Showing posts with label ThirstyEar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ThirstyEar. Show all posts

Monday, June 14, 2010

THIRSTY EAR DAY TWO

THIRSTY EAR FESTIVAL 2009

My snapshots of this year's Thirsty Ear Festival are HERE

Sunday marked an end of an era for the Thirsty Ear Festival. Mike Koster, Thirsty Ear Supreme Commander and President for Life, will soon be moving to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where assumedly he will become a monk in the Temple of Bob Wills. He says he'll still be bringing shows to Santa -Fe and there will be some kind of Thirsty ear Festival -- but not at Eaves Ranch, the movie set that has served as a the festival home nearly every year since 1999.

Unfortunately I couldn't stay for the last show of the night -- Dave Alvin & The Guilty Women. I'm sure they were great, as they were last year at Santa Fe Brewing Company.

Savor
The rest of the day was fairly low key. I liked a couple of his songs, but I'm not a huge Hayes Carll fan and J.T. & The Clouds frankly was boring.

For me the highlight was Savor, a Cuban street music band currently based in Santa Fe, led by the charismatic Victor Alvarez.

Basically the band consists of an electric mandolin (played by Victor), an electric bass and four guys on percussion. It's almost magical the way it works. Savor opened up the day on the main stage -- which I missed, but played a seconf set inside the "hotel." Everyone I talked to said this set was far superior. I hope to catch these guys around Santa Fe sometime.
Alex Maryol
It also was good to see Alex Maryol and his trio (Willie Magee on bass, Andy Primm on drums.) Alex played the first Thirsty Ear when he was still a teenager back in 1999 -- and I bet he's played a majority of the festivals since then. It seemed somehow appropriate that he was here for the closing of this chapter.

Alex recently told me he's got a new album coming out so look out for it.




Sunday, June 13, 2010

THIRSTY EAR DAY ONE

Thirsty Ear Collage

Lots of great music on the first day of this year's Thirsty Ear Festival at eaves Ranch. For those willing to withstand the wind and the dust (I still can't believe that nobody took the opportunity to sing some Woody Guthrie Dustbowl songs) it was a great time, as usual. And heck, Eaves Ranch is supposed to look like a dusty old western town. This year it was just dustier.

It was a bittersweet fun with the word that this will be the last Thirsty Ear to be held at Eaves Ranch -- where it's been held almost every year since 1999 (In 2001 it was at Bonanza Creek movie ranch and in 2004 it wasn't held at all). At this point I'm not quite sure what the future of the festival is. But it's been a great run.

All my snapshots from this year's festival can be found HERE.

Here's my favorite music from Day 1:

RICHARD JOHNSTON & PETER WILLIAMSAlthough he's not that well-known, Richard Johnston was one of the true highlights of the first day. This was his second Thirsty Ear appearance, the first being back in 2007.

For those unfamiliar, Johnston is a Memphis street musician, who earns a living giving performances on Beale Street. Usually he plays as a one-man band playing guitar or one of his home-made diddley bows with his bands and drums with his feet. He had a couple of his homemade cigar-box contraptions with him Saturday. "You don't have to spend $2,500 on a guitar to have a lot of fun," he said.

But he also expanded his one-man band show saturday with the addition of Santa Fe's own Peter Williams on bass for several songs. With Peter, Johnston sounded a lot like The Black Keys.

I bought a copy of Johnston's Official Bootleg #1. The album, recorded several years ago, is good, but it doesn't come anywhere close to his live performances.

ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL As much as I loved Johnston, I think my favorite performance Saturday was Asleep at the Wheel.

I'd only seen them once before -- at Club West circa 1984. Some of the current members of the band might not have even been born at that point. But if anything, this band is even tighter than the old days, Eddie Rivers, who also has played with Wayne Hancock, is a monster on steel guitar -- and he doubles on sax. Jason Roberts is a great fiddler and singer, and singer Elizabeth McQueen is a delight. But deserving the most credit is frontman/founding member/western-swing visionary Ray Benson. He's the glue that holds it all together.

While I loved all the classic western-swing songs they did, ("Oh You Pretty Woman" is the one that got stuck in my head) I've got to say that Wheel's version of "Hot Rod Lincoln" Saturday nearly rivaled Commander Cody's and Bill Kirchen's versions.
FELIX y LOS GATOS
Felix y Los Gatos was the last band I saw at last year's Thirsty Ear Festival, so I guess it's appropriate that they were the first I saw this year.

Last year the rain forced the Cats to abandon the outside main stage and play inside the hotel. But this year they were able to reclaim the main stage. And they did it like pros.

For those who've never seen them, Felix and the boys, who call Albuquerque home, play a mean mixture of ranchero, zydeco, country, blues and rock. Mostly they do originals, though they did sneak in a cover of The Rolling Stones' "Miss You" as well as their version of "Don't Mess with My Toot Toot." While Felix's version of this zydeco classic is a lot of fun, I have to admit I was relieved that this year that they didn't make it last 45 minutes like they did last year.

The Thirsty Ear Festival continues today with performances by Dave Alvin & The Guilty Women, Hayes Carll, Darrell Scott, Alex Maryol and more.

Monday, June 15, 2009

THIRSTY EAR 2009 - SUNDAY

FELIX y LOS GATOS

My main discovery of the 2009 Thirsty Ear Festival was a local -- well, Albuquerque -- band Felix y Los Gatos. Like a younger, hungrier Los Lobos, they rock out on R&B, Mexican songs, a little country (wild version of Merle Haggard's "Working Man Blues"), a little zydeco. Felix plays guitar while his pal David Barclay plays accordion. Yesterday they also had a sax player and Santa Fe favorite Pete Amaral on drums.

