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Wordpress update! My dashboard is all fancy! I keep hitting the wrong buttons and messing things up — it’s fun.

Okay, here’s the rest of the good stuff from the Calgary Folk Music Festival, and some little treats for you too.

Best musical discoveries:

Luluc (Australia)
I bought their album on the strength of the first song I heard them play — not a bad first impression! Luluc are a beautifully folky duo with wispy harmonies and a really understated sound; their stage banter at the festival was adorable, slightly self-conscious, and full of that fabulous Aussie accent. Their album, Dear Hamlyn, is very sparse and true to their live sound, and I can’t think of a better piece of it to offer you than the song that first grabbed my attention: One Day Soon

Good Lovelies (Canada)
A more enthusiastic trio of ladies there never was, and the Good Lovelies clearly love performing and being on stage. The three women continue the tradition laid out by the Boswell and Andrews Sisters, harmonizing like you’ve never heard and adding sly winks all over the place; they make it seem like their job is the easiest thing in the world. If you don’t crack a smile within the first thirty seconds of a Good Lovelies concert, you’re probably not listening. Check out their version of the classic folk tune Clementine.

Bellowhead (United Kingdom)
The name “Bellowhead” must be synonymous with the word “party”, given their performances at this year’s festival. I guess I will talk more about them in the next list (sorry for the overlap, but I really couldn’t leave them out!) — but for now I will simply say that nobody has made English folk songs sound quite so appealing as this sprawling 11-piece band has. Just a word of warning, though: their studio albums sound terrific, but they don’t even begin to hint at the energy the band has live. Videos come closer: check out this one of London Town at the Royal Albert Hall.

The Deep Dark Woods (Canada)
I’ve been hearing this name thrown around for ages, and I wish I had been curious enough to check them out earlier. Saskatchewan’s Deep Dark Woods deliver a brand of country/folk that fits their name perfectly: slightly dark and brooding, but also a little gritty. I can’t think of proper adjectives that fit the “woods” part. Pine-scented? Anyway, they really feel like country done the way country should be — there’s a whole post there! Have a listen to All The Money I Had Is Gone (too topical? Sorry).

And of course, no folk festival list would be complete without a rundown of the best mainstage performances of the festival, so without further ado …

The Decemberists
They came out on stage without even an introduction and immediately played their entire new album, The Hazards of Love, with barely a stop. It was dramatic, swashbuckling, theatrical, and absolutely incredible. AND THEN they came out to do a soaring encore of the one song I had been crossing my fingers all night to hear — “Sons and Daughters,” the final track from The Crane Wife — and coaxed the entire audience of 12,000 to sing the chorus with them, until it pulsed in our chests all the way home. There’s not much more I could have asked for.

Mavis Staples
Even though her set list was pretty much the same as when she played Massey Hall, it was no less impressive. I am still flabbergasted that she is seventy years old — she can still outperform nearly anybody. Her version of “The Weight” is still one of the best covers ever, and “Wade in the Water” was delectable when complemented by her backup vocalists. The cherry on top of the whole affair was the last song, the Staple Singers’ famous “I’ll Take You There” — even though it was still the afternoon, people were up, dancing, and singing along like an old style revival. Now that’s a show.

Glen Campbell
Yeah, the Rhinestone Cowboy. That guy. I was shocked when I saw his name on the folk festival lineup, but let’s face it, the prospect of hearing him play “Wichita Lineman” was enough for me to miss the entire Akron/Family set over at the Twilight stage. And wow, was it worth it: Campbell clearly loves performing, and he’s quite obviously grateful to his audience for letting him go on doing it for so long. We were rewarded with the expected hits (“Galveston,” “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” and the aforementioned “Wichita Lineman,” as well as a singalong finale of “Rhinestone Cowboy”), but we also heard some of the covers he did on his latest, including Tom Petty’s “Walls” and U2’s “All I Want Is You”. I have to say that a personal highlight was the blistering rendition of Rossini’s overture to William Tell — Campbell’s guitar work was blistering, and rightly so, for he was once one of the best session guitarists in the world. Live and learn. I’d go see him again in a flash.

