn and Jay Starling bookended the stage dressed in sparkly party sequins.

Like the previous night, the first set featured the evening’s special guest. On NYE, it was Maria Muldaur, a Mill Valley resident whose picture is on the wall in the Sweetwater, sang with her trademark smokey voice, as vibrant and lively as ever. She kicked off her suite of songs with a post-pandemic original, “I’m Vaccinated and I’m Ready for Love.” She and Herman sang fondly to each other to close the set with a sultry tune, “Don’t You Feel My Leg.”

The second set kicked off with about 45 minutes left in 2023. After some Salmon tunes, With fifteen minutes to go before midnight, Matt Axton came out to sing his father Hoyt’s timeless classic "Never Been to Spain" and the blues classic “Stealin’.”

Then it was time for the New Year celebration. Herman led the midnight countdown – only a few seconds after midnight, not too shabby for a NYE jamband show – and the band shared glasses of champaign for just a moment while leading the crowd through a singalong “Auld Lange Syne.” No balloons dropped, but a few fans brought their own confetti.

To top it off, Maria Muldaur came back to sing (what else?!) “Midnight at the Oasis,” her 1973 hit. Drew Emmitt filled the bridge with a tasty electric guitar solo to give the immortal Top Ten chestnut some Salmon flavor. LoS followed this with an appropriate positive-vibe “Joesph’s Dream”:

Just when you think it can't get no better, then it does!

Later on, LoS paid homage to the Grateful Dead – whose legendary Bay Area NYE shows set the standard for all jambands – with a rip-snorting bluegrass rendition of “Black Peter” (Andy Thorn singing, as he does on LoS’s latest album), followed by Bonnie Dobson’s “Morning Dew.” The set closed with a spirited “Up on the Hill Where They Do the Boogie.”

For an encore, LoS kicked down “Euphoria,” giving the audience a chance to hoot and holler along with the band on the refrain:

Patted Eve on the bottom, patted Adam on the back
Smiled at the serpent and the serpent smiled back
Took a bite of the apple, two bites gone, hollerin'... Euphoria!

With that Bacchanalian scene in mind, LoS set the stage for a good time in 2024. May the Salmon run forever!

SETLISTS:

DECEMBER 29, 2023
Set 1:
Carnival Time
Gold Hill Line
Keep Driving
Two Highways
Light Behind the Rain
Tu Nas Pas Aller
Little Sadie (with Eric Thompson)
Beaumont Rag (with Eric Thompson)
Get Me Outta This City
I Don't Know You
Perfection (with Lorin Rowan)

Set 2:
Whispering Waters
Thinkin' About Whiskey
You Don't Love Me
Ridin' on the L & N
On the Other Side
New Delhi Freight Train
Blue Green Slime
Cactus Flower
Hot Corn Cold Corn
Aquatic Hitchhiker
Bass & Drums > Jam

Encore:
Gimme Da 'Ting That the Doctor Ordered Me

DECEMBER 30, 2023
Set 1:
Boogie Grass Band
Gulf of Mexico
Liza
Bend in the River
Brand New Good Old Days
Rocky Road Blues (with David Nelson)
Dim Lights, Thick Smoke (And Loud, Loud Music) (with David Nelson)
Teardrops in My Eyes (with David Nelson)
Last Lonely Eagle (with David Nelson)
Crooked Judge (with David Nelson)
Ashes of Love (with David Nelson)
Redneck Mother (with David Nelson)

Set 2:
All Night Ride
We’ll Get By
Tangled Up in Blue
This Is the Time
Rueben's Train
Bird Call
Crystal Meth Freak From California
The Hobo Song

Encore:
Better

DECEMBER 31, 2023
Set 1:
Down in the Hollow
Sing Up to the Moon
Show Me Something Higher
Dance on Your Head
Midnight Blues
Morning Sun
I’m Vaccinated and I’m Ready for Love (with Maria Muldaur)
Let’s Get Happy Together (with Maria Muldaur)
Richland Woman Blues (with Maria Muldaur)
Don’t You Feel My Leg (with Maria Muldaur)

Set 2:
Mama Boulet
Steam Powered Aeroplane
Simple Twist of Fate
Breakin’ Through
Never Been to Spain (with Matt Axton)
Stealin’ (with Matt Axton)
- NYE countdown –
Auld Lang Syne (singalong with audience)
Midnight at the Oasis (with Maria Muldaur)
Joseph’s Dream (Get No Better)
Fire and Brimstone
Black Peter
Morning Dew
Up on the Hill Where They Do the Boogie

Encore:
Euphoria   

“Best Damn Band We’re Ever Gonna Hear.”

Following the untimely death of Duane Allman, the Allman Brothers moved forward without dropping a beat. Brother Duane had died in late October 1971. Barely three weeks later, the band was back on stage in Upstate New York with a lineup composed of the remaining five original members – Gregg Allman on vocals and keyboard, Dickey Betts on guitar, Berry Oakley on bass, and drummers Butch Trucks and Jaimoe at the back of the stage. The “Five-Man Band” period, featuring Betts solely on lead guitar, lasted for just a few more months before Chuck Leavell joined to augment Gregg Allman on keys. Oakley died soon thereafter.

In April 1972, the short-lived “Five-Man Band” version of the Allman Brothers appeared at Manley Field House on the Syracuse University campus. Campus radio station WAER aired the show live. Bootlegs of the show have circulated for decades. Now, the band is at long last releasing this seminal show in the highest possible audio quality preserved from the direct source. The 11-track, two-disc CD will be available on January 12, 2024, from the Allman Brothers Band Recording Company.

“Eat a Peach,” the Allman Brothers’ fourth record, was released in February 1972, just a few months prior to this appearance. Only two cuts from that double-disc album (which featured both studio and live recordings) made the setlist at Manley Field House. Gregg Allman’s “Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More” was written for his brother, and it was a fitting inclusion to honor Duane’s absence. The blues classic “One Way Out” followed “Wastin’ Time” in the Syracuse show. The rest of the setlist draws from the band's earlier catalog.

Betts had taken on a revised role at this time. In the absence of Duane, the other guitar-playing “brother” had to take on many of the iconic slide parts in the group’s catalog. In one interview at the time, he said, “I did play some slide before Duane and I started working together but did not play very well. But after he got killed, I had to take over. Songs like ‘Statesboro Blues’ and some of the others would have sounded silly without it.” He also started singing more (although this record is all Gregg songs).

This recording captures Betts during the earliest phase of this period, and it is evident that indeed he had learned to play Duane’s licks admirably by this time. Betts pays worthy homage to Duane during the show opener at Manley Field House; “Statesboro Blues” is a song that leans heavily on its countrified slide melodies and solo. Likewise, “Done Somebody Wrong” gives Betts a chance to strut on a few bottleneck leads. And notably, Betts also contributed his original slide work in the Syracuse show during the tribute to Duane, “Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More.”

But those are the first three songs, and Betts sticks to his fingers on the frets for the bulk of the show after the three opening cuts.

Certainly, Betts sounds more relaxed and “in the zone” when his fingers, not a slide, are on the fretboard. His blues licks following Gregg’s organ solo on “Stormy Monday,” for instance, are as polished and emotional as ever. In “You Don’t Love Me,” Betts’ false-ending crescendo at the 5:10 mark gives way to some truly plaintive solo work (you can imagine the spotlight on him while the band stays quiet) before a reprise. As if that’s not enough, they take it all down again for yet one more jam to showcase their lone lead guitarist while Trucks and Jaimoe rebuild the energy from the ground up. This is classic Betts at his finest.

The Allman Brothers have had a plethora of amazing guitar players in their lineup, mostly two at a time (the latter-day version with Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks was notably delicious), but the Betts-only years had their own magic steeped in the blues maestro’s own blend of Southern comfort. Listeners who are not familiar with this era might miss the dueling and dueting guitars on “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed.” But on the other hand – lots more Dickey solos!

Unfortunately, the Allman Brothers have also had more than their fair share of stellar bass players, due to the passing of founding member Berry Oakley later in 1972. At Manley Hall, Oakley delivers a strong performance, particularly when holding the floor down during Gregg Allman’s solo on “Elizabeth Reed” and throughout the improv “Syracuse Jam” toward the end of the show. The latter peaks with Oakley high on the neck of his bass before the ensemble mellows into a spacey drum-heavy coda punctuated by Gregg’s organ. Oakley also has a thunderous bass solo in “One Way Out” that must have shaken the chandeliers all across the Syracuse University campus.

The way the mics captured Oakley may be the best thing about this recording. His Fender Jazz “Tractor” bass is prominent on every cut. It’s rare to truly "feel" the bass so clearly on a live recording from this era; kudos to the engineers for nailing it. Hard to say whether Oakley was stepping it up to fill Duane’s void, or if he’s more noticeable simply because there’s one fewer instrument on stage. Regardless, it’s a treat to reflect on his skill when listening to Manley Hall. Oakley fans in particular will relish this album.

Regrettably, the vocals and organ are often a bit muddied on Manley Hall. The recording does have a “bootleg” ambiance throughout. Fortunately, it’s easy to forgive the audio quality because the instrumentalization is so tight.

That being said, Gregg Allman shines more on organ than he does on vocals in this performance. The words are recited second-naturedly at points, but his Hammond is alive as ever with churchlike verve. Whether he felt overtly mournful for his dear departed brother during his “Stormy Monday” solo is unknowable, but it sure sounds like he is pouring his heart into every key.

The same can be said of “Midnight Rider.” With Betts singing along on the refrains, Allman’s vocal is strong, but it’s his organ that speaks loudest and tells more of the story. On the other hand, even after singing hundreds of “Whipping Posts” by this point, he sells the story to the Syracuse crowd like a rapturous itinerant preacher in the closing minutes. Even just going through the motions, there’s no blues singer like Gregg Allman.

Butch Trucks and Jaimoe are in fine form for this outing. Side-by-side drum kits have become a staple of the jam band circuit (and of course, the Grateful Dead had their Rhythm Devils too), but no duo has ever eclipsed the original Allman Brothers percussion team. A 90-minute show doesn’t afford Trucks and Jaimoe a lengthy drum break, but they do get a minute here and thirty seconds there unaccompanied by the rest of the band during the Syracuse show to stretch out.

The drummers are the real stars during the improv “Syracuse Jam” toward the end of the show. The interplay between Trucks and Jaimoe is joyous and bluesy, especially in the last minute of this unique jam. Oakley and Betts fill in the corners with tasty noodles to accompany the rhythmic interplay on this cut, which seems to have been played once and only once in the Allman Brothers' history.

A lively “Hot ‘Lanta” brings the show to a close. Following a barnstorming recital of the band's paradigmatic melody-led instrumental, Trucks and Jaimoe share one last, all-too-brief moment in the spotlight before the quintet says a melodic “goodnight.”

At just shy of 90 minutes, Manley Field House, Syracuse University, April 7, 1972, feels too brief. Perhaps not as short, of course, as the young lives of Duane Allman, whose absence was still notable at the time, and Berry Oakley, whose departure was imminent. But the “Five-Man Band” era was likewise short-lived, and we are fortunate to have this snapshot for our memory book.

Manley Field House, Syracuse University April 7, 1972 tracklist:

Disc One:

    Introduction
    Statesboro Blues
    Done Somebody Wrong
    Ain’t Wastin’ Time No More
    One Way Out
    Stormy Monday
    You Don't Love Me

Disc Two:

    In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed
    Midnight Rider
    Whipping Post
    Syracuse Jam
    Hot ‘Lanta

The Independent in San Francisco, hosted three up-and-coming bands for a night of funk and fun on Thursday, January 11, 2024.  If you’re looking to get a party started, keep it going, or make it last all night, you might want to check out Object Heavy, Boot Juice, and Litty deBungus.

Litty deBungus kicked off the evening’s festivities. This funk ensemble touts fellow Oakland natives Tower of Power as an influence, and that’s a good starting point to describe their bass-and-horns-infused soul. Santa Cruz singer Trianna Feruza shared the stage with Litty D, adding high-octane vocal fuel to the funk fire. Without catching a breath, Litty D threw down five songs from their 2023 eponymous album, closing with “She’s Got a Gun,” a raucous toe-tapper.

The middle of the funky three-band sandwich was Boot Juice, a NorCal octet from the Sierra Nevada Mountains. A little Edwin Sharpe, a little Trampled by Turtles, and a Whole Lotta Caffeine, I mean Love. Paint splattered pantsuits. Americana on steroids and/or espresso. Good times a’plenty!

Boot Juice jumped and jived with a hint of jazz and a bit of bluegrass, shaking their hips and everything else with Cali-Texan swing beats and oodles of youthful swagger. If they had iPhones in their pockets during this set, they each got in way more than 10,000 steps by the end of their 60-minute set. These Boots got Juice.

And dang it, the music is good! It’s fun, it’ll make you groove, and you’ll go nuts if you stop dancing long enough to try to figure out if it’s country, R&B, frenetic folk – or just a bunch of crazy kids who stayed up all night listening to mash-ups of Squirrel Nut Zippers and James Brown before deciding to start a band.

No dead bodies, just a lot of sweat and smiles. Bonus points for the matching coveralls and also for covering Jefferson Airplane’s first-album deep cut “High Flyin' Bird.” Joe-Bob says check it out.

Object Heavy hails from Arcata, a small town on the northern coast of California. Their sound is Heavy (hence, the name?). They’ve got the funk. They’ve got soul. They’ve got a well-polished groove.

Aptly named vocalist Richard Love glides effortlessly between tenor verses, falsetto choruses, and raise-the-roof screams of passion. A few songs in, he belts out “I Put a Spell on You” as powerfully as anyone who’s ever tried to put a spell on anyone. This is No-Foolin’-Around Time, and the shit gets real.    

The quartet that gives up the funk for Mr. Love to groove on is top-notch. Brian Swislow (keys), Leo Plummer (guitar) take turns on crafty solos when they’re not ch-chuck-ch-chucking classic funk rhythms. Drummer Dan Weiss doesn’t miss a beat, nor a backbeat for that matter.

The secret weapon in the Object Heavy arsenal is Ian Taylor. His pulse is rock steady – and man, can that cat lay down a solo! If the heart of a funk band is at the bottom, these guys have a big-ass bottom. (Is he the Object that is so Heavy?) During the guitar solo on “Sunshine,” a brand-new Object Heavy song, Taylor’s fingers were flying as fast as Plummer’s pick.

Three fun bands, lots of funk beats, and a good crowd eating it all up. Who can ask for more?

Check ‘em out:

Litty deBungus: https://littyd.com/
Boot Juice: https://www.bootjuicejams.com/
Object Heavy: https://objectheavymusic.com/

Oh, the stories we could tell about Yonder Mountain String Band.

We could talk about the first time I saw them. Around 1999 or 2000, I wanted to check out the storied NYC club Wetlands to see what all the fuss was about, and I’d heard about this hot up-and-coming bluegrass band from Colorado. Wetlands: Cool little place. But Yonder – wow! Mind blown.

But that’s not what I want to talk about today.

We could talk about the tragic loss of founding mandolin player Jeff Austin in 2019, a few years after he left the band due to "creative differences and conflicting career goals." Or about the Allie Kral period that followed Austin’s departure from Yonder, the band replacing his incomparable mandolin with a fiddle to keep the music moving forward. Or the more recent addition of Nick Piccininni on mandolin and fiddle, merging the instrument assortment from the two eras.

But that’s not what I want to talk about today.

I want to talk about one of those moments that make live music performances truly magical. Those once-in-a-while instances where something special happens to bond the artists on stage with the audience in a collaborative, memorable experience. And I will talk about that – in a moment.

First, I need to mention that the opening act at Yonder’s Sweetwater Music Hall set in Mill Valley on Friday, January 12, 2024, was Never Come Down, a Portland-based bluegrass quintet. Joe Suskind (guitar), Crystal Lariza (vocals), Brian Alley (banjo), Kaden Hurst (mandolin), and Ben Ticknor (bass) warmed up the crowd with a splendid eight-song set featuring originals sung by several members of the band in turn. Suskind, Hurst and Alley took turns soloing because, well, that’s bluegrass! And they do it well.   