And Felix's mom was in the audience! How cool is that?

The group had been scheduled for the main stage, but a late afternoon hail storm caused the set to be moved to the hotel. (A wise move by the festival honchos. There was another rain during the performance.)

What a party! My only criticism is that they don't really know how to end a song. Their finale, an improvised version of the Cajun classic "My Toot Toot" was loads of fun -- but I would have ended it like 15 minutes earlier.

Felix and the cats play in Santa Fe a lot. According to their MySpace (follow that link and check out their music), they will be doing Santa Fe Bandstand on July 7.

JIMMY RUSSELL PLAYS WITH TONE & CO
I also caught a couple of good local soul bands at Thirsty Ear Sunday - Soulman Sam & The Soul Explosion and Tone & Co. Both are good, but they both are basically cover bands. Surely among the musicians in these bands there are some songwriters.

One treat was seeing Jimmy Russell get up on stage with Tone & Co. Jimmy lived in Santa Fe in the 80s and (I think '90s) and he recently moved back. Dang, Jimmy's back in town, Terry Diers is back in town. Good omens!
SOULMAN SAM & THE SOUL EXPLOSION

Sunday, June 14, 2009

THIRSTY EAR 2009

Mark Williams, Rubboard Man, Nathan & The Zydeco Cha Chas
The Thirsty Ear Festival snuck up on me this year. For the first time in its 10 year history, the festival was not held on Labor Day weekend. As I said before, I thought Mike Koster was crazy for changing the date, but yesterday shattered all previous attendance records, so that shows you what I know.

I wasn't able to make the Friday night show, but I was there for nearly all of yesterday. As always it was a good solid day of music from both local and national blues/country/folks acts at eaves Movie Ranch southeast of the city.

Most of the music through the day was nice and mellow. But for those of us who prefer it nice and rowdy as opposed to mellow, the show didn't really come alive until last night when Nathan & The Zydeco Cha Chas took the stage.

Nathan Williams and his band play good fast-paced traditional zydeco. Nathan dances around like a man half his age and his cousin, rubboard player Mark Williams, is even wilder. Great showmen and fun sounds.

Here's some thoughts about the rest of the day:
Bela Fleck & Toumani Diabate
* Definitely the strongest part of the afternoon was banjo man Bela Fleck's set with African kora playerToumani Diabate. That was downright celestial. Diabate's instrument, which is a cousin to the banjo, reminded me of Washington Phillips, the itinerant gospel singer of the 1920s who played a stringed instrument that nobody has positively identified.


Felecia, Sharon, Susan Hyde Holmes, Jono Manson
* The most stunning moment of the festival was during Felecia Ford's appearance with Sharon Gilchrist & band's late-night jam in the "hotel." It seemed that about half the musicians in town I know joined on stage at some point. But Felecia's performance of the Patsy Cline song, "So Wrong" would even put Patsy to shame.

* Watching Santa Fe's Alex Maryol in the hotel earlier in the day, I flashed back to the first time I'd seen him play in that building -- one of the very early -- maybe the first? -- Thirsty Ears when Alex was just a teenager. He was doing a solo acoustic set in the hotel -- if my memory serves me well because it was raining like crazy and the main stage act couldn't play. At one point songs, his cell phone went off. Alex answered and said "Hi Mom." He listened for a couple a couple of moments and very politely said something like, "OK, well, I'm on stage now .." I later told him that Elvis would have been proud of him.

* Sorry, Keb Mo fans -- and that includes about 99.6 percent of the people at Thirsty Ear yesterday -- I'm just not that big a fan. I just like my blues rougher and crazier.

* Early in the afternoon I ran into Otis Taylor wandering the grounds. He said he was just vacationing, not there to play. Dang! Would have loved to hear Otis!

Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas!!!!!!

The festival goes on today. It's "Community Day" which means local bands including Soulman Sam & Soul Explosion and Felix y Los Gatos. Admission is only $5 and two cans of food. ($10 if you don't bring the food.)

So get your cans out to Eaves Ranch!

Here's my FLICKR photos from Thirsty ear Saturday.

Monday, September 01, 2008

THIRSTY EAR: SUNDAY

JUNIOR BROWN

There were moments Sunday at the Thirsty Ear Music Festival when the weather made things seem touch-and-go.

Opening act, bluesman Samuel James had to move from the main stage to the hotel to finish his first set. Somehow the rain affected Junior Brown's guitsteel, causing it to lose power a couple of times during his set. Alex Maryol's main stage set was moved to the hotel before he even started. And Patty Griffin's vehicle got stuck in the mud when her driver took a wrong turn on the way to Eaves Ranch.
Samuel James sings Son House
But this is New Mexico, dammit, and most folks are just happy to get any rain, even when it falls on their favorite musicians. Everyone I talked to at the festival just grinned and shrugged off the weather. And anyway, it already was gone well before Patty took the stage.

Here's my favorite Sunday shows:

Samuel James proved you can even get the blues in Maine. He just learned guitar, banjo and other instruments in recent years and, inspired by his dad's Son House records, honed his act after splitting up with a girlfriend. He has a good voice and he can play. I hope to hear more from this guy.

What can I say about Junior (Jamie) Brown? Well, I said a lot of it yesterday on stage when I got to introduce my old Santa Fe Mid High and Sata Fe High School classmate (though he might not have wanted me to bring up how we took short cuts in cross country in gym class and probably didn't want me to mention where his old psychedelic band Humble Harvey got their projectors for their light shows back in 1968).
Everybody knows that the bird is the word!
Like I said above, Brown's guitsteel was plagued by rain-releated problems. Sometimes he was clearly frustrated, but he soldiered on like the pro he is. At one point during the middle of his "Surf Medley" the instrument just went silent. It's hard to play a guitar instrumental without a guitar, but, not missing a beat, Brown started singing "Hey hey hey ya ..." and broke into Gary U.S. Bonds' "New Orleans" as his drummer and bassist played on. And then he started in on The Trashmen's "Surfin' Bird" until a stagehand returned with the guitsteel.

