It was a wet and cold Springfest at times this year, but we still had a fun time and saw lots of killer music.
Gnometown was out in full force with Nate, Phil, Cody, Jessie, and Lucas joining us in camp.
The 2013 Springfest lineup stayed true to its roots and we couldn't have
asked for a better weekend of music. Just maybe, better weather. Hey,
it happens. At least our little popup stayed dry. I bet that was the
exception and not the rule, I saw lots of wet tents out there! It's
about the live music for us, and we were not disappointed.
Black Betty and I did bow out of a couple of shows due to the excessive thunderstorm activity on Saturday night, so we missed a few of our favorites, but what we did see was right on.
I got lucky this year and won the Tie Dye hanging in the LOMAF raffle. Nice!
I cooked up a big dutch oven full of my infamous Pineapple Express for our Gnometown dinner on Friday evening. Somehow, we missed out on our regular nightly servings of Sweet Revenge apple crisp and ice cream.
The river was flooded and the beach was closed, so we did not get a swim in this year. It was pretty cool over the weekend though, with night time lows dipping down into the high 30's to low 40's so the water may have been pretty cool yet. I did however, get a nice bike ride in on Friday with Nate and Phil and we explored the old highway and closed bridge area across the road from the park.
Due to the storming on Saturday afternoon and evening, Black Betty and I ventured into Live Oak for supper and found some delicious fried oysters at the Dixie Diner. It was our first visit.
As always, the Sunday Donna The Buffalo Jam was as hot as it gets and I was in jam heaven with the return of Peter Rowan to Suwannee Springfest after his conspicuous absence last year. Peter seemed to be everywhere! He was having a fantastic time playing with many of the bands that were there. I know we were having a great time listening to him.
I was lucky enough to capture some special moments on video and I still smile every time I watch Peter and DtB buring it up on "Burningman".
Some of the bands/artists we were fortunate enough to see:
Applebutter Express Tornado Rider Scythian
Hackensaw Boys Dangermuffin Dread Clampitt
Elephant Revival Leftover Salmon Keller & The Keels
The Travelin' McCourys Mamajowali Grandpa's Cough Medicine
Larry Keel & Natural Bridge Jim Lauderdale Peter Rowan
Darol Anger Bobby MIller Jerry Douglas Donna The Buffalo
Phil "Free Mexican AirForce"
Lucas
Cody
Hometown and Black Betty
Jessie
Nimble Nate
Wayne
With Sam and Mary and girls.
Gnometown
Amphitheater stage.
Raffle win!
Gnometown Camp.
Bobby Miller with Jeb Purveyor.
Hackensaw Boys.
Salmon! Vince Herman.
Sythian
Jim Lauderdale.
Peter Rowan with the McCourys.
Moon from the Porch Stage area.
Larry Keel and Keller Williams.
Lucas and friends playing in the meadow on Saturday.
And really, can it get any better than Keller, The Keels, The Traveling McCourys, Drew Emmitt, and Vince Herman doing "Born To Be Wild"???? I think not.
Here is a link to all 15 of my Springfest videos: Springfest 2013.
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.
Suwannee SpringFest 2012 was highly anticipated around the Hometown Homestead. The lineup was spectacular, maybe the best in years. We had our tickets purchased before Christmas and kept the fires burning all winter. Finally on Thursday morning, we packed up Gnometown and headed south from western North Carolina to arrive on the banks of the Suwannee Thursday afternoon.
I was particularly excited to see Hot Buttered Rum. It had been perhaps five years since I was last able to catch them in Asheville. This San Francisco area band just hadn't made it out to the East Coast for a while, and Black Betty and I really missed their high energy, positive vibes, jammy, grass groove. We weren't to be disappointed since they played the little Porch Stage on Thursday night and fired us up with their infectious enthusiasm and great songs.
Next, we caught Great American Taxi driven by Vince Herman. It seems that every time I see them they get better and better. They are certainly hard rocking and soulful, everything you want in a live band. They were joined on stage by Drew Emmitt, Sean Foley, and Zebulon Bowles.
Friday morning we slept in as long as possible before riding our bicycles to the crowded beach on the Suwannee for some cool and refreshing bathing and swimming. It was a good time spent relaxing with family and friends before committing to the many hours of music that we had ahead of us in the Friday lineup.