Second, well, Yonder Mountain String Band. Actually, they come second to none. If you’ve seen them, you know. If not – go see them, man! Get on it! Dave Johnston (banjo), Ben Kaufmann (bass), Adam Aijala (guitar), and Nick Piccininni (fiddle and mandolin) all sing and play like old bluegrass souls, and the butt-kickin’ never ends for almost two hours at any typical Yonder show.

I could tell you how their set included fun covers like the Rolling Stones’ “No Expectations,” John Hartford's "Granny Wontcha Smoke Some Marijuana," and Jesse Stone’s “Don’t Let Go” (a familiar Jerry Garcia Band tune for many in the audience who sang along with the refrain). I could tell you they picked and fiddled as tight as ever. I could tell you they had a guest fiddler named Coleman Smith and that he and Piccininni had a lot of fun fiddling eye to eye. So much to tell!

I’d be remiss not to mention another guest, Tyree Woods, who played rhythm guitar for a few songs and sang his own original song “Monday” with Yonder backing. Tyree only has 53 followers on Spotify, so please go check him out and drive up that count, folks!

But here’s what I really want to talk about: The magic moment.

For the encore, Yonder brought Never Come Down on stage. Kaufmann announced that they’d be playing acoustic – no mics, no amps, no PA, He asked the audience to play a special instrument: “A really quiet one.” He told us to “Take a deep breath. No laughing.”

I have to pause here and note that many of us who go to the Sweetwater regularly know it has a reputation for hosting a talkative crowd. Bob Weir notably told a Sweetwater audience once to “Shut the fuck up” – and the club now sells a ton of “STFU” shirts with an image of Bob on them. So it gives me honor to report that the crowd at this show was immediately and entirely respectful of Kaufmann’s request.   

To tell the truth, I don’t remember the name of first encore song they played. (I’ll gladly edit this report if I find out.) But after that first encore song, Kaufmann asked the crowd to join in on the choruses of “Ooh La La,” the Faces hit with the familiar and poignant Ronnie Lane / Ron Wood lyric sung by Rod Stewart:

I wish that I knew what I know now, when I was younger
I wish that I knew what I know now, when I was stronger

Between choruses, each of the many soloists took a turn moving to the center of the stage to strut their stuff. Then another verse. And another chorus. Just a bunch of string instruments and a few hundred voices groovin’ on the same vibe at the same moment, all of us together like one big, happy family.

And that is what I wanted to talk about. These are the moments that make us go see live music – those treasured, transcendent moments. Not being at the scene, but all of us being part of the scene.   

2024 is going to be a great year for music, right? But right there in the Sweetwater, I knew this would be one of my favorite musical moments for the coming twelve months. We all knew it.

And that’s my story. May your 2024 be full of many such moments.

Old and In the Way were (ironically) mostly not old – and certainly not at all in anyone’s way! – when they gathered in 1973 to play about 50 live shows. Fiddler Vassar Clements, born in 1928 and having joined Bill Monroe and his Bluegrass Boys at 21, was still under 50. The other members of OAITW were only about 30 at the time, give or take a few years.

After spending a year with OAITW playing the banjo (the first stringed instrument he learned to play as a teen), Jerry Garcia soon returned his focus to playing guitar in the Grateful Dead and the Jerry Garcia Band. John Kahn, who had been playing bass for Garcia’s side projects since 1970, remained by Jerry’s side on stage and in the studio until they both passed away in the mid-1990s. Clements, who appeared on over 200 albums in his life, was never lacking in invitations to record or play live with other musicians. He died in 2005.

Guitar player and lead OAITW vocalist/yodeler Peter Rowan (who had also played for Bill Monroe) moved forward with a storied solo career. The same can be said for 'dawg' music pioneer and mandolin virtuoso David Grisman. Both of them continue to carry the bluegrass torch and each has also led numerous explorations into other avenues of folk, Americana, and jazz.

It’s now fair to categorize their classic album, recorded at San Francisco’s Boarding House, as 'old'. (Fun fact: the album was recorded by the “Wall of Sound” engineer and LSD impresario Stanley Owsley.)

But they’re still not in the way. Most definitely not in the “just ignore the old guys in the corner” way.

To the contrary, the original album was for decades the best-selling bluegrass record of all time – finally unseated by the “O Brother, Where Art Thou” soundtrack after more than 25 years. (Because, of course, all records are made to be broken!) It’s no exaggeration to observe that thousands and thousands of music fans, especially Deadheads, got turned on to bluegrass by OAITW.

Over the half century since OAITW played their last show, a few other live recordings have been released. Now David Grisman has produced Old & In The Way – Live At Sonoma State 11/4/73, available from Grisman’s own Acoustic Disc label. This Sunday afternoon show, one of OAITW’s final performances, was captured on tape by noted music photographer Ed Perlstein. The recording is available for download in Hi-Definition (24-bit, 96 kHz) sound, ensuring crisp and clear listening. The cover art explains that the download is “100% handmade.”

The album eases into “Going to the Races,” a ditty written and recorded by the Country Gentlemen in 1957. The intro and almost all of the first verse are missing; perhaps the tape machine started rolling a bit late. But after Rowan hits a few falsettos to establish his own “country gentleman” credentials, and with Kahn thumping out the low part of the high lonesome sound, the OAITW boys are off and running in high gear.

Most of the familiar tunes are here; “Panama Red,” “Wild Horses,” “Pig in a Pen,” and so on. Other songs like the classic fiddle tune “Orange Blossom Special” and Bob McDill’s “Catfish John” (a Jerry Garcia Band staple also recorded by the Dead) also make an appearance. Many of these tracks were omitted from the famous 1975 record but were included on last year’s four-disc set "Live at the Boarding House: The Complete Shows" (Acoustic Disc) and on a handful of other “official” releases over the years.

A handful of songs, on the other hand, have not appeared on any of the live releases to date. Grisman takes the lead vocal on “Eating Out of Your Hand,” a song originally written and recorded by Bill Harrell in 1960. It’s a jaunty song full of gusto, with high-flying solos in turn by Clements, Grisman, and Garcia. Grisman himself wrote “Fanny Hill,” a breathtaking instrumental that first appeared on his 1964 debut solo studio album.

Another pair of songs that have not appeared on any of the OAITW releases are sung by guest Ramblin’ Jack Elliott. (He is introduced without mention of being a “Ramblin’ man). “Tramp On the Street” was occasionally sung by Hank Williams, although he never recorded it. This song, written by Grady and Hazel Cole in the Depression era, was based on an 1877 poem titled "Only a Tramp" (by Dr. Addison Crabtree), and it asks the listener to consider if Jesus would get better treatment today than the homeless in your hometown. Pardon the meandering, but any song sung by Ramblin’ Jack deserves a ramblin’ introduction.

Elliott followed up with Jimmie Rodgers’ “Waiting for a Train.” The ramble here is that Rodgers had rewritten a song which originated in the 19th century in England. Many versions of the song were published in songbooks long before Rodgers took a stab. In the OAITW version, Elliott yodels, Clements swings, and it’s likely there were two-steppers dancing in the crowd at Sonoma State during this old-timey number. (Rodgers, and hence Elliott, may be forgiven for calling it “’Frisco.”)

The show ends with Rowan crooning “Midnight Moonlight” before the band takes off for a whirlwind ride on the aforementioned “Orange Blossom Special.” Clements does his masterful work on the finale to sound like an overly zealous train horn, while the rest of the band clickety-clacks the rhythm like steel wheels hustling down a mountainside on iron tracks.

It’s hard to imagine the young members of OAITW considering the timelessness of their performance that day. Here we are fifty years later, eagerly listening to these tunes and celebrating the auspicious contribution OAITW made to the bluegrass pantheon. This music may be old, but it ain’t in the way. It IS the way!

To purchase a download of this amazing album, visit Acoustic Disc - Old and In the Way Live at Sonoma State 11/4/73 Download.

TRACKLIST:

    Going to the Races
    Catfish John
    Eating Out of Your Hand
    Lonesome Fiddle Blues
    Land of the Navajo
    Old & in the Way Breakdown
    Panama Red
    Pig in a Pen
    Fanny Hill
    The Hobo Song
    Wild Horses
    White Dove
    Drifting Too Far from the Shore
    Uncle Pen
    High Lonesome Sound
    Tramp On the Street*
    Waiting for a Train*
    Midnight Moonlight
    Orange Blossom Special

What needs to be said about a little ol’ band from East L.A. called Los Lobos? Do we need to point out that they’ve played over 100 shows a year since they were founded 50 years ago? Does anyone really need to be reminded that they’ve recorded 17 studio albums, charted a #1 hit with their cover of “La Bamba,” and won multiple awards, including several Grammys?

Maybe the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame needs a reminder. Los Lobos was first nominated for inclusion in 2015, but the band has not yet been inducted. Omitting the most successful, most ass-kicking Mexican-American rock band from the ranks of that institution is a significant oversight, perhaps the most egregious among many absences from the Hall’s ranks. (We can argue about whether the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame really matters, but that doesn’t give the institution an excuse for this snub.)

After all, there aren’t many bands that can boast of a lineup that has four of its founding members after five decades. Are there any others?!

David Hidalgo (guitar, accordion, vocals), Cesar Rosas (guitar, vocals), Louie Pérez (guitar, jarana huasteca, drums, vocals), and Conrad Lozano (bass, vocals) founded Los Lobos in high school. The lineup for the first two years also included Frank González (vocals, mandolin, and arpa jarocha) and Richard Escalante (bass, vocals).

They named the band in tribute to norteño band Los Tigres del Norte, and at first they played both American Top 40 covers and traditional Mexican music. As the years went on, they began to write their own blended rock and roll music and developed a unique sound. By 1976, they were down to four members, but in 1982, Steve Berlin joined to play saxophone and keys. The baby of the band, he’s only been with them for, oh, four freakin’ decades.

Now on tour celebrating 50 years together, Los Lobos appeared at the JaM Cellars Ballroom in Napa, CA, on Saturday, January 13, 2024. The audience included many Los Lobos veteran fans, some of whom boasted of seeing them dozens of times, and also newbies hoping to hear their favorite song. The band may or may not have played everyone’s favorite song, but there is no doubt everyone left knowing they’d spent over two hours watching one of America’s greatest rock and roll bands.

Rosas wore his trademark Ray-Bans. Hidalgo wailed on his Strat. Bass player Lozano spent most of the set sitting in front of the drum kit on his amp. He’s reportedly had knee issues for the past several years, and since at least 2021 (perhaps longer) he’s been performing this way. His enthusiastic playing remains as vibrant as ever – whatever energy he’s not putting into standing goes into his fingers.

With relatively new drummer Alfredo Ortiz on drums behind them, the five core members spread across the stage to deliver two sets of music spanning their history and interweaving their Mexican and American heritages. The first set opened with "Will the Wolf Survive?" – a rocker from Los Lobos’ 1984 breakthrough album of the almost-same name. Later in the set, they threw down "Los Chucos Suaves," a big-band’ish Latin jazz number written by “Father of Chicano Music”

Lalo Guerrero in the 1940s. This was one of several songs in the JaM Cellars show from 2021’s "Native Sons," Los Lobos’ most recent, mostly-covers album. “Flat Top Joint,” originally a Blasters song (also from "Native Sons"), closed the set.

The second set opened with “Evangeline,” another track from "How Will the Wolf Survive." Dancers two-stepped in the back of the hall. Deadheads (Los Lobos draws many of them) swayed in Deadhead fashion, thrilled as ever to hear the song many of them know from Jerry Garcia’s cover version with his solo band. Later in the show, Rosas reminded the audience, “Don’t forget to boogie!” They needed no reminder.

Hidalgo traded in his guitar for an accordion to play “Kiko and the Lavender Moon.” With a traditional Mexican folk music rhythm, “Kiko” describes a cat who “plays and plays, still playing till he goes off to sleep.” Hmmm, that could apply just as well to everyone in Los Lobos.

Following that, Pérez (who spent time behind the drum kit during a span in Los Lobos’ early years) gave Ortiz a break and took over the kit for three songs. One of these was “Mexico Americano,” which Rosas introduced: “This next song goes out to César Chávez and Dolores Huerta.” Originally released by Los Pingüinos del Norte in 1970, the lyrics are yet another perfect description of Los Lobos themselves. Here’s the lyric, sung in Spanish (but with English translation):

"Por mi madre, yo soy mexicano, por destino, soy americano
(Because of my mother, I'm Mexican, by destiny, I'm an American)
Yo soy de la raza de oro, yo soy México Americano
(I am of the golden race, I am Mexican American)

Yo te comprendo el inglés, también te hablo en castellano
(I understand your English, I also speak to you in Spanish)
Yo soy de la raza de noble, yo soy México Americano
(I am of the noble race, I am Mexican American)"

The second set closed with “Georgia Slop,” a boogie-down 12-bar rocker. Berlin’s baritone sax held the bottom with foghorn pomp during the verses, and his solo gave a 1950’s “At the Hop” vibe.

For an encore, Los Lobos delivered some familiar goods. A lot of fans probably got to hear their favorite song during the final twenty minutes. First, Los Lobos teased “Not Fade Away,” giving the audience a chance to show their familiarity with the lyrics. (Spoiler alert: not everyone got a passing grade.) Diehard fans knew that the 90 seconds of the Buddy Holly classic was an intro for the Los Lobos cover of “Bertha.” With the stormy weather outside, the lyric was perhaps never so poignant:

"Ran into a rainstorm, ducked into a bar door
It was all night pouring, but not a drop on me"

Next, an odd synchronicity: my wife, who was in New York this weekend to see Dead cover band Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, texted me to say they’d played “Vampire Blues,” a Neil Young song. I kid you not that at the very moment I read her text, Los Lobos played the first chord of “Cinnamon Girl.” Whoa, dude.

To send the audience home, Los Lobos ended the encore with their biggest hit, a cover of Richie Valens’ “La Bamba.” Many of those who weren’t dancing held their phones up to catch the moment on video. The song segued into another early rock and roll hit, “Good Lovin’” (yes, also covered by the Dead, so the Deadheads were happy again) before coming back to let the crowd sing the last verse of “La Bamba.” (Again, mixed grades.) Finally, with a big blues coda as a send-off flourish, Los Lobos said goodnight, adios, see you later.

Do they have another decade in them? How long will the wolf survive? All we know is they are still running, still kicking butts, and as deserving as ever of accolades for being a rock and roll treasure. And that’s something worth talking about.

Hot Buttered Rum (HBR) kicked off 2024 with a celebration of its silver anniversary at the Sweetwater in Mill Valley on Saturday, January 27, 2024. Yes, the NorCal bluegrass band and left-coast jam festival staple has been around for 25 years – congrats, boys!

This was essentially a homecoming show. Founding HBR members Erik Yates (banjo, Dobro, flute, vocals) and Bryan Horne (bass, vocals) grew up in Mill Valley. On stage, Yates pointed out that Horne had been the homecoming prince at Tamalpais High School and also captain of the water polo team. Their fellow HBR founder, Nat Keefe (guitar, vocals), said, “It’s definitely a hometown show. The Sweetwater is Bob Weir’s clubhouse; in a smaller way, it feels like the same thing to us. We’ve got all our friends and family here, and the whole thing is easy and fun.”

Bluegrass is a tradition that respects its elders and also welcomes new blood. HBR now straddles the line between its storied youth and well-deserved OG status. Befitting this well-deserved passage into its second quarter century, HBR booked up-and-comers Broken Compass Bluegrass (BCB) to open the Sweetwater show. In keeping with the generation-melding ethos of bluegrass, HBR invited members of BCB on stage for a large portion of the headliners’ set.

To be clear, HBR is not strictly an old-timey, traditional bluegrass band. With flute, drums, and keyboards in the mix, HBR is perhaps more representative of “newgrass.” As Yates told an interviewer a few years ago, the band is named after the popular winter beverage: “The first few times we tried to make it, it turned out all runny and strange, but we worked out the recipe. I think we figured out the music better too, eventually.”