This was the second time I've seen Buckwheat Zydeco -- and it definitely was better than the first time. That was about 15 years ago at Sweeney Center when he was on the same bill as Richard Thompson. Though Thompson was the headliner, it was decided to let Buckwheat go on last -- perhaps because it made sense, on paper at least, to not have a dance band go on before an acoustic act. Or maybe it was because Buckwheat was late getting to town. But the sad part was that after Thompson's set, about half the audience left. Then there was a lengthy soundcheck. By the time Buckwheat actually went on the crowd had shrunk to just a couple of dozen. He played his heart out, but ended up cutting his set short.
BUCKWHEAT ZYDECO at Thirsty Ear Festival
He was a little late Sunday night too, but there was still a good sized crowd at the festival. Buckwheat didn't disappoint. With a band that included two guitarists, a trumpet, bass, drums, and rubboard (played by his son Sir Reginald Dural) they romped and stomped. There was even a cool, if somewhat lengthy version of "Hey Joe." And at one point he got a couple of local kids up on stage who did enthusastic 10-year-old boy versions of a zydeco dance.

In addition to the music had fun talking to Junior and Buckwheat live on the air for the KSFR/Southwest Stages broadcast. (I'd done that with Bill and Felecia of Hundred Year Flood on Saturday, though that conversation was taped and played later.)

I had to be careful with Jamie to not let the dialogue descend into a Santa Fe triva fest. (Though he did play a new song he wrote about The Horseman's Haven restuarant, so we had to talk about that.)

Buckwheat, (Stanley Dural) spoke about his life and career. He also asked for prayers for the people of the Gulf Coast. Most of his family is back in Lafayette, La., and he cleary was worried. It's amazing how he was able to perform with such joy with that on weighing his mind.

Check out my photos of the Thirsty Ear Festival HERE .

Sunday, August 31, 2008

THIRSTY EAR: SATURDAY

SHEMEKIA COPELAND!

I got back from Denver about 9:45 p.m. Friday and next thing I knew it was time for the Thirsty Ear Music Festival Saturday morning.

My role at the festival this year is different than ever before. In most past years I've worked with Jeff Dowd and others at the KSFR booth at the festival. A couple of the early years of the festival I played with my old band The Charred Remains at one of the second stages. I think the only time I went just to hear the music was the first one, back in 1999.

But this year, I'm involved with the KSFR/ Southwest Stages broadcast of the festival. (Check it out: We're broadcasting live between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. tonight on KSFR -- plus we're streaming on the Web during that time. (On Saturday we were simulcasting with KUNM, but not today.)

So for much of the time, I was back in the mobile Southwest Stages studio providing some yak between the music with Dowd and Laurell Reynolds of KSFR, mostly listening to the acts on stage via the radio.
RICHARD THOMPSON
Some of the time this was disconcerting. There was a 9-second delay, so you could hear the real-time performance outside as the radio blasted what had been played onstage 9 seconds before. Pretty surreal.

There was some great music though.

I got to the Eaves Ranch right at the end of Little Freddie King's set. (He's a New Orleans bluesman who used to play with Freddie "The Texas Cannonball" King.)

Fortunately I got to see most of the set by Hundred Year Flood. This was the first time I'd seen them since the night Kendra's baby was born. I had to miss Frogfest because of the DNC.)
KENDRA of HYF
How is it that this band just seems to be getting better and better. I didn't recognize a couple of the tunes they played early in the set, so I assumed they were from their upcoming album, Poison. But no, Frogville strongman John Treadwell told me that these are songs that have never made it onto an album. I bet they already have enough tunes for another album or two ready to go.

Shemekia Copeland, daughter of Texas blues great Johnny "Clyde" Copeland was up next. (That's her in the photo at the top of this post.) She gave a stomping , funky performance.

And she might have made at least one convert. My son has never been much of a blues freak (even though I have his picture sitting in T-Model Ford's lap at the first Thirsty Ear Festival nine years ago) , but he was enraptured by Shemekia.

There's hope for the youth of America!
T-Model Ford with Anton, Thirsty Ear Festival 1999
Richard Thompson was up next on the main stage, doing a solo acoustic set. I've seen him solo, I've seen him alone with bassist Danny Thompson and once even saw him with a full band (back in 1988 at Club West here in Santa Fe.) He always gives a satisfying show.

I wish I could have been outside in front of the stage more when Thompson performed yesterday. The most memorable tune I was able to catch was his anti-war song "Dad's Gonna Kill Me" and it was powerful.

New Mexico blues guitarist Ryan McGarvey closed the show. He was called in at the last minute to substitute for zydeco princess Rosie Ledet, who couldn't make it reportedly due to illness.

There's a cool line up today, including Junior Brown, Buckwheat Zydeco and Patty Griffin. Maybe see you there.

UPDATE Forgot to put in the link to my Thirsty Ear '08 photos.

Monday, September 03, 2007

2007 THIRSTY EAR FESTIVAL SUNDAY

TAKE A BOW

CLICK HERE TO SEE MY FESTIVAL PHOTOS

This little festival keeps getting better and better, and I've been to every one. Sunday was even better than Saturday (for one thing there wasn't any significant rain.)

I got to the Eaves Ranch a little late Sunday. Richard Johnson had already started his set.
RICHARD JOHNSTON: ONE MAN BAND
I'd heard his name through the years, but until yesterday, I didn't even realize that he is a bona fide grungy one-man blues band, in the John Schooley/Scott H. Biram/Bob Logg school.

