vintage

I am not getting any real work done, so I might as well write a post. Here is the second half of my folk festival ramblings!

Saturday & Sunday: Workshops

The awesome thing about the weekends at the Calgary Folk Music Festival is that the daytimes - 10:30 in the morning until 5:30 when the mainstage starts - are all workshops and smaller concerts, and the workshops are where so much of the magic of this festival lies. They throw together two or three groups, who have probably never even seen each other before, let alone played together, and let them go for an hour. The stuff that comes out of these stages … man, you have no idea. Here’s what I took in on Saturday:

Machinations & Palindromes
Andrew Bird, Master Musicians of Jajouka, A Hawk & A Hacksaw

Wicked and Weird
The Weakerthans, Calexico, Handsome Family, Torngat

Shout, Sisters, Shout!
Woodpigeon, Basia Bulat, The Consonant C, Julie Doiron

Sweetly Undone
Calexico, Bill Callahan, A Hawk & A Hacksaw, Andrew Bird

A Brief History of Rhyme
Wendy McNeill, Josh Ritter, Woodpigeon, Trish Klein (Be Good Tanyas)

as well as a concert by the Handsome Family.

Things I learned: Andrew Bird is a great collaborator with anyone, and so are Calexico (that horn section! that lap steel!); John K. Samson (Weakerthans) and Joey Burns (Calexico) should always sing together; Basia Bulat covering “Thirty Days” is one of the best things to happen to workshops, especially with a backing band of about fifteen people; Bill Callahan sings about blood a lot; and the Handsome Family write really sad songs about milk.

The workshops, in short, were awesome.

Sunday

OK, by Sunday I was exhausted. Saturday ends at 11:30 and you are back at the park at something like 8:30 to get a spot, so everyone is a bit sluggish in the morning. However, the workshops got people on their feet pretty quickly. Here’s what I got to see:

Indie 500
Basia Bulat, Great Lake Swimmers, Julie Doiron, Sam Parton (Be Good Tanyas)

3 Altered Chords & The Truth
The Duhks, Joël Fafard, John Wort Hannam, Diana Jones

That Ain’t No A Flat Major!
Maryem Tollar & The Toronto Cairo Collective, A Hawk & A Hacksaw, Düvö

Blue Blue Grass of Home
Tim O’Brien, The Duhks, Sparrow Quartet, Craig Korth (Widow Maker)

as well as concerts by Julie Doiron and Basia Bulat.

I think “That Ain’t No A Flat Major” takes the cake for one of the best workshops I’ve seen at the folk festival. To give you a bit of background, Düvö is from Hungary, and they play Hungarian folk music (complete with fiddles, hammer dulcimer, etc). A Hawk & A Hacksaw, interestingly, is from Alberquerque but based in Hungary - when they said “We’re going to play a Hungarian czardas for you,” all the members of Düvö cheered and roared and joined in. CLASSIC. Maryem Tollar is the one behind the theme song to Little Mosque on the Prairie, for all you Canadians, and she and her band are originally from Egypt. You can imagine how awesome that sounded. It was terrific, and there was this tiny two- or three-year-old girl running around and dancing the whole time, which just made it better.

MAINSTAGE

To be quite honest I don’t want to spend an hour talking about all these acts because it is going to sound repetitive, so here is the short version!

Josh Ritter - I knew his stuff already from The Animal Years, and I was thrilled he played so many songs from that record; he was incredibly joyful AND he stopped a rainstorm (only to have it start again after he left the stage, unfortunately).

The Duhks - Amazing. They fuse Celtic-type stuff with folk and rock and all kinds of things, and out comes a really energetic live show. Their vocalist can really belt it out! Well worth checking out, and definitely one of my favourite festival discoveries.

A Hawk & A Hacksaw - I mentioned them already, of course, but they were great. I think some of the crowd were surprised to see an instrumental band, because there were a few bewildered faces in the audience, but they were really incredible, and once they started playing some blistering fiddle tunes everyone was dancing anyway. Bonus points for the indie kids as Jeremy Barnes used to be the drummer for Neutral Milk Hotel.