Black Betty, Michael, and Sam
Suwannee kiss from Melanie
Our big Friday shows were: Hot Buttered Rum, Larry Keel and Natural Bridge, The Emmitt Nershi Band, Elephant Revival (1st time for me) Great American Taxi, Jim Lauderdale, and Greensky Bluegrass. We were especially pleased that Greensky Bluegrass had the big Friday night Amphitheater show; they have worked hard, toured hard, and are finally getting the recognition that they deserve. They produced an inspired and ass kicking performance at the crowded midnight amphitheater. I swear I even spotted Billy Nershi dancing in the wings!
Saturday Morning started out with rain and a visit from my sister, niece, and two great nephews, Dutch and Raleigh. Not only was it Dutch and Raleigh's 1st music Festival, it was the first time that Black Betty, Becky, and I got to meet the little fellows, so it was doubly sweet that this all took place at Springfest. The weather soon cleared and we were off to show the boys how to Festival!
Gnometown Gang
Dutch checking out Greensky Bluegrass
Raleigh diggin' the groove
Meadow stage
Our Saturday shows were Darol Anger and Republic of Strings, Bobby Miller and the Virginia Dare Devils, Larry Keel and Natural Bridge, Randall Bramblett and Geoff Achison, The Joe Craven Trio, Donna The Buffalo, Greensky Bluegrass, and Yonder Mountain String Band. As always, it was give and take, it was hard to miss other groups that we would have like to see but choices had to be made.
Paul Hoffman and Mike Devol, Greensky Bluegrass.
Mike Bont, Greensky Bluegrass.
Yonder Mountain String Band closed it down on Saturday night with a kick ass jam with a virtual Who's Who of Springfest musicians. I know I'll skip a bunch but I remember seeing Larry Keel, Vince Herman, Drew Emmitt, Anders Beck, Paul Hoffman, Zebulon Bowles, Sean Foley, Josh Pinkham, Andy Thorn and Wildman Steve on stage. What can I say? It was a great show, great jam, great Suwannee Springfest Saturday night! We joined the huge Amphitheater crowd in dancing, twirling, stomping, and singing along with Vince Herman to the Leftover Salmon anthem, "we gonna rise up...we gonna wake and bake"!
The Yonder Spring Jam
Sunday was cool and breezy in the morning. We were looking for a relaxing day, because we didn't have to pack up and leave like we have at times in the past. We wandered up to see Guy Clark and Verlon Thompson playing the Amphitheater stage. I still have memories of happy times and happy tunes from Guy back in the 1970's. It's all pretty dark these days and Guy has been battling poor health for a few years now. If you've seen him in the last few years, you know what I am saying. Many tears were shed during the show.
Verlon Thompson and Guy Clark.
Dread Clampitt rocked the Porch Stage, and then we hit the Meadow for the fabulous Ralph Roddenbery Band. The Infamous Stringdusters were up next with plenty of hot licks and great tunes, followed by The Mosier Brothers. The Mosiers were joined onstage by the insanely talented cello mad-man Rushad Eggleston and young newcomer, Emily Morris.
Ralph Roddenbery.
Jeff Mosier.
Donna the Buffalo closed the show down on Sunday, as is the tradition. They played several of their hits and crowd favorites and then started being joined by friends on stage. Randy Judy, Verlon Thompson, Sean Foley, Rushad Eggleston, Donna Hopkins, Taylor Martin, Bobby Miller, Ralph Roddenbery and Samantha Jones, and then again with Randy Judy for Seminole Wind. Verlon's rocking cover of a Dylan tune with improvised lyrics and Ralph's wonderful sing-a-long of That's Gonna Leave A Mark were the highlights of the jam. Donna finished it out with one of my favorites, Mystic Waters.
Nephews
Suwannee Chicks
Gnometown Gang, Phil, MDiddy, BB, Becky, Nate
Lilly, Chris, Black Betty, and M Diddy enjoying the Yonder show
Festivarians, Becky, Rex Thompson, Black Betty, Marie
Final Thoughts:
Once again this festival was a wonderful way to start off the season for our family and friends.
I hate that we had friends who couldn't be there. We missed you!
These musicians are among the best in the business. I'm sorry that I didn't get to catch many of the wonderful bands that played. You just can never see them all. Maybe next year.
The crowd is always friendly, accepting, and appreciative. Anyone would have a difficult time not fitting in.
The organization of the festival was as smooth as ever, no surprises, no hassles.
The grounds are always a great place to camp, the river a sweet place to swim. The weather, perfect.
Did I mention Sweet Revenge's apple crisp and ice cream?
Boogie Cat was in attendance, but seemed pretty mellow. It looked like there were several lone dance-masters ready to step in and take his place if he's lost his boogie.
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