The man from Memphis plays drums using foot pedals (sometimes bashing the cymbals with his hand, and plays slide guitar as well as a homemade stringed instrument fashioned from two broom handles, a cigar box and a radiator clamp.

Johnston specializes in the Hill Country blues of R.L. Burnside, Junior Kimbrough and Jessie Mae Hemphill, though he confessed to loving the hillbilly blues of Hank Williams -- and I'd swear I could hear a little Roger Miller in him too. Johnston was just a whole lot of fun.

JERRY FAIRES RECITES HIS POEMS
After Johnston's set a friend asked me if I'd ever heard of the cowboy poet Jerry Faires. I told him I've known Jerry for more than 25 years, but I never knew him to be a "cowboy poet."

Well, Hell! Seeing Jerry's solo performance in the Eaves Ranch hotel made me realize that Jerry has talents I never knew he had. He sang some songs but in between he recited original poems, amusing tales of aged old honky tonkers, cowboys trying to figure out health-food fads, etc.

Jerry says he doesn't call what he does "cowboy poetry," but it's close to that art form in spirit at least. He's funny, poignant and always entertaining. And, oh yeah, I still love his songs.

FLATLAND ROCK The Flatlanders was the act that excited me the most in this year's Thirsty Ear lineup. I've seen them play a couple of times at South by Southwest in Austin, but both times they've played in Santa Fe as a group in recent years I've been out of town.

I knew they'd be great -- how could Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock not be great? But on Sunday The Flatlanders were incredible. These guys rocked! (Sorry I didn't catch the name of the lead guitarist. Lots of people were commenting on how much he added to the group.) Their version of Townes Van Zandt's "White Freight Liner Blues" was breathtaking, the three singers swapping verses. But their take on "Dallas" Sunday has to be the best version of that tune ever performed in human history. (Jimmie Dale wrote it, Ely's version is the best known, but the first time I heard this song was at a Butch show at Club West in the early '80s.)

COREY HARRIS
Somehow Corey Harris' set just didn't click with me Sunday. Maybe it was because his set was mainly Caribbean-style music instead of the blues that made us love him in the first place. Or maybe it was because The Flatlanders set was so high-energy.

For me it probably was the former. I'm not a blues Nazi or anything and I sure don't mind artists experimenting with new sounds. I like Corey's music and have several of his albums. It's cool how he finds common ground between Mississippi blues and other African based music, such as reggae.

But somehow Sunday he just didn't seem to have the fire.

BEAUSOLEIL
Michael Doucet and his merry band of Cajuns was a fitting way to close the festival.

Two years ago BeauSoleil played Thirsty Ear just days after Hurricane Katrina. (Doucet told the audience that it was actually Hurricane Rita, which came after Katrina in 2005 that damaged their homes in Southewestern Louisiana).

So this year's set understandably wasn't quite as urgent as the last time they were here. But it still was a blast.

And so was the Thirsty Ear Festival. On a technical note I want to personally thank Koster and crew for putting in some lights in the parking area. That really helped. And I want to publically thank Koster's mom for helping me with a heavy ice chest Saturday morning.

Now if they only bring back a BBQ vendor next year, (and find a way for it not to rain!) it'll be perfect.

ROGER & CHIPPER
Probably due to exhaustion yesterday I forgot to mention the fine bouzouki set by Chipper Thompson and Roger Landis in the hotel Saturday. I'm a huge Chipper fan. I hope to see his full band on stage next year. That was one of the surprise highlights of last year's festival.


Finally, here's little music review I found written on a port-a-potty wall. Who needs a blog when you got restroom walls?

THE WRITING'S ON THE WALL

UPDATE: (Tuesday afternoon) My old neighbor Jimmy Lee Hanaford wrote to inform me that The Flatlanders' excellent guitarist is one Robbie Gjersoe who also has played with Robbie Fulks. Thanks, Jimmy!

Sunday, September 02, 2007

2007 THIRSTY EAR FESTIVAL SATURDAY

THIRSTY EAR FESTIVAL 2007
Actually it's Sunday. I was too exhausted to write anything last night, especially after processing my photos.

Speaking of those pictures, I hope you people appreciate 'em. My right ear is still ringing from standing too close to the amps trying to get decent angles. The sacrifices I make for this blog!

It's no secret how much I love this festival. Hard to believe it's been going on since 1999 (except for one year ). Along with Fiesta, it's become my end of summer ritual. There's friends and acquaintances I see at Thirsty Ear that I never see any other time or place (which might just prove what a relative hermit I'm becoming in my middle age).

There's also a lot of music. Friday night, as has been the case with the festival in recent years, is basically a night for local musicians. I made it to the Eaves Ranch Friday in time to catch Michael Hearne' s South by Southwest (who did a fine version of Eliza Gilkyson's cool Elvis song, "Tennessee Roads") and local blues wunderkind Ryan McGarvey.
TODD SNIDER
Saturday was an especially fine day of music, from the opening act on.

Songwriter Todd Snider opened Saturday's festival. It was just the man and his guitar and he reminded me of a younger John Prine. (Snider actually recorded a few albums on Prine's Oh Boy label these days.)

He didn't perform his song that was a kind-of local hit about 15 years ago, ("Alright Guy"), but he did his song about D.B. Cooper , his talking blues about "Louie Louie" and Marilyn Manson ("The Ballad of The Kingsmen"), one called "Conservative Christian, Right Wing, Republican, Straight, White, American Males," and a weird little ditty called "Enjoy Yourself," which he said comes from a Doris Day record that his parents used to dance around the kitchen to.

