Frank Lee and Allie Burbrink

Frank Lee and Allie Burbrink of The Freight Hoppers played at The Lazy Hiker Brewing Co. in Franklin last night. It's always a treat to hear Frank Lee play from his catalog of hard-driving, old time ballads, from the 1920's and 1930's. Here's a couple of videos I was able to shoot, in spite of the din of the crowd.

Please support live music and hear more from Frank and Allie  @  http://www.frankleeandallieburbrink.com/

Shakori Hills Grassroots

We were thrilled by our decision to attend Shakori Hill Grassroots Festival for the first time this year.
Black Betty and I are pretty dedicated Suwannee Spring Festivarians so haven't made it out to Shakori Hills before now. This year we decided to go for the day on Saturday.  We drove out in the morning (4 1/2 hours), saw a bunch of shows, and grabbed a motel for the night.

It definitely was worth the effort to go, even for just the day. We had a blast, loved the Festival, and were thrilled by all the music. We will be back.

The groups we saw were: The Apple Chill Cloggers, Lizzy Ross Band, The Horse Flies, Donna The Buffalo, The Brothers Comatose, and Solas.

The Duhks!

On Saturday night, (4/6/2013) Black Betty and I joined friends, Mike, Aimee, and Cassidy on a little ride to Pisgah Brewing Company in Black Mountain to see the original Duhks.

I think it may have been 3 or 4 years since I last saw them. It was a true joy to share the evening with them.
They were rocking, the crowd was loving it, we had a blissful night of love and music....and nothing but love and music!

Music On The Mountaintop 2012

                                                                 Kid's Parade.

Black Betty, daughter Becky, and I once again attended one of our favorite music festivals of the year, Music On The Mountaintop, held near Boone, NC. A good time was had by all!

Beauty Spot.

 
The music speaks for itself. To begin with, THREE DAYS OF RAILROAD EARTH!  That fact alone is worth the price of admission. Besides the main shows, small, intimate, workshops were also held by musicians from RRE and various other bands. Sunday saw a super jam tribute to Woody Guthrie, featuring members of RRE, Larry Keel, Sam Bush, Monroeville, and others.

Railroad Earth.

THE 2012 LINEUP

Friday
 The Black Lillies
 River Whyless
 Greensky Bluegrass
 J.J. Grey & Mofro
 Dr. Dog
 Railroad Earth

Saturday
 Monroeville
 Holy Ghost Tent Revival
 Rose’s Pawn Shop
 Naked Gods
 The Hackensaw Boys
 Futurebirds
 Dirty Dozen Brass Band
 Railroad Earth

Sunday
 Stoney Creek Boys
 Salem Speaks Larry Keel & Natural Bridge
 Railroad Earth Super Jam tribute to Woody Guthrie featuring: Sam Bush, Larry & Jenny Keel,  members of Monroeville, special guests and more.
 Sam Bush

Hometown, Becky, Black Betty.

Here's the Deal:
The 5th year of Music On The Mountaintop saw a return to the idyllic Grandfather Campground in Foscoe, NC, and a new partnership with jam-grass favorites, Railroad Earth.
The weekend crowd seemed somewhat smaller than last year, overall organization of the event was improved, and production was dialed in. 
Music for this three day event was all concentrated on one main stage and sound and lighting were superb.
Noticeably absent this year were the big outdoor gear sponsorships (Chaco, Osprey, etc.) and the very cool green eco-village of last year. I must say that I missed the vibe that they bring to the fest.
The price for this festival continues to be very affordable, but by the time you add on wristbands, parking, and shuttle fees, you come to the realization that you have spent a considerable amount of bucks.
As always, this is a young, friendly, and enthusiastic, music loving crowd.
It's a nice venue for families, the large grassy meadow in front of the stage is the perfect staging area for family fun with lots of room for kids to play and run, under the watchful eye of mom or dad, as they listen to music.
The kids parade continues to be a Saturday afternoon highlight.
Camping, as always was nice, but no camping with your car this year was a bummer for us (ahem) mature Festivarians. The price for parking our little Gnometown pop-up at the festival would have been $150. (can you believe that?) so we parked it 6 miles down the road for $52 for the weekend.
My favorite festival moment came when the entire Super Jam cast came out on stage, and led the crowd in singing the great American anthem,Woody Guthrie's This Land Is Your Land.

Music on the Mountaintop benefits Appalachian Voices, a nonprofit environmental group that focuses on protecting the central and southern Appalachians.

Greensky Bluegrass got one song in on Friday afternoon before rain shut them down.

The Hackensaw Boys.

Polecat Dancers.

Sunday afternoon Super Jam tribute to Woody Guthrie.

Mr Larry Keel.

Bluegrass in Bryson City

Two of the finest bluegrass bands in western North Carolina lit things up last night in little downtown Bryson City.
Town Mountain from Asheville and The Freight Hoppers out of Bryson City debuted on the new stage at Nantahala Brewing Company. These two bands have collaborated for the past couple of years and complement each other wonderfully. We were treated to a full set by each band and then a shorter third set at the end of the night when the musicians joined each other on the stage for several songs.

If great things like this keep happening in the far western counties this summer, we won't have to make the hour plus drive to Asheville as often to hear cutting-edge, world-class music. That would be a good thing with $4.00 a gallon gas. I'll have to keep my eye on the schedule of events for the Nantahala Brewing Co. for sure! Nantahala Brewing

Town Mountain's gritty-edged grass blends the group's precision playing with Robert Greer's outstanding vocals and with the significantly impressive song writing abilities of Phil Barker (mandolin) and Jesse Langlais (banjo). This results in a truly unique Town Mountain sound which is at times: hard-core honkytonk, traditional, newgrass, jamgrass, gospel, roots, rock and roll, Americana. No need to label it; it's all great grass!
More info on the band here:Town Mountain

Town Mountain is:
Robert Greer guitar, lead vocals
Philip Barker mandolin, vocals
Jesse Langlais banjo
Jon Stickley bass
Bobby Britt fiddle

The Freight Hoppers play an infectious brand of old time string band music originating from the 20's and 30's. They are excellent musicians who seem to be having a great time playing and singing songs about murder, mayhem, and moonshine from the era of American prohibition and The Great Depression. Tossing in some great fiddle tunes played by David Bass always gets the crowd dancing.
The band's bio and more can be found here: Freight Hoppers

The Freight Hoppers are:
David Bass fiddle
Frank Lee banjo, vocal
Isaac Deal guitar, vocal
Bradley Adams string bass

Dan River Drifters at Soul Infusion

We had a fine weekend of live music to celebrate my birthday. On Friday night, we went to the groovy and quaint Soul Infusion Tea House in Sylva for a fun bluegrass show featuring some powerful picking by the Dan River Drifters. This was our first time seeing this group of young musicians and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Many thanks to bassist bad ass Adam Bigelow for inviting us out.
I'm really looking forward to seeing and hearing lots more from this band in the near future.

Cooking With Quanta @ Soul Infusion Tea House

Last Friday night, Black Betty and I caught our favorite local band at the Soul Infusion Tea House in Sylva.
It was a jammy night of original music and some pretty groovy covers by our friends in Cooking With Quanta. The fab four (Neil, Scott, Adam, and Greg) rocked the house. We boogied till we dropped!

We love Quanta and we love the Soul Infusion. What a great venue for this group, it really feels like a house party with all your best friends. It was another "mighty-fine" night of live music in western North Carolina.
You really should try to join us next time!