KnitCrit

Songs of the Weeks

Several weeks ago, I waxed poetic (or would that be digital poetic?) about my music; songs that I found and listened to over and over. For whatever reason, I haven’t been listening to as much music ever since I posted that; with two exceptions. Both of my favorite bands, Over the Rhine (OTR) and The Greencards, recently released new albums.

I discovered OTR 10+ years ago, when I listened to WRNR, a local indie station in Annapolis. IMHO, they are best labeled as singer-songwriters in the acoustic folk genre. WRNR played songs from their then current Films for Radio album, tunes that literally gave me chills from their beauty. B and I have traveled many miles to hear the brilliant Karin and Linford, and met them on the Cayamo 2009 cruise, where we chatted at length with them like teenaged groupies. Their new album, The Long Surrender, has been met with rave reviews. They have added some new band members and the result has been a real added depth to their music. Also, for you Lucinda Williams fans out there, she joins OTR on one of the songs, Undamned. My own favorite song from the album is The Laugh of Recognition. It is one of those that I play over and over and sing to the top of my lungs.

Ah, The Greencards. We heard them for the first time on the Cayamo cruise. Two sets and we were hooked. Aussies Carol and Kym have a high energy level that is contagious. Her voice is beautiful and well suited to the bluegrass-like genre that best describes their music. It blends perfectly with Kym’s phenomenal mandolin playing skills. For the new album, they also added new band members, a fiddler and a guitarist, whose energies and abilities match that of Carol and Kym. Guest appearances on the new album are made by Vince Gill and Sam Bush. Like OTR, we have traveled far and wide to hear The Greencards. My favorite song from The Brick Album is Make it Out West, and I am fairly certain that some of my neighbors know the lyrics by now.  We’ll be seeing Carol and Kym at Jammin’ Java the night before my birthday in August. Isn’t that a great way to start a birthday weekend?

MerleFest 2011

MerleFest is a four-day music festival, held at Wilkes County Community College in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. This was the 24th year of the event, and the second year that I attended. The festival is held in memory of Eddy Merle Watson, the son of Doc Watson. Thus, while it is primarily thought of as a bluegrass festival, it is billed as a festival “with the very best in ‘traditional plus’ music.”
I am pretty much of a late-comer to bluegrass, and I’m a big fan of everything folk rock, singer-songwriter and anything else that fits in that realm. This year’s headliners were an interesting combination: Randy Travis, The Doobie Brothers, Lyle Lovett, and Robert Plant and the Band of Joy. We were not there on Thursday night to hear Randy Travis.
Our Friday afternoon arrival time was perfect, though, as we got in on the tail end of Scythian’s performance, a new band that was pretty darn good! From there, we went on to hear the Wailin’ Jenny’s. How can you not like their name, and what lovely voices those three women have.
Last year, we did not pay for reserved parking and instead, were bussed back and forth from lots that are a few miles away from the college. One of our first decisions this year was to pay in advance for parking in a lot just a stone’s throw from the festival entrance. Another lesson from last year is that tailgating is something that many attendees do, so we were prepared with yummy foods from our stop in Durham at Fosters Market.
After a fab picnic dinner, we returned to hear The Doobie Brothers. While it was a nostalgic experience, especially with my BFF from high school at my side, it’s time (IMHO) for the Doobies to give it up. Sorry, but they just sounded old; more like a really bad cover band. We chose sleep over staying to the end; a wise decision.
We had selected our “must hear” sessions for Saturday, so after a stop at Wal-Mart for new portable chairs and picnic food for lunch and dinner, we entered the festival. I was drawn to the name of these guys – Blind Boy Chocolate and the Milk Sheiks. OMG! They guys are incredible, with a repertoire of white and black string and jug band music, as well as some blues, ragtime and jazz thrown into the mix. Blind Boy Chocolate plays the wood saw, something that I’d not seen/heard in person, while Dizzy is amazing on the washboard. This band was the Cinderella of MerleFest. Everyone who heard them, in any or all of their three performances, wanted more. They weren’t prepared for their popularity, either, having brought only two boxes of CDs for sale. It’ll be fun to follow them in the coming months and see what happens.
On Saturday afternoon, there is an event called The Hillside Album Hour. There, a combination of musicians presents music from a classic album, and this year was The Allman Brothers’ Eat a Peach. I have so many memories from college that are associated with those songs. Wow. The two hours spent on the hillside listening to that music, with vocals by Joan Osborne, were chilling and brought tears to my eyes. After another delicious and entertaining tailgate dinner, it was back to the main stage for Sam Bush, followed by Lyle Lovett. It has only been the last three years or so that I have been a fan of Lyle Lovett, but I’ve made up for lost time!  It helps that I have a full-blown adult crush on the fiddler, Luke Bulla, who I first met on our Cayamo Cruise, where he was playing fiddle for Glen Phillips’ band, Works Progress Administration. With Sam Bush added to the band, Saturday night’s performance was nothing short of incredible. I could hardly believe that I was there, experiencing such magnificent music. After the two song encore, we began packing up our chairs, but noticed that others were moving theirs closer to the stage and turning them over. Another new lesson, as Sunday afternoon, when we returned to the main stage area, there were our chairs, only two rows behind the reserved seat section!  
As we checked out of our hotel Sunday, we decided to take a detour to Boone, NC. It had been 30+ years since I had been there, and neither B nor BFF’s boyfriend J had ever been there.  After a lovely drive up the mountain, we wandered around for awhile. Mast General Store is downtown; a store in which I can always dream away hundreds of dollars worth of clothes, shoes and accessories. I left with a ne w pair of sandals, while B found a nice sale on Columbia polo shirts.
Once back at MerleFest, we caught another Blind Boy Chocolate gig, followed by our last show – Robert Plant and the Band of Joy. With Patty Griffin and Buddy Miller along, how could it have been anything but spectacular? It was a wonderful way to end our second annual trek to MerleFest!  
Our lessons from last year made the experience even more enjoyable, and we left with new musicians to follow and a couple of new lessons for next year. On our return 7 hour trip home, we stopped in Chapel Hill for dinner and to celebrate BFF’s birthday. With 4½ hours left, we knew it was going to be tough. Yet, via Twitter, I soon learned that Obama had an urgent message that evening. With CNN on the radio, thanks to XM, we quickly came out of our stupors and safely arrived home around 1:30 AM.  

Song of the Week 4_20_11

One pleasure that I have been able to add back into my life recently is music. When I was working, I was too busy to listen to music most of the time, unless I was working at home. Then, I’d crank it up and sing at the top of my lungs while I was being extremely productive. We had a portable XM player that was turned on most of the time. Also, B’s car has XM, so it was on whenever I was in the car, as either passenger or driver. We brought the portable XM player here when we moved, but were unable to get a strong signal. Our Direct TV has really good music channels, but I often forget about that. Enter the new car.
My option requirements were simple: all wheel drive, leather seats, and a good music system. Since we purchased it in December, I’ve been totally relishing in discovering music that I like, primarily on The Spectrum, The Loft and The Coffee House, with some Bluegrass Junction and Lithium tossed in when I’m in those moods. Here, it takes 10 minutes to get some places, but more typically it takes 30 minutes to get wherever I am going, so there's a lot of time to listen to music.
It seems that each week, there’s one song of which I can’t get enough. Some are from bands that are new; others have been around awhile. And sometimes it’s from a new album that one of my favorite bands has released. I purchase that song, and often whatever record album contains it.

I play it while I knit.
I play it while I workout.
I play it while I garden.
I play it while I cook.

From this came the idea for me to share each week’s song on the blog. I hope you enjoy it.

This week’s song is The High Road, from Broken Bells.