Sally B's Page

River City 2012

By Sally Burtscher
January 9th, 2012

Hey there, Bluegrass fans, players, the Great Northwest had some sunshine today including smiles and glowing faces on those who attended 2012 River City.

It is nice to poke out of winter for brief moments to see, hear, play and speak with fans, players and friends. Music makes winter bearable! Music of almost any kind can make the rain seem far away!

We made it to River City for an all day Saturday, w/sleep over and caught several shows or bits of shows. Sierra Hull was the highlight for us. She is an amazing mandolin player with a beautiful voice! There were other sets of western swing and country tinged, Texas Sheiks, Rodney Crowell, Jim Lauderdale (we missed his set). Everyone seemed to enjoy all the 'stars'!

I personally got to speak with lots and lots of them. That was special. Got to say a big 'Howdy' to my friends the Boxcars….friends from last year's 'Bluegrass from the Forest.' Got to catch up a bit with Adam Steffey whose 3+ month old twins are keepin' he and extended family BUSY! He said, 'doing twins is like buildin' the Empire State Building every day!' Names are Riley and A. P. (not after A. P. Carter though!). Those are some hard workin' boxcars and Adam catches up on SLEEP on the road! I got to chat a bit with the Steep Canyon Rangers whose new CD will be out in March 2012, looking forward to that. These are also great players and they did a whiz bang set including a variation of the Bobby Hicks/Kenny Baker tune Fiddle Patch, that sure was amazing…..complete with birds chirping from the fiddle. And a new tune the banjo player wrote, and played almost a complete verse in harmonic tones….. that was "way cool!!"

I also was pointed toward another GREAT banjo player….who now makes his home in Portland…Tony Furtado! We chatted a bit, he was very gracious. This is what is so very special about this kind of music and these festivals, most of these 'star' types think of themselves as just plain folks and seem to like mixing, chatting and sharing music info with their fans. Of course, that is what sells their product!

Then, my all time thrill was to get to speak with David Lindley…sort of a cult figure to some in music, like David Grisman. This man can play anything with strings…..I have been a fan of his playing since the early 1970's. His technique on instruments is so varied, unusual and intriguing. He can play it just straight ahead without any fancy stuff too. He played one tune, where the base strings were fingered as melody, while the higher ones were keeping the beat…..I really enjoyed that one. Songs and tunes played on the Turkish national instrument the Saz were so intriguing and inviting……the Saz is an unusual instrument. To explain: it looks and sounds like a cross between a bouzouki/sitar/guitar/mandolin and the ancient Oud. Put that all in a bag and shake it up!!! You get what he said was now the national instrument of Claremont, California. Must be where he lives. I can now cross meeting David Lindley off my bucket list. Wahoo!

About the jams…..OMG….. this year around many corners were lots of western swing jammers…..including those who seemed very young to me….. kids, playing western swing! Made me smile! There were all the traditional bluegrass jams and even some old timey ones out in the public areas.

But the best of all, was listening in the WEE hours (for @ 2+ hours) to a jam in our hallway that was just about smokin' the place down. No one saw me paddle just around the corner in my PeeJays peeking to see who was killin' every song and tune at 170 beats per minute! I won't say exactly who it was 'cause I heard on Sunday morning that jams in the public areas were supposed to stop way earlier than 2:45, but Sierra Hull was in our serenade for quite awhile. It was some of those YOUNG cutters, staying up till the crack of dawn!

And here's a big Thank You to all those who stopped by the WBA room to say 'Howdy' or visit or to jam. And Thanks to those who picked up membership applications and this summer's Mt. Saint Helens festival fliers. The Toledo festival will be a great event in 2012. (Check the info on our festival page.)

On 'down the road'. Sally B.

It's HOT in Moses Lake!

We left the corgi at the doggie motel, packed up the car for an eastern Washington 'sweat out' festival in Moses Lake. It was a good festival! Even the heat wasn't too bad! There was a breeze both Friday & Saturday that made it more bearable. It's been several years since we've been across the mountains for anything, many, many years since we've been IN Moses Lake. Boy, that place has changed a LOT. It's lookin' pretty prosperous, since our past trips, now even in the current economy.