BCB, on the other hand, hews close to the bluegrass bone. Kyle Ledson (mandolin, vocals), Django Ruckrich (guitar, vocals), Mei Lin Heirendt (fiddle, vocals), and Sam Jacobs (bass, vocals) are young in years. (I’m pretty sure at least a few of them wouldn’t be allowed in a bar if they weren’t performing.) But they seem to have old souls, and they play their instruments like seasoned veterans. As young musicians performing in various ensembles over the past decade-plus, they’ve each spent ample time on stage wowing audiences with precocious, pleasing picking. They’ve been together as BCB since 2021, and each passing year has made them tighter, wiser, and more endearing.

It's fun to see a band grow. Over 25 years, HBR has had some personnel changes, and the addition of keyboards and drums along the way gave new life to old songs while also paving new avenues to explore. BCB is at the beginning of that journey. “We are always molding and experimenting with new songs and sounds,” says Ledson. Their opening set included a number of new tunes that will likely end up on their second studio album, to be recorded in the next few months.

Bluegrass fans take note: Ledson is a beast on mandolin, and Heirendt sings and fiddles like an early-20th-century Appalachian queen. After those two knock your boots off, Ruckrich’s picking is sure to rock your socks. His guitar solo when he jumped on stage with HBR late in the evening got the crowd’s biggest hoots and hollers of the night. With Jacobs holding down the floor, these aren’t kids playing with matches; they’re lighting everything on fire!

Rising luminary Jessica Malone also joined HBR to sing some songs at the Sweetwater show. Nat Keefe produced Malone’s soon-to-be-released album, and she sang “On & On & On,” a track they co-wrote for the album. Malone also sang a sprightly version of Cyndi Lauper’s classic “Girls Just Want To Have Fun.” Keefe said later, “The thing about playing a banger like that is, what do you play after it?!” They figured it out, and the crowd ate up every song.

Perhaps it’s best from here on in to let the folks on stage tell the rest of the story.

NAT KEEFE: "We got to the venue super early and rehearsed a bunch of new stuff. I was especially excited to do my new song 'Rearview Mirror.' The gist of it came from something my wife and I would say when we were first dating: 'I just want a lover.' Our relationship ended up becoming the whole package with kids, marriage, and a house, but still, sometimes we try to just be lovers."

JESSICA MALONE: "I got back from a very fun and creative vacation in Mexico on Friday. Woke up in L.A. Saturday and drove straight to Mill Valley for the show!"

NAT KEEFE: "A highlight of the set was that Jessica went out of her way on her drive back from L.A. to sit in on a few songs with us. We love that woman, I couldn't respect her musicality more, and her hustle and ambition as well!"

JESSICA MALONE: "It was an amazing show, the vibes were high, and I am so glad I made the drive to be a part of it!"

MEI LIN HEIRENDT: "Playing at the Sweetwater was such an honor. It’s definitely been a venue that’s been on our bucket list for a while now, especially given all the legends who have performed there before us."

DJANGO RUCKRICH: "The Sweetwater is definitely a huge bucket list venue for us. We’re all super excited to share this new batch of original music."

KYLE LEDSON: "Stoked to be back at the Sweetwater. I played here once before when I was 16 years old with Nat [Keefe] and Bryan [Horne]. Finally getting to do it all again with my Broken Compass family will be one of those nights that will live in our memories forever."

NAT KEEFE: "I’ve known Kyle since he was a wee little boy, just beginning with mandolin, and I’ve been lucky enough to mentor him a bit along the way and produce a couple of his albums. We’ve definitely made the transition from mentor/mentee to being friends/peers. Especially since he can play circles around me!"

KYLE LEDSON: "I’m grateful for HBR helping us break down some of these impenetrable venue walls so we can have a chance to do our own thing and connect with an audience that digs string band music."

MEI LIN HEIRENDT: "The guys in [HBR] are some of the kindest, most encouraging mentors/friends. We are so stoked to get to open for them and sit in with them on our Colorado tour in late March."

NAT KEEFE: "It’s fun to be with a band who is in a similar place that we were in 20 years ago. Perhaps, with other musicians, this is humbling or threatening, but I get a lot of energy and satisfaction from seeing these guys thrive."

DJANGO RUCKRICH: "HBR is one of our favorite bands that we’ve looked up to for a long time, and they’ve been such great friends and mentors to us."

KYLE LEDSON: "We are always molding and experimenting with new songs and sounds. Also, we keep a list of material we’ve played live at shows. It’s over 12 hours of music which makes our performances and free-flowing setlists more entertaining to us as artists. Nothing gets too stale that way."

MEI LIN HEIRENDT: "We’ll be launching a Kickstarter in the next month or so to gather support for recording, pressing, and distributing this album as independent artists. Keeping our creative rights and having full control over when and how we release music is something that’s really important to us, so we’re trying to stay independent for as long as we can."

MEI LIN HEIRENDT: "In March, Kyle and I will be doing our opening set with BCB each night as well as being HBR’s fiddle and mandolin player for their string band sets. Lots to look forward to, and we’re so grateful for all the folks who have helped us along the way. We’re just getting started!"

KYLE LEDSON: "Momentum is building and we’re loving every single minute of it."

NAT KEEFE: "In March, we are doing five shows in Colorado with Broken Compass Bluegrass as ‘Hot Buttered Rum String Band.’ Kyle and Mei Lin are going to play in HBRSB. It is Hot Buttered Rum’s 25th year as a band, and our 23rd anniversary of touring Colorado, so a ski town and Front Range tour sounds good to me."

JESSICA MALONE: "[HBR] are wonderful human beings and I am always grateful for any opportunity to share the stage with them. I also adore Broken Compass Bluegrass as people and love the music they make."

Mark Knopfler’s voice never sounded young. The Dire Straits frontman was in his late twenties when the timeless hit “Sultans of Swing” took over the airwaves in England and the U.S. in 1978. It was easy then to imagine the singer was himself a member of the storied bar band of which he sang; a time-tested musical soul-blowing Dixie double four time in a local dive bar decade after decade.

With over 40 years in the rearview mirror, Knopfler’s 10th solo album One Deep River underscores the timelessness of his voice as well as the depth and poignancy of his songwriting. One Deep River also continues Knopfler’s masterful string of bluesy British Americana – he may hail from the U.K., but few classic rock artists have traversed the landscape of the former Colonies with equal aplomb. Elvis Costello’s comes to mind in a similar “Brit’mericana” vein.

One Deep River was produced by Knopfler and his longstanding collaborator Guy Fletcher and recorded at his own studio in London. All the songs were written by Knopfler. The album will be released by Knopfler’s British Grove label via Blue Note/EMI on April 12. Options for purchase will include CD, a double gatefold vinyl, cassette, and a special limited-edition box set (which will include the album on both vinyl and CD with nine exclusive bonus tracks on LP and CD, plus a litho print of Knopfler, a guitar pick set and tin and an enamel badge).

'Take note: if you are a Dire Straits fan looking for guitar wizardry and fast-picking jams like “Sultans” or “Telegraph Road,” keep strolling – or better yet, take time to let One Deep River seep into your soul. Knopfler’s latest, like most of his solo catalog, is closer to Strait, George than it is to Straits, Dire. (For the record, Dire Straits only released six LPs; this, however, is Knopfler’s ninth solo record since leaving his Dire Straits days behind in 1995. His entire solo catalog is worth a listen.)

“Two Pairs of Hands” kicks off the new album with a few instantly recognizable Knopfler licks. Over a lazy JJ Cale-ish shuffle, Knopfler says he’s “Keeping balls in the air, trying to keep up with the band.” It’s clear however that Knopfler isn’t lagging. “Two Pairs of Hands” sets the tone for the album, a collection of lyrical tunes appreciated more for Knopfler’s voice and words than for his licks.

Even so, it’s worth noting the excellence of the band accompanying Knopfler. Jim Cox and Guy Fletcher play keys, Glenn Worf provides the bass, and Ian Thomas and Danny Cummings add the drums and percussion, respectively. The instrumentation is rounded out on various tunes with Richard Bennett on additional guitar, Greg Leisz on pedal and lap steel, Mike McGoldrick on whistle and uilleann pipes, and John McCusker on fiddle. The Topolski sisters, Emma and Tamsin, add backing vocals.

Opening track “Ahead of the Game” comes out of the dock with pistons pumping. It’s a rolling riverboat of a song that chugs downriver with a steady heartbeat. Next comes “Smart Money,” one of the album’s best tracks – a soft lilt that sprinkles a melody like summer rain landing on a porch roof. The pedal steel in the middle and the accompanying piano sweeten the pot, but it’s the lyrical hook that makes this one an earworm: “The smart money ain’t on your dog now.”  

“Tunnel Thirteen” picks up where Dire Straits’ “Telegraph Road” … began. This tune leaves the station at a slow and steady pace. It never picks up speed, but the tale is full of steam. It’s the longest track on the record, and it tells of “three bandits waiting, with evil in mind” who are “still jumping freight trains … a hundred years later.” (Trains are a frequent topic in Knopfler’s Brit’mericana oeuvre; another track on One Deep River is “Before My Train Comes.”)

Like many of the tracks on this record, "Tunnel Thirteen" is Knopfler recounting how the more things change, the more they stay the same. Even the outro instrumental part keeps the pace, a haunting melody defined more by a refrain of steady and somber harmonies rather than ferocious guitar licks kicking up dust.

Like much of the record, “This One’s Not Going to End Well” is front-porch lazy day music, but with lyrics that underscore the album’s poignant theme of stability in the face of change:

This one’s not going to end well
But after he’s gone
The traders will trade
Flyers will fly
Seafarers will ride on the swell

The album is named after its closing song. Certainly, “One Deep River” might conjure the Mississippi for many listeners, but in fact, it refers to the river Tyne in Knopfler’s childhood home city of Newcastle, England. “Crossing the Tyne is always on your mind,” he says. “It’s what you were doing when you were leaving as a youngster and that feeling is always the same every time you do it. You’re heading out or you’re coming back, and it just connects with your childhood. The power of it doesn’t go away.”

Many old timers have said the same about the Mississippi and many other rivers.

In fact, the same might be said of Knopfler’s songs throughout his career: they’re what you were listening to when you were a youngster, and that feeling is always the same every time you hear it. From his Dire Straits days through several decades of solo albums, Mark Knopfler’s voice may sound like a faded pair of ancient jeans. It’s never grown old – it just is old, in a timeless, wise, and wonderous sense. It’s a voice many of us listened to for decades. And whether we’re heading out or coming back, the power of Knopfler’s storytelling hasn’t gone away.

Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real (POTR) commanded the stage on Thursday, February 29, the second of two jam- and fan-packed nights at San Francisco’s Fillmore Auditorium.

For over two hours, Nelson and Co. delivered a ton of butt-kicking rock and roll, oodles of Texas stomp and swagger, and a healthy dose of mellow sweetness to round out the flavor. A surprise appearance by Bob Weir was icing on the cake.

Nelson kicked off the evening by introducing his longtime friend Lily Meola for her opening set. Meola, a 2022 “America’s Got Talent” finalist, sang a suite of heartfelt originals, accompanied by Bre Kennedy and Melissa Fuller on guitars and picture-perfect harmonies. Nelson joined her to sing “Daydream,” the song that earned Meola a “golden buzzer” from AGT’s Heidi Klum.

Meola also sang some new songs, including one for her mother that brought tears to her own eyes as she crooned, “I’ll keep on sending these postcards to heaven.” She also played a short version of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene,” which Meola said was the winner of a poll on her Instagram page. “We don’t really know it, but we learned the first verse for you.”

Nelson and POTR kicked off their headlining set with “Entirely Different Stars.” POTR (Tato Melgar, percussion; Anthony LoGerfo, drums; Corey McCormick, bass and vocals; and Logan Metz, keyboards, lap steel, harmonica, and vocals) hit the ground running, keeping pace with Nelson as he whipped through the first of many notable guitar solos. In his wide-brimmed cowboy hat, wire-rimmed glasses, and a sleek, black western button-down shirt, Lukas looked every part the modern country-rock star.

Switching between a Fender Strat and a Gibson Les Paul as the night progressed, Nelson’s blues-based guitar riffs marry the tone of Neil Young’s electric sound with the melodic scales and melodies of George Harrison and Nelson’s father, Willie. He's no slouch; some people might even call him a Rock God. (To be fair, some of those people might be as enamored by his movie star looks every bit as much as his virtuoso playing.)

Later in the set, Nelson got an extra cheer during “(Forget About) Georgia” when he sang the line, “We made love for the first time in a hotel in San Franciso.” (Side note: The last time Nelson was on stage at the Fillmore was a two-night stand with his father Willie’s band in January 2020, just before the Covid outbreak – and yes, during that run they played Ray Charles “Georgia on My Mind,” an inspiration for Lukas’s tune.)

After thirty minutes of POTR jams, Nelson gave POTR a break and played a few songs by himself, first on acoustic guitar and then on piano. The first of these was “All the Pretty Horses,” which provides ample proof that the apple didn’t fall too far from the gifted songwriting tree. When Lukas sings that he’s “riding on a trail that my father left me,” the genetic hand-me-downs from Willie are palpable. And truly, the son sounds most like his father when he sings the mellow shit.

Shortly after “Horses,” Lily Meola joined Nelson for a harmonious cover of Simon and Garfunkel’s “Homeward Bound.” This was followed by Nelson, alone on stage again, singing his exquisite love song, “Just Outside of Austin” (which he’d played with the full band the night before). Before bringing the band back, he stayed at the piano for a rendition of David Bowie’s “Life on Mars,” which showcased his nearly flawless falsetto on the Thin White Duke’s FM radio classic.

Lukas’s brother Micah, who performs as Particle Kid (and accompanies POTR when the band goes on tour to back Neil Young), made an appearance next to take the lead on his own anthemic singalong “Everything is Bullshit.” He returned for the encore later too.

After a trio of Nelson’s Texas cowpunk rockers (“Every Time I Drink,” “Wrong House,” and “Ladder of Love”), POTR ripped through Willie’s “Bloody Mary Morning.” This was followed by Nelson’s own “Find Yourself,” which currently occupies the top spot on POTR’s Spotify page. Lukas has indeed carved out his own songwriting and performance path, and “Find Yourself” is among the best examples of his gifted craftwork. On this soulful rocker, Nelson turns into a preacher – and the audience rapturously sings along when he calls on the congregation to join in:

I hope you find yourself
Before I find somebody else to be my love

The 75-minute main set ended with “Set Me Down on a Cloud.” But POTR was just getting started.

A 40-minute (!) encore began with the entirety of Pink Floyd’s “Echoes.” Nelson’s brother Particle Kid joined POTR on lap steel on the timeless album track from 1971’s Meddle. POTR was watertight as they waded through the slow build and rose to a crescendo of power chords. The Nelson brothers could make serious money touring as a Pink Floyd cover band, no doubt!

As if that wasn’t enough, Bob Weir’s unexpected walk-on gave the crowd a reason to lift their cell phones to capture the moment on video. With Weir and Nelson trading solos, they covered the Hunter-Garcia original “West L.A. Fadeaway” and Buddy Holly’s classic (and oft-played Dead encore) “Not Fade Away.”

As if it was all over, POTR and Weir took a bow – but even then, Nelson wasn’t quite done. After Weir walked offstage, Nelson looked at his fellow bandmates and said, “Okay, what the hell, let’s play another one!” They closed the show with Nelson’s “Something Real”:

I'm begging you to give me something real, babe!

Lukas Nelson and POTR are not a bag of empty promises. They’re the real deal, and the fans got what they came for. A Rock God indeed!