James Blood Ulmer - Serious, gritty blues, backed by soul vocalist and bass player Meshell Ndegeocello. He was good and fun and really grooved well, but I guess I just wasn’t totally into his set. He plays his guitar in a pretty interesting way! Great voice though, holy. Very dirty-blues.

The Men They Couldn’t Hang - Hands down one of my favourite acts of the festival. Slightly aging folk-punk musicians from across the pond, rousing everybody with rather Pogues-like tunes, these guys were a total blast. It also didn’t hurt that everything was delivered in heavy Scottish or English accents, only adding to the fun. They sold out of their records in a flash - I didn’t get to pick one up, but if I do find one, I will post something here for your enjoyment!

Blue Rodeo - Can I just say, I love Jim Cuddy. And the rest of Blue Rodeo, too, but I just think Cuddy is like a really cool uncle who would play your favourite songs on his guitar and let you sit on his knee and take you out for ice cream when your parents weren’t around. I like that guy. Anyway, I am so glad we didn’t succumb to the rain and miss Blue Rodeo - they were amazing. Hit after hit! “Til I Am Myself Again,” “Five Days in May,” “C’mon” etc. One of my favourite live acts and one that I would love to see again and again.

Sonny Landreth - Another really great blues player, but one that I was more into. I loved this guy. Serious chops and serious feel. He reminded me a bit of Jack Semple, but I think I liked Landreth’s playing a lot more. He got a bunch of people dancing, always testament to how well you are doing at a festival.

Abigail Washburn & the Sparrow Quartet - Featuring Bela Fleck of the Flecktones, who were Festival performers last year. These guys were amazing. Washburn, a beautiful Southern belle, has spent some time living in China, and consequently is fluent in Mandarin. She sang some Mandarin tunes for us and it is so mind-boggling to see this very fair, red-haired, Tennessee lady singing Chinese folk songs. I was thoroughly impressed. Not to mention her and Bela Fleck’s blistering banjo over everything - Fleck performed a tune by himself, as well, and it sounded like there were two or three banjos playing at once. What a guy. Add this to my favourites list.

It was starting to rain again after their set, so we took off and missed Conor Oberst & the Mystic Valley Band and Ani DiFranco, although to tell you the truth I don’t think any of us were too disappointed.

And of course, Festival Mini-Sampler Pt. 2:

Basia Bulat - In the Night
Josh Ritter - Wolves
Blue Rodeo - C’mon
Julie Doiron - Swan Pond

Tags: a hawk and a hacksaw, abigail washburn, andrew bird, basia bulat, bela fleck, bill callahan, blue rodeo, calexico, calgary folk music festival, handsome family, james blood ulmer, josh ritter, julie doiron, master musicians of jajouka, sonny landreth, sparrow quartet, the consonant c, the duhks, the men they couldn't hang, the weakerthans, torngat, woodpigeon

The four days are over and I have the most killer tan. This would probably be more useful if I wasn’t brown to begin with, but you know how it is.

Thursday

Things got rolling with the Master Musicians of Jajouka, at best an unconventional way to start the festival. The group hails from northern Morocco and have collaborated with the likes of the Rolling Stones and Maceo Parker. As revered as they are, I still couldn’t get into what they were doing; rather cacophonous and repetitive, I guess they just weren’t my bag.

Following them, however, were Canadian darlings The Weakerthans, who were just delightful. Somehow this was my first time experiencing their joyful live performance, and it did not disappoint; soft-spoken and gracious, John K. Samson and his crew delivered a bucketload of well-crafted songs that fit perfectly with the sunny weather. Their set felt far too short. I’m definitely seeing them again.

Third up was clever and quirky Aimee Mann. Shamefully, the only experiences I’ve had with her music are “Humpty Dumpty” and “It’s Not Safe,” the latter with Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford from Squeeze. I know. So I was quite taken by surprise when I found out just how much I enjoyed her stuff. Her between-song banter was hilarious and delivered in a completely deadpan manner (which just made it so much better). Her performance was really enjoyable - she has a great voice and her easygoing manner made everyone relax and get into it. I am definitely looking forward to seeing her again in about a month when she opens for Squeeze in Toronto (!!).