The festival venue was a mixed bag... the free camping area has no shade! Tents and rigs that could make a bit of their own shade did the best they could. The field was a really large flat area that held all rigs with room to spare. It was a good full house rig wise! I stopped at a lot of the camp sites to pass out Gazettes, Toledo flyers and visited with those brave enough to be out in early mid day heat.

On Saturday morning (opens at 8 a.m.) there is a HUGE farmer/craft market set up in the park across from the camping field. Sooo much local fruit and veggies, certified 'organic' on lots of the stalls, all kinds of craft stalls and a Marketmaster onsite for market tokens or cash transactions. That's a really nice feature. The market happens all summer on Saturdays. The concert Friday started at 5 pm at an unbelievable purposely made concert bowl overlooking part of an arm of the lake. The first bands to play suffered a bit from direct sunshine right in their faces and eyes. They could do some sort of awning on stage, that would be appreciated by anyone up there during sunshine…..they call it Five Suns Festival. We sure had that and then some! There was plenty of shade for the audience at the sides under trees until dusk.

At 7 pm the sun was down enough to make shade for the stage. The Friday show consisted of Student Loan, Sugar Pine, Prairie Flyer, Runaway Train and Blue Highway then Student Loan again at 10pm. All the bands played well with Blue Highway doing their usual standout memorable material….. our first time seeing them live. What can be said about these guys except, they are pros! I guess I should mention here, about the sound. Gosh it was pretty awful…… not all in the quality but the quantity and the feedback was endless. It was almost too loud for bluegrass and most of the instrument and musicianship nuance was drown by volume. Every band had many feedback squawks throughout their entire set. There was a bank of Klieg lights hung up in the back of the stage that thankfully was not used much…. DUH….it's hard to choreograph Bluegrass with lights shows. Maybe, it was the first time this company ever tried to attempt that? I say leave the back lights at home! A small spotlight tried it's best to highlight each solo but lagged behind, I think because they didn't have a clue who was doing what on which instrument.

On Saturday there were the usual workshops that looked well attended and the stage got underway early @ 3 or 4 pm. We didn't see much of the open mic and early stuff as we were catching some jamming in the campground.

Saturday's show opened with Dead Fiddlers Society, which I had heard of, seen the name around a few times in festival lists. They were not true bluegrass but played some old standard tunes taken down the bluegrass road by others.…. tunes written by now dead fiddlers….Tommy Jarrell, Arthur Smith and the like. They fit in really nicely in the mix. Sugar Pine got a set in the shade…..Aaah! Then Runaway Train did numbers from the brand new cd, Crossroads. We like to support our south sound band.

After dark Blue Highway came next and we thought, hoped prayed perhaps the sound would be better. There was still the usual squawking in every set and but the volume was turned up to overdrive for Blue Highway, made it more like a rock concert than bluegrass.

I took a potty break and stood by the wall near the sound board. Every time the sound guy wasn't grabbing a drink of water or chatting with his stagehand, who made frequent trips to the main board, he was fiddling with the knobs on the board. I'm not a sound person but I could see what he was doing. He would turn the knob until he got feedback and then back it off. Now, that ain't the way to do concert sound, esp. for bluegrass! Set it, leave it, forget it, is what I have seen at the festivals when I have observed.

During the Blue Highway set they took a little joke break centered @ Ralph Stanley. I couldn't tell who was doing the voice impression but it was pretty good, sounded just like Dr. Ralph. Then a few jokes centered around Alison Krauss and he mentioned the co-project she did with Robert Plant and went into a Led Zeppelin take off. It was then I realized this sound guy was strictly in the rock show genre. The Klieg lights were flashing with the sound in unison to the lyrics and the beat of the tune they were parodying. He was a Led Zeppelin guy for sure!

Bluegrass bands are usually great folks, very polite and mannerly. None of them ever said anything to the sound guy. I hope someone did! The concert was excellent in spite of it and we are glad we went to Five Suns Festival in Moses Lake.

I heard rumors some Bluegrassers may have gone to the adjacent city sponsored water park for a trip down the water slide. If you ever go to this festival and you still have a swim suit…… or dare to show yourself in public with the white fleshy parts exposed, a dip at this all ages water activity would be a must BUT …….we left our swimsuits at home. DARN! It's hot in Moses Lake!

For many years, we've had a long standing rule not to be out among 'em on July 4th …… this year was different!