SET LIST:
Entirely Different Stars
Sticks and Stones
Alcohallelujah
Fool Me Once
Piano Explosion of Goodness
(Forget About) Georgia
Icarus
Carolina
Die Alone
All the Pretty Horses
Lying
Homeward Bound (Simon & Garfunkel cover, with Lily Meola)
Just Outside of Austin
Life on Mars (David Bowie cover)
A Few Stars Apart
Everything Is Bullshit (with Particle Kid)
Every Time I Drink
Wrong House
Ladder of Love
Bloody Mary Morning (Willie Nelson cover)
Find Yourself
Set Me Down on a Cloud

Encore:
Echoes (Pink Floyd cover)
West L.A. Fadeaway (Grateful Dead cover, with Bob Weir)
Not Fade Away (The Crickets cover, with Bob Weir)
Something Real

Here’s guitarist Charlie Hunter, live on stage at HopMonk Tavern Novato this week, speaking for himself and drummer Scott Amendola.

“We can still get excited at our age.”

They have much to be excited about!

If you haven’t seen Charlie Hunter play, you might not have experienced the cognitive dissonance that underscores his genius. Standing in the back of a crowded club, you’ll hear his impressive jazz guitar licks. You’ll also hear the steady funk bass that provides a consistent counterpoint. Fair enough, you’ll say. Sounds like a good band. A really good band.

But it’s not until you saunter up (or claw your way up, if it’s crowded) to the front of the stage that it dawns on you: the guy playing those complex melodic leads… is also playing the bass lines. At the same time. On the same instrument.

If you look closer, you’ll see his Ralph Novak eight-string solid-body guitar has two cords, one running to a guitar amp and one to a bass cabinet. And then you’ll start looking at his fingers, and – well, it’s indescribable. It’s like he’s got two brains and four hands.

How the heck does he do it?

And the whole time, he’s got an ear-to-ear shit-eating grin. (Except when it turns into a comical old prospector’s scowl.)

“Scott and I have been playing together for 30 years. Not every day, but… you know.”

In the 90s, Amendola and Hunter were fixtures on the Bay Area music landscape. Their band T.J. Kirk, with Will Bernard and John Schott rounding out the quartet on guitars, was in the vanguard of the avant-garde jazz funk scene. Known and named for their oeuvre of songs by James Brown, Thelonious Monk, and Rahsaan Roland Kirk. They had to change their name when the owners of the rights to the "Star Trek" empire threatened lawsuits over the original moniker "James T. Kirk."

In the years since, Amendola has played with a cavalcade of luminaries in many genres, including Nels Cline, Tony Furtado, and Phil Lesh. He remains one of the go-to drummers for NorCal jam-adjacent jazz world.

Together, Hunter and Amendola are a formidable pair.

You can’t deny their chops: Amendola studied at Berklee School of Music in Boston, while Berkeley CA high schooler Hunter took lessons from guitar hero Joe Satriani. Put them together and it’s more than the sum of its parts; there’s magic and passion in the air. They thrive on music, and it seems like they love each other as well. After nearly every song, they fist-bumped.

For two lengthy sets at HopMonk Tavern, Amendola and Hunter traded solo spotlights and floated on each other’s blissful and sublime riffs and rhythms. Hunter’s face alternated between his winking Cheshire Cat grin and his teeth-gritting, eye-squinting grimace. Amendola was perennially on the verge of laughter.

They covered the gamut from soul to bluesy jazz standards to the Beatles (“You Can’t Do That”). A very bluesy, slowed-down version of an Amendola original teased “Natty Dread” to fulfill a request shouted from the audience.

There was a set list on the stage, but it was more like a “serving suggestion”; the duo hopscotched through the list, skipping some, adding others, and doing nothing in order. The first song on the list was Lorde’s “Royals,” but they saved that for the encore. Many of the audience members joined in on the chorus to sing the words that Hunter was enunciating with his fluid picking.

Amendola’s frequent percussion solos were a particular delight. His playful circuits around the surfaces of his drum kit were entrancing journeys, ever light and airy, sometimes silly, and always inventive.

The old friends wrapped their own music and the plethora of covers in a unique blend of improvised grooviness and goofiness and tied it all together with mad skills. Two cats makin’ music, joyful the sound. A sold-out crowd took the vibe home with them.

There is a legion of Sleater-Kinney fans who were big fans of the Olympia, WA, riot grrrl trio long before founding member Carrie Brownstein turned her attention to acting and starred with SNL alum Fred Armisen in the offbeat television sketch comedy show “Portlandia.” (Sleater-Kinney was in the middle of a six-year hiatus at the time.)

The band also has a somewhat smaller but significant number of newer and younger fans who discovered Sleater-Kinney because they heard the cult-fave actress from “Portlandia” (she also had a recurring role on “Transparent” starting in 2014) was in a punk rock band.

Both sets of fans, the “OGs” and the young’uns, were in the house at Sleater-Kinney’s Warfield Theatre show in San Francisco on Saturday night. And both sets of fans were rewarded with a stirring performance that combined well-known songs from their 30+-year career with nearly the entirety of tracks from “Little Rope,” Sleater-Kinney’s eleventh studio album.

Sleater-Kinney was in studio writing songs and recording “Little Rope” when Brownstein's mother and stepfather died in a car accident in late 2022. Completing the record was a challenge, and the songs written in the aftermath of Brownstein’s family tragedy are heavily tinged with grief.

The set-opening “Hell” sets the tone for the new album, and it also summarized what to expect during the hour-and-45-minute show:

Hell don't have no future
Hell don't have no past
Hell don't have no worries
We're gonna live at last

With their dueling Gibson guitars – Brownstein playing an SG and Corin Tucker a Les Paul – Sleater-Kinney’s frontwomen strutted like seasoned rock stars. Which, of course, they are. Brownstein in particular made ample use of the available acreage on stage. (The rest of the band, including drummer Angie Boylan and two multi-instrumentalists, was set up several feet behind the two singers.) She pogoed around, pranced, and posed like a rock guitar goddess. Which, of course, she is. Brownstein frequently came over to Tucker’s side of the stage for Instagram-ready silhouette juxtapositions of the two bandleaders on the backlit platform. At one point (during “The Fox”), Brownstein even did Pete Townshend-like windmills.

Both singers were in fine vocal form. Brownstein’s well-honed indie swagger (often channeling Patti Smith’s delivery) and Tucker’s soprano punk crooning haven’t mellowed one drop. Tucker has a quality that sounds theatrical, operatic, melodic, and punk – all at the same time. Her distinctive 90’s grunge rock voice soars and screams on lyrics like this one from “Jumpers”:

Lonely as a cloud
In the Golden State
The coldest winter that I ever saw
Was the summer that I spent …

“Jumpers” drew one of the biggest cheers of the night. It’s a melancholy song that openly discusses suicidality. It’s also one of two songs Brownstein says she wrote while living in San Francisco, and the song’s references to the city and its famous bridge are enough to warm the hearts of locals, regardless of the subject matter.  

Suicide. Grief. Hell. Sleater-Kinney is not afraid to confront their demons. On “Dress Yourself,” another new track, Tucker sings, “The wreck of you is on display.” Put it all together and it could be depressing. But somehow, it isn’t. Sleater-Kinney’s music is a release of emotion, not a pent-up reflection of unresolved turmoil. Their songs are poignant but also cathartic.

Their songs are also loud. Especially in concert. It’s hardcore rock and roll, rarely calm and often bordering on (but never veering into) chaos. Sleater-Kinney’s music is grounded on powerful riffs and in-your-face guitars backed by crashing cymbals and thunderous tom-toms.

Some longtime fans might miss Janet Weiss, the founding drummer who left in 2019 and whose John Bonham-esque performances earned her a spot on numerous “Best Drummers of All Time” lists. Angie Boylan was admirable on the skins, but she’s got big shoes to fill.  

Sleater-Kinney’s biggest hit, “Modern Girl,” came near the end of the set. So often at big concerts these days, there is one song that brings out the cell phones for video; this was that song. Brownstein told the audience that this one too (as with “Jumpers”) was written in San Francisco. More cheers.

The main set ended with the closing track from “Little Rope.” “Untidy Creature” asked, “Could you love me if I was broken?” The answer, also in the lyrics, encapsulated the entire show:

There's no going back tonight

The appreciative crowd earned a four-song encore. Sleater-Kinney might be broken, but the fans will always love them for it.

Earlier in the evening, Boston’s Palehound played an opening set.  They may not take over the world, but they’re much better than just a “sell some beer” opener.

Palehound was originally a solo recording act by singer and songwriter El Kempner (who celebrated a birthday at The Warfield on Saturday). Now a touring quartet, the band treated the audience to a lively, lo-fi, punk-infused set.

Kempner and Co.‘s guitar-heavy sound is drenched in the Pixies, dripping with Elliott Smith, and has hints of alt-emo cult fave Sparklehorse. (Perhaps even their name was derived from the latter?) They opened with “Good Sex,” the opening track on the 2023 album “Eye on the Bat,” which exemplifies Kempner’s wry lyrical creativity:

Bad sex makes a good joke
That anyone can get
But good sex makes a bad joke
That's only funny if you were there

Palehound. Grab a beer — or a kombucha — and check them out.

Between the two acts, Rachel Dispenza did a short set of comedy. It’s no coincidence that they are Sleater-Kinney’s merch manager; the band and crew went to see Dispenza perform during an off night on tour – and they liked it so much that they invited them to open up a few shows. (Which says something really cool about the band!) Dispenza said afterward that they got the biggest cheer of their career from the San Francisco crowd, who were warm to their deadpan humor and bisexual identity content.

SLEATER-KINNEY SETLIST

1. Hell   NEW
2. Needlessly Wild  
3. Bury Our Friends
4. The Center Won't Hold
5. Small Finds   
6. Get Up
7. All Hands on the Bad One
8. Hunt You Down   
9. Hurry On Home
10. One More Hour
11. Don’t Feel Right   
12. Start Together
13. Can I Go On
14. Jumpers   
15. Six Mistakes   
16. Dress Yourself
17. The Fox
18. A New Wave
19. Modern Girl   
20. Untidy Creature

Encore:
22. Good Things
23. Say It Like You Mean It
24. Dig Me Out
25. Entertain

The Infamous Stringdusters should be way more famous.

Not to say they haven’t earned numerous accolades, including a Grammy win for Best Bluegrass Album in 2018. The quintet also tops the bill at many string-based festivals. While perhaps not yet a “household name” in the bluegrass pantheon, the Stringdusters may be the worst-kept secret in the genre.

Their “stringdusting,” which may or not have anything to do with infamy, has also earned them a hardcore fanbase – including many who attended a pair of shows on Thursday and Friday at Mill Valley’s Sweetwater. (A license plate spelling out “DUSTERS,” with a heart replacing the “U,” was spotted in the parking lot, a testament to their fans’ devotion.)

Like so many bands of note, the Stringdusters trace their roots to a meeting of minds and strings at Boston’s Berklee College of Music. (Goose and Lettuce share a similar history.) Banjo player Chris Pandolfi, dobro player Andy Hall, and former guitarist Chris Eldridge soon joined forces in Nashville with Jesse Cobb (mandolin) and Jeremy Garrett (fiddle). Travis Book auditioned for bass, and the Infamous Stringdusters were on their way.

That was 2006. Since then, Cobb has departed, and Andy Falco has replaced Eldridge on guitar. (Eldridge left in 2007 to join the Punch Brothers.) Now a five-man band, the Stringdusters put on exciting shows that blend traditional bluegrass with jam-inspired “newgrass.” They’re not only virtuoso pickers; they’re also fun to watch, full of smiles and often crisscrossing the stage to stand behind whoever is soloing at the moment.

The solos are, of course, spectacular. Garrett’s fiddling is particularly outstanding. Just when you think he’s reached the peak, he goes higher, and the entire band circles around to egg him on. Dobro player Hall, who looks like he’d be at home on stage with any alt-rock band, is also a monster. His leads are both fluid and fierce.

A common thread in many bluegrass bands – and fanbases – these days is a tangential relationship to the music of the Grateful Dead, and likewise to the American roots music that the Dead included in their repertoire. Certainly, there are a lot of hippies out there who first discovered bluegrass via Garcia’s participation in Old and in the Way, the supergroup that also included newgrass pioneer David Grisman.

This relationship is notably strong in Stringduster-land.

At the Sweetwater, the Stringdusters paid homage to those roots with several songs, including “Deep Elem Blues,” Johnny Cash’s “Big River,” and the Dead’s own “Casey Jones.” The latter began at a familiar pace, then kicked into a faster gear (you’d better watch their speed!) for a jamgrass section. The Stringdusters’ original “Wake the Dead” is likewise a tribute, with shades of “Fire on the Mountain” and lyrics like, “We'll fly so high without a net, we'll take a strange trip that we'll never forget.” Guitarist Falco turned on a “Jerry-izing” envelope filter effect for this one.

Bill Monroe also got a nod with a cover of “My Sweet Blue-Eyed Darlin’,” as did Swedish DJ Avicii, whose “Wake Me Up” closed the first set. The ‘Dusters played a number of their own songs too, including “Rise Sun” and “Pearl of Carolina,” both from their most recent album of originals (2022’s “Toward the Fray”). Conspicuously absent were their Spotify-friendly covers of songs by the Police (“Walking on the Moon”), the Cure (“Just Like Heaven”), and Harry Styles (“As It Was”). The fans didn’t mind; they were there for the infamy, not the radio-friendly stuff.

After two sets of kickass blue/jam/newgrass, the Stringdusters returned for an encore with a cover of “Get It While You Can,” a song written by banjo virtuoso Danny Barnes. The devoted fans shouted along on the chorus lyric: “I like good biscuits in the gravy, ma'am!”

Good biscuits! That’s a fitting description for the Infamous Stringdusters. Get yourself some infamous biscuits today.

SET LIST

Set 1:
Rise Sun
Tears of the Earth
Will You Be Lonesome Too
Like I Do
Hard Line
Deep Elem Blues (traditional)
Home of the Red Fox (Bill Emerson cover)
Night on the River
My Sweet Blue-Eyed Darlin' (Bill Monroe cover)
Wake Me Up (Avicii cover)

Set 2:
Angelina Baker (Stephen Foster cover)
Blockygrass
Peace of Mind
Casey Jones (Grateful Dead cover)
It'll Be Alright
Rain
Wake the Dead
Forty Years of Trouble
Pearl of Carolina
Blue Kentucky Wind (Les Taylor cover)
Big River (Johnny Cash cover)
Echoes of Goodbye (Jeremy Garrett song)

Encore:
Get It While You Can (Danny Barnes cover)

I’m happy to report that, while the New Mastersounds are no longer technically “new,” they are still kicking butts at 25 years young, and they are still masters of their sound.

A quarter-century ago, guitarist Eddie Roberts joined forces in Leeds (that’s a city in the U.K., my friends) with drummer Simon Allen, bassist Pete Shand, and keyboardist Bob Birch. Birch was replaced by Joe Tatton in 2007, and Tatton remains in the band to this day. Now, with over a dozen studio albums under their collective belts, the mostly-instrumental jazz-funk quartet is on tour to celebrate their new record, the not-ironically named “Old School.”

On Saturday night at San Francisco’s Fillmore Auditorium, drummer Allen made note of the irony, assuring the audience that the new album’s tracks are “all new songs – but they sound like our old songs.” And that’s a good thing; if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Everything about the New Mastersounds (NMS) is, in all the best ways, “old school.” Roberts, the band’s ostensible frontman (if only because he stands front and center), often dresses in Rat Pack sport coats and wide-lapelled button-down shirts. At the Fillmore, he wore a dark suit and tie, and it would be easy to mistake him for a Wall Street banker if not for the cool Flight-of-the-Bumblebee-ish riffs he ripped from his ‘65 Gibson 330 from time to time. Or the way he keeps the beat with his foot on a tambourine.

Tatton keeps the groove flowing with Hammond organ overtones and fluid solos accented by the genre’s obligatory Leslie speaker tremolo. He and Roberts each take a turn out front with solos on nearly every song. Shand and Allen hold ground with time-tested, rock-steady funk beats that are scientifically proven* to maximize dance floor activity. (*Okay, I made that “science” part up, but the proof is in the NMS pudding – or, I should say, the proof is on the dance floor at any NMS show. Prove me wrong.)