Sam Roberts closed the night out with some seriously happy rock & roll, throwing in old favourites like “Brother Down” and “Hard Road” alongside some choice tunes from Love at the End of the World, including the title track, “Lions of the Kalahari” and “Detroit ‘67″. It got a little jammy towards the end, but the energy never failed; Roberts and his band blasted the singing and dancing crowd with some joyful rock and things ended Thursday night on a beautifully high note. Man, I love Sam Roberts.

Friday

Off to a hollerin’, boot-stompin’, banjo-pickin’ start with the Carolina Chocolate Drops, a young African-American string band formed in North Carolina and working under the tutelage of Joe Thompson. They were an excellent way to kick off the afternoon, playing a whole lot of rollicking, uptempo string band tunes and getting everybody’s toes tapping early on. Some great jug playing was featured, too (what a treat!). These guys were a real party, and I purchased their CD from the official festival record tent. Definitely a favourite of my musical discoveries from the festival.

I took off and missed the blues harmonica stylings of Charlie Musselwhite to run to the Twilight Stage instead, taking in a set by indie favourites Great Lake Swimmers. It was just what I had hoped for - quiet and beautifully intricate songs floating over the crowd flopped in the grass in front of the stage, with the sunset blazing behind us. Tony Dekker’s voice is ethereal at times, and other times just country enough. I hope to have a few more opportunities to see them in Toronto in the coming years; they were fabulous and quite a lovely treat on a beautiful night.

I booked the heck back to the mainstage afterwards; next up were Vancouver’s darlings the Be Good Tanyas, who I have been dying to see for a few years now. Their delicious blend of folk, country and bluegrass gives them a unique sound that lends itself perfectly to the Calgary folk festival. They didn’t play my favourite song of theirs (”The Littlest Birds,” from 2001’s Blue Horse), but they did treat us to a very energetic “Reuben”, as well as a host of other favourites from their three records, including “Human Thing”. Lead vocalist Frazey Ford has one of the most interesting voices I’ve heard in a while, and all three of them sing beautifully, making every song a study in lush vocal harmony. I can’t wait for them to release something else - I really love this group and I bet you would too.

After that, oh, what a treat - Andrew Bird, multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, songwriter, whistler extraordinaire. I don’t really know how to describe him other than “a wonder”. Bird layers track after track of violin, voice and otherworldly whistling until he sounds like an entire orchestra, and his songs are complex and beautiful. Seeing him live is a totally different experience and one that I am completely willing to repeat. What a guy.

Calexico took the stage next, and boy was I really in for a surprise. I’ve only ever heard one Calexico song, and it was on a mix CD I got in a trade called The Country Hour. Thus, I was expecting a country band. However, Calexico - named for the city on the border between California and Mexico, counterpart of Mexicali - takes much of its influence from mariachi bands and other sounds from Mexico and the American southwest. Their horn section is absolutely fantastic, and vocalist Joey Burns’ style - gritty and wistful - conjures images of campfires in the desert at sunset. And, in fact, during their set the sun was going down; perfect imagery for a really enjoyable set.

And finally, the headliner: Kingston (Ontario, not Jamaica)’s Bedouin Soundclash. They were energetic and fun for the first half, but by the end I was more than ready for them to get offstage. I did have a good time to start off, though - they were really pumping up the crowd, playing reggae-heavy danceable tunes for all the whippersnappers up front, and at one point offering up a tribute to Joe Strummer of the Clash. However, reggae beats get repetitive after a while, and the Soundclash did little to offer any variety; a somewhat shorter set would probably have been a better idea, and I was sick of them by the end. Still, a pretty fun way to end the Friday.

More stuff to come, including a series of excellent Saturday and Sunday workshop sessions. In the meantime, Folk Festival Mini-Sampler, Pt. 1!

The Weakerthans - Civil Twilight
Carolina Chocolate Drops - Starry Crown
Bedouin Soundclash - Living in Jungles
The Be Good Tanyas - Reuben

Tags: aimee mann, andrew bird, be good tanyas, bedouin soundclash, calexico, calgary folk music festival, carolina chocolate drops, great lake swimmers, master musicians of jajouka, sam roberts, the weakerthans