Bellowhead
I’ve probably already said enough about these guys, but here I go again. First of all, there’s eleven of them. Second of all, their instruments range from fiddle and guitar to Sousaphone, oboe and accordion. Third, many of them are acclaimed, even award-winning, step dancers. And fourth, they play almost exclusively English folk songs (albeit with the odd disco beat). When you put all of this together and throw them on stage on a Saturday evening, you get what was undoubtedly the biggest party of the weekend. They could have played for three hours and nobody would have complained, except for potential exhaustion — it’s not often you get 12,000 people trying to imitate dancing like that. Maybe that’s a good thing, but I’ll take it!

Gomez
My dad confessed that he was expecting a Latin American band, judging by the name. This is the first clue that Gomez aren’t entirely what you expect them to be. They’re a bunch of white dudes from England, first of all — not quite what their moniker might suggest — and they fuse a surprisingly folky element into their songs, which are the perfect soundtrack for summer. They have a lot of pop sensibilities and some of the usual indie rock sounds, but they also just want to have a really good time on stage, and that translates into a fabulous time for the audience too. The general sentiment around was that we’d all have been singing along to every song if we’d just known the words. Next time they’ll have a few thousand more people to prompt them.

Honourable mentions to Alejandro Escovedo, Arrested Development, Iron & Wine, The Sojourners and Umalali. So, really, everybody.

I’d also like to mention that if anyone is in New York City this fall, Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig are starring in a Broadway production of Keith Huff’s A Steady Rain. It’s not a musical (those scared off by The Boy From Oz can tiptoe back now), but rather a play — one which has already made a pretty good name for itself, selling out two different engagements in Chicago and garnering all sorts of critical attention. Although it’s Craig’s first time on Broadway, I’m sure it will be a blistering performance on the part of both men — the story is pretty fascinating and, you know, they’ve both had a bit of experience acting here and there. No big deal.

And, in other news, the Toronto garbage strike is over! YEAHHHHH

Tags: bellowhead, calgary folk music festival, daniel craig, decemberists, deep dark woods, glen campbell, gomez, good lovelies, hugh jackman, luluc, mavis staples

I’ve decided to change my review format for the rest of the folk fest stuff, because quite frankly, I like making lists and you probably like reading them. If not, tough luck: here’s the Folk Festival List of Lists, Part I!

For those of you who are unaware, the festival’s all-day portions (Saturday and Sunday from 10:30 until 5:30) are made up mostly of workshops, which throw together a few different artists and make them play together for an hour or so. They are by far the most interesting, intriguing, and often surprising parts of the festival, and all of them have a theme attached to them which the musicians can draw from as much or as little as they like. To convey the theme, the clever festival staff assign them really great names. I went through them all and picked my favourites.

Best workshop names

Some Country for Bold Men
Start Making Sense
All Rebel Rockers
The Harder They Strum
and the crowning glory: Strum und Twang!

In that vein, my list of best workshops (at least out of the ones I managed to take in: the schedule is a real feat of organization!):

Some Country for Bold Men
(Danny Barnes, The Deep Dark Woods, Luluc, The Good Lovelies)
As you might expect, a whole heck of a lot of country. Danny Barnes’ blazing bluegrass was a major highlight, as was the fact that all the musicians actually joined in everything — sometimes workshops turn into awkward “you play a tune, now I’ll play a tune” sessions, and then the whole point is lost. Thankfully, none of these musicians could keep themselves from playing along, and it turned into a pretty boot-stompin’ party, tempered by the occasional downtempo folky tune in exactly the right places. The final jam tune, “I Saw The Light,” not only had everyone on stage singing but everyone in the audience too. Not bad for a Sunday morning!
(I actually bought CDs by both Luluc and The Deep Dark Woods purely on the merit of this one workshop — I hadn’t seen either before, but their measly three songs each convinced me. It was that good. I’d have bought the Good Lovelies’ CD too, but my sister beat me to it!)

Cooking With Brass
(Tarhana, Bell Orchestre, Mirah, Bellowhead)
This stage contained everything from fiddles to Sousaphone to saxophones to accordions. It was like Broken Social Scene if they had gone through high school band together or something — I think I counted twenty musicians stuffed onto that little stage. Tarhana led everybody in raucous Turkish folk jams with a ridiculous amount of groove, and Bellowhead reviewed a few of the previous night’s mainstage favourites. It was loud, brassy, and a hell of a lot of fun. The “dancing section” along the side was hopping, which is a good a sign as any that you probably picked the right stage.