On the band’s website, Allen recently reported that on this tour, “We have avoided boring ourselves by playing a mostly completely different set of tunes each night.” He added, “It has been super fun and most of the shows have sold out, which is a first for us.” At the Fillmore, he underscored their current wave of touring success: “We’ve got virtually no merchandise for you because we sold it all to the East Coasters.”

Several songs from “Old School” found their way into the Fillmore setlist, including the show opener “Boogaloo is Dead” (NMS proved that to be a lie). Also from “Old School”: a variety of food-themed titles. Maybe they were famished when they wrote “Breakfast T,” “Do the Sausage Roll,” and “Smoothie”? The crowd ate it up like comfort food and stayed hungry for more.

NMS is primarily an instrumental outfit, but not exclusively. Singer Destani Wolf, a Bay Area native, joined the fray to sing “Your Love is Mine,” a song that appeared on the second NMS album (then sung by Corinne Bailey Rae). A couple of locomotive-themed covers pulled into the NMS station too: Tatton sang Allen Toussaint’s “Last Train” – you know, the one that goes “You got me huffin’ and puffin’ and chuggin’ like a choo choo train.” Lucky Strokes singer Shelby Kemp came on stage for “Long Train Comin’,” the Doobie Brothers classic. Kemp also reminded the audience that the train is not the only way to get out of town – his version of Paul Simon’s “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” (“Just hop on the bus, Gus”) had the audience singing along.

Allen was an engaging host, sharing the emcee role with Roberts. Leading into “Yokacoka,” he appealed to the fans, “If you like disco jazz say Yeah!” He asked the lighting tech to turn up the house lights several times so the band could see the audience – and toward the end of the show, when the lights came up upon one of his requests, he joked, “You’re still here?” Returning to the stage for an encore, he quipped, “We didn’t go anywhere, we were just hiding behind that speaker.”

For the final encore song, NMS asked for the audience’s help on the lyric, which (forgive any spelling errors) is roughly “Ba-da ba-da ba-da de ba-da.” Everyone chimed in, even a few of the ushers.

So yeah, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. That’s science. That’s the New Mastersounds.

The opening act was another Roberts project, The Lucky Strokes. Vocalist Shelby Kemp sings a little like the singer from Molly Hatchet, and a little like James Brown. He plays a mean slide guitar too, and he and Roberts had several engaging “duels” throughout the hourlong set. With the Galbraith sisters, Ashley and Taylor, on bass and drums, respectively, there was a definite Led Zeppelin vibe layered on top of the Lucky Strokes southern rock brand. Longtime Roberts crony Chris Spies rounds out the quartet’s sound on tour with keyboard accompaniment.

It would be wrong to talk about the Lucky Strokes as a Roberts side project. Kemp is a powerhouse vocalist, as fun to watch as he is to listen to. His slide work and guitar leads are equally worthy of attention. The Galbraith sisters each get some well-deserved time in the spotlight too; Ashley Galbraith’s bass solo near the end of the set was a big crowd-pleaser. But what glued it all together was the music, mostly songs from their eponymous 2023 debut album. Check out “Sweet Dreams” for their smooth side, an R&B-inspired track with mellow harmonies and trading guitar leads. And don’t miss “Holy Fire,” which starts out reminiscent of “Radar Love” and then harkens Dio’s “Holy Diver.” It’s a balls-out, unapologetic rocker.

Someone in the audience said to me, “Eddie’s found a Robert Plant for his Jimmy Page. And this Robert Plant can play a mean slide guitar!”

Barely over a year old, the Lucky Strokes have a bright future.

San Francisco Bay Area music fans are looking forward to the 2024 Mill Valley Music Festival on May 11 and 12. This homegrown event, now in its third year, will feature The Fleet Foxes, Greensky Bluegrass, St. Paul & The Broken Bones, and a plethora of other worthy performers on two stages. Tickets for the weekend-long Marin County festival are available now at www.millvalleymusicfest.com.

The 2024 version of MVMF is “an impressive and eclectic lineup, one that really stands out from the crowd and attracts music lovers of all kinds,” said Michelle Swing, CEO of event promoter Noise Pop Industries. The lineup is indeed attractive: also appearing this year are the self-described “Southern California sweet soul” trio Thee Sacred Souls, country-Americana crooner Margo Price, and Eric D. Johnson’s indie folk project Fruit Bats. Some New Orleans spirit will be on board with Rebirth Brass Band. Danielle Ponder and Eric Lindell round out the main stage lineup, and a variety of local acts from in and around Marin County will get a chance to shine on a stage sponsored by Mill Valley’s storied Sweetwater Music Hall.

Jim Welte, Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce Executive Director and festival producer, has been involved in the production of MVMF since its inception in 2022. He says the goal of the festival is “to create and embolden economic vitality and social vitality.” Now in its third year, the festival has proven to be a success. “The value of raising the profile of our town and creating something fun and exciting for the larger Bay Area is really important to us. And so far, so good!”

Indeed, it’s not just about the music; it’s about community. Festival proceeds each year are contributed to three different beneficiaries, each an entirely local, nonprofit organization that brings value to the Mill Valley community. This year’s beneficiaries are:

Kiddo! (https://kiddo.org), whose core purpose is to provide funding for comprehensive arts programs in vocal and instrumental music, visual art, dance, drama, and poetry for children in the Mill Valley School District.

Tam High Foundation (https://www.tamhighfoundation.org/), which provides funds for bridging state and local funding gaps to provide academic enrichment programs, technology, guest teachers, equity, and wellness for every student.

Mill Valley Friends of Parks & Recreation (https://www.mvfriends.org), a nonprofit that facilitates, enhances, and promotes the activities and resources of the city’s parks and recreation facilities and services.

MVMF also features local craftspeople selling Mill Valley art, apparel, and more. Numerous food vendors representing local restaurants will serve a variety of NorCal cuisine, and a selection of Sonoma and Napa wineries will be pouring some of the region’s world-famous fermented beverages. The festival also has activities for kids, including a tie-dye workshop, DIY jewelry and flower crown stations, and inclusive field games. A pop-up record shop will be selling vinyl. Massages, yoga, art exhibits, student theater performances – something for everyone!

MVMF is held on the bucolic and aptly named Friends Field, a grassy park environment with redwood trees and Mount Tamalpais views located just behind the Mill Valley Community Center. The afternoon / early evening event schedule makes it a perfect weekend outing for families, and the world-class music lineup is likewise inviting to music lovers of all genres.

Festival attendees may also see the next big thing. The Sweetwater Stage this year will feature several up-and-coming regional acts, including San Francisco’s Roadkill (which the festival website touts as featuring “5-star Taco Bell cashier Joshua Higgins.”) Also on hand, Mullet Daddy is a band that arose from a music program at a public high school, Marin School of the Arts.

New for this year: The event is striving to be 100% emissions-free, engaging Bay Area energy innovators Moxion to provide battery systems instead of fuel-powered generators. Welte believes this may be a first for a Bay Area festival.

“This is about as homegrown of an event as you can possibly have,” Welte says. “Given the depth and breadth of live music and culture in our town, we decided [back in 2022] to try something a bit hairbrained,” adding that a Chamber of Commerce is “not the most obvious host and producer of an event like this.” But it worked out just fine. “We’re proud of it and happy to put our community on the map in a way that brings people in from out of town.”

MILL VALLEY MUSIC FESTIVAL LINEUP

SATURDAY, MAY 11TH
Fleet Foxes
Thee Sacred Souls
Fruit Bats
Danielle Ponder
Meels
Asher Belsky
The Army, The Navy
David Nance and Mowed Sound
Solace

SUNDAY, MAY 12TH, 2024
Greensky Bluegrass
Margo Price
St. Paul & The Broken Bones
Rebirth Brass Band
Eric Lindell
Jon Chi
Mullet Daddy
Anna Jae
Roadkill

My first visit to the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival (a.k.a. "Jazzfest") was sort of a happy accident. In 1988, I was a young 20-something Grateful Dead tourhead, and I heard rumors that Little Feat was going to play their first show since the death of Lowell George a decade earlier. The allure was heightened by the fact that the reformed band would play on a riverboat floating on the Mississippi in New Orleans. I made plans to join up with some Deadhead friends in the Crescent City, the first trip to those parts for all of us.

This being years before the advent of cell phones and the internet, we were flying blind. We showed up in NOLA a week or so ahead of the show date and started to ask around: how do we get tickets? Someone steered us to the local fairgrounds, they said there was a ticket booth there. The fairgrounds? Okay. I think we had some notion that the Little Feat show was tied to a local music festival, but we knew nothing else.

We found a ticket booth in a sparsely populated parking lot at the fairgrounds and asked about tickets. The lady in the booth said we'd have to go to a Ticketron (remember Ticketron?) at a nearby mall, and she showed us where to go on a map. Then she looked us up and down, a handful of tie-dyed hippies with lost-in-the-wilderness eyes.

She asked, "Y'all like music?" Yup.

"Do y'all even know what's going on in here?" She pointed toward the fairgrounds behind the booth. Nope, we had no idea.

She called her husband on a walkie-talkie. He showed up at the booth a minute later. Turns out her hubby was one of the event's lead security officers. "These people ain't never heard of Jazzfest," the ticket booth lady said. "I think you should walk 'em in."

And so we were indeed escorted inside and turned loose. Looking around, we felt like Dorothy must have felt after being transported by a tornado to Oz and walking out her front door into a Technicolor dreamscape. It was the first Friday of that year's festival (there was no Thursday Jazzfest back then) and we caught Taj Mahal closing the main stage. Holy shit.

Over the next two weekends, we were hooked. Yes, we ended up getting tickets for Little Feat's show on the Riverboat President (the last official Jazzfest riverboat show, as it turns out) with guest star Bonnie Raitt and an opening set by The Radiators. That was the second weekend – and by then we'd been on the Riverboat President once already to see a B.B. King / Stevie Ray Vaughan double bill. We'd also spent many nights crawling the French Quarter. And we'd gone to every day of Jazzfest. We saw the Rads play until dawn at Tipitina's. We ate our fill of blackened redfish, red beans and rice, and jambalaya. Fu*king NOLA, where y'at!

I’ve been to a dozen or so Jazzfests since then. It’s an addiction; I might skip a year or two here or there, but it always calls me back. (I know, that makes me a softie in some people’s eyes.) I might have found my way down there at some point anyway if not for Little Feat, but that lady in the ticket booth did me and my friends a solid, and I will always think fondly of her. I think her name was Laverne?

So here I am heading back to Jazzfest again, traveling with a lifelong friend for the second weekend of 2024 and looking forward to – who knows what? Tons of amazeballs music, killer food, sweaty days and steamy nights, and not much sleep. Bring it!

I wrote this journal before, during, and shortly after my trip. As I write this, I have no idea how it’s gonna end.

Jazzfest was the brainchild of Olaf Lambert, the manager of the Royal Orleans Hotel in the French Quarter, and George Wein, founder of the Newport Jazz and Folk Festivals. After a few attempts to kick off a yearly festival in the 1960s, Wein, in partnership with Quint Davis and Allison Miner, produced the first official New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in 1970. Only a few hundred people attended the first year's festivities. Performers at the weekend-long event included Mahalia Jackson, Duke Ellington, Fats Domino, and The Preservation Hall Brass Band.

The first two Jazzfests were held on the historically significant site known as Congo Square in the Tremé district, not too far from the French Quarter. Two years later, the event was relocated to its present-day home at the Fair Grounds Race Course (from here on I'll just call it "the Fairgrounds"), which encompasses several acres of dirt and sod encircled by a one-mile oval horse track. From 350 attendees that first year in Congo Square, the festival has grown into a behemoth, now scheduled for eight days over two long weekends each year with over 400,000 (!) unique visitors annually. It has become one of NOLA's biggest tourism events, second only to Mardi Gras. Book your hotels / Airbnbs and restaurant reservations early, folks!

When I first went in 1988, there were about ten stages, all within the oval racetrack. Since then, the Blues, Gospel, and Jazz Tent stages have been moved outside the dirt oval to a concrete parking area (still inside the Fairgrounds). A few smaller stages have been added too, including one inside the grandstand courtyard, and they've also added a small tent in the middle of the maelstrom which has become one of my favorites, the Cultural Exchange Pavilion.

Spread amongst the stage areas, fest goers can enjoy a selection of the Mississippi Delta’s finest regional cuisines from dozens of local vendors. The mouthwatering flavors of Cajun, creole, soul food, and Caribbean comestibles are unparalleled. Some people, I’m sure, come just for the food! Craft vendors are also featured throughout the grounds, with wares ranging from kitschy to sophisticated art gallery fare (some might call it “highfalutin”) representing a multitude of folk and modern traditions.

Wandering around the grounds, you might also run into a cooking or blacksmith demonstration, some Mardi Gras Indians attaching feathers and beads to a parade participant’s headdress, or a scheduled interview with a famous musician. That is, if you don’t get impeded – and pleasantly distracted – during your wanderings by one of several daily parades scheduled on the walkways that wind through the Fairgrounds.

Jazzfest can be quite enjoyably overwhelming.

And perhaps the most overwhelming factor is the music. With 15 stages, overlap is inevitable. Just for example, the closing Sunday this year will feature Trombone Shorty, Earth, Wind & Fire, Bonnie Raitt, Tower of Power, George Thorogood, the Wallflowers, and several other acts – all at the same time! I remember one year when I was faced with similar FOMO overload, I ended up just buying a Café du Monde beignet and grooving to some super-high Gospel Tent performance by someone I’d never heard of because, well, it’s all good.

Perhaps the best way to look at it is to rate your Jazzfest experience not by the bands you see, but by the bands you didn’t see.

Just for a snapshot of the caliber of musicians Jazzfest pulls in, here is a teeny-weeny partial list of global headliner acts I’ve seen at Jazzfest over the years – to say nothing of the many acts I’ve NOT seen who have played while I was there: Diana Ross, Elton John, The Eagles, Dave Matthews Band, Foo Fighters, James Brown, Willie Nelson. And then there’s the endless parade of NOLA luminaries I’ve seen, from the Neville Brothers to Fats Domino to Allen Toussaint to Irma Thomas.

But despite the incredible count of world-famous names above (and believe me, that’s not even a drop in a very big bucket), my favorite acts are often people I’ve never heard of. For that reason, it’s worth going early each day; it’s less crowded, the line to get inside is shorter, and you get to see tons of unsung musical geniuses who play before 2:00 pm. Food lines are shorter before noon too (and hint-hint: they are often shorter after about 5:00 pm too.) This year, I’m also really looking forward to the Colombian acts who will be featured in the Cultural Exchange Pavilion. And I often stumble onto a new fave walking by a stage on my way to see someone else. Cuba’s Cimafunk and Jupiter and Okwess from the Democratic Republic of Congo are exciting treasures I discovered this way. (Do yourself a favor and check those bands out!)

Of course, showing up early isn’t easy if you go out to a 3:00 am show at Tipitina’s. It’s all about choices. I used to do those super-late night shows, but now I plan my evenings around something that ends not too long after midnight so I can wake up and beat the crowd to the Fairgrounds. There’s a million ways to do it. I’ll do me, you do you, it’s all in good order. Those late-late-late shows can be mighty tasty, I will admit.

My Jazzfest mantra is, “Let the good times roll.” I know, so original, right? But it works if you work it.

Each year, seasoned fest goers pray for temperate weather, but the good money says to plan for both sweltering sun (bring sunscreen and a hat or umbrella!) and rain that can turn the infield into a mud pit. As I write this, it looks like it’s gonna be a hot one this year with scattered thunderstorms. Par for the course.

One last pre-fest note before I board my plane: I’ve now had tickets to see the Rolling Stones at Jazzfest three times. In 2019, Mick cancelled the leg of the tour that included Jazzfest due to heart surgery. In 2021, when Jazzfest attempted an autumn festival after skipping two years due to the pandemic, a resurgence of Covid forced another cancellation. You can’t always get what you want, that’s one apt cliché. But another cliché is that the third time’s the charm. I’m comin’ for yah, Keef!