35 years ago in a pervious life…..lifestyle actually…..I was in Port Townsend for the 1st ever American Fiddle Tunes Festival…… just by accident. Way back then it seemed to be just a bunch of hippies comin' in from the woods to play music. It was fun and memorable. I can still remember the big canopy set up on the grass next to the old WW II blimp hanger in Fort Warden State Park with little kids running around, in and out of the open end of the rickety old hanger, having a blast.

After my 35 years of absence, it's gone uptown and full of lots of other culture, not just fiddle tunes, with year long events, poetry, chamber music, blues festivals etc. All put together by Centrum.org. The old blimp hanger has under gone a rebirth with many changes. It has a theatre addition with restrooms, comfy seats and unobstructed views of the stage….. and pretty darn good acoustics for a big metal building!

It's easily searchable on the web, which I did, up popped this year's fiddlin' & fireworks event and concerts.

Off we went on July 3 in anticipation of seeing legendary Bobby Hicks, famed bluegrass fiddler, former 'bluegrass boy' and member of Ricky's band, 'Kentucky Thunder' for many years.

We stayed at Jefferson County Fairgrounds, as usually all campsites at Fort Warden are booked a year in advance, due to the week long fiddle tunes workshops & events. The fairgrounds are a ways away, though advertised as four blocks……those are country size blocks!

We visited the fort on Sunday afternoon for a drive through and Monday before noon, to get the lay of the land……it's a very large venue and there are no shuttles or golf carts for transporting handicapped or older folks who can't walk the distances. But, there is lots of parking and handicapped slots all over the site, which we used. When we parked, the next car to park by us was real close. We had to adjust our exits from the vehicles. The driver had a lanyard with his name on it, Hank Bradley….. 'You're Hank Bradley I know who you are!' You're famous! He smiled a big smile that I would acknowledge him with delight and thanked me for saying so! He's a Seattle fiddler who has jumped around music genres on the Seattle music scene for years. We chatted as we walked toward the hanger and ticket booths. He was there to play on stage….. Greek music!

I walked part of one campground, talked with folks and passed out Mt. St. Helens festival flyers, trying to do a little cross pollination between genres! I did find some bluegrassers, there for Bobby's workshops and a few other interested folks. Then toward the end of the afternoon show I asked if I could hand out flyers to folks leaving the concert and a Centrum person, said I could freelance outside the venue gate with 'no problem.' So, I did…..and Voila! No more flyers! Folks seemed eager to take them. Hope they come on down to Toledo for some fun.

We went looking for a jam to listen to and did find a nice little jam of all types of tunes outside the back side of the huge workshop bldg! Turns out, two of the young guys are from Olympia and play contra dances once a month there in Lacey and @ the area. Small world….we live in Shelton! I struck up a conversation with a guy sitting there tapping his feet by asking, 'Are you from Quebec? That's how they tap out the percussion, up that way.' Nope. Says he, I am from Virginia…..Rugby Virginia. I said, Where's that? Not too far from Galax…….! I said, Oh, GOSH! I would love to go there for the old time music festival. I asked, 'Have you ever heard of Johnny Williams? I love that Cd of his, 'Last Day of Galax.' Eddie Bond is his name. He smiled a big smile and said, 'He's my cousin! He just finished working on a new CD with me on a couple tunes. Don't know why he wanted me on there….. I play old time fiddle but he insisted I play on a few tunes.' Then another guy walked up and I started talking with him, from North Carolina. We chatted about this and that old time and bluegrass music stuff and he said he wished we had caught he and Eddie's afternoon set, we are The Stage Hogs!

After grabbing a bite to eat we headed for the evening concert at 7 pm. The first act was an old timey duo, Paul David Smith and Jimmy McCown. Then Bobby Hicks appeared on stage to rousing applause with his young fiddler protégé Adam Masters, along with several unnamed others, a bass player, two guitarist and mandolin player. The announcer said, That as is per usually with bluegrass, this is basically a pick up band backing up Bobby and Adam, so away we go.'