GUY DAVIS Acoustic bluesman Guy Davis was next on the main stage, also doing a solo set. He's played Thirsty Ear at least once before and as always he was a delight. Davis, son of actors Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, has a wonderful gravel-throat voice that makes him sound like a melodic Froggy the Gremlin. He plays guitar, banjo and harmonica. My favorite song he did Saturday was the double-entendre laden "Chocolate Man."

I later saw Guy roaming around the festival grounds and interrupted him as he was eating a Roque's carnita.


BE GOOD TANYAS with the FLOWERSI've had a turnabout with the next act, The Be Good Tanyas. When they played the festival last year, I was frankly unimpressed. I didn't even blog about them. But a few weeks ago I heard a recording of a few songs of that very performance on Southwest Stages (which airs on KSFR just before the Santa Fe Opry on Friday nights.) It sounded great. I guess I just wasn't in the mood last last year. They do play a brand of soft girlie folk, so I do have to be in the mood, but there's plenty of dark edges in their music.

They did a good set yesterday, even though one of the Tanyas (Tonya Harding I believe) was missing.

Joe Louis Walker
Acoustic time was over when blues guitar stud Joe Louis Walker took the stage. The crowd was ready to rock and so was Walker and his excellent band.

Basically, Walker does the basics. He plays good, steady blues without a lot of cheap flash and dazzle. He's not trying to be the next Hendrix, he just plays electric blues in a way that made us love the blues in the first place.

Did I mention his excellent band? Especially impressive was his keyboard player (whose name I didn't get). We actually were lucky to get to see Walker yesterday. He missed his plane Saturday morning but was able to make it to Santa Fe without significant delay. Maybe the brief rain storm in the afternoon was a stalling tactic.

ROBERT EARL KEEN
When Robert Earl Keen's band started playing, the band launched into a mellow, lopping groove with a guitar part that started sounding more and more familiar. It took me a second, but I realized they were playing the intro to The Grateful Dead's "China Cat Sunflower." But then Earl started singing his own song, "Dreadful Selfish Crime."

Keen did a strong set including some of his best-known songs including "Gringo Honeymoon" and, of course, "The Road Goes On Forever." However he sounded hurried singing that song, which was his encore, as if he were late to an appointment. My only other complaint was that, unlike last time I saw REK, Terry Allen didn't join him on stage. Keen did acknowledge Allen as the songwriter though.

ROSIE LEDET & THE ZYDECO PLAYBOYS
But the real disappointment was Rosie LeDet & The Zydeco Playboys. Not the band. They started off rocking. But right when they started, so did the rain. And it didn't let up. When the thunder getting as loud as the drums, Rosie and band decided, wisely, to play it safe.

Let's pray the weather holds up today. The Flatlanders, Beausoleil and others are on deck.

Come say hi to me at the KSFR booth.

Monday, September 04, 2006

THIRSTY EAR FESTIVAL: SUNDAY

For my Thirsty Ear Photos CLICK HERE

I think I might have said this last year, but this has to have been the best Thirsty Ear Festival ever. A mighty time, as the fokies used to say.

I was filling out the survey yesterday and, while I had a zillion or so suggestions for acts to get for future festivals (The Waco Brothers, Irma Thomas, Los Tigres del Norte, Peter Case ....) I couldn't really think of anything to write under the category "What are we doing wrong?" Later I thought, "More trash cans around the festival grounds," but that's about it.

Like I said about the Saturday show, there seemed to be more people than ever this year. That trend continued Sunday and that's a good thing, though like I was telling Mike Koster (strongman and president for life of Thirsty Ear Festival), if this keeps up, soon people will be grumbling about the "good old days " at Thirsty Ear when the crowds weren't such a problem.

But until that day, here's my favorites from the Sunday line-up:

Dave "Honeyboy" Edwards: I don't know whether he really
was there the night Robert Johnson was murdered, but he was a lot closer to it than I was, so I won't argue that here. One thing for sure, he's probably the last of the old Mississippi blues masters performing today, maybe the last one standing who's played with Son House and Charlie Patton back in the old days, and he's still a joy to hear and behold.

Listening to Honeyboy sing and play (accompanied on harmonica by his manager Michael Frank) made me imagine what it must have been like to hear this music played at parties and back porches in rural Mississippi in the '30s. Honeyboy was joined late in his set by guitarist Louisiana Red (a relative youngster, in his '70s who'd performed at the festival on Saturday), jamming like a couple of old friends. Sometimes the songs meandered a bit, and I'm still not quite sure why he played "Catfish Blues" twice, but Hells bells, he's 91 years old!

Hazel Miller: Like T. Broussard & The Zydeco Steppers on Saturday night, this soul belter from Denver was one of the big surprises of the show. That's been one of the real joys of Thirsty Ear in recent years. Last year I discovered soul singer Earl Thomas as well as blues stomping' Tarbox Ramblers. It's the "big names" that draw people in I suppose, but it's these lesser-knowns who can deliver that make the festival a real treat.

Hazel, who has some association with Bighead Todd and the Monsters -- and said she used to have a band called Hazel Miller & The Caucasians -- plays a basic funky soul blues. There were some covers (Aretha's "Chain of Fools") and several I didn't recognize, which I'm assuming are original. But she branched out some, doing a Latin-tinged number followed with a jazzy version of the standard "Don't Get Around Much Anymore." And her between-song patter was hilarious, especially when she talked about BOB, her "Battery Operated Boyfriend." She had the audience in the palm of her hands from the first song.

Bone Orchard: Chipper (pictured left with mandolin) was the utility man of this festival. Besides his own electrifying set with his band The Feast Friday night, he did a second-stage set accompanied by Kim Treiber and one with bouzouki-man Roger Landis. And on Sunday night he played a high-charged set with a Taos band Bone Orchard, led by Dan Pretends Eagle (pictured here with banjo) who also plays with The Feast, and singer Carol Morgan-Eagle.

