Author: mark

pilgrimage, day two

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.

pilgrimage festival, day one

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.

iron and wine archive series volume one

this is an interesting release, one that die hard iron and wine fans have been clamoring for recently. It is comprised of sixteen tracks recorded on a four track recorder in his bedroom at the beginning of sam beam’s career. His signature style, namely his half whispered duets with himself, on top of a sparse acoustic blend of guitars, is definitely in play here. it is not hard to envision him writing and playing these songs around the house, as they are full of images of the typical snippets you might see laying around the house all day – birds, weather, trees, and domestic conversations punctuate the lyrics. these tracks are the ones that weren’t used for his debut album, and have been traded by enthusiasts for years. not the first release i would send the inquisitive fan to that is not familiar with his work, but is it a good pickup for someone like me who has been a fan for years. iron and wine is playing at the pilgrimage festival this weekend, and i am sure i will be right up close, as i have never seen him before.

pilgrimage festival

i am going to this fairly new festival in nashville in about 5 weeks with my good friend brad, and as such will be starting a series of posts highlighting some of the bands i will be seeing there. my earlier post on wilco is essentially the start of it, and they will be on the ‘a’ list of bands we will be getting in front of (vip passes, baby!). we may even do some live blogging from there. next up, a review of the new iron and wine release.

http://pilgrimagefestival.com/

lord huron, strange trails

this is a new band for me. i think i found them on my amazon ‘recommended’ list. just took a flyer on them based on the comments section. a little hard to describe (which is often a good trait in my book), so i will begin by taking a stab at who i think might be their influences. on many tracks there is a western feel to it, and there is a little bit of calexico and dawes. good twangy guitars, solid vocals, both of those enhanced by a reverb thing reminiscent of my morning jacket. i hear some nebraska era springsteen, and maybe some buddy holly. this is their sophomore effort, to the best of my knowledge, and i got hooked. i listened to it straight through three times, and only took it out of the rotation because i just got a big batch of new releases and had to move on. there really isn’t a bad song on the whole thing, and i will come back to it. found their first release and have it on order. stay tuned.