They played: Alabama Jubilee, Tennessee Blues, Wheel Hoss without much fanfare other than just the name of the tune. Then Bobby stepped up to announce the next tune was Tallahassee. I let out a whoop, my favorite Hicks tune, others clapped a bit. Then Bobby took a long pause with his hand to his eyes and explained that he and Kenny Baker once recorded this tune on CD. He had gotten a call on July 3rd that Kenny had suffered a massive stroke and is not expected to survive. After this long pause, we could see he was very choked up and sad for his dear friend. He said he was waiting to hear again from Kenny's bed side. With that, off they played the fiddle duet of Tallahassee, flawlessly. Next they played a twin fiddle harmony duet version of Faded Love. The set ended with the briefest introduction of the pick up band, I didn't catch the names of the mandolinist or the rhythm guitar player and they didn't even know the bass player's name and had to ask! That was pretty funny….. his name was Tony, if I remember. Then it seemed as if the guitar player on the end was going to get away with no introduction. He was just AMAZING and almost stole the set with his fancy double down cross picking, speedy running licks and one off guitar breaks. No other musician on the stage took any breaks but the fiddlers and this guitar guy. I couldn't stand not knowing, who was the guy on the end! So I hollered out, 'Who is the guy on the end!?' Bobby said, 'Who, this guy?' Pointing right at him! 'This is Wayne Henderson.' As they text on twitter OMG! Now, I have heard of and know about Wayne Henderson and Henderson guitars and all, even checked out a CD or two from the library of his once or twice. Seeing him live is just over the moon, pickin' wise and I would crawl across a vast wasteland to see him again live! WOW!! The set ended with the Chet Atkins title inspired tune Fiddle Patch.

There was a short intermission and then a fiddler, Bruce Greene and mt. dulcimer player Don Pedi began their old timey type set. This mt. dulcimer guy was also a bit of amazement. By the intro notes in the program, he is quite famous for his technique on the dulcimer. I can see why. He manages to get three distinct effects on it, a sustained drone string, then the usual traditional chorded notes and the rhythm of the pick on the strings, which adds a percussive affect that almost sounds separate from the tune's rhythm. It made me think of the Tuvan throat singers from the Mongolian steppes all that drone sound with over tones notes. It was very cool, mesmerizing! The last set was with Cape Breton fiddlers Troy MacGillivray and Andrea Beaton (Andrea has played with Peter Rowan in one of his recent band configurations). They traded between piano and fiddle and Andrea did a bit of Breton style step dancing. Feet as instruments, my kind of woman!

After the concert I headed for the merch table….. packed three deep. I waited a bit and chatted with folks and looked around, there was Bobby chatting with some woman. I patiently waited till they were finished then thanked him for his playing. Said he never even heard of this fiddle thing before but was glad to be here. I asked if I could snap a photo he said 'Sure can.' I gave him a WBA Gazette and again thanked him for dedicating his life to playing bluegrass music. When I got to my turn at the table I asked for The Stage Hogs and got handed the CD, paid for it and left the venue.

We headed for the fireworks, slowly, very slowly. Drove to another parking spot and waited till we heard the first skyward thud whack boom, then walked toward the end of the strand to see 'em. It was pretty windy by then and we didn't stay long. We headed back after a few good ones and as we were almost at the vehicle, we turned and had an even better view of it. As we drove toward the end of the strand the grand finale was right out the window. Wahoo and we beat the traffic out the gate!

It was a great little trip….. all things being equal on long road trips with lots of unknowns waiting at the end of it.

Now we know! We might make it back there again, especially if they include bluegrass concerts & events. American Fiddle Tunes ends the week with a focus on Cajun fiddlin', Michael Doucet and the Savoy family. That should be REALLY stand out Cajun music!

As an added feature of the trip we got to have a full RV hookup! This was the shake down for full hookup on the trailer we've had for a year.

Everything worked perfectly and we even got to use the radio! Heard stations we can't even get at home through the airwaves KUOW, (Nick Spitzer's American Roots had a show about Arhoolie records with interviews and music of folks including my all time fav guitar player Ry Cooder, KPLU Blues on till late on Sunday nights.

There's a local Port Townsend public radio station KPTZ, 91.9 FM, don't think it is streamed but it ought to be. It's a great little station that plays music all over the map and nicely put together. We enjoyed that station. And we listened to The Stage Hogs on the way home. They're pretty good not too old timey!

Hope your July 4th was as full of your favorite music as ours was. Well okay, pretty hard to beat what we heard but hope there was some music in your celebration!