They romped through a fine folk-rock cover of X's "Burning House of Love," a version of "Pretty Polly" (Dan called this chestnut the "Johnny B. Goode of folk festivals") which featured Chipper on some pretty psychedelic guitar; and an incredible folk gospel of Michael Franti's version of "Wayfaring Stranger."

Dave Alvin & The Guilty Men: It just doesn't get much better than this folks. Alvin's performance has reduced me to pre-teen gibberish:

He ROCKED!

HE RULED!

And in my own language: BITCHEN!

The Guiltys were joined by none their than Chris Gaffney of the Hacienda Brothers (pictured at left with accordion) who opened the set before Alvin emerged with a song about Albuquerque. My only complain about the whole set is that Alvin should have let Gaffney sing "Volver, Volver."

Alvin's songs relied heavily on tunes from his latest album West of the West -- "Redneck Friend," "Surfer Girl," "Between the Cracks," and Merle Haggard's "Kern River," (which Greg Brown also sang the day before. But some of my favorite songs he did Sunday were from his previous album Ashgrove -- "Out of Control," a classic Alvin tale from the American underbelly, and the title song, which not only is a tribute to the blues greats he used to see as a teen in L.A. , but is an affirmation of his purpose as a musician -- raising ghosts on the stage.


Goshen: Grant Hayunga and the Palmer Brothers Jim & Bill (the male half of Hundred Year Flood) are energetic enough to follow Dave Alvin and original enough to take you to another dimension. The group played an intense set which featured old songs and some from an upcoming album.

How can you describe Goshen? This is what people who condemn the blues hear right before they die and go to Hell. Grant plays slide guitar, Bill does keyboards (that sometimes crept merrily into Addams Family territory Sunday) and Jim drums. Last night he was pounding like a madman. What a great way to end the festival.

Sunday, September 03, 2006

THIRSTY EAR FESTIVAL: SATURDAY

For my Thirsty Ear Photos CLICK HERE


The big news: It didn't rain.

The winds kicked up a few times, and by early evening it started getting pretty cold for early September, but the Thirsty Ear Festival was spared of actual rain on Saturday and for that, everyone was grateful.

The other big news: The joint was packed!

I've attended every Thirsty Ear Festival and I've never seen as many people at the J.W. Eaves Ranch as I did yesterday. It looks as though all these years of persistence for Mike Koster -- including some heartbreakingly meager turnouts at some festivals past -- are starting to pay off.

And here's the good news for the future -- there were plenty of good, and some great performances Saturday to create enough positive word-of-mouth to ensure good turnouts in years to come.

Here's my favorite performances on Saturday:

T. Broussard & The Zydeco Steppers: When I first heard a radio ad about this year's festival, I thought I heard "Zydeco Strippers." So I was disappointed when a bunch of guys came out. But that feeling didn't last very long. These guys roared! Broussard (pictured above) is an accordion maniac and the band seemed to play nearly nonstop. People were dancing not only up by the stage, but even the vendors in front of their tents couldn't keep from shaking it. The Steppers played a number of zydeco standards -- "My Toot Toot," "Jambalaya," etc. and a lot of French-language tunes. But there also some surprising covers, including Kenny Rogers' "The Gambler" and Wa's "Cisco Kid."

The Steppers made one major misstep: They didn't bring any CDs to hawk. They easily could have sold a couple of hundred. I bet a lot more festival-goers are looking for Boussard's web site right now than are reading this blog.


Greg Brown: Some folks were hoping that Brown was bringing his guitar buddy Bo Ramsey. But that wasn't to be. Greg played solo, but it was still a fine set. His deep laconic drawl (think Leonard Cohen as Uncle Remus) is irresistible. And his between-song patter is half the fun.

His set consisted of a lot of favorites ("Boom Town" is a natural Santa Fe hit), plus a good selection from his new album The Evening Call.

Eddie Turner: Guitar hotshot Turner was just what the festival needed when he started his afternoon set. At the risk of offending every sensitive female in Santa Fe, I'm not that huge of a Be Good Tanyas fan. Their music is pretty and I can take them one song at a time, but a whole set of their low-key Canadian folk, I was starting to feel a little drowsy.

But guitar stud Turner cranked it up immediately with his Hendrix/Jeff Beck drenched hard-rocking blues. (He did a sizzling cover of one of J. Beck's instrumentals Saturday.)

Turner was the guitarist for Otis Taylor until a couple of years ago. He's not nearly the songwriter that Taylor is. Then again, Taylor's sound has suffered since Turner's departure.

Turner's new album has a rather twisted title: The Turner Diaries. If only Tim McVeigh been into Eddie Turner than that other Turner Diaries!

Trilobite: This Albuquerque-based group has one of the most unique instrumental line-ups: Banjo, trombone, cello, stand-up bass -- and on Saturday they were joined by The Handsome Family's Brett Sparks on musical saw.

Mark Lewis, the banjo man, is an excellent songwriter, as he shows on the group's self-titled album. It was great to hear my favorite songs from that album -- "Caves of Burgundy" and "Man of God" live.

I spoke briefly with Rennie Sparks of The Handsome Family following Trilobite's set. She said she'd like the Handsomes to play Thirsty Ear. Maybe next year.



Josh Martin & The Santa Fe Supergroup: OK, I crapped out before the end of this late-night bluegrass set. But what I saw just reminded me of a lot of the things I love about the Santa Fe music scene. I like seeing relative new kids like Josh and Ben Wright playing beside oldtimers like stand-up bass queen Janice Mohr and Jerry Faires, who joined the group for a few songs

The Sunday chapter of the festival will begin in a few hours, Honeyboy Edwards, Dave Alvin, Goshen, etc.