The Yonge & The Restless
(Sarah Harmer, Steven Page, The Good Lovelies, Justin Rutledge)
A Toronto-centric workshop in Alberta? Potentially risky, but it just seemed to justify everybody making jokes about the garbage strike and constant rainstorms. The musical combinations of all those voices was, however, totally fantastic. Steven Page was awkwardly on edge, although not as badly as he was during his later mainstage performance — he even broke out “Jane” later in the session! Justin Rutledge led everyone in a singalong of his adorable “Don’t Be So Mean, Jellybean”, which never gets old.

Another World
(Pacifika, The Acorn, Tarhana)
Pacifika’s members come from Peru, Barbados and Canada. The Acorn is an Ottawa mainstay, and Tarhana base themselves in Amsterdam and play Balkan and Oriental folk music. The sheer number of different folk traditions included in this session is astounding, and I’m sure you can imagine the sounds that emanated from the stage once things got cooking. The afternoon was just full of infectious groove and danceability … is that even a word? To be honest, I think this session created it. That was a combination I would love to see happen again.

Guided By Voices
(Akron/Family, The Good Lovelies, Umalali, Dry Branch Fire Squad)
Again, as you might expect from the clever titling, this one was meant to be voice-guided. I don’t think they even needed to prompt them with that, though, because the voices in this combination of artists are so strong that it would have been the standout point anyway. The Good Lovelies are just, well, lovely — their Boswell Sisters cover was delightful — and Umalali are one gigantic party. Pair the latter with Akron/Family and you get something fairly out of this world. Since this one was in the festival’s final round of workshops, it was especially difficult to leave: I could have listened to that for days!

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Coming tomorrow: List of Lists Part II, featuring the best mainstage performances and new musical discoveries of this year’s festival. Complete with tunes for your auditory enjoyment! See you tomorrow.

Tags: akron/family, bell orchestre, bellowhead, calgary folk music festival, danny barnes, deep dark woods, dry branch fire squad, good lovelies, justin rutledge, luluc, mirah, pacifika, sarah harmer, steven page, tarhana, the acorn, umalali

All done for another year!

I’m sorely lacking in sleep, so there won’t be a full review until tomorrow, but I do want to mention a few things while I’m here.

First things first: Bellowhead are your new favourite party band. If they are ever in your neighbourhood (if you live in the UK, the chances of this happening are far greater), see them. You will not be disappointed. They tore up the mainstage crowd on Saturday night and promptly sold out of CDs at the record tent before I got to it.

Australian duo Luluc are among my favourite discoveries of the festival; I believe they are playing in Toronto and Montreal shortly, although they haven’t posted the dates on their websites, so it might just be up to chance. If you live in either of these cities and see them on a poster, check it out. More about them soon.

Another favourite discovery is Toronto’s The Good Lovelies, who are exceptionally good and, yes, really lovely too. More about them soon too; they’re just such a fun trio that I will probably spend pages talking about how great they were this weekend.

I’d say everything added up pretty well today too. Overcast skies and a perfect temperature, no rain, and magnificent workshops. Justin Rutledge and Carolyn Mark rode gaily by me in a golf cart during the evening mainstage performance; Mavis Staples played her cover of “The Weight” and closed with the Staple Singers’ “I’ll Take You There”; Loreena McKennitt played “The Mummer’s Dance” and “The Lady of Shalott”, and Bellowhead’s John Spiers, Jon Boden, Gideon Juckes and Brendan Kelly treated us a second time to their version of “London Town”, the one that had turned Prince’s Island Park into a 12,000-strong dance party on Saturday night. Not bad for a lazy Sunday.

Full recaps, lists, and a handful of mp3s to follow! But first … to bed. Ahhhh.

(Addendum: I just had a look and my top search hit since this post is “michael franti appendix”. I’ll leave you to think about that one yourselves.)

Tags: bellowhead, calgary folk music festival, good lovelies, loreena mckennitt, luluc, mavis staples