after a big night, day two started out a little later than we had planned, but we were ready by the time charles bradley took the main stage. i just found out about him recently. after leading a hard luck life, and spending much of the last two decades as a james brown imitator in nyc, he was recently discovered by a small r&b label. they made a young band available to him, and recorded his first cd in his early sixties. here he is about halfway thru his set:

next up was another band from nyc, the lone bellow. i have their most recent release, and it is worth consideration. they definitely have some serious vocal chops:

then we headed over to the second stage to take in my old friend jimmy cliff working his way through a solid set of all of his greatest hits. the dude is 67 and still puts on a hell of a show. colin meloy of the decemberists was on the side stage taking in one of the masters:

a great weekend. this was the inaugural event for this festival, and look forward to seeing what they put together next year. here are a few homemade videos from brad’s camera. the rain seems to have dampened tweedy’s night, but nels cline was definitely on it. unforgettable.

we got on site at 10 am when the gates opened. the vip lounge was underadvertised, as they had an open bar and gratis carolina bbq buffett, plus a titos trailer. it was going to be a big day.

.

first group was kingfish. a young blues guitarist who kicked off the day with a buddy guy style onslaught. very talented kid.

it was time to get a good bite to eat, to establish the necessary base for the day, a flank steak and pretzel bun sandwich.

next up was holly williams, daughter of hank jr., and she is worth your attention. most of the songs she played were off her ‘highway’ album.

watched first half of trampled by turtles set, then over to neko case for her set.

back to main stage for iron and wine.

went back to vip lounge for smoked chicken, ribs, low country shrimp boil, cheddar biscuits and some sweet tea (with some tito’s). caught last half of sheryl crow set, mostly just to position ourselves for the next and final act, wilco. managed to get in the front row, on the fence, just in time for the heavens to unload for 30 minutes. but it was worth it. they put on an outstanding show. nels cline was directly in front of us, and he was on fire. more on them later.