WEDNESDAY, MAY 1

Frenchman Street is at one end of the French Quarter, several blocks away from the hubbub of Bourbon Street. A three-block stretch of Frenchmen is known for a string of music venues, street performances, and local flavor. On any given night—especially during Jazzfest and other NOLA events—a music fan can hear a variety of jazz, blues, and funk just by walking down the street.

I spent the night before Jazzfest Weekend 2 on Frenchmen, soaking up the steamy heat. A brass band with about a dozen players commanded attention from a crowded semicircle of partiers on the corner in front of Willie’s Chicken Shack. Further up the street, a quintet sat on low beach chairs in front of a closed storefront playing Dixieland blues. A number of bars with no cover charge and, typically, a loosely-enforced one drink minimum hosted ragtime, reggae, and R&B that could be heard out on the street.

The Blue Nile is probably the biggest club on Frenchmen. I caught the early show, a jazz combo featuring Cochemea (saxophone), Marco Benevento (keys), Robert Walter (keys), Reed Mathis (bass), and Chris Corsico (drums). Benevento, in town for a three-night run with Joe Russo’s Almost Dead at the Fillmore New Orleans, was having a ball playing a set that included pieces by Miles Davis and Pharoah Saunders. Mathis was flying on bass—he’s also a gifted guitar player, but I first heard him on bass and still prefer him in that mode. When organist Will Blades jumped on stage, the crowd was treated to a trio of jam-jazz’s most gifted keyboardists grooving together.

NOLA was letting the good times roll, all right!

THURSDAY, MAY 2

Fans were lined up before dawn to get a spot for the Stones. (Not me, but I saw it on the news during breakfast at my hotel.) For the first time in Jazzfest history, the other stages were all scheduled to end their performances a few hours prior to the Stones’ set on the main Festival Stage. To add to the unusual Rolling Stones circus atmosphere at the festival, no chairs, blankets, or tarps were allowed on most of the field, per the published rules. Only early arrivals were guaranteed a spot for lawn chairs at the very back of the meadow.

A circus was expected by the time Mick, Keith, and Ron hit the stage. As it turns out, it wasn’t nearly as crowded as it was during Elton John’s set a few years ago, and I suspect there will be more people cramming the field for the Foo Fighters on Friday since there has been no limit on ticket sales for any of the days other than Thursday. (Spoiler alert: Earth, Wind, and Fire, closing the Congo Square stage on Sunday, would prove to be the clusterfuckiest of them all.)

I walked in the gates at around 11:30 AM, but the Stones weren’t coming on for several hours. My traveling partner and I were here to see a lot more music than just the Stones, of course, and we made the rounds to several other stages for the first few hours. We got some po’ boys (I had the catfish, yum!) and grabbed a seat in the Gospel Tent. The Electrifying Crown Seekers were raising the Holy Spirit: “We got a song now called ‘Jesus is Coming to Town.’ Because Jesus is MY Santa Claus.”

We also checked out several of the acts in the Cultural Exchange Pavilion. As I mentioned, this year’s lineup on this stage was a suite of Colombian performers, and we had multiple opportunities to see each of them both here in this shady tent and also on some of the other stages, and in a few of the fairground's parades too. First of these was Batambora. Several members of the troupe jumped onto the floor and got the audience to circle around while they showed us some traditional Colombian dance moves.

From Colombia, we traveled to the bayou. Our first visit to the Fais Do-Do Stage gave us our first taste of Cajun music. Genre superstar Michael Doucet was kicking up a storm with his new band Lâcher Prise—which in French means “let go.” “It’s also a Buddhist term,” Doucet said in a recent interview. “When it came to making this music, it was just total freedom. The new songs were different from what I typically do.”

He had a scheduled appearance later this weekend with his band Beausoleil, whom I had seen for the first time way back in 1988 at my first Fest. But this band was a bit more lively and, dare I say, jammy. Doucet, no spring chicken (to be honest, I thought he was old when I saw him 36 years ago!) kept the pace for his young bandmates. Jazzfest wouldn’t be the same without him.

We started to mosey toward the Festival Stage to find some of my besties who had texted me to come help them protect the zone around their chairs from late arrivals. We strolled just slowly enough past the Congo Square Stage to get the flavor of the Cole Williams Band. Williams belted some sweet soul as we meandered by.

Eventually, we made our way back to the Festival Stage. Despite a plethora of signs and pre-fest PR, the infield was full of chairs hours before the headliner slot. Thousands of fans were festooned with T-shirts, hats, and earrings bearing endless variations of the Stones’ famous “lips and tongue” logo. The circus was in town.

We found our buddies in the “legit” chair area way at the back of the field and settled in.

Warming up for the Stones is both an honor and a challenge. Kansas City blues goddess Samantha Fish rose to the occasion with an hour-long display of her own butt-kickin’ guitar wizardry. (Fish cites the Stones’ album Sticky Fingers as an early influence of her musical taste and style.) Next, Ivan Neville and Dumpstaphunk took the stage for a set of NOLA funk just as the other stages ended their programming for the day. The crowd grew thicker with Stones fans every moment. I wandered through the crowd taking pictures of some of the ardent Stones freaks and then headed back to our comfort zone at the back of the meadow.

Clouds and a mild breeze kept the Fairgrounds from overheating. So did the flow of beer, strawberry lemonade, and a variety of frozen boozy drinks. Good times were rolling toward the Stones.

Finally, a voice boomed: “Ladies and gentlemen—The Rolling Stones!” The royal and iconic “Bah-Da-Da” chords of “Start Me Up” rang out, and the crowd roared. Mick strutted on stage and onto the big video screens. Screams echoed for Keith Richards and Ron Wood when their mugs appeared in close-ups. The circus had begun in earnest.

By the way, and by way of apology: I never even tried to get anywhere near the Festival Stage on Friday for pictures. What you see is what you get. Just roll with it, folks.

Drops of rain began falling after the first few songs. Were the heavens threatening to dump? The Stones had to cancel Jazzfest appearances twice in the past five years; was fate rearing its head again? Was a storm “threatening our very lives today”? Fortunately, the threat passed.

For “Let it Bleed,” the band brought out rising zydeco star Dwayne Dopsie. Ron Wood played a lap steel guitar, Mick an acoustic. Dopsie took a lead, and the Americana tone of the 1969 classic took on a zydeco twist. Dopsie became a Jazzfest star in less than five minutes.

Just before the Stones had taken the stage, one of my friends and I had debated who would come on as a guest. Neither of us knew Dopsie at all (we do now!), so his appearance was a draw. My friend guessed Ivan Neville—a good call considering he was the opener and also played with Keith way back when in his X-pensive Winos band. I thought we might see Samantha Fish come out and show the guys who’s boss. But I also guessed Irma Thomas. Not because I remembered that she recorded “Time is On My Side” before the Stones did (honestly, I’d forgotten that), but because she’s the Queen of New Orleans soul and her royal lineage was fitting for the occasion. When he introduced Thomas (so yeah, I won the debate), Mick said he and Keith first heard “Time is On My Side” on a car radio and right away they knew they wanted to cover it. I’m not sure if they’d ever sung it with Thomas before. For the record: I have a special place in my heart for Thomas because the only time I’d ever had a backstage pass at Jazzfest (a fluke, some kind stranger just handed me one specifically for the Jazz Tent), I wanted to take a picture of her as she walked off the stage following her tribute to Mahalia Jackson. But instead of lifting my camera as she passed, I was a bit star struck and just said, “That was beautiful, thank you.” She smiled and threw her arms around me for a hug.

The show rolled on. One of my all-time fave Stones songs (and yes, that’s like picking your favorite from a basket of perfectly crisp french fries) is “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.” This classic is also the unofficial theme song for the Stones at Jazzfest, given that they had to cancel twice in the past five years. I loved that they kicked it off with a French horn, just like on the original recording. I loved that the audience chimed in loudly on every chorus of “You get what you need!” And I loved that for the raucous outro, the band kicked it into high NOLA gear with second-line gusto.

And what a band! Chuck Leavell of the Allman Brothers on keys, Karl Denson on sax, and the solid rhythm section of Steve Jordan on drums and Darryl Jones on bass. I’ll give Keith a pass for slowing down a bit in his middle age (he’ll live to 140, I’m sure), but Ron Wood was as flashy as ever. Tight, rockin’, historic—the touring Stones 2024 version still got it.

Mick isn’t running from one side of the stage to the other these days. But he sure gets his steps in strutting about—and he’s got the crowd under his thumb, always the center of attention. He talked a lot. For instance, he told us that “We haven’t done a matinee show in years.” He also got downright political (forgive me if I transcribed this wrong on the fly, but you’ll get the gist): “We’re all very inclusive aren’t we. I hope [Republican Louisiana] Governor Landry is here tonight. He’d like to be inclusive too, even if he wants to take us back to the stone age.” Burn!

They played a ton of hits, of course. Mostly hits, in fact, although a few new ones found their way into the mix. The two-hour show ended with “Miss You,” “Gimme Shelter,” “Paint it Black,” and finally “Jumpin’ Jack Flash.” For an encore, they played a mellow “Sweet Sounds of Heaven” (recorded with Lady Gaga for their 2023 album) before saying goodbye with “Satisfaction.”

And with that, we can now say that the Stones have played Jazzfest.

In many, many ways, “Jazzfest” is more than just Jazzfest. For a host of out-of-towners, the day is not even halfway done after exiting the gates at 7:00 PM. Dinner reservations, shows at theaters and clubs, crawling the French Quarter—some folks don’t sleep until after dawn. Been there, done that, but I’m always good for at least one adventure after Fest (though I’m an old fart who needs his beauty sleep, compared to some folks I know these days).

Thursday night’s adventure was a trip to the Civic Theater for Ivan Neville and Dumpstaphunk’s tribute to the Meters. Ivan’s uncle Cyril Neville was on hand, as were original Meters George Porter Jr. (bass) and Leo Nocentelli (guitar).

New Breed Brass Band opened up. These young Grammy nominees follow the tradition of big, funky brass-heavy bands like the Dirty Dozen and Rebirth Brass Band. They play a lot of originals that are well-crafted, intelligent, and distinctive.

The main event was centered around a performance of “Rejuvenation,” the Meters' fifth album, released in 1975. I have to admit, I’m not familiar with that record other than “People Say” and “Hey Pocky-A-Way,” but I’m gonna check it out now for sure. Nocentelli was sentimental about the evening. “I can’t tell you what it feels like to have these guys play my music, the Meters music, and play it with such passion.” Dumpstaphunk bass player Tony Hall had some technical issues switching to electric guitar when Porter took over on bass in the second half of the show—but Hall got the biggest cheer of the night when his strings were finally heard over the PA, and he shredded on leads every bit as much as guitar god Nocentelli.

A happy note: Nocentelli called his wife Pesuky on stage for a kiss when he played “Just Kissed My baby.” She seemed reluctant to come over to his side, but he was persistent.

A sad note: Nick Daniels III, one half of the longtime two-bass duo in Dumpstaphunk, died April 26 following complications from multiple myeloma cancer. He was 68. RIP, Nick.

FRIDAY, MAY 3

It was raining in the morning at our hotel, and it was raining when we got off the shuttle at the Fairgrounds. About two-thirds of the early arrivals (we got there around noon) wore ponchos or raincoats. The rest of us took our chances that the steady, light rain wouldn’t turn into a downpour. The air was pleasantly cool. My camera stayed in my backpack wrapped in a waterproof bag.

I was excited for Allison Russell, probably my number-one goal for the entire weekend. I had nothing in particular planned for the first few hours before her set. Since I didn’t make it over to the Blues or Jazz Tents the day before, I decided to see who was on those stages and do some wandering.

The most memorable performance of those first few hours was in the Gospel Tent. Tonia Scott wore a shirt that said, “Of course I am Tonia Scott” on the back. Of course, she was! Her choir was heavenly, their voices angelic—you know, all the things you want from gospel singers.

One of my best friends (I know a ton of people here this weekend) texted to say I should check out Meschiya Lake. She hadn’t actually heard Lake sing herself, but a mutual friend had apparently hired Lake and her band for a birthday party and raved about her. So I let the good times roll me toward the Blues Tent for her show.

Ah, the serendipity of good-time rolling. Most of the seats were taken when my traveling partner and I walked into the Blues Tent. A kind stranger saw us looking around for open seats and beckoned to us. This stranger led us to the front row seats he was vacating. And since my number one act of the day, Allison Russell, was coming on the Blues Tent stage in a few hours, we decided to camp out for a few sets.

Meschiya Lake was worth it; my friend’s friend had steered us right. Lake is a swing singer from South Dakota backed by her band the Little Big Horns. (South Dakota … Little Big Horns … get it?!) She can sing the phone book, the internet, whatever. Thoroughly entertaining.

Next in the Blues Tent was Guitar Slim Jr. The old-school blues guitarist channeled (and frequently invoked) his famous namesake father. He also name-checked Stevie Ray Vaughan several times. “I was on the road with Stevie Ray Vaughan back in the day.” He pointed up at Vaughan’s picture hung from the tent rafters. “Stevie Ray did a few of my daddy’s songs. So I’m gonna do another song—by my daddy.” After “Reap What You Sow,” which was of course covered by Stevie Ray, Slim Jr. treated the crowd to his version of Vaughan’s own hit “Pride and Joy.” Full circle.

So yes, I had the fortune and honor of sitting front row for my personal main event of the day, if not the weekend. Allison Russell was on fire. She played mostly songs from “The Returner,” her Grammy-nominated 2023 album (one of my favorite albums from last year by far) with a five-piece band. Russell switched from clarinet to banjo occasionally, playing in line with her accompanists toward the back of the stage, but she frequently came up to the front of the platform to dazzle with her commanding, emotive vocals and a bright smile. She spoke from her heart between songs about equality, forgiveness, love, and acceptance.

Toward the end of her slot, she introduced her 10-year-old daughter Ida, who sang a duet with her beaming mom. It was hard to top that, even with Russell’s national tour-mate Hozier joining after for the set-ending “Requiem.” Momma was so proud, and her daughter sang fabulously.

So wow, that was worth every penny!

I’d already decided not to venture into the maelstrom for the Foo Fighters (seen ‘em, love ‘em, didn’t need to swim in the overcrowded Festival Stage aquarium), and passed up the opportunity to see Steel Pulse on the Congo Square stage (ditto). Choices, right? It’s all good. Instead, I caught part of the Lee Boys, a sacred steel family band from Miami. One of my local faves, trombonist Big Sam, was on board for their Fais Do-Do Stage appearance. Oh, and on my way there, I saw a snippet of Lil Mike and Funnybone on the Jazz & Heritage Stage. I recognized the rap duo from their recurring role on “Reservation Dogs.” Fun stuff.

With over an hour left before Day 2 ended at the Fairgrounds, I ambled back to the Blues Tent. It was a circuitous amble. First, I got an order of crunchy fried boudin balls and doused them with Crystal hot sauce (damn good stuff, those boudin balls!), and I ate them while watching Bejuco in the Cultural Exchange Tent. I bopped a bit to whatever Mardi Gras Indians were on the Jazz & Heritage Stage on my way past. (In case you hadn’t noticed, I passed by this stage often; it’s at a nexus in the middle of the event space.)

And finally, I found Christone “Kingfish” Ingram giving a master class in the blues in a packed tent.

After a few “lessons” from Kingfish, I thought maybe I’d start heading toward the exit and perhaps catch a few tunes elsewhere on my way out. But then Kingfish started walking through the audience playing his guitar, and his solo was flaming. Couldn’t leave now! So I waited until after he got back on stage to start my exit. But then Kingfish started picking his guitar with his teeth. Couldn’t walk away from that either! I just could not walk away from his blazing guitar pyrotechnics. Lesson learned!

I finally made my move at about 6:50 PM. Heading out past the Gentilly Stage, I ran into an unexpected mass of young humanity. I could not have told you that Hozier was a big thing, despite being given a closing slot on the Gentilly Stage, the second largest space in the Fairgrounds. But there I was, scratching my way through a tightly packed horde of at least 25,000 people filling the field. The Millennials and Gen Z’ers seem to know every word of every song. I knew “Take Me to Church” was a big thing (and indeed, he played that as I walked out toward my shuttle), but I had no idea the guy was a legit headliner. My bad. Clearly, the kids—and some of us old-timers—loved it.