Saturday, September 02, 2006

THIRSTY EAR FESTIVAL: FRIDAY NIGHT

Once again the annual Thirsty Ear Festival kicked off at Eaves Movie Ranch with a night of New Mexico music with an admission cost of $1 plus two cans of food.

I got there too late for the Vigil Family set, which I regret. I've said for years that the festival should incorporate more homegrown Hispanic music. (I'm still hoping for a big Al Hurricane set some year)

Unfortunately for Alex Maryol, the Rain Gods decided to do their thing during his set. Brought back not too distant memories of Frogfest . I wimped out and hid out in the KSFR tent. I know the rains have been a blessing this summer. The wildflowers are nice and it's great that the pinon trees aren't all dying. I was afraid that what's let of our forests were going to burn down this year and that the city would be regulating showers. But, Christ, it's been Hell for outdoor music in Santa Fe the past few weeks.

But the rains subsided for Chipper Thompson & The Feast. And that was extremely fortunate. Chip and gang were on fire. I've heard him with various musical backup through the years. (I'll never forget the magical/mystical rendition Chipper and Mason Brown did of "Oh Death" at one of the early Thirsty Ear Festivals. This was before O Brother Where Art Thou and thusbefore everyone and his duck was doing the song. It also was just shortly after Chipper's wife died.)

But Friday was the first time I'd seen Chipper with a full-blown electric rock 'n' roll band. Some of his regular cronys are in the group: Kim Treiber, playing bass and Don Richmond on fiddle and a bunch of other instruments. Plus he had another guitarist, a keyboard player (who also is a fne background vocalist) and drums.

The electric arrangements do real justice to Chipper's backwood stomps. They played the songs that first made me love Chipper's music -- "If I'm To Blame" and "Rainwater Bottle." Robin the keyboard player amazed and delighted with her background vocals on "Will You Let Me Stay With You?" And "Steel Vines" just plained rocked.

Chipper, rightfully, mainly does originals. But the few covers he did were inspired. There was a flawless "All Things Must Pass" (somewhere in the Universe, George Harrison was smiling) and a fun run through of Del Shannon's "Runaway." (Chipper's voice hit nearly all the high notes during the "wah wah wah wah wonder" refrain.)

But best of all was the Tex Mex version of the bluegrass classic "Rank Strangers." Chipper introduced the song talking about the plight of Mexican immigrants. The arrangement reminded me of The Mekons' Fear and Whiskey period. The Feast version of this song would make Jon Langford extremely jealous.

First full day of the festival is only hours away ...

Monday, September 05, 2005

THIRSTY EAR DAY THREE

Several times this weekend during the Thirsty Ear Festival I found myself sinking into the music, only to have my sweet mood rudely interrupted by hideous visions from the Gulf Coast -- bodies in the streets, people stranded on rooftops, people wading waste-high through sewage-tainted water.

No, Katrina didn't ruin the festival for me. Far from it. I'm pretty well convinced that this was the best Thirsty Ear ever. Still, those pangs of guilt and horror and anger put a hard perspective on the affair.

It was indeed fortunate that the climax of the festival Sunday night was a Louisiana band. Beausoleil didn't preach or mourn or rage. They did what they do best, play the music of their land and their people, play the vibrant, celebratory, sometimes mournful but mainly joyful music that for centuries has brought joy, comfort and pride to the Cajun people. Leader Michael Doucet spoke openly about the disaster. His underlying message was of hope and optimism, a faith that the people of Louisiana, to borrow a little Faulkner, would not only endure but prevail.

Earlier in the day, the professorly Doucet did a "workshop" in the Hotel on the history of Cajun music. He took questions from the audience, often playing fiddle and singing to illustrate his answers.

A few other thoughts on the festival:

* The Tarbox Ramblers: This trio was Sunday's big surprise. These are a bunch of old (well, not that old) bald guys from Boston who play a crunching, stomping stripped-down blues.

I'd never heard of these guys and wasn't expecting much from them. So I was pleasantly surprised, in fact amazed at how much fun they were.

Thirsty Ear had a questionnaire asking, among other things whether the festival should get bigger-name acts (which would mean a hike in ticket prices). I voted no. One of the things I love about Thirsty Ear is the opportunity to discover acts like The Tarbox Ramblers.

* Nels Andrews & The El Paso Eyepatch Undoubtedly the worst slot at Thirsty Ear is the opening act on Sunday morning. Even though it starts at 1:30 p.m., a good number of festival-goers haven't quite shaken off Saturday night. There's just a slow trickle of people and most of them seek refuge in the shade of the buildings of the old-west film set instead of in front of the stage, where performers like them to be.

That being said, Albuquerque songwriter Andrews got a good strong response with his poignant, often mournful tunes. My favorite songs from his album Sunday Shoes -- "Central Avenue Romance," "Lilli Marlene" -- sound even better live. Plus they do a rocking version of Gordon Lightfoot's "Sundown."

*Alvin Youngblood Hart: The big old growling bear played a strong set on the main stage. Not quite as awe inspiring as his previous Thirsty Ear gig. Of course this year, the late Ralph Moore wasn't around to share his homemade brownies with me. Old Ralph was a hell of a baker.

Every time Alvin's played this festival he's performed Doug Sahm's "Lawd I'm Just a Country Boy in This Great Big Freaky City." This time was no exception. And now it's finally on an Alvin album, the new Motivational Speaker.

* Joe West This weekend started with Joe West, at his Human Cannonball CD release party at Tiny's Thursday. (Seems like months ago ...) So it was only appropriate to end it with Joe at his "Americana stomp" in the Eaves Ranch saloon.

