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Saturday, March 24, 2007
Guitar Workshop with Roy Book Binder - Roy has a morning hands-on guitar workshop each Saturday and Sunday morning at Springfest. The Saturday morning session was held at the Spirit Stage which was way down near the river. It was pretty packed that morning, and it was easily one of the bigger crowds I've seen Roy have over the years at Springfest. I think he got a bigger crowd due to his additional set with Jorma this year. He took the crowd through one of his basic blues songs, and I've always loved how he builds on the easy foundation he starts with. He's a top-notch instructor, who's love for the music really makes him that much better of a teacher.
Jim Lauderdale,
Verlon Thompson and
Shawn Camp - This was our first
time for seeing Verlon since our spring house concert. He was doing a three-piece
workshop with Jim and Shawn. Jim was funny like always, and I ended up liking
Verlon and Shawn's material more...like always. These three men know each
other very well, and they were comfortable playing with one another. It's
a comfortable set to see every year, and it was the first real time I've
ever had the chance to see Shawn play live. He's younger than Verlon or
Jim, but can play and write songs just as well. It's no wonder that he's
highly sought in today's county music scene.
Sam Pacetti - It has been
a while since I last saw Sam play, and I had forgotten how damn talented
the guy is. In the past, I've seen him obsess during the set on his sound,
and he seemed to have let that go some. So instead of worrying about his
sound so much, and does more to take care of the crowd. It makes for a more
enjoyable set, and it seems he's just going to get better with age.
Joe Craven and
Bobby Lee Rodgers Duo - Joe
Craven is crazy. A wonderful, beautiful, creative crazy, but it was damn
enjoyable watching him work his craft. The man can find music out of any
everyday object, and he spreads his infectious energy throughout the set
in process. I wasn't familiar with his material before, and it didn't matter.
He brought the entire crowd into his world and took us all for a ride. Surprising
set of the weekend and was well worth finding and sitting through.
Roy Book Binder - This was Roy's
afternoon set by himself, and while he doesn't fill the house, it just makes
it that much easier for me to get up close. Roy finger picked his better
tunes, told some funny stories, and got through the set like the professional
he is. My only disappointment for that weekend was that I was never able
to get together with him for a slide guitar lesson. Every time I dropped
by his bus, he was either tied up with others or not there. There's always
next time.
Verlon Thompson and
Shawn Camp - The afternoon set of
Verlon and Shawn was a great set. Verlon and Shawn work very well together,
and they both support the other's songs just as well. Shawn hasn't played
at a Springfest in quite a while. In fact, it's been since before Susan
and I started attending Springfest in 2004. Shawn plays a damn fine fiddle
in addition to playing the guitar very well. He played some great songs,
and he has a very traditional old-school country music voice. I'm not sure
why he's not in top county radio to date. Verlon was great like always.
We hope someday to get Shawn to visit us here in Panama City as well.
Will Kimbrough - I wasn't able
to see Will in the morning during his songwriter's workshop, so this was
my only chance to see Will for the weekend. Will came out with a friend
who played the National Resonator guitar along to Will's tunes. Will played
some new and old material, and also played some Daddy and Bis-Quits tunes
as well. All great material and all material that I want to hear played
on my back deck. Great set that was over way too quick.
Paul Geremia - I got to see all
of Paul's set due to the fact that things were a bit off schedule this day,
and that was a good thing. Unfortunately, Paul had far from a full crowd
when it was his turn to play. I heard very promising things about Paul from
Roy Book Binder, and Paul did not disappoint. He seemed rather out of it
though, because I knew of no merchandise he had for sale. I found it odd
that an experienced performed like him did not come prepared, thus why I
suspected something was up. Hopefully, he'll be able to come again in the
future, and I can see a more lengthy set by this gentleman.
Peter Rowan &
Tony Rice Quartet - This act was
fresh off the release of their new CD release, and a large amount of the
material they played was from that release. The main change though was that
Bryn is no longer their bass player. Rowan mentioned that she's moved on
to be the bass player for Patti Griffin, so I can't blame her there. Tony
played as smoothly as always, but I did notice that he took a break during
the middle portion of the set. He's been open about his arthritis limiting
his playing ability and endurance. It didn't hurt him though when he was
playing. The tracks they chose on the new album are both tasteful and nicely
arranged. Nice comfortable set to start the evening with...especially considering
the next band about to perform.
The Avett Brothers - Lord
have mercy...where the hell did this band come from? I missed this band
last year, but I never knew just what an injustice that was until seeing
them Saturday night under the stars. I swear it's like you got a few hill
jacks from the Carolinas, got them hopped up on meth, and let them loose
on the stage. Frantic rock where the banjo was repeatedly violated, and
the banjo and guitar player each had a drum kit piece (kick drum and high
hat cymbal respectively) to jump up and down on while singing and screaming.
Save the occasional sedate interlude, this band would be more at home at
a punk rock show than a folk/bluegrass festival. It was a glorious set,
and they were easily the best set of the weekend for me.
Seth Walker Band - I saw a quick
bit of them on Thursday, but I knew this would be a better set since it
was as Springfest began to wind down. By taking in Seth's music, his blues
music reminds me a lot of smooth electric blues artists like B.B. King.
I think it's safe to say that he had more hippies noodling to his music
on Saturday night than all of the other shows he'd performed to date. While
I prefer my blues acoustic and more stripped down, I have to say I enjoyed
Seth's set. It was especially nice because it was a welcome diversion from
all the folk and bluegrass that had been played that weekend.