⚜ ⚜ ⚜

On Friday evening, I visited New Orleans’ version of the Fillmore Auditorium for the first time. I brought a pocket-sized camera to get a few shots of Joe Russo’s Almost Dead (JRAD), but the staff said even those little guys weren’t allowed. I ended up walking in with it anyway somehow only to find my battery was dead. Karma. I didn’t even bother taking pics with my phone either.

I’ve been to the original San Francisco Fillmore easily well over 100 times. This place was Live Nation’s commercialized version of a cookie-cutter pseudo-re-creation of the famed venue. There were similar chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, but it was otherwise barely reminiscent of the storied venue. On the other hand, it’s not a bad place—large, roomy, some tiered seats in the back, and more urinals in the men's room than a basketball arena. Pretty good sound, definitely better than Mardi Gras World (the last place in NOLA where I’d seen JRAD, in about 2018). No free apples though.

JRAD came on stage at the stroke of 9:00 PM. Apparently, Russo had a gig shortly after midnight so there was no time to spare. Of course, they killed it. No band, in my humble opinion, plays the Dead with as much spirit, chops, and brilliant interpretations as JRAD. But I see so much Dead cover band music in the Bay Area, and I have tickets to see JRAD again later this year. So I stayed for the first set and half of the second before tearing myself away to head off for Round Two of my evening.

Round Two was the annual Bayou Rendezvous throwdown at Howlin’ Wolf. I was invited to shoot pictures, and there was a ton of good music on the bill. I made it until about 2:30 AM before hitting the wall. By then I’d seen four acts. First was an improv jazz fusion combo in the tiny Den room, a sweltering closet with about 120 people shoehorned into it. Robert Walter (keys), Will Bernard (guitar), Reed Mathis (bass), and Simon Lott (drums) were doing their best to raise the very low roof (mission accomplished!), and Cochemea jumped up on sax. Steam was rising from our sweaty bodies and smoke from the musicians' instruments. (Fun fact: I’ve had three guitar lessons in my life, and one was from Will Bernard.)

Back on the main stage I found John “Papa” Gros singing and playing a Hammond, Papa Mali and June Yamagishi on guitars, Johnny Vidacovich and Terence Higgins on drums, and Kevin Scott on bass. Papa Mali must have had a gig elsewhere because he split at some point and Eric McFadden took his spot center stage. McFadden and Yamagishi traded leads in a post-midnight shred-fest. Vidacovich, always a master, was sublime with his second-line syncopation, always one of my favorite drummers to watch.

Back to the Den at around 1:00 AM, where I found Galactic guitar player Jeff Raines and bassist Robert Mercurio holding court with Simon Lott still on drums and Dr. John’s keyboard player Joe Ashlar burning the post-midnight oil with flaming leads. A trumpet player (still trying to find out who that was) added some funky brass to take the heat even higher.

Back in the big room, Cool Cool Cool took up the house-party band mantle. Singers Shira Elias and Sammi Garett egged on the crowd with an infusion of musical caffeine. I was hoping for a Talking Heads cover or two (Cool Cool Cool is more or less the band that has been backing Adrian Belew and Jerry Harrison on their never-ending “Remain in Light” tour for a few years now)—and they may have played something from that catalog after I finally cashed in my chips to hit the sack, but by then I was snoring.

SATURDAY, MAY 4

I’d been in NOLA for three days and hadn’t had a single beignet! So, first thing at the Fairgrounds, I headed for the Café du Monde kiosk and loaded up on some classic “powdered sugar delivery units.” I took my goodies into the Jazz Tent to kick off the day’s music with Blodie’s Jazz Jam. Blodie is one of the founders of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, and he’d brought a bunch of friends with him for some modern and traditional New Orleans jazz. Beignets and brass, sounds and tastes like heaven!

For me, Saturday was one of those days where the intersections of life and death—intersections that are uniquely celebrated in N'awlins tradition—seemed present everywhere I turned. Bodie was at the first such intersection of the day. “Most of us spend a lot of time on the road,” he said. “We want to take some time today to pay homage to some friends of ours.” He mentioned Kirk Franklin, a few other notable recent losses, and some lesser-known but cherished, dearly-departed family members. The band played a slow song in their honor. Then Bodie spoke again: “After a dirge like that, we celebrate life, and life goes on.” The band played a lively, spirited song. That’s part of the NOLA tradition.

The early afternoon was a scorcher but with some clouds and an occasional breeze that stunted the humidity from time to blessed time.

If Thursday was a circus and Friday was a clusterfu)k—well, by Saturday I’d run out of words to describe the crowd. I haven’t looked through the schedules of past years to try to figure out when the festival started inviting internationally famous acts that can fill football stadiums, but it’s certainly not the somewhat-mellow festival I first experienced in 1988. Headliners used to be acts like Dr. John, the Neville Brothers, and maybe a Bonnie Raitt or even a James Brown. But they didn’t start inviting stadium-packing bands like the Foo Fighters and the Stones until later. I suppose it’s good for the local economy, but it sure makes the Fairgrounds a bit of a zoo.

Rolling with the good times led me by happy accident to a performance of Native American dances. In the midst of a large circle of appreciative onlookers, one woman did a butterfly dance. A young boy and his father danced a medicinal hoop dance. Several drummers shared a single drumhead to pound a strong beat.

Next up was Cedric Watson et Bijou Creole on the Fais Do-Do Stage. Another intersection of life and death. A guitar amplifier stage right had a wreath of flowers and a golden Bible balanced on top. After the first song, Watson explained its presence: “We’re going to dedicate this show to one of the greatest musicians, Mr. Chris Stafford.” Stafford, a deeply loved and revered Louisiana musician, died tragically in a car accident just this past Thursday night.

Washboard player Paul Bird Edwards was clearly distraught. He kept looking at the amplifier as he played, and his eyes were teary. “No matter what, he’s here,” Edwards said.

Over in the Economy Hall tent, more life and death. I’m sorry to say I missed who they were celebrating. But I did pay my respect as paraders slowly stepped through the tent during a slow song. And I tapped my toes and joined the second line when the Preservation Brass Band swung into a high-powered “When the Saints Go Marching In.”

Over on the Congo Square stage, hometown party host Kermit Ruffins was doing his thing. He trumpeted a funky jazz version of “If I Only Had a Brain.”

After I felt like I got a bellyful of Ruffins and his Barbecue Swingers, I tripped over to Columbia. I didn’t miss a single opportunity all weekend to swing by the Cultural Exchange Tent. This time it was Bejuco again, and their grooves were infectious.

The only place I’ve ever seen Glen Davis Andrews is at Jazzfest in the Blues and Jazz Tents. But I never miss his set. He has boundless energy and always gives the crowd more than they could ask for. The highlight of his set, for me at least, is when he comes down from the stage and brings his jet-fuel energy directly to the people. He marches through the aisles singing or playing trombone, occasionally stopping to let an encircling crowd hem him in with raised cell phones capturing the close-up moment on video.

The only difference this year in the Blues Tent was that he didn’t march right into a row of chairs and stand up on one of the seats to preach his musical message. Too bad, that’s always the apex of a very high communal experience at Andrews’ shows. But I’m possibly the only person who noticed he skipped that part of his traditional routine.

It was time now to head to the Festival Stage to get ready for Neil Young and Crazy Horse. Thank goodness for friends of friends! There was space for me right on the rail at house-right. Well, not the rail, that was for A-listers with Foundation and Board passes. And it wasn’t the second rail, that was for people who splurged for the pricey VIP section passes. But there I was on the third rail, the one for us regular folks, maybe 100 feet from the stage.

Neil came on about 15 minutes early. (He’d end ten minutes early though.) Founding Crazy Horse members Billy Talbot (bass) and Ralph Molina (drums) are being accompanied on this tour by Willie Nelson’s kid Micah (a.k.a. Particle Kid) on rhythm and lead guitar while Nils Lofgren is under contract to tour with Bruce Springsteen.

The three old guys (Neil, Billy, and Ralph) are all hovering around 80-years-old, but you wouldn’t guess it by the way they rocked like 20-somethings. It’s rare to see a bunch of octogenarians who sound exactly as awesome as they did in their 20s (for instance, see Stones, Rolling), but these guys? Man, I’ll have what they’re having!

Continuing the theme of life-and-death intersection, Neil told the crowd that, “All the songs we’re doing today were produced by David Briggs. When he passed it was a tremendous loss.” Briggs died in 1995, which shows how much he must have meant to Neil.

Another intersection: It may be a coincidence that Neil (I feel like I want to be on a first-name basis with him, like an old friend!) played “Ohio” on the anniversary of the Kent State massacre. Also, I’m not sure, but I think Neil played it on an electric guitar that David Crosby had given him. He played this song solo, the only song of the set without the band.

The Crazy Horse show may have been my favorite set by a superstar ever at Jazzfest. Every song was brilliant, from the opening 20-minute lead guitar spectacle of “Cortez the Killer” to the audience enthusiastically singing along with the refrains of “Down by the River” and “Hey Hey, My My.” A friend of mine complained later that Crazy Horse didn’t do any deep cuts, but I felt I’d had a good fill of that side of Neil’s catalog during last year’s sublime solo mostly-acoustic tour. I don’t mind the hits when they’re all so tasty!

And truly, “Rock and roll will never die.” (By the way, I looked it up when Neil name-checked Johnny Rotten in that song; Johnny Lydon is now 68!) Certainly not as long as kids like Micah Wilson are whipping out classic rock solos and feedback jams like the one he did near the end of the show. (Love those Nelson kids, Micah and Lucas!)
Long may you run, Neil and Crazy Horse. Long may we all run. But then, none of us will live as long as Keith Richards, I’m sure.

⚜ ⚜ ⚜

We dined at Atchafalaya Restaurant on Louisiana Avenue that night. One of the best meals I’ve ever had in New Orleans! My friend, a vegetarian, was impressed by the unique cauliflower dish she ordered; it’s rare to find vegetarian entrees on menus full of meats and fish that are so thoughtful and delicious. My seabass in a meuniere sauce with peaches and onions was out of this world.

Finally, to close out the night, I met up with some folks in the balcony of the Joy Theater for a funk throwdown featuring most of Dumpstaphunk and most of Lettuce (including founding guitar player Eric Krasno), with guests George Porter Jr., John “Papa” Gros, and Cyril Neville. Other than the fact that it was a tremendously epic funky jam sesh, I don’t have much to say about this show. I just danced my ass off and had a great time.

SUNDAY, MAY 5

In one way, each Jazzfest experience is like an NCAA basketball tournament. For the NCAA annual championship, fans fill out their “brackets,” making picks for who will win each round and advance to the next. Everyone’s brackets are different, and adjustments have to be made as each game is played. So it is with Jazzfest—you look at the “cubes” (the grid of stage schedules), you pick where you’ll go, and maybe you follow your plan or maybe you end up doing something else. And no two people end up with matching grids, just like how the nearly immeasurable variety of NCAA tournament picks is different for every basketball fan.

So in that spirit, here’s my Sunday journal. I didn’t exactly plan it this way, but by laissezing les bons temps rouler, I finally checked out the few stages I hadn’t yet visited during the long weekend so far. First, I popped into the Rhythmpourium to see what the buzz was all about when I saw a thick crowd spilling out of the tent flaps. It was Dwayne Dopsie, now enjoying a wealth of attention following his onstage appearance with the Stones a few days earlier. He also let us know he recorded the accordion part for “Jolene” on Beyoncé’s new album. Man, that guy can play a mean accordion!

And man, was it sweaty in there! Not sure if it was the humidity or Dopsie’s playing.

A while later, I poked my head into the Children’s Tent just to get a glimpse of the wild rumpus. A handful of children were at the foot of the stage enraptured by OperaCréole, while other kids, oblivious to the performance, played with hula hoops and chased each other in circles.

And completing my journey to include every stage in the Fairgrounds, I made sure to catch most of the set by the New Orleans Klezmer Allstars on the Lagniappe Stage later that afternoon in the courtyard of the racetrack grandstands. (Helpful hint: Jazzfest pros know they can find air-conditioned bathrooms in the grandstands too!) I have a deep fondness for the Klezmer Allstars; when I brought my mother to her first Jazzfest in 1993, she danced the hora during their set in the Economy Hall tent. My mother died last year; I paid homage to her and celebrated her memory while the Allstars played songs like “King Fela’s Chicken Soup.” A dance duo performed interpretive movement during one of the songs, and two young girls in the audience did their own dance at the foot of the stage during the entire set.

The Radiators threw down too. Always a treat to see those hometown dudes kick up a shitstorm of rock and roll. I can never decide which of their lead guitarists I like better, but it’s always a gas listening to Dave Malone’s Fender and Camille Baudoin’s Gibson duke it out. Every time I see the Rads, it takes me back to my first Jazzfest, seeing them on the Riverboat President and at Tipitina’s.

Also on Sunday: Lucio Feullet and his band were one of the Colombian acts in the Cultural Exchange Tent. Oh man, so glad I got to see them! Feullet and his band, dressed in comfy-looking olive and tan versions of Fidel Castro fatigues, were full of energy, and the audience seemed equally full of Colombians who knew the words to all of their songs. (Traditional songs? Originals? I have no idea, but I suspect a mix of both.)

The last ninety minutes of the day was packed with options. I wanted to cram in as many as I could, so I executed a somewhat-planned circuit. First, I waited with friends to see Bonnie Raitt begin her set on the Gentilly Stage. I’d seen her on this same stage over thirty years ago, and if anything, her slide work is even better now. Wow, she’s such a great bottleneck player, right?! Her cover of John Hiatt’s “Thing Called Love” was bouncy, bluesy, and timeless.

It was hard to leave, but I was on my planned good-times roll. After doing a quick walk-by of Jakob Dylan and the Wallflowers, I ran into two friends who, like me, were on their way to see Earth, Wind, and Fire on the Congo Square Stage. We bravely dove into the thick crowd, wending our way through a thicket of chairs to “Serpentine Fire.” We couldn’t find a comfortable spot to stop, so we just kept going further and further back until we got the encircling track. (Also, we all agreed the sound was too bassy, a common complaint at Congo Square.)

I said goodbye to my pals and skirted the Fairgrounds on the dirt track, grooving a little to Trombone Shorty on the way. My next target was the Blues Tent for George Thorogood and the Destroyers. Only the Jazz Tent stood in my way, so I answered the challenge by walking right through it for a tiny taste of Tower of Power. Took some pics, saw some friends, kept moving. I was on a mission.

George Thorogood was worth the journey. I hadn’t seen him play in maybe forty years! (He hardly looked like he’d aged a day.) The highlight for me was “One Bourbon, One Scotch, and One Beer,” his classic story about skipping out on the month’s rent. The audience chimed in with "...Out the door I went" each time the refrain came around. Thorogood is a master showman whose chops, rock-star poses, and audience engagement have aged like fine bourbon. Still and always bad to the bone.

But I wasn’t quite done yet. A quick dance at the Jazz & Heritage Stage with Big Chief Bo Dollis Jr. and his family with The Wild Magnolias, and then I was ready for the finale.

For decades, the Neville Brothers closed the Festival Stage (known over the years as the Fess Stage and then, during many years of corporate sponsorship, as the Acura Stage). Since Aaron Neville retired from performing in 2020, and Charles and Art have departed from God’s green earth, Cyril is the only one of those four famous brothers still appearing on stages. But in their stead, Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue earned the hometown honor as the traditional Festival closing act. And as usual, “Uptown Ruler” Cyril was on hand Sunday to extend the tradition.

From what I hear, the crowd for the previous set, a tribute to longtime fest regular Jimmy Buffet featuring his Coral Reefer Band, had been massive. But it seems they’d all skedaddled off to see Bonnie Raitt, Earth, Wind, and Fire, George Thorogood, The Wallflowers, etc. I was pleasantly surprised to find my way to the GA rail instead of having to navigate yet another horde. There were plenty of fans, it just wasn’t a swarm.