Actually, I meant to hop back and forth between Joe's gig and the Alvin Youngblood Hart blues jam across the street, but either Joe's music was too captivating or I was too exhausted to move. So I stayed and I'm happy I did. Joe's way too young to be named a Santa Fe Living Treasure. But I know that's what he is.

All in all, it was a wonderful festival this year. KBAC's Luther Watts, who served as emcee, kept reminding people that Thirsty Ear didn't happen last year -- and people were afraid it wouldn't come back. I'm glad those fears were for naught and hope Thirsty Ear remains a Labor Day weekend tradition here.



My friend Dana and me at Thirsty Ear 2005

Sunday, September 04, 2005

THIRSTY EAR DAY TWO

(Or should it be "Day One" since the real "Day One" was all at night?)

I've got to get ready to get back to Eaves Ranch because Jeff Dowd is doing his regular shift for KSFR's Sunday Blues show, so I've got to get the KSFR booth ready.

So just a few stray thoughts about the festival yesterday.

* Headliner Rickie Lee Jones performed solo, most with an acoustic guitar, then a few piano songs -- among them my favorite Rickie Lee song, "We Belong Together" from her second album Pirates. Unfortunately, the volume was a little low and my enjoyment of my favorite Rickie song was marred by some loudmouth jerk behind me who must have thought festival goers had paid their money to listen to his mindless chatter.

Rickie was about 20 minutes late taking the stage, then, surprising, refused to do an encore, even though the audience was cheering for one. She apparently was suffering some kind of cold or allergies, as at one point she had to stop and blow her nose between songs.

* This year's surprise hit probably was soul man Earl Thomas, described by my New Mexican colleague Natalie Storey as "an attractive man in tight pants and cowboy boots." (See Natalie's coverage, including a photo of Earl, HERE.) I wasn't familiar with Thomas (or his pants) until yesterday, but I was impressed. With his music, of course. The festival propaganda compares him to Sam Cooke and Otis Redding. I hear some Howard Tate in there too.

Thomas played with just an acoustic guitarist backing him. I can't help but think a full band would add a lot, but unplugged he still was quite enjoyable. My favorite song he did was a cover of "Ode to Billy Joe." (This reminded me of the late Joe Tex's cover, though Joe reworked the last verse: "And me I spend my time eatin' cold watermelon up on Choctaw Ridge/And I spit the seeds in the muddy waters of the Tallahatchie ...") Thomas said he hoped to come back to Santa Fe soon. I hope he's right.

* James McMurtry probably got the strongest audience response of the day. His deadpan drawl reciting sardonic lyrics over his loopy guitar and tough rhythm section, known as "The Heartless Bastards" is an irresistible combination. The highlight was the hilarious "Choctaw Bingo," a twisted tale of a family reunion for an Okie meth lab operator. Mike Judge should make a cartoon of this song.

* Otis Taylor also was mighty, though toward the middle of his set the rain finally convinced me to leave the area in front of the stage to the dry comfort of the KSFR booth. Otis is my favorite living bluesman (watch Pasatiempo during the next couple of weeks for my review of his excellent new album Below the Fold.) Taylor's new band isgood, though not quite as powerful as the lineup of Kenny Pasarelli and Eddie Turner, who played with him last time he performed at Thirsty Ear.

* Goshen has been around Santa Fe for 10 years or so, but yesterday was the first time I've ever seen them live -- and it was all I'd hoped it would be. Slide guitarist Grant Hayunga is the center of the group, which yesterday included Hundred Year Flood's Palmer boys backing him up -- Jim on drums, Bill on keyboards. They sounded like Bo Diddley on crystal meth.

Goshen and Flood are part of the Frogville Records clan (as is Joe West, ThaMuseMeant, etc.). Frogville definitely is the coolest thing going on musically in Santa Fe these days. I love seeing these guys out at each other's gigs, supporting each other, etc. Santa Fe has to support them too. Go to their shows. Buy their CDs.

Gots to go.

Saturday, September 03, 2005

THIRSTY EAR DAY (ACTUALLY NIGHT) ONE

Unfortunately duties at work kept me away from the festival until 8:30 or 9 p.m. I got to Eaves Ranch in time to hear the last two and half songs by Hundred Year Flood -- which made me sad. I'd been looking forward to seeing them again. What I heard though sounded tremendous and they really had the crowd going.

I'd also been wanting to hear Boris McCutcheon, a current Albuquerque resident, but I was way too late for that. Got to meet the boy though. He says he'll be doing a bunch of gigs at the Cowgirl in the near future.

And dammit, I missed the Chipper Thompson/Mason Brown/Roger Landes Zoukfest set that opened the show, though I got to hear a little of Chipper and Kim Treiber's acoustic set in the "Hotel" later in the evening.

So the only full set I got to hear was that of Alex Maryol. I hadn't hear him in about two years, and it seems the kid is only getting stronger and more confident. His music seems to be going from good-time bar blues toward an Ian Moore-like psychedelia, which I think is a good thing.

Alex's basic band consists of himself on guitar, Mark Clark on drums and Willie McGee on bass. But the set really came to life when they were joined by guitarist/singer and longtime Maryol partner Ken Valdez and Freddy Lopez on harmonica.

Valdez was just seething with energy. He looked like a rhino about to charge. He and Alex have a wonderful chemistry together. I know they have their own careers and ideas on music, but, to use an old cliche this is a classic case of the sum being greater than its individual parts.

I'll blog on Thirsty Ear more tonight -- unless I stay too late and wait til the morning.

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

  Sunday, March 17, 2024 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM, 101.1 FM  Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Te...