Was it unplanned when Shorty and Cyril whispered to each other and then took over the drum and percussion kits for a rhythm duo? They made it seem impromptu. Shorty can play anything, and Cyril is a master rhythmist. The N’awlins groove is deep in their blood, and it was fun to watch them having such a good time together.

Finally, Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue closed their set with a crescendo, and Shorty lifted his trumpet and trombone high overhead in triumph. Founder Quint Davis thanked the weather. Another year at the Fairgrounds—with a reported half million visitors over two weekends!—was in the history books.

⚜ ⚜ ⚜

This is where I might tell about one last club night, but I bailed on going out after a scrumptious dinner with good friends at Shaya, a gourmet Israeli food restaurant on Magazine Street. With hearts and bellies full, we celebrated yet another indescribably fabulous trip to New Orleans and another truly memorable year of Jazzfest.

Wasn’t my first and won’t be my last!

The High Sierra Music Festival, one of California's longest-running annual music festivals, is celebrating its 32nd year on July 4-7, 2024, in the golden Sierra hills of Quincy. Headliners this year include Ziggy Marley, Primus, and Greensky Bluegrass. They will be joined by a wide variety of bluegrass, jam, Americana, funk, folk, and worldbeat acts on multiple stages at the Plumas County Fairgrounds.

Also on the bill: Jerry Harrison and Adrian Belew are bringing their funk-tastic Talking Heads 'Remain in Light' show, The Allman Betts Band will provide tasty southern-fried rock, and Larkin Poe is sure to fire up the crowd with their blues-based harmonies. Jam band fans will groove to Eggy, ALO, and Dogs in a Pile. For international flavor, enjoy the music of Cuba's Cimafunk and Niger's Bombino. Bluegrass and Americana will be supplied by AJ Lee and Blue Summit, Sam Grisman Project, and more.

High Sierra Co-Producer David Margulies sums it up: “High Sierra appeals to music lovers of all types. That cannot be more apparent than by the lineup this year. It’s endless how broad the reach of the lineup is.”

Margulies also boasts that High Sierra is “an experience that is unparalleled. Our audience can count on discovering some of their new favorite bands year in and year out.” And indeed, many of the acts who are not yet headliners are sure to be tomorrow’s superstars. Past performers on some of the smaller stages at High Sierra who have climbed to national touring headliner status include the Lumineers, the Revivalists, JRAD, Grace Potter, Margo Price, Samantha Fish, and Lukas Nelson.

In addition to daily lineups on three stages featuring over 40 performers, High Sierra also hosts its famous Playshops. Each Playshop is a unique amalgamation of artists who typically do not regularly play with each other. This year's Playshops include a tribute to Paul Simon and a celebration of the music of New Orleans funk innovators the Meters, with more to be announced. Not sold yet? Late-night shows after the main stage closes include headliners The Polish Ambassador, the Floozies, and Ghost-Note.

"Artists at Large" Scott Pemberton and Lebo will roam from stage to stage as musical ambassadors. Chris Chandler and Steve Poltz will garner smiles and laughter with their tall-ish tales. Holly Bowling will blow everyone away on a grand piano. And so on—as Margulies says, the talent is nearly endless!

It’s more than just music. High Sierra has something for everyone: a variety of tasty food and inventive crafts for sale, daily parades, shady and sunny venues, and even a family camping area and a Family Zone with activities for kids of all ages. Parents can even enjoy some kid-free evening time by reserving a babysitting spot with the Rockin’ Nannies, a group of qualified educators, professionals, and CPR-certified child-care providers.

Costume themes are another specialty at High Sierra. This year, many attendees will dress appropriately for Cartoon Thursday, 80's Friday, Silver Saturday, and Barbie & Ken Sunday (think "pink"). Silent disco, wine tasting, massage service—the possibilities for fun and indulgence never seem to end.

Four-day tickets for this annual festival include onsite camping, and single-day tickets can be purchased as well. Visit the High Sierra website to see which acts are playing each day. A limited number of RV passes are still available too, as well as VIP “FestivALL” passes with or without RV access. All tickets are on sale now.

The "FestivALL" packages include VIP lounge and front-row access at the main stage, prime camping, and private early entry to the fairgrounds; these are also part of the deal. FestivALL Manager Theresa Hayle would love to treat you right: “FestivALL is the ONLY way to go to High Sierra. It's VIP treatment from start to finish, early entry, access to all late-night shows, and you get to dance in the pit directly in front of your favorite band. Plus you get to hang in the coolest place in the fairgrounds and get pampered all weekend long!”

However you “do” High Sierra, you’re sure to have a blast. As Margulies says, “People bring their best and are at their best at High Sierra. And it brings out the best in people.” The best fest in the west invites you to join the fun!

Visit the High Sierra Music Festival Website at www.highsierramusic.com.
Purchase tickets at https://www.highsierramusic.com/tickets

The third annual Mill Valley Music Festival on May 11-12 combined elements of a delightfully eclectic daytime concert with a town fair, providing two days of entertainment for all ages in this quintessential Marin County locale. Headliners Greensky Bluegrass, Fleet Foxes, and many other performers thrilled adults and children alike, and a host of crafts and activities across the aptly named Friends Field provided hours of fun for those who preferred to keep the music in the background.

"This is about as homegrown of an event as you can possibly have," said Jim Welte, Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce Executive Director and festival producer. "We're proud of it and happy to put our community on the map in a way that brings people in from out of town." Over 10,000 total attendees were part of this year's festivities.

In addition to arts, crafts, and food almost exclusively provided by over 50 southern Marin County vendors and volunteer groups, the hometown ambiance was also represented by numerous local musical acts. For instance, the first main stage performer on Saturday was singer-songwriter Meels, the stage name of Mill Valley native Amelia Einhorn. In fact, most of the performers on the smaller Sweetwater Stage, hosted by the venerable Mill Valley nightclub, were locals too—like childhood friends Maia Ciambriello and Sasha Goldberg, who perform together as The Army, The Navy. "We grew up in Mill Valley playing soccer on this field," they told the adoring crowd of parents, friends, and newcomers who came to hear the duo's charming harmonies.

The first "national" act on the main stage on the other side of that soccer field was Danielle Ponder. Now 42, the Rochester, NY, native spent most of her adult life as a practicing attorney. Many Bay Area music fans got their first taste of Ponder when she got tapped one morning to fill in for someone who was not able to perform on one of the big stages at San Francisco's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival in 2022. She wowed the crowd then with her striking voice singing a mix of soul, R&B, and trip hop, and did so again on Saturday.

Ponder sang some of her self-described "breakup songs" from her debut album, including "Only the Lonely." Then she made a request to the audience: "This is literally the last song I wrote about my breakup. So now if anyone wants to date me, and it's very toxic just for like six months?" You know, so she can write more breakup songs. (No word on whether she had any takers.)

Next, the mood shifted from R&B to the lo-fi alt-folk music of Eric D. Johnson's Fruit Bats. The band's website describes Fruit Bats' music as "a pitch-perfect blend of tone and lyricism that taps into our shared apprehensions and hopes for a post-pandemic life." It's not quite shoegaze material, but perhaps shoegaze-adjacent. (Johnson is also a self-avowed Deadhead, and he's been on stage with Joe Russo's Almost Dead a few times.)

Johnson led his band through a set of songs familiar to many of the indie fans in the crowd. Some sang along to "The Bottom of It" and "Humbug Mountain Song." Johnson smiled in response to the applause he received after each tune, but he only addressed the crowd a few times. On one occasion, he asked, "How is everyone?" Someone in the audience asked how he was doing. He answered humbly, like nobody had ever asked him that before: "I'm doing great! Thanks for asking."

Meanwhile, further back on the field, kids were getting their faces painted, making tie-dye t-shirts, and playing with hula hoops and giant blow-up honey bears. The food lines grew longer during the afternoon, but none were as long as the line for Angela's Ice Cream.

San Diego "sweet soul" band Thee Sacred Souls was 20 minutes late due to technical issues, but singer Josh Lane and company lost no time revving up the crowd once they hit the stage. A fanatic fanbase found their way to the rail, and they were rewarded when Lane came down from the stage to get right in their faces in the pit for "Will I See You Again?"

Later, Lane went even further into the crowd during "Running Away." Testing the distance limits of his wireless mic, Lane literally jogged throughout the crowd while singing, and then plopped down for a moment to sing a line in an empty lawn chair next to some guy like they were best friends.

When Thee Sacred Souls were done, there was a moment before the next band started up on the Sweetwater Stage. Eight or nine people jumped up to do an impromptu line dance version of The Hustle while Van McCoy's iconic 1975 disco hit played on the PA. But then Asher Belsky and his trio started playing a cover of "Ain't No Sunshine," and everyone's attention turned to the 19-year-old prodigy from San Francisco. Bound for main stages, Belsky has it all—technical guitar chops, a sweet voice, and tasty jazz-rock compositions of his own.

Day One ended with Fleet Foxes on the big stage. With their dynamic harmonies and well-crafted song catalog, the seasoned Seattle indie rockers pleased their old fans and made some new ones with songs including "White Winter Hymnal," "Mykonos," and "Blue Ridge Mountains." A superfan on the rail waited patiently to give lead singer Robin Pecknold a bouquet of red roses.

It was a perfect day of weather, music, community, and good times.

Day Two was no different in that regard. Mt. Tamalpais loomed majestically in the background (as iconic mountains do). It was sunny with temperatures in the high 60s, perhaps a bit cooler than Day One. The only clouds in sight were curls of fog that topped the Marin Headlands hills to the south, which remained there all day and never threatened to advance. A steady breeze all weekend animated the hair of every performer.

Day Two was also Mother's Day. The audience seemed a tad thinner on Sunday, perhaps due to mothers who insisted on doing something with their families other than attending a music festival. But if so, they missed out the pair of greeters who handed roses to mothers as they walked through the entrance (and to anyone else who wanted one).

Several of the performers mentioned the significance of the day. For instance, the lead singer of Mullet Daddy, a band of high schoolers from the Marin School of the Arts Rock program playing on the Sweetwater Stage, said, "I want to thank every beautiful mom who came out here today." (She also underscored a generational divide by introducing the band's cover of Toto's "Roxanna": "Everyone's gonna know this one. At least, the parents will know this one.")

Sonoma County swamp rocker Eric Lindell kicked off the main stage schedule with a band that included Danny Eisenberg, a frequent collaborator on the Bay Area music scene (and unofficial "fifth member" of local jam faves The Mother Hips) on keys. Lindell sings and plays guitar in a style reminiscent of Dickey Betts, and members of the crowd were on their feet for most of his southern rock set.

Across the field at the Sweetwater Stage, Roadkill was proving that punk rock is alive and well. The trio started off with Husker Du's "Don't Want to Know If You Are Lonely," followed by a string of originals. First-time Roadkill audience members who were intrigued by the Festival's website description of singer Joshua Higgins as a "5-star Taco Bell cashier" were rewarded with a fun throwback sound.

Rebirth Brass Band brought some New Orleans spirit to Mill Valley on the big stage a week after the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. The Grammy winners who got their start in a Treme district high school over 40 years ago are still going strong with old and new members providing funky beats.

As festival attendees traversed the field, there were ample reminders that the event was about more than just music. Booths were set up to help promote community events like the annual Mountain Play production high above Mill Valley on Mt. Tamalpais. (This year, the play will be "Kinky Boots.") Mill Valley's Tamalpais High School had a visual arts display, and other local artists had works on display in two walk-in truck trailers hosted by Marin Open Studios. Student writers from the Marin School of The Arts creative writing program created hand-typed "on-demand" poems.

Another important part of the community landscape: festival proceeds each year are contributed to three different beneficiaries, each an entirely local, nonprofit organization who brings value to the Mill Valley community. This year's beneficiaries were:

• Kiddo! (https://kiddo.org), whose core purpose is to provide funding for comprehensive arts programs in vocal and instrumental music, visual art, dance, drama and poetry for children in the Mill Valley School District.

• Tam High Foundation (https://www.tamhighfoundation.org/), which provides funds for bridging state and local funding gaps to provide academic enrichment programs, technology, guest teachers, equity, and wellness for every student.

• Mill Valley Friends of Parks & Recreation (https://www.mvfriends.org), a nonprofit that facilitates, enhances, and promotes the activities and resources of the city's parks and recreation facilities and services.

Back near the Sweetwater Stage, couples and families queued up to have pictures taken in the Das-Bus photo booth, while Anna Jae and her crew of local musicians provided a fun, good-time rock and roll soundtrack. Holding up a large amethyst crystal between songs, Jae spoke about the pressure it took to create such a wonder—and segued into a life metaphor about the pressure we all feel in our daily lives: "I just have to believe that it's building us to be something beautiful."

Music fans who have experienced the gospel of St. Paul and the Broken Bones know to expect some soulful preaching about love and passion. Newcomers to St. Paul may have been surprised initially by the singer's middle-aged man-on-the-street appearance, but he quickly won their attention with his falsetto—not to mention his striking rock star poses. And when he donned a sparkly preacher's robe midway through the set and came into the crowd to preach his R&B gospel of love, it was hard not to be converted.

He may look like an old-school caricature of an accountant or high school principal, but with almost 70 million replays of "Call Me" on Spotify, it's easy to testify that St. Paul has the chops to raise the holy roof off of a suburban soccer field.

St. Paul is a hard act to follow, but Margo Price had no difficulty rising to the challenge. Her countrified Americana was a perfect fit for Mother's Day. She opened with "Been to the Mountain," which includes the holiday-appropriate lyric, "I've been a child and I've been a mother." A mother herself (she has two children with her husband Jeremy Ivey, who plays guitar in her band), she gave an obligatory shout-out to "all you moms out there."

She got a big cheer when she joined her drummer on her own trap set and shredded some skins. Many fans also noticed she had a big pot leaf and a mushroom embroidered on her dress. (Is it necessary to even mention that "the smell of pot was in the air" in music festival reviews anymore?)

The food lines seemed shorter on Sunday. The longest line on Friends Field was at the face painting table—except for the ice cream line, of course.

The last act on the Sweetwater Stage was local jam band guitar hero John Chi. With a band that included Jordan Feinstein on keys and JP McLean on bass, many patrons of Phil Lesh’s now-defunct Terrapin Crossroads came to see their friends lay down some killer jams.

The finale for the two-day festival was Greensky Bluegrass, the venerable jamgrass band from Kalamazoo, Michigan. Greensky is currently touring with piano virtuoso Holly Bowling on keys, adding a non-traditional element to their already non-traditional bluegrass sound. Many of the songs they played were recently written and recorded with Bowling. (Side note: her very young son, often present at her performances, wows crowds everywhere they go with his dynamic toy guitar playing in the background while mommy plays with her friends.)

For Mother's Day, singer and mandolin player Paul Hoffman changed the words to "Windshield." He pointed out after singing the bitter breakup song (cowritten with Billy Strings) that he’d honored mothers by changing from "There's nothing for a woman left to TAKE from a man" to "There's nothing for a woman left to GIVE to a man." He said, "That’s for the mothers. I have two; my mom and my wife."

Hoffman and Dobro player Anders Beck also joked that they’d dubbed the weekend a "Holly Day" in honor of Bowling’s birthday Saturday and Mother’s Day on Sunday. After the show, Holly's husband gave their little son a bunch of flowers to hand to her on stage. So cute.

But that was after 90 minutes of world-class jamgrass. A cover of Springsteen’s "Atlantic City" melded well with the ensemble’s originals. The picking was supreme on every tune, with Beck, Hoffman, and Bowling sharing turns with banjo player Michael Arlen Bont and guitarist Dave Bruzza. The only complaint? For Greensky, this was a short show!

After it was over, showrunner Jim Welte could be found spinning records at a DJ table set up behind the main stage mixing board. He expressed positive vibes about the success of the weekend. In fact, positive vibes were all around—evident in the smiles carried home by the